A 1948 article from the Chicago Defender describes how Duke Ellington and his orchestra had been industry standards for many years, and expresses remorse how a few days previously, they had broken up. This took me aback, as I was under the impression that the orchestra was continuously operated to this day, having seen modern recordings from the current Duke Ellington Orchestra.
This revelation prompted me to research a bit further, and as it turns out for several years following the second world war, the orchestra was downsized to an octet, following the norm of many other large jazz ensembles. Music tastes were shifting to prefer singers like Frank Sinatra, and jazz was now the best option for smaller clubs with smaller audiences. It was no longer financially viable for large orchestras to operate, as they were simply too expensive. Ellington continued to lose personnel the next few years, and had a decline in his career until his renowned performance at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival, where a frenzied crowd and the concert extending well past the curfew led to Ellington’s revival and appearing on the cover of Time magazine.
In researching Ellington and reflecting on my own knowledge of the subject, I realized how much more I need to learn about jazz in order to truly appreciate it. I’ve been participation in jazz ensembles for 8 years, but I haven’t bothered to enrich myself in the history of the art. This class especially has helped, but as time goes on more and more people will inevitably forget how important these individuals from decades past were. Dr. Jefferson electing to have jazz 1 play a set that is entirely Ellington for the 150th anniversary concert at orchestra hall is a definite shift from almost all of my experiences in jazz bands, but the sheer impact that his music has had on nearly all jazz music since makes it a no-brainer to perform.
Turner Layton was an American composer and pianist that was a part of Layton and Johnstone, a duo that had immense popularity in Europe in the 1920s and 30s. Before his transition to a performer overseas, he was a composer for several years in New York, often working with Henry Creamer for lyrics. One of their more notable compositions was “After you’ve gone”, with several recordings by big names, including Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Bing Crosby. One of the original 1918 recordings with Marion Harris is below.
Even with the most popular performers recording his compositions and tens of millions of records sold of his own performances, Layton is a fairly unknown name in that era of music (I had not heard of him until this post). Part of that may be his location; after Layton and Johnstone ended their professional relationship in 1935, Layton stayed in Europe the rest of his life, where he continued to find solo success until his retirement in 1946.
My biggest question is why he has continued to stay out of the figurative spotlight. There are still notable recordings of his songs being made today, such as “After you’ve gone” appearing on Hugh Laurie’s 2011 album “Let Them Talk”. Even while overseas, Layton obviously still had an effect on the American music scene, but seems to have lost the notoriety that some of his peers have maintained or even gained. A question lost to time is how different American music would have been if he had found greater success here than across the pond, and stayed in the front of American musical tastes.
Bourdon, R., Harris, M., Creamer, H. & Layton, T. (1918) After You’ve Gone . [Audio] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/jukebox-313413/.
Max Roach’s Freedom Now Suite, “We Insist!,” is a great example of a protest album. Max Roach was a jazz percussionist and composer. He wrote “We Insist!” as a commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, but it was in fact performed for the first time on January 16, 1961, two years earlier than originally planned because of the urgency of sit-ins in the South. This album highlights ongoing racism and injustice towards Black Americans (and South Africans, as referenced in the 5th song of the album), and the fact that despite the Emancipation Proclamation being ratified so long ago, the struggle for Black liberation was no where near over.
I would highly recommend listening to this whole album. It tells a story of the horror of slavery (“Driva’man”), the signing of the Emacipation Proclamation on “Freedom Day”, and the continued struggle for justice into the Civil Rights Movement in the US, as well as around the world. but one piece that I found particularly impactful was “Triptych: Prayer/ Protest/ Peace.” The second movement especially caught me off guard, which I suppose is probably the point and symbolically represents the goal of protest, which is to interrupt the status quo. This movement especially serves as a reminder to those of us whose Civil Rights Movement education has largely romanticized the nature of peaceful protests, especially surrounding the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In truth, even peaceful protests were met with brutal violence, and the struggle was anything but passive and easy.
The cover of “We Insist,” showing three Black men sitting at a counter, being served by a white man, in direct response to student sit-ins, and a visualization of the goal of the artists.
One question that we touched on in class is the efficacy of protest albums. Roach’s goal with this album was to reach a wide audience and spread the message of racial equality. He allowed fundraising organizations to use this album for free to raise money for Civil Rights organizations. However, the album did receive critiques for being too “bitter” for “most tastes.” The tension between commerciality (or maybe universality?) and value as an instrument for social change is certainly in play, but the Freedom Now Suite was lauded for its influence, and was performed at the 1961 NAACP conference and the Newport Jazz Festival in 1965. Christa Gammage writes:
Jazz embodied the message of the Civil Rights movement and its emphasis on individual expression that serves a group beyond oneself. In order to produce a functional musical piece, each musician must work with one another and listen to the ideas of others. This same expression of democracy is what African-Americans were fighting for in their everyday lives.
Sheet music was one of the most dominant forms of culture in the nineteenth century. Thousands of songs, pieces and concertos were sold each year. Sheet music was one of the main ways for musicians to make money at the time. However, because of the musical education needed to be able to read and understand sheet music, it created some barriers for non-white people to make money off of their art.
There are many popular songs written and sung today that originate from black spirituals, which were written during the time of slavery. However, unfortunately all of the musicians who wrote these songs that became so popular were not given the credit or merit or royalties from this music and instead were pushed down by white people. Because of this dark history, many black musicians were not given the credit or merit that they deserve. Unfortunately, this still happens today.
Later, post-civil war, one of the most popular form of music created by black musicians was jazz. Jazz music is either fully improvised, or a mixture of sheet music and improvisation with musicians. A melody is either given in the form of sheet music, or passed down by ear, then musicians use this melody to improvise and be creative with their instrument. Jazz often uses lead sheets as well instead of typical sheet music. This form of music was very popular in the late nineteenth-twentieth centuries. Since this music sometimes but not always had sheet music, it was difficult for musicians to gain royalties off of sheet music for jazz. However, some musicians, such as Duke Ellington composed thousands of scores and was able to make money through sheet music. Many jazz musicians made money through either touring or local performances.
Additionally, many pop musicians today create music without any prior knowledge of reading sheet music or music theory.
Although sheet music was and still is an important commodity, it is not necessary for all musicians. It is helpful to know and understand the complexities of it, however there are still great musicians who do not read music and this does not take away from any of their accomplishments in their lifetimes.
Jackson, Maurice, and Blair A. Ruble, editors. DC Jazz : Stories of Jazz Music in Washington, DC. Georgetown University Press, 2018.
Anderson, Colin L. “Segregation, Popular Culture, and the Southern Pastoral: The Spatial and Racial Politics of American Sheet Music, 1870–1900.” The Journal of Southern History, vol. 85, no. 3, 2019, pp. 577–610, https://doi.org/10.1353/soh.2019.0163.
Black Americans have produced some of the most prolific and influential styles and genres as music, as well as some of the most influential songs. However, unfortunately for many years they were not able to receive any sort of credit or royalties from their music for many many years. The main reason they weren’t able to reach the level of fame that the white American musicians had at the time was mainly because of segregation present in the music industry, especially the recording industry. In the 1880s and beyond, musicians gained revenue from their works in two ways: through selling sheet music and through selling recordings. Black Americans were not able to access either of these things at the time.
