"Limehouse Blues" - J.J. Johnson

“Limehouse Blues” (PDF) from the Joe Pass & J.J. Johnson album, We’ll Be Together Again

On the topic of art produced by a racist culture, I am certain that there is a clever “chicken or the egg?” joke that can be made at the expense of ignorance, but who really wants to spend the time and energy to write it down? I have not bothered to fully research the history of “Limehouse Blues” as a British show tune about the “Chinatown” area of London in the early-twentieth century, but you can probably guess why its original lyrics were commonly omitted throughout the past century. I have, however, written down my perspective as an Asian American regarding other traditional jazz tunes like “Chinatown, My Chinatown,” so please consider educating yourself on the matter.

Jazz historian Ted Gioia will be the first music critic to point out that “Limehouse Blues” is not actually a blues, and the many recorded versions present the tune as a dexterous instrumental piece due to its stepwise melody as preferred by the giants of swing and bebop. But on this recording, Joe Pass and J.J. Johnson attempt to play “Limehoues Blues” with a slow blues feel, shuffling along and trading phrases until someone plays too many notes and blows the form - like at any typical blues jam. But the interaction between the two musicians is ultimately a valid attempt to make, well... chicken salad.

Here is a YouTube video of Gunhild Carling’s rendition of “Limehouse Blues”:

Recommended Reading: Exercises And Etudes For The Jazz Instrumentalist by J.J. Johnson. Published by Hal Leonard.