High Society Piano Solo - Digital Sheet Music

SKU: A0.1878210

This is a piano solo based on the 1901 dixieland tune entitled "High Society." The tune is said to have originated in the street bands of New Orleans in the late 1800's. It shows better than most jazz or ragtime compositions, the relationship of Dixieland to the marching band. In any dixieland band, the drummer plays "roll-offs," and "fills" throughout the piece. Also, the introduction resembles the opening of several marches by Sousa, King, Filmore etc. This style can still be found on old piano rolls and nickelodeons in carnivals, fairs and museums.
Many musicians in the Dixieland jazz tradition (and the street musicians before them) played by ear and never learned to read music. So, the tune has become almost unrecognizable from its origin in Mr. Steele's manuscript from 1901 (from which this arrangement is based) due to the improvisation of these musicians. When this arranger first performed the tune in the mid-50's we all knew the chord changes, but nobody in the band knew the original tune other than it was fast and fun. Both the musicians and the audiences loved "High Society," and it was requested often and enthusiastically performed by the musicians.