In 1914, the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers founded in hopes of preventing copyright. Black Americans unfortunately were very poorly represented in this committee despite being the population that suffered the most from stolen and copyrighted works. Within 170 members of the committee, only 6 were black. However, another issue in printed music was people had to have experience in reading music, most of them from the time they were little, to be able to be musically literate. However, these learning experiences were often times not offered to Black Americans growing up because of the schools being segregated and the lack of music education offered. Therefore, there were many Black Americans who had an extraordinary amount of talent but were not given the privilege of music education, so despite their works being very good, weren’t able to receive profit from the printed music industry. However, there were some exceptions. A white music publisher named John Stillwell Stark created a publishing deal with Scott Joplin who was a Black American composer, known for his ragtime compositions. This publishing deal was very successful which highlights the competency of Black American musicians, as well as how sad it is that so many talented musicians were not given these opportunities.
In the recording industry, very few Black American musicians were given the chance to record their songs because of bias from producers and talent agents. Although there were some exceptions, such as George Washington Johnson and Arthur Seals, many talented musicians were overlooked and not given the opportunity to gain success from their music. Instead, many white musicians stole songs written by black musicians and recorded them to gain profit. The style of blues, although created by Black Americans, was recorded on records most of the time by white musicians imitating, or appropriating the style. There were so many talented Black Americans who did not get any recognition, while many white people did. One example of this is Elvis Presley. Although Elvis Presley is extremely talented and good at what he does, a lot of his success he attained while getting ideas from talented black musicians, who didn’t receive even a quarter of the success that he did. Therefore many Black Americans were overlooked while Elvis Presley became one of the most famous rock musicians of all time.
This highlights the lack of rights Black Americans had and is very sad. It also highlights the work that still must be done to give Black Americans equal rights and an equal chance at success. As Americans, we must do better to create a safer and more equal future for those here and those to come.
Maultsby, Portia K., and Mellonee V. (Mellonee Victoria) Burnim, editors. Issues in African American Music : Power, Gender, Race, Representation. Routledge, 2017.
In the late 1950s a turn was happening among the American populous. Suddenly, Jazz was starting to catch on as popular music and was recognized as one of the true, if not THE truest form of American music. However, it wasn’t just in America where Jazz was getting recognition. In 1958, the Chicago Defender1 released an article detailing a Soviet author’s opinion on American Jazz as “not so bad”. The author certainly made their opinions on how Jazz serves the bourgeoise and ultimately hurts the proletariate as a result, there was praise and more importantly in my opinion, recognition, of the early roots of Jazz being stemmed in folk music traditions.
The Soviet author then goes on to explain that there is almost no popular music in the USSR- and that they wish they could create a sense of national identity within their musical culture. This notion comes specifically from this author not even two decades on since Shostakovich wrote his Symphony no. 5 which is shrouded in mystery as to its origins and message. What we do know about this symphony is that it was the saving hail-mary for Shostakovich’s career- and he was already being pressured by the Soviet government to begin planting the seeds of a national musical identity.
This contrasts heavily against American popular music’s development because of the former’s rather natural progression by the people with little government involvement. This progression, however, took almost 200 years to lead to Jazz. The Soviet government wanted this progression to happen faster, they were in an arms race, space race, and even… a music race concerning culture against the Americans. Did Soviet music ever take off? In the classical- surely as modern Russian composers have a clear place in the instrumental canon, but it seems that only today due to the internet and streaming services is Russian popular music finding its footing within its own Eastern European roots.
Mavis Staples is an American Gospel and soul singer who rose to fame by being a part of her family’s band, the Staples Singers. She is also quite the civil rights activist, she even had the opportunity to sing for Martin Luther King Jr. Mavis began singing with her family at age 10 all the way throughout her education. In the Chicago Daily Defender, Staples is regarded as “another voice that ranks with Aretha’s.” 1
Since debuting her first solo album in 1969 ‘Mavis Staples,’ she has since then recorded 14 albums under the genre: rhythm and blues along with gospel. It can be argued that ‘You Are Not Alone’ is one of Staples’ most popular songs. “‘You Are Not Alone’ is a track to someone who has lost a loved one. It’s a song to someone who has lost a relationship or a friend. It’s a song to someone experiencing hardship – to someone deep in depression or dismay. It’s a reminder that you are not alone.”2
Mavis Staples and the Staples Singers served an important role during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960’s. The music they produced during this time were filled with powerful messages about equality. In other words, Mavis Staples’ music consistently reflects her standpoint on social justice matters, we should regard her as true activist of her time. It should be noted that her messages of equality, inequality, hope, and freedom extends way beyond on the musical world.
Duke Ellington was one of the preeminent band leaders of the early 1900s. He was one of the key figures in the swing band industry and his band was among the longest enduring and more successful of the time. In addition to key musical contributions to the swing genre and Jazz at large, Ellington was a advocate for social justice and fought against discrimination and segregation1.
The swing band era in general was rife with discrimination as record companies had all the power and prioritized deals with white bands at the time. In addition, performance venues were highly segregated, giving priority to white led and white member bands2. Furthermore, the culture of the genre often led to band leaders being more in the spotlight, which combined with a set of racial stereotypes of the time often led to black led bands being more marginalized.
Ellington was also unique for his dedication to his musicians and because of his unique success as an arranger and seller of sheet music, he often relied on royalties to fund his band. His band had the longest running performance because as bands got more and more expensive to hold together, Ellington was willing to pay a premium price for his musicians and not even break even from concert sales. Although the long running prestige of the band boosted Ellington’s image, resulting in more sales of the sheet music.
Chicago Defender June 19 1948
In the 1940s, the Ellington band finally disbanded but Ellington’s impact on Jazz was still felt. He became a figure in the civil rights movement, embedding non-segregation clauses into contracts, composing works that drew interdisciplinary praise, and calling out appropriation.
Ellington’s impact these days is now seen as showcasing a unique and sophisticated development in Jazz music, highlighted by unique instrumentation, inventive arrangements, and strong stories.
1
Scott, Michelle R. “Duke Ellington’s Melodies Carried His Message of Social Justice – UMBC: University of Maryland, Baltimore County.” UMBC, UMBC Magazine, 19 May 2022, umbc.edu/stories/duke-ellingtons-message-of-social-justice/.
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“Jazz Giant Died when Ellington Band Broke Up: Dominated Jazz World 30 Years, and Remade Era.” The Chicago Defender (National Edition) (1921-1967), Jun 19, 1948. https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/jazz-giant-died-when-ellington-band-broke-up/docview/492732663/se-2.
The Blues being a form of “secular folk music” evolving in the early 20th century by African Americans primarily in the South is survived through the culture and the people which it makes an impression on. It is fascinating to see the Blues’ outreach into Latin American countries, especially those with high populations of African Americans and the ways that these regions have been impacted by the Blues musical style in the political atmosphere in the world.
