“I Ate Up The Apple Tree” (PDF) from the New Birth Brass Band album, New Orleans Second Line!

Thanks to reader Peter Simoneaux for providing the historical context of the many recorded versions of this tune, which was previously included with my Rebirth Brass Band transcription.

This New Birth recording from 2008 expands upon the band’s 1997 D-Boy version, which I assume (without any liner notes to reference) features a slightly different lineup, and yet the form and arrangement remains, in a word, traditional.

“I Ate Up The Apple Tree” is a modified blues form, and depending on how you feel it, either an abbreviated 8-bar blues or a double-time 16-bar form. Think of it as “hanging on the one” chord until the rhythmic break at the end of the vocal phrase cues the bassline to walk up to the IV chord, followed by a “quick turnaround” back up the V chord. However you feel the form, remember that it’s symmetrical with two halves; the first a melodic lead, followed by the call-and-response shout. Don’t confuse it with the traditional 12-bar form, or else there could be a train wreck.

I’ve been a part of one… a few, maybe.

The traditional key of this tune is Eb, perhaps influenced by the piano boogie of early rock and roll, which doesn’t easily map out on the horn; played either in the lower octave or the limited upper register. In fact, most “Apple Tree” solos tend to only utilize the blues scale while relying on the rhythmic breaks to accent any kind of expressiveness in melodic improvisation.

Here’s a YouTube video from Deborah “Big Red” Cotton that features the Free Agents Brass Band performing a parade-style version of “Apple Tree”

Recommended reading: Roll With It: Brass Bands in the Streets of New Orleans by Matt Sakakeeny. Published by Duke University Press.