Vierd Blues/Trane's Blues/John Paul Jones

[Dan Gould]

Can anyone explain who wrote this tune and why this tune has different names and composers listed? I think its also appeared as John Paul Jones as well as Trane's Blues, and its been listed as both a Coltrane composition and a Miles composition.

That's something that's been bothering me for a while, and I'd appreciate if anyone knows the truth behind it.

[bertrand]

Dan,

I never researched this particular tune, but the general rule of thumb I have established over the years is:

'If Miles is given composer credit, seriously question the authenticity of this attribution'.

There are many well-established instances of Prestige tunes attributed to Miles that are not by Miles, and a few cases that have not been publicized that I have been made aware of.

Now for the tune you mention, a 'secondary rule-of-thumb' comes into play that muddies up the waters cosiderably. That rule is:

'If Coltrane is given composer credit, question the authenticity of this attribution'.

This is the same rule as for Miles with the word 'seriously' omitted.

In other words, neither Miles nor Trane may have written this tune. It just kind of was 'floating around in the air' at the time it was recorded, and the identity of the composer(s) may be lost forever.

Miles may well have submitted an official copyright for 'Vierd Blues', but that means nothing.

Bertrand.

Edited January 7, 2004 by bertrand

[CJ Shearn]

So, "Trane's Blues" or "Vierd Blues" whatever one wishes to title it could have been a stock riff like "Royal Roost/Tenor Madness/Sportin'Crowd" that either Miles or Trane could have come up with on the spot and therefore the tune gets credited to them? What about in the case of "Solar" which we now know is written by Chuck Wayne, I have never seen it credited as such. Is that the case maybe b/c Miles was more of a "name" of the two and therefore got the credit?

[mikeweil]

Sometimes it's an unofficial deal between a musicians and another musician or a producer or publisher, sometimes it's a gift - as in the case of the first "Milestones" which was presented to Miles by John Lewis, sometimes it's plain robbery first come, first served. You then have to prove you have written it earlier, and that is very difficult. The music industry does not seem to care much, as long as the copyright is registered for X, it will be credited to X, even when it is established knowledge it was written by Y, and the copyright was given back, e.g. Eddie Vinson's "Four" and "Tune Up".

Where did you get "Solar" is by Chuck Wayne? I would have guessed Bill Evans.

[CJ Shearn]

Mike, I had read/heard (forget where now) somewhere recently that there was information that Wayne had written "Solar" as opposed to Davis. Could it have been in the bio of Wayne's recently reissued Prestige session on OJC maybe? not sure. Anyway, in a recent live show I have of the Pat Metheny Trio from 11/1/03 on my computer at my dorm, Pat even says the tune may have been written by Chuck Wayne, not Miles, but he was not totally sure either. FWIW on Pat's "Question and Answer" album from '89 with Holland and Haynes, the back cover credits the tune to Davis as ©1955 Prestige Music

[CJ Shearn]

ahh... found some info attributing "Solar" to Wayne: from an AAJ article reviewing a Wayne album. This is mid sentence but it contains the info claiming Wayne wrote the tune.

"Since the classic “Solar” is now recognized as a Chuck Wayne composition (see the Feather & Gitler: The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz)"

it then goes onto say how Wayne should be looked at as a serious contributor, frankly I was not aware of his name until I heard such info a while back.