In Baraka’s, Blue People, “Introduction” and “African Slaves/ American Slaves: Their Music,” Blues is described as “the parent of all legitimate jazz” but it is difficult to know the exact age of the Blues since it comes with the presence of Black folk themselves in the United States since it is “the product of the black man in this country…blues could not exist if the African captives had not become American captives” (17). Furthermore, because of the history that Africans were indeed not originally Christian, this connects into the religious ties of the music thereafter which “celebrated the various cultic or ritualistic rites had to undergo a distinct and complete transfer of reference” (18).
In January 1965, the University of Michigan Jazz Band went on tour traveling to a multitude of Latin American countries and served as a case study to see "the far-reaching effects of cultural diplomacy...Both archival and oral history evidence indicate that the Michigan jazz band's tour succeeded in building vital imagined connections across international borders"<1>. The jazz band tour was a force that sew the essential role of musicianship in "fostering new transnational sensibilities.
Baker’s notion of the Blues is described “as a matrix” and “enabling script” for a comparative reading of texts by black writers from the United States, the Caribbean, and Africa.” Engaging in Blues and jazz there is a widespread incorporation of the music from black writers in the United States, the Caribbean, and Africa. It is said that “the writers of these texts engage in acts of identity through the use of blues and their creative work”.<2>
There is a concentration of African American population in the Caribbean so seeing the “Rhythm and the Blues: Caribbean Awards” source we can see the outreach that the Blues has had.<3> In The Music Education in the Caribbean and Latin America: A Comprehensive Guide, it goes into ways the music education system in Latin American and Caribbean islands incorporate the importance of the Blues into their school system.<4>
Lastly, a new method of “Caribbean literary analysis” draws from the “blues tradition in African American literature—similar to the way that reggae music borrows from the blues—and in so doing, highlighted the artistic and cultural influences that link people of color”. This further explores the theory through history as the “Blues and reggae in contemporary fiction manifest the oral tradition in African storytelling”.<5>
1.) FOSLER-LUSSIER, DANIELLE. “Cultural Diplomacy as Cultural Globalization: The University of Michigan Jazz Band in Latin America.” Journal of the Society for American Music 4, no. 1 (2010): 59–93. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1752196309990848.<1>
2.) Makuluni, Dean Edson. “Narrating the Blues: Music and Discursive Strategies in Selected African-American, Afro -Caribbean and Black South African Fiction.” ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1999.<2>
3.) McAdams, Janine. R&B ARTISTS & MUSIC: The Rhythm and the Blues: Caribbean Awards Say Hello To Banton. Billboard (Cincinnati, Ohio. 1963). Vol. 105. New York: P-MRC, 1993.<3>
4.) Torres-Santos, Raymond. Music Education in the Caribbean and Latin America: A Comprehensive Guide. 1st ed. Blue Ridge Summit: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2017.<4>
5.) Washington, Lynn. “‘Reggae Got Blues’: The Blues Aesthetic in African American Literature as a Lens for the Reggae Aesthetic in Anglophone Caribbean Literature.” ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2013.<5>
From spirituals sung in clandestine church settings to uplifting anthems echoing throughout Civil Rights marches, gospel music is truly a cornerstone of the African-American cultural experience. This genre, steeped in faith, resilience, and a profound sense of community, played a pivotal role in galvanizing unity throughout the turbulent era of the Civil Rights Movement. 1 As African Americans grappled with racial inequality and fought valiantly for their rights, the stirring sounds of gospel music served as a collective heartbeat – a connecting thread woven into the historical tapestry of their struggle for freedom.
Parallel to this powerful gospel tradition, another groundbreaking genre emerged – Jazz. Like an audible mosaic of spontaneous creativity, Jazz is quintessentially American, with its deepest roots fastened in African-American expression. The playful liberties taken with melodic structures and rhythms, and the inherent emotional rawness, made Jazz the innovative art form it is today. It quickly became the voice of a generation eager to express their experiences, trials, and triumphs.
However, the path wasn’t always melodious harmony for these two genres coexisting within the African-American music scene. Gospel, with its sacred origins and divine objective, often found itself at odds with Jazz, seen by some as secular and irreverent. The Jazz influence, with its characteristic ‘swing’, trickled into gospel music which stirred controversy among traditionalists. Some pastors and churchgoers feared that the sanctity of gospel songs would be diluted, diverting from their primary purpose of worship and spiritual connection. 2 This line of thinking is similar to most religious and musicological figures of the early churches, except they took a more extreme view, sometimes banning music altogether. 3
Despite these clashes, the genres managed to maintain a symbiotic relationship. Gospel and Jazz, like two sides of the same coin, symbolize unique facets of African-American identity – faith on one side and freedom of expression on the other. Both have left an indelible mark on American music, painting a soulful picture of cultural transformation and resilience.
Footnotes
1 “Rev. Lewis Aids Rights Efforts.” The Chicago Defender (National Edition) (1921-1967), Feb 29, 1964. https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/rev-lewis-aids-rights-efforts/docview/493071059/se-2.
2 “Charges Singers with ‘Jazzing’ Gospel Music: Composer Issues Blast at Gospel Choir Confab.” The Chicago Defender (National Edition) (1921-1967), Aug 11, 1951. https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/charges-singers-with-jazzing-gospel-music/docview/492830346/se-2.
3 Weiss, Piero, and Richard Taruskin. Music in the Western World. 1984. Pages 5-11, 21-27.
As the black rights movement began to gain popularity in the mid-1900s, mainly due to burgeoning public awareness about unequal opportunities and treatment, music played an important role in creating a unique space to express emotion and build community. However, the people behind the music held a significant amount of power and influence, a reputation built up as they gained rapport. Especially as audiences were able to see more and more of their favorite performers, on television in interviews and sometimes in multiple forms of media (performing music and acting in movies, for example) an artist’s opinion often held great weight. Therefore, although one might not think of Frank Sinatra as someone fairly important to civil rights movements, primarily considering he was of Italian heritage, it turns out that his reach was more extensive than some people may think.
Frank Sinatra performed a great variety of genres over his long and extremely successful career of singing and performing, but in the 1940s and 50s he was known primarily as a crooner, or a male singer who sang in a smooth an intimate style. This was primarily enabled by the development of better microphones in the 1940s that could pick up a wider range of pitches and harmonics, and was popularized by big bands and jazz vocalists. Frank Sinatra had a significant amount of contact with different jazz groups, singing in the Harry James and Tommy Dorsey bands, before becoming a solo artist as World War 2 rolled around, however it should be noted that both bands were composed almost entirely of white men playing jazz, with few actual black performers.
Despite him not singing with any major black ensembles of the time, nor significantly collaborating with black artists, Sinatra was a tremendous advocate for racial equality. In 1945, he sang at the anti-black strike at the Froebel high school in Gary, Indiana, where he, according to one article in the Chicago Defender, “told the teen-agers to ‘kick out’ the adult instigators.”1 Ironically, Sinatra was also passing up the chance to attend a New York rally honoring him for racial tolerance in order to sing in Gary. He also spoke with students and adults of the school and urged them to study the Springfield Plan, which was a historic plan first implemented in the primary school system of Springfield, Massachusetts, and served to define how multiracial schooling should be established throughout the United States.
