Joe Venuti-Eddie Lang Blue Five—”Jigsaw Puzzle Blues (1933)

Sometimes jazz musicians play music inspired by classical composers, and at other times pop musicians play music based on jazz compositions, such as this one, written by Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang.

When I was visiting my friend, blues guitarist/composer Gerard Meester last year, he played me an awesome guitar solo. He told me he learned Danny Kirwan’s solo from the 1968 Fleetwood Mac version of “Jig Saw Blues” by heart. And that Kirwan’s solo was based on Jimmy Dorsey’s clarinet solo from a 1933 record of the Joe Venuti-Eddie Lang Blue Five.

“Jig Saw Puzzle Blues” — Joe Venuti-violin; Eddie Lang-guitar; Jimmy Dorsey-trumpet, clarinet andante saxophone; Adrian Rollini-bass saxophone and vibes; and Phil Wall-piano. For Columbia in New York on February 28, 1933 — less than a month before Lang’s death during a routine tonsillectomy operation.

And this is Danny Kirwan’s
1968 version: