Jammin’ On Da Keys - Come By Here, Good Lord

Topic: Instrumental Versions
The only solo piano version of "Come by Here" on YouTube was uploaded by Jammin’ On Da Keys in 2008. Like Wyser, he only showed his hands and the keyboard. From that we know he was an African American.

His fingers looked shorter and more muscular than Wysers, but that may have been a function of camera angles. While Wyser stretched his fingers out over the keys, Jammin’ held his hands high and bent his fingers at his knuckles to reach down to the instrument. Instead of caressing the keys, he pressed them. And, rather than keeping his hands centered around middle C, Jammin’s left hand was at the bass end of the keyboard while his right sometimes moved to the upper registers.

The melody was played in chords, never as a single string of notes. Jammin’ used his thumb and little finger which suggested the chords were fifth’s. [1] This particular tonal combination was described by Pythagoras before 500bc. He found that when a string was cut in half, its tone was raised by an octave. When it was divided into two-thirds/one-third segments the larger was a fifth. [2] Since this combination was inherent in the physics of sound, it was discovered multiple times, and only went out of favor in classical European music after Bach and the Well-Tempered Clavier of 1722. [3]

Jammin’s right hand also played chords and counter melodies between phrases. In the first iteration, they were simple chords. In the second, the chord progressions wandered higher. During the third repetition, he alternated quickly between white and black keys, and the left hand began playing notes in addition to chords.

The next repetition featured more blues or minor chords and more excursions into the higher octaves. He rooted himself in the fifth iteration by repeating the first version for two lines, before returning to higher notes. In the next variation, his right hand played more secondary notes between the melodic ones, while the left hand created a rolling sound by alternating between two notes.

Jammin’s concluding repetition was played exclusively in a higher octave, with longer interludes between the phrases. Again he played minor chords. The video cut off before he finished.

The left hand generally appeared less active, but then the camera was located at the right end of the keyboard. The microphone also may have been located there and more attuned to capturing the sounds nearest to it.

Performers
Instrument: upright piano

Notes on Music
Opening Phrase: 1-1-something
Tempo: moderate

Basic Structure: seven repetitions with variations in accompaniment

Harmonic Structure: parallel fifths

Notes on Performance
There was no way of knowing the age of Jammin’s Mason and Hamlin piano from the video. The company name and its designs were bought and sold several times since the crash of 1929, with some owners more committed to quality than others. [4] In general, the upright was marketed to churches. In 2017, the company advertized that model had "the durability, tone and power of many grand pianos." [5] Jammin’ produced clear tones, with no lingering overtones, even on the chords.

Notes on Performers
Jammin’ described himself as "a pianist with a traditional sound and background but loves and plays all eras of Gospel Music. [6] He described "Come by Here" as:

"a well known and well loved song, especially in the African-American Church. We know as Christians that God is ALWAYS there even when we don’t feel him. This song, therefore is a cry for God when we FEEL that God is not there. Hence the various verses that express a situation when one would cry for help." [7]

Availability
YouTube: uploaded by Jammin’ On Da Keys, 17 February 2008.

End Notes
1. I do not have the ability to transcribe what I heard him play into musical notation. I am making my assumption about his use of fifths by the shape of his hand: if he were playing thirds, he would probably have used his middle finger; if he were playing octaves, his hand would have been stretched wider.

2. George N. Gibson. "Pythagorean Intervals." Notes for University of Connecticut course, The Physics of Music, section 3-2. University’s website.

3. Willi Apel. "Parallel (consecutive) fifths, octaves." Harvard Dictionary of Music. Edited by Apel. Cambridge: Belnap Press, 1969 edition. 641-2.

4. Wikipedia. "Mason & Hamlin."

5. "Model 50." Mason and Hamlin website.

6. "About" Jammin’ On Da Keys. YouTube.

7. Comment with the song on YouTube.