Even though Sinatra was unsuccessful at ending the strike, his attendance at the event was noted and the school even reported that student attendance increased following his visit, even though the strike continued. Hilariously, the principal of Froebel, according to the article, “indicated that he believed the singer should have been ‘tolerant’ towards the anti-Negro strike leaders.”2 This serves as a small example that, regardless of background, there were those who were trying to use their influence and fame to foster tolerance and equality.
Works Cited:
1 RICHARD DURHAM Defender, Staff Correspondent. 1945. “Frank Sinatra Fails To Break Gary Hate Strike: Talk, Songs Win Applause But Walkout Still On Crooner Introduced By Negro Youth At Big Rally Of 5,000 ‘THE VOICE’ BLASTS GARY HATE STRIKE.” The Chicago Defender (National edition) (1921-1967), Nov 10. https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/frank-sinatra-fails-break-gary-hate-strike/docview/492782477/se-2.
Ellington wins Spingarn award. Article published in the Daily Defender.1
Duke Ellington is commonly known as one of the most influential and important voices in creating American music in the 20th century. His influence on “classical music, popular music, and, of course, jazz, simply cannot be overstated.”2 Ellington moved to New York in 1923, and by1927 Ellington’s band was hired to play at the Cotton Club and stayed for five years.3 By as early as 1930, Ellington and his band were famous and he was beginning to be recognized as a serious composer.3
Ellington reached the height of his career in the 1930s and 1940s. After World War II, demand for big-band music dwindled. Ellington, along with many other artists, struggled during this time, although he continued to compose and perform.4 In 1956, “with a triumphant performance at the Newport Jazz Festival, Ellington re-emerged as an important voice in contemporary music.”5 Following this success, Ellington began to perform and record albums with others such as John Coltrane, Max Roach and Charles Mingus, and Coleman Hawkins.
The article above explains the Spingarn award that Ellington won in 1959. This award is given to African American people who “stimulate the ambition of colored youth.”6 Ellington won this award for his outstanding contributions to American music over many years. It is commonly known as a “gold medal” for “the highest or noblest achievement by an American Negro during the preceding year or years,” and is one of the most coveted awards in its field. Along with this award, Ellington also “had been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters, awarded a doctor of music degree from Yale University, given the Medal of Freedom” following his death in 1974 due to lung cancer.
Bibliography
Cofresi, Diana. “Duke Ellington ~ Duke Ellington Biography.” PBS, March 3, 2023. https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/duke-ellington-about-duke-ellington/586/.
“Duke Ellington.” Duke Ellington | Songwriters Hall of Fame. Accessed November 8, 2023. https://www.songhall.org/profile/Duke_Ellington.
“Duke Ellington Wins Spingarn Award: Select Duke Ellington for ’59 Spingarn Award.” 1959.Daily Defender (Daily Edition) (1956-1960), Jun 23, 1. https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/duke-ellington-wins-spingarn-award/docview/493738881/se-2.
Footnotes
1 “Duke Ellington Wins Spingarn Award: Select Duke Ellington for ’59 Spingarn Award.” 1959.Daily Defender (Daily Edition) (1956-1960), Jun 23, 1. https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/duke-ellington-wins-spingarn-award/docview/493738881/se-2.
2 “Duke Ellington,” Duke Ellington | Songwriters Hall of Fame, accessed November 8, 2023, https://www.songhall.org/profile/Duke_Ellington.
3 “Duke Ellington,” Duke Ellington | Songwriters Hall of Fame, accessed November 8, 2023, https://www.songhall.org/profile/Duke_Ellington.
4 Diana Cofresi, “Duke Ellington ~ Duke Ellington Biography,” PBS, March 3, 2023, https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/duke-ellington-about-duke-ellington/586/.
5 Diana Cofresi, “Duke Ellington ~ Duke Ellington Biography,” PBS, March 3, 2023, https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/duke-ellington-about-duke-ellington/586/.
6 Diana Cofresi, “Duke Ellington ~ Duke Ellington Biography,” PBS, March 3, 2023, https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/duke-ellington-about-duke-ellington/586/.
In an essay titled “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain,” Langston Hughes argues that the road to respect in art spaces for black Americans is not to abandon the artistic traditions and tools that belong to them in favor of the aesthetic standards of white Americans and Europeans, but rather embracing them. In making this assertion, he says “…jazz to me is one of the inherent expressions of Negro life in America…,”1 championing jazz as one of these artistic traditions to be embraced and not diminished.
Hughes’s deep love for jazz remains consistent throughout his writing, evident in a column he wrote for The Chicago Defender in July 1954. The opinion piece is titled “Hot Jazz, Cool Jazz, Deep Blues, and Songs Help Keep Life Lively,” and in it Hughes discusses his personal record collection and taste in music, particularly jazz. He begins by mentioning that “the most restful records to [him] are the ones that make the most noise.”2 Immediately, there is an informal, familiar tone which makes the reader feel like they’re having a conversation with Hughes as he shares his favorite records when he asks the reader “Do you mind?” that he loves loud music.3 He jokingly laments about how most of his records are on loan to friends and family or “accidentally cracked up,” making himself relatable and accessible to the reader before sharing his opinions.4 His love for particularly women jazz musicians such as Mae Barnes, Bessie Smith, etc. shines through in just how evenly they are represented alongside Duke Ellington and Thelonius Monk in the article.
He then moves into a defense of jazz as a wealth of education when he states “If you haven’t heard Mae Barnes sing… you need to go back to school and take up race relations.”5 He goes on and lists records he deems essential, and compares them to classic literature, implying that each jazz song holds equivalent learning to these cornerstones of the Western European canon. “Backwater Blues” contains the knowledge of the Book of Job. Ma Yancey’s “How Long, How Long” can only be substituted by the sum of Thomas Mann, Proust, Dostoyevsky, Gide, Hemingway, Tolstoy, McCullers, Ellison, and Faulkner.6 Comparing these records to texts that are widely considered to be required reading by many pretentious academics is an effective strategy, especially because each of these songs only takes a few minutes to listen to, while these books take hours and hours of time to read. Hughes’s assertion that all of that can be communicated by the language of jazz music emphasizes just how important he believed it to be.
It’s rather an interesting strategy that refers back to his perspective in “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain.” In the essay, he laments about a young black poet who had expressed that he “want[s] to be a poet–not a Negro poet.”7 Throughout the essay he discusses a greater trend that he observes where young black people are discarding black art in favor of mainstream, white, Euro-centric art and aesthetic values. He plays to the desire to conform and assimilate to whiteness by repeatedly describing individual jazz songs as more powerful than huge swaths of the European canon, calling in this opinion article on jazz for the young black people who read The Chicago Defender to treat the jazz repertoire the way they treat classic literature.
1 Langston Hughes, “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain,” in Keeping Time: Readings in Jazz History, ed. Robert Walser (New York ; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), 56.
Ragtime is a syncopated musical style that was evolved by African American musicians which peaked between the 1890’s and 1910’s. It was often played on the piano with accented accompaniment. Ragtime regained popularity once again in the early 20th century through composers such as Scott Joplin, and African American composer and pianist. Ragtime is at times associated with jazz, however an argument is made that due to the absence of improvisation, it cannot be considered jazz. The presence of the ragtime phenomenon has made an impact on the composition and entertainment industry for over a century. Although African American musicians played a large role in the culture surrounding ragtime, their community was also made to feel insulted due to the minstrel show tendencies that became popularly associated with it.
