West end blues was composed and published in 1928 by Joe ‘king’ Oliver and Clarence Williams. When the song was composed, jazz music was sold as recordings by star performers, as sheet music for ammeters to play at home and for other musicians to use in their performance, thus serving as a basis for improvisation. The west end blue has two versions that differentiate between the two ways of its performance style.
The sheet version of the composition starts with a short piano piece laid out in verse mode. The first verse is labeled 'vamps,' an illustration to the accompanist to keep repeating these measures until the singer joins. The music for the verse builds over one complete statement of a twelve-bar blues progression. Before, a refrain is sung just after the end of each verse. The piece's melody rests in a blues foundation with different melodies and slight variations in harmony being employed to create variety in the piece.
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Louis Armstrong performed the recorded version of the composition and his Hot Five for OKeh Records in Chicago the same year king Oliver published the music. The music starts with Armstrong demonstrating his virtuosic abilities by playing a solo that moves up to near the top of the trumpet's range before rolling down to the near bottom. This part replaces the piano introduction, a clear show of improvisation. The recording lacks a verse refrain structure with the verses being replaced with five choruses of twelve-bar blues pattern. Members of the group take turns playing solos that are either improvised or in the style of improvising. To mark the end of the chorus, musicians substituted for the tonic chord, which normally progresses from the tonic to the dominant before preparing for the next chorus.
The whole ensemble performs the first chorus together, with Armstrong playing a freely decorated version of the vocal melody. The trombone plays the second chorus playing a new variation. On the third chorus, the clarinet plays a call and response with the trumpet. Armstrong performs his innovative technique where a voice would imitate an instrument known as Scat singing. The fourth chorus, played by the piano, paves the ensemble to play together on the last chorus. Armstrong takes the lead to play a high C before a virtuosic burst of improvisation, allowing the piano to play the last solo marking the recording's end.
