Don Stiernberg & Matt Brown - "That's a Plenty"

When I was a teenager, one of the CDs I listened to obsessively was "Swing Low, Sweet Mandolin," which featured the legendary Jethro Burns (mandolin) accompanied by his protégé Don Stiernberg (guitar). Soon after moving to Chicago in 2011, I met Don at a bluegrass jam. "That's a Plenty," composed in 1914 by Lew Pollack, is my favorite tune that Don recorded with Jethro, and I was tickled to play it with him. Check out Don's letter below to learn a whole lot more.

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"That's a Plenty" is a tune from the early jazz era. Pre-jazz, actually-it goes all the way back to 1914, written as a "ragtime" piano solo. As jazz began to coalesce in the early 1920's between New Orleans and Chicago, you know, the trumpet (or cornet)-clarinet-trombone plus rhythm section collective improvisation thing, the tune was brought to prominence by The New Orleans Rhythm Kings, (a/k/a Friars Society Orchestra). Many of the key figures of that era took it on as a vehicle for expression and recorded it, leading to it being established in perpetuity as a standard or classic. Louis Armstrong, Jack Teagarden, Bobby Hackett, Benny Goodman, Red Nichols, Joe Venuti, and Wild Bill Davison comprise a small sample group of such artists.

I learned to love music and jazz listening to my father's record collection, which was made up mostly of LP's by those artists, and especially heavy on records by Eddie Condon and His All-Stars. A version of "That's A Plenty" on the Bobby Hackett/Jack Teagarden record "Coast Concert" is probably the one I heard the most. Bobby and Jack were huge heroes, (still are!)..we could sing their solos, played their records at rock and roll volume time and again..

Probably because of Venuti's recordings of the tune, string guys took interest in it as well. Johnny Frigo played it with the "Barn Dance" house band on TV. And I seem to recall Mark O'Connor and his Texas fiddle mentors (Benny Thomason, et al) may have messed with it too, as they did with "Black and White Rag". Greg Cahill and I recorded a version with bluegrass instruments on a record called "Blue Skies". Our arrangement, especially the ending, borrows from Eddie Condon style liberally.

When Jethro Burns became ill near the end of his life he very generously elected to record as many of his favorite tunes as he could so that future generations of mandolin players could have a large supply of his playing style to study. I was honored to be asked to be his assistant on the project, playing backup guitar and running the tape machine. "That's A Plenty" was the first tune we cut! I remember being pleased about that, since I had been hearing the tune since childhood and playing it frequently at trad jazz gigs around Chicago on tenor banjo or guitar. I hope folks will check out Jethro's version--he honors the tune but also includes many Jethroisms. It's a great vehicle for his unique style.

Thanks Matt for the invitation to pick this great number and for holding down the swing groove with all them fancy chords!

sincerely,
Don Stiernberg

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Find those recordings of Jethro Burns & Don Stiernberg here:
http://acousticoasis.com/rooms/hi-def...

Connect with Don Stiernberg:
http://donstiernberg.com
http://www.soundslice.com/lessons/jaz...
http://www.soundslice.com/lessons/jaz...
https://www.soundslice.com/lessons/ma...
http://www.melbay.com/Products/22021B...
https://www.youtube.com/results?searc...

Connect with Matt Brown:
http://www.brownsdream.us
  / mattbrownsdream  
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  / oldtimemattbrown  
  / mattbrownsdream  

This video was produced & directed by Tim Brown:
http://bit.ly/timbrownyoutube
http://www.timbrownphoto.com
  / timsbokeh  
  / timsbokeh  

Don's wardrobe: http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com
Matt's wardrobe: http://www.mandolinorange.com