In class we covered "Alexander's Ragtime Band"<1> which is a song by Irving Berlin released in 1911 and was his first major hit. There was later a musical film released named after it, telling the story of a boy who pursues a career in ragtime instead of a more respected form of music. The 20th century Broadway production Ragtime the Musical Another gained popularity. One of the songs projected in the musical is "Your Daddy's Son" and can be found at minute at 3:42 on the Audio CD of Ragtime: The Musical, which tells the heart wrenching story of a mother who buries her child in the ground after the father of her baby leaves her.<2>
Haiti being a predominantly African descent population at approximately 95 percent, has also been impacted through the outreach of ragtime.<3> The US relations with Haiti from 1915 reached political measures when President Woodrow Wilson had Haiti sign a treaty "that would protect foreign lives and property during Haiti's fifth revolution in four years" and discuss the Haitians take on the political atmosphere at the time. Music itself can be seen to have a powerful impact of nations such as Haiti and the African American population in which in resides. <4>
“Alexander’s Ragtime Band.” n.d. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Accessed November 2, 2023. https://www.loc.gov/item/jukebox-130931/.<1 >
McNally, Terrence, Lynn Ahrens, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Peter Friedman, Marin Mazzie, Audra McDonald, Mark Jacoby, David Loud, John Mauceri, and E. L. Doctorow. Ragtime : the Musical. New York, N.Y: RCA Victor, 1998.<2>
WEISBERGER, BA. RAGTIME DIPLOMACY + UNITED-STATES INVOLVEMENT IN HAITI IN THE EARLY-20TH-CENTURY. American Heritage. Vol. 45. NEW YORK: Amer Heritage Subscription Dept, 1994.<3>
Weisberger, Bernard A. Ragtime Diplomacy. American Heritage. Vol. 45. New York: American Heritage Publishing Company, 1994.<4>
Arguably the most famous American musical theater production of the 20th century is Porgy and Bess, “an American Folk Opera,” the peak of Gershwin’s career. There is rarely a night in the world when Porgy and Bess isn’t performed live on stage. The distinct characters of the songs have spawned hundreds of arrangements. in Maurice Peress’s book “Dvorák to Duke Ellington: A Conductor Explores America’s Music and Its African American Roots”, We are able to see the intersections between “Porgy and Bess”, Gershwin, and the African-American identity. 1
Although “Porgy and Bess” was a cultural gift, it is not exempted from some controversy. “Combining the sons of Russian Jewish immigrants, George and Ira Gershwin, with the scion of a prominent white South Carolina family, DuBose Heyward, and his wife Dorothy, an Ohio native, to depict an exclusively African-American story”(Cooper 2019)—is this an example of good melting-pot American art? Is it improper cultural appropriation? The fact that the most well-known opera depicting the African-American experience was produced by a team made up exclusively of white people is no secret to Black composers looking for acceptance. 2
In a 1936 essay for Opportunity, an Urban League journal, Hall Johnson, a black composer, arranger, and choir director whose Broadway hit musical “Run, Little Chillun!” had been successful, said Gershwin was “as free to write about Negroes in his own way as any other composer to write about anything else.” However, he noted that the finished product was “Gershwin’s idea of what a Negro opera should be, not a Negro opera by Gershwin.” Decades later, the writer James Baldwin reiterated this criticism in a review of the movie, saying that although he enjoyed “Porgy and Bess,” it was still “a white man’s vision of Negro life.”2
“Porgy and Bess” provided jobs for black singers with classical training during a time when discrimination kept them from appearing at the Met and other prestigious venues. When the initial tour of the play arrived to the segregated National Theater in Washington, DC, the black stars of the show took a stance and promised not to perform. The theater was compelled to integrate as a result, albeit only briefly. “Porgy” established the careers of other black vocalists , such as Leontyne Price, who sang the part of Bess right out of Juilliard.2
Eventually, It began featuring American culture internationally. However, this came with some problems. “Porgy and Bess”, being a Jewish composer’s work about African Americans, the work’s European premiere in Copenhagen during World War II sparked controversy because of its staging, which was seen as a direct protest against the Nazi regime. During the middle of the Cold War, in the mid-1950s, author Truman Capote wrote an entertaining portrayal of the inherent ironies of this visit of Leningrad and Moscow.2 The piece seemed to be fitting into the operatic canon, proving the pieces power.
1 Peress, Maurice. 2004. Dvorák to Duke Ellington : A Conductor Explores America’s Music and Its African American Roots. New York: Oxford University Press, Incorporated. Accessed November 2, 2023. ProQuest Ebook Central.
2 Cooper, Michael. “The Complex History and Uneasy Present of ‘Porgy and Bess.’” The New York Times, The New York Times, 19 Sept. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/09/19/arts/music/porgy-bess-gershwin-metropolitan-opera.html.
Aaron Copland was not just a prolific composer, but also wrote extensively about both his own works and his contemporaries. In a preface to a collection of his writing, he’s described as having “epitomized the ideal of the composer-writer” in his career.1 He also wrote about trends and occurrences in music, particularly American music. One example of this is a short essay from 1927 titled “Jazz Structure and Influence.”
In the essay, Copland aims to contribute to analytical and critical writing about jazz, a field of study which had just begun to emerge. The essay’s general thesis argues that jazz’s main contribution to music as a whole is its rhythmic innovations. He begins by consulting a few different sources for a definition of jazz, including composer Virgil Thomson and music critic Henry O. Osgood’s book, So This Is Jazz. Both of the definitions emphasize rhythm, and the central function of “‘a counterpoint of regular against irregular beats.’”2
Copland continues to build on these assertions by pinpointing a particular type of syncopation that is unique to jazz. He traces the development of this jazz rhythm through spirituals, ragtime, and the foxtrot. He asserts that “Modern jazz began with the fox trot,”3 and identifies a specific rhythmic motif, pictured below. By putting it over four quarter notes, “the play of two independent rhythms…” creates “a molecule of jazz.”4 He clarifies later that polyrhythms themselves were not invented by jazz, but that “the polyrhythms of jazz are different in quality and effect… The peculiar excitement they produce by clashing two definitely and regularly marked rhythms is unprecedented in occidental music.”5
The “molecule of jazz” pictured in Copland’s essay.
Copland then moves into an analysis of the ways in which this identifying aspect of jazz has “achieved a new synthesis in music.”6 This is also where his rhetoric begins to feel problematic for a modern day reader. Copland posits several times that jazz is “so difficult for ordinary ears” that these polyrhythms only appear a few measures at a time in contemporary music, and goes on to credit Gershwin as having written the “most original jazz song yet composed.”7 These statements indirectly communicate a belief that jazz’s rhythmic complexity places it above music “developed among primitive races.”8 Also, he places a white man at the pinnacle of achievement in a genre that he even describes as having Black (specifically African-American) origins. He provides some nuance when he argues that European composers have “exploited it as an exotic novelty.”9 However, his concluding statements describing jazz as “indigenous, music an American has heard as a child,” and encouraging American composers to draw on it as a musical resource, are ignorant of the actual Indigenous music of the Americas, as well as the institutional racism in America that complicates the use of jazz by white composers as inspiration and source material.10
1 Kostelanetz, Richard. “Preface.” In Aaron Copland: A Reader : Selected Writings 1923-1972, by Aaron Copland. New York: Routledge, 2004.
