Today someone revived an old thread asking for the sheet music for 'Black Bottom Strut.' ('Strut' for short.) This is a saucy tune that you can hear on YouTube. To my surprise, I couldn't find any sheet music or ABC for it.

But in my searches I came across two tunes that deserve to be played, and here's where you can find them.

The first is called 'Black Bottom' and was published in 1926, music by Roy Henderson. You can get yourself a MIDI, the notes or an ABC file by going to JC's ABC Tune Finder (google that) and searching for Black Bottom. This is a piece with an authentic 1920's sound, and I like it.

The second one I found came from a site called New Orleans Jambook, and you can hear the record of it on YouTube. It is called 'Irish Black Bottom' and was put together by Louis Armstrong and Percy Venable in 1926. It combines phrases from 'Black Bottom' and from (gasp!) 'Danny Boy' with new material.

http://cjam.lassecollin.se/songs2/irishblackbottom.html

Old Dixieland players liked to throw phrases from famous songs into unrelated numbers, just for the fun of it. I have one recording which includes "Flight of the Bumblebee" for just long enough for the audience to recognize it and laugh. I suppose that is also what Armstrong & Venable were doing here.

I invite those of us who play jazzy stuff to check out these songs, because they are fun to play. I'd be careful who I played 'Irish Black Bottom' for, however. Round about March 17th, 'Danny Boy' gets to be near-sacred, and some audiences could burn you at the stake.