2 Copland, Aaron. “Jazz Structure and Influence.” In Aaron Copland: A Reader : Selected Writings 1923-1972. New York: Routledge, 2004, 83.
Samuel A. Floyd Jr. ‘s “Black Music in the Harlem Renaissance” quotes that “The white show world of downtown New York, where a few black musicians performed and where black shows were also presented, was active, but after hours everyone, white and black, went to Harlem to hear black music.”1
Duke Ellington began his claim to fame starting in 1923, when he moved from Washington D.C. to New York to build his musical career. Within just one year, Ellington became the leader of his own band, which regularly performed at the Cotton Club. By 1930, Ellington and his band were playing all over the country and the world, winning countless awards, including 13 grammy’s and the Pulitzer Prize Special Citation in 1999.2
George Redd’s observations imply that it was the more educated jazz musicians who helped to bring the two camps (white and black musicians) together. He points out that Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, and others presented an image that was acceptable to the intellectuals. Ellington’s dignified bearing, his aristocratic flair, and his self-assurance in any company exemplified the New Negro, in and outside the jazz world.”1
And that is exactly what Ellington did. By the mid 1920s, Duke Ellington already established himself and his jazz orchestra as highly successful contributors to black music. But how could black composers further expand their brand while continuing to experience the inequalities of living compared to white people? One way that Ellington did so was by composing for a predominantly white profession: symphony orchestras, operas, and theatrical productions.
“Ellington and his peers used jazz not only to satirize white culture but also increasingly to parody the music itself thus shifting its direction from swing to bop.
Ellington reflected through his music the social and cultural changes that occurred as more African Americans were able to gain greater personal autonomy free from interference by white society.3
Ellington’s three-movement suite titled Black, Brown and Beige“ presents historical narratives of the nation. Black, Brown and Beige, a “tone parallel” to black history as Ellington describes, “uses sounds and themes associated with jungle style but recontextualizes their musical and racial meanings in ways that transform the style’s primitivist codes. The work’s three movements represent the monumental moments and movements in African American historical memory: slavery, emancipation, and urbanization in the northern metropole.4
During the same time period, a man by the name of Harry T. Burleigh was also a leading contributor to bridging the gap between black society and musicians to the white society and classically-trained musicians by composing and intertwining spirituals into the classical music tradition. Burleigh’s new ideas, however, got loads of backlash, as segregation still played a major role in American society at the time.
Van Vechten often made critical comments on Burleigh’s arrangements: “White singers have been attracted to Mr. Burleigh’s arrangements, because they include many of the ‘tricks’ which make any song successful, while the accompaniments are often highly sophisticated.”
Van Vechten claimed, when discussing the arrangements of Harry Burleigh, that Harlem Renaissance musicians should base their work on the twentieth-century music of the South. If they really wanted to preserve the spirituals, they should go to the South and do their own fieldwork. Philosopher, arts patron, and friend of Van Vechten also made strong jabs at people like Ellington and Burleigh, claiming that “the proper idiom of Negro folk song calls for choral treatment” and that Black musicians who were “in vital touch with the folk traditions of Negro music” were “in commercial slavery to Tin Pan Alley and subject to the corruption and tyranny of the ready cash of our dance halls and the vaudeville stage.” On the other hand, musicians (like Burleigh and Ellington), who had formal training, were in his opinion “divorced from the people and their vital inspiration by the cloister-walls of the conservatory and the taboos of musical respectability.”5
Regardless of the critics of the 1930-1940s, what Burleigh and Ellington did was create strides for racial equality through music. Ellington and his Orchestra will go down as one of the most influential musical groups in American history, not entirely for their catchy compositions, but for the impact they had on giving minorities a voice to make careers in whatever field they want, even with the backlash they often received from a predominantly white nation.
“What we could not say openly, we expressed in music, and what we know as ‘jazz’ is something more than just dance music.” – Duke Ellington3
1 Floyd, Samuel A. “Chapter 1: Music in the Harlem Renaissance, An Overview, Samuel A. Floyd Jr.” Essay. In Black Music in the Harlem Renaissance a Collection of Essays. Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 1993.
2 “Duke Ellington.” Duke Ellington | Songwriters Hall of Fame. Accessed October 30, 2023. https://www.songhall.org/profile/Duke_Ellington.
Mildred Bailey, studio portrait, USA, 1949. (Photo by Gilles Petard/Redferns)
Concurrent Resolution No. 49 was filed by the Coeur d’Alene tribe of Idaho in the Idaho House of Representatives in March 2012 with the goal of correcting historical records and reuniting Mildred Bailey1, one of the first female vocalists in jazz history. “I think it’s not known at all. Hardly nobody knew,” says Coeur d’Alene Tribal Chairman Chief Allan. “Not only being Native, but being a woman in that era, to be so strong and keep pushing and not to give up, that would help a lot of our young tribal members who are looking for a role model,” says Chief Allan2.
For background on the Coeur d’Alene tribe, we can find a large monetary exchange between the tribe and the United States government. As a result of the constant stream of settlers into the area, the Coeur d’Alene people effectively transitioned from traditional means of nomadic survival in just fifty years after first making contact with Europeans and adopted static agriculture3. The Coeur d’Alene tribe paid the United States government half a million dollars in 1889 to give up the northern portion of their ancestral lands, as stated in the Indian Commissions Agreement. All Coeur d’Alene families received an equal share of the funds, most of which went into purchasing cutting-edge farming machinery4. Mildred Bailey, who was born in 1900 and was nurtured by her Coeur d’Alene mother and a Scotch/Irish father on a farm next to the reservation, portrayed this fast changing environment3.
For over eight decades, Bailey, a member of the Coeur d’Alene tribe, was mostly recognized as a “white jazz singer.” Conversations concerning the origins of jazz rarely addressed Bailey’s Indian identity; it stayed in the farmlands of Coeur d’Alene, where she learned to move, speak, and sing like a neglected crop. In a 1930s America that was still divided along racial lines, Bailey could easily be pardoned if she decided to conceal her Native American heritage, but she never made the attempt to do so3. On the contrary, she was happy to share it with everyone around her as a source of pride. The reason Mildred Bailey was labeled as “white” was that the jazz narrative she was a part of could not accommodate Indian jazz players. The faulty label of “white jazz-singer” was important for a number of reasons, not the least of which was Bailey’s significant influence on the jazz and pop scenes. Bailey invented the vocal “swing” style that many singers attempted to imitate, including “Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Bing Crosby, and Tony Bennett.” (Hamill 33) Bailey chose to attribute her voice sixty years after it was recorded for the final time, to the Indian music of her childhood rather than her contemporaries.3
1“Page 260 Us, Indian Census Rolls, 1885-1940.” Fold3, www.fold3.com/image/216137757. Accessed 25 Oct. 2023.
2Robinson, Jessica. “Tribe Seeks to Correct Jazz History on Native Singer’s Heritage.” NPR, NPR, 15 Mar. 2012, www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=148715100.
3 Berglund, Jeff, Johnson, Jan, and Lee, Kimberli, eds. Indigenous Pop : Native American Music from Jazz to Hip Hop. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2016. Accessed October 26, 2023. ProQuest Ebook Central.
4 Dinwoodie, David. “Landscape Traveled by Coyote and Crane: The World of the Schitsu’Umsh (Coeur d’Alene Indians).” Montana; the Magazine of Western History 53, no. 1 (Spring, 2003): 75. https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/landscape-traveled-coyote-crane-world-schitsuumsh/docview/217955660/se-2.
Benny Goodman is often referred to as the “King of Swing”. He was a clarinetist and leader of the famous Benny Goodman orchestra which was one of the driving groups behind the swing craze of the early 1900s. Swing was a popular genre that was derivative of previous styles of New Orleans Jazz, borrowing elements such as off-beat emphasis, and chromatic harmonization 1. Swing was a wildly commercially successful genre but despite its economic success, there’s skepticism that the most responsible musicians were fairly compensated. The commercial success of the genre often manifested in radio and record producers being the agents with the most power, and ultimately perpetuating a system of segregation and oppression 2.
Moonlight Serenade, Glenn Miller, Johns Hopkins Sheridan Libraries, Lester S Levy Sheet Music Collection
The other result of swing was that band leaders often became the celebrities associated with the music, with artists such as Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller becoming widely known 3. Their visibility and the power of radio and record producers led to a wide disparity in success in a genre that owed its roots to Black artists. Between 1935 and 1945 the four most popular big bands led by white musicians… racked up a total of 292 Top 10 records, of which 65 were number one hits. In contrast, the four most popular Black swing orchestras scored only thirty-two top hits, three of which made it to number one on the charts. The dominance of these white musicians provides another example of the co-opting of African American music to the financial benefit of white parties.
1
Early, Gerald. “Jazz and the African American Literary Tradition, Freedom’s Story,.” TeacherServe®, National Humanities Center, nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/freedom/1917beyond/essays/jazz.htm. Accessed 11 Oct. 2023.
2
Saleh, Leena. “The Swing Era: A Time of Hidden (Beauty and Limited) Oppression.” AOT, 26 June 2021, www.aotontario.org/post/the-swing-era-a-time-of-hidden-beauty-and-limited-oppression.
3
Vitale, Tom. “Benny Goodman: Forever the King of Swing.” NPR, NPR, 30 May 2009, www.npr.org/2009/05/30/104713445/benny-goodman-forever-the-king-of-swing.
Pop punk, roll-the-dice improvisation, break core, and hyper pop are just a few of the niche genres of music that are taking American youth by storm. However, few stop to think about how we got to this age of new genres being synthesized on an annual basis- where did this music truly come from?
The answer is ultimately pretty cut and dry- black people have created, either directly or indirectly, every single genre of American music. The American Music Family Tree1 starts with music of African American origin in its roots and extends out to more modern genres at its branches, all derived from its roots.
This is not a new notion, however. All the way back in 1893, African American people all over the nation were waking up to the notion that the music around them had been co-opted and repackaged into something “new” by white people. In the Cleaveland Gazette’s 18932 article “Dr. Dvorak On The Right Track” the editor cites that “about all the American Music we have is furnished by in these same “Negro” melodies.” In tandem with this claim, the author mentions Dvorak’s prophecy before it was actually called Dvorak’s prophecy. Dvorak claimed, in essence, that the experiment of American music (which he was tasked as a white person coming all the way from Europe to create) would not succeed unless it incorporated and gave due regard to the musical traditions around itself.
Unfortunately, today music is still being co-opted and not being given due regard by white musicians and listeners alike. In Vince Dixon’s 20113 article concerning this topic, tragic ironies are outlined like slave owners learning banjo from their slaves, or ragtime being considered offensive by white people before it was co-opted and turned repackaged into more popular and palatable genres for white people. We have this information now of a pattern of abuse in our American musical canon- and we have the means by which to recognize and change our patterns of behavior. As Dvorak said, the ongoing experiment of American music will fail if we don’t- whether or not we’re 130 years on from his prophecy.
Review of a minstrel show at Orchestra Hall in Chicago.1
This review published in Chicago, Illinois details the experience of someone who went to see the New York Syncopated Orchestra which became known as the Southern Syncopated Orchestra. Made up of 27 black musicians and 19 singers, this orchestra primarily performed jazz music as well as classical music, rag tunes, blues, and slave songs.2 They were primarily known for bringing black musicians to the United Kingdom.3 They introduced jazz to Europe “years before the music saw its heyday and even played at Buckingham Palace for George V.”4 They achieved great success in the UK and America.
The published review of this orchestra explained how this performance was not advertised, so the audience was rather slim. The reviewer explains that those in attendance had a good time and expects that the next time this orchestra is in town, the audience will surly be jam packed. The reviewer continues by detailing every instrument and performance the orchestra gave. As far as the quartets that sang, “not since the days of Fisk’s Cantors” had he heard anything quite as good, and the “timpany-boy” was a “revelation.”6 He details the quality of the performance as “distinctly good,” “the strings were in tune, and of fine tone,” and “pitch was the middle-name of all those who took part.”7 Overall, this reviewer had nothing but positive comments about the Southern Syncopated Orchestra.
The SSO achieved great success in their significant, yet short run. Only a few photos survived from their time, but their music was never recorded and “their legacy is now largely forgotten.”8 The SSO met an tragic fate while traveling from Scotland to Ireland, their ship crashed with two others and they lost eight members of their orchestra. The SSO only survived from 1919 to 1921, yet they were pioneers of American jazz music and were some of the firsts to bring it to the international stage.
Bibliography
“Good Minstrels.” Broad Ax, 1919, p. 6. African American Newspapers, Accessed October 4, 2023.
Dome, Brighton. “Jazz Pioneers: The Southern Syncopated Orchestra / Brighton Dome.” Jazz Pioneers: The Southern Syncopated Orchestra / Brighton Dome. Accessed October 4, 2023. https://brightondome.org/news_blog/southern_syncopated_orchestra/.
Rye, Howard. “Southern Syncopated Orchestra.” African American Studies Center, 2007. https://doi.org/10.1093/acref/9780195301731.013.47655.
“Southern Syncopated Orchestra.” London Remembers. Accessed October 4, 2023. https://www.londonremembers.com/subjects/southern-syncopated-orchestra.
Footnotes
1Broad Ax. “Good Minstrels.” African American Newspapers, Accessed October 4, 2023.
2 Howard Rye, “Southern Syncopated Orchestra,” African American Studies Center, 2007, https://doi.org/10.1093/acref/9780195301731.013.47655.
3 Howard Rye, “Southern Syncopated Orchestra,” African American Studies Center, 2007, https://doi.org/10.1093/acref/9780195301731.013.47655.
4 “Southern Syncopated Orchestra,” London Remembers, accessed October 4, 2023, https://www.londonremembers.com/subjects/southern-syncopated-orchestra.
5 “Southern Syncopated Orchestra,” London Remembers, accessed October 4, 2023, https://www.londonremembers.com/subjects/southern-syncopated-orchestra.
6 Broad Ax. “Good Minstrels.” African American Newspapers, Accessed October 4, 2023.
7Broad Ax. “Good Minstrels.” African American Newspapers, Accessed October 4, 2023.
8 Brighton Dome, “Jazz Pioneers: The Southern Syncopated Orchestra / Brighton Dome,” Jazz Pioneers: The Southern Syncopated Orchestra / Brighton Dome, accessed October 4, 2023, https://brightondome.org/news_blog/southern_syncopated_orchestra/.
Jazz came out of enslaved Africans brought to America against their will, where a combination of many factors led to the creation of a particular music. African music became a single identity, since many were stripped of their previous and distinct African cultures.1 Jazz in Europe, then, could be thought of as a music out of its homeland.
After WWII, however, jazz flourished throughout Europe especially after many toured as ‘Jazz Ambassadors.’2 Louis Armstrong himself (shown the newspaper article below) faced a dilemma in the midst of the Cold War: Should he work for the US in making allies with the Soviet Union? Should he be proud of the US, a country which did unbelievable harm to his people? Armstrong struggled with this publicly and likely because of it, never went to tour Europe under the US State Department.3 However, others like him did.4
Duke Ellington was one of those who did go to Europe in 1963 under the State Department. The attached recording5
shows Alice Babs, a Swedish singer, soloing during one of Ellington’s shows. Shows like this were what the US wanted other countries to see: Equality and desegregation, especially when many different types of segregation were in play in areas like East Germany at the time. Even in an era of segregation, the US wanted to show (perhaps falsely) that they were more or less an ideal society compared to Russia and other Eastern European countries. Because of this show and many more like this, Europe got a biased view of racial identity and music in the US, and it is possibly a reason that jazz flourished in Europe after World War II.6
It’s particularly interesting that jazz was formed through a certain set of very sad and unique circumstances, yet, it was never broadcasted in that way. When brought over to a land where there still are acts of racist inequalities, although perhaps less talked about, an interesting case is set up to analyze the music’s development. The spread of jazz under US government support is another question for thought in a world of complexities.
1. Jones, Leroy. “Blues People.” William Morrow and Company, New York. 1963
2. Beliar, Felix. “United States has a Secret Weapon–Jazz”. The New York Times https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1955/11/06/93808557.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
3. “Sathmo Tells us off Ike, US! Armstrong Blasts Bias in America”. Pittsburgh Courier, 28 September, 1957
4. Jenks, J.P. Jazz dIplomacy: Then and Now. US Department of State. 30 April 2021 https://www.state.gov/dipnote-u-s-department-of-state-official-blog/jazz-diplomacy-then-and-now#:~:text=Jazz%20Ambassador%20heroes%20included%20Quincy,just%20to%20name%20a%20few.
5 PJJ. “Take it Easy – ALice Babs – Duke Ellington – 1963”, Youtube, 2:45 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXm1SawjacI
6. Liebman, David. “Europe and its Role in Jazz” https://davidliebman.com/home/ed_articles/europe-and-its-role-in-jazz/
Getty Image. 1901. Photo of Margaret Murray Washington.
Black woman Margaret Murray Washington gave an address during the Louisiana Purchase exhibition, titled “The Songs of Our Fathers.” In this address, she demarcates soul music as “words and music voiced together with the deepest feelings.”1 This was in 1905, during a time when hearing the words of a black woman was not extremely common, even the article was stated to be written by ‘Mrs. Booker T. Washington is a white soldier. This was the earliest definition of soul music that I could find, from an African American source.
Soul music is an African-American genre established in the 1960s.3 It’s a fusion between Gospel, Jazz, Rhythm, and Blues. Many different singers across the genre attempt to achieve a spiritual ascendance. Big names like Ray Charles, Etta James, and Sam Cooke spearheaded the genre. Billboard topper “A Sunday Kind of Love”4 by Etta James, to me, represents the spirituality that soul music represents. Typical Christian denominations, that James subscribed to meet on Sunday. In the song she sings of wanting to meet a lover on Sunday, to keep her warm throughout the week. In my opinion, she’s talking about God here. Someone that you’re closest to on Sunday. Take a listen to the song below.
In the latter half of the 1960’s you can hear a marked difference in Soul music. The influence of gospel increased, but the influence of the blues fell. You hear a more distinctive Southern style; it becomes more rugged and less polished. As you hear in the recording by Etta James, it’s almost an aria sung by her while backed by a rhythm section. In this recording by James Brown “Out of Sight”5 you can hear a very large difference in how the two songs sound. This difference in sound is defined as “Mowtown.” The latter better signifies the soul scene in the 1970’s.
Although Soul Music is a relatively new genre, I have a feeling that it’s going to stay. We’ve got popular black artists pioneering the genre. Artists like Lauryn Hill and Mary J Blige are bringing it into pop culture. We’re getting gospel style music with secular lyrics. We see it all over the country too, places like New York, Chicago, and New Orleans are the first places that come to mind.
1 “The Songs of Our Fathers. An Address Delivered on Fisk Day during the Louisiana Purchase Exhibition.” <em>Plaindealer</em> (Topeka, Kansas) VII, no. 20, May 19, 1905: [3]. <em>Readex: African American Newspapers</em>. https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/readex/doc?p=EANAAA&docref=image/v2%3A12A7EF1A4AC47F2D%40EANAAA-12C8B913302F6748%402416985-12C8B9134BFB71A0%402-12C8B913A0F80C58%40The%2BSongs%2Bof%2BOur%2BFathers.%2BAn%2BAddress%2BDelivered%2Bon%2BFisk%2BDay%2Bduring%2Bthe%2BLouisiana%2BPurchase%2BExhibition.
Classically trained in violin performance, Eddie South was born in 1904 in Louisiana.
Portrait of Eddie South
South was an extremely talented classical violinist who studied in America and European cities such as Paris and Budapest 1. When South returned home to Chicago, IL, he was met with the segregation of the thirties. This forced South to transfer his classical skills over to jazz. This conversion allowed him to form his own band 2; during his playing, he utilized melodies, which he developed from his time spent around Romani People. This skill of interpreting several different styles of music is what stands out in several recordings of his spreads from Europe to Cuban music from his tours in the southern states of the USA 3. This style of music is what cemented South as one of the most prominent jazz violinists of his time. These achievements, however, were not without criticism; due to his classical upbringing, jazz critics found his music to be “formal” and to lack swing 2. Because of segregation, which lasted until the sixties, the South was not able to join any orchestras because the spots on them were reserved for white male players. Jazz was the only sector of music where African Americans were semi-respected for their playing ability and musicianship.
Through time, there has slowly been more diversity being gained in the orchestra as more diverse ensembles are assembled. However, African Americans are still largely not represented properly within the orchestra 4. Diversity is something classical music has been struggling with since its formalization hundreds of years ago. The diversification of the music has helped spread the music to several different cultures; however, it has not been picked up yet in mainstream music compared to the “cannon.”
Gottlieb, William P. Portrait of Eddie South, Café Society (Uptown), New York, N.Y., Ca. Dec. 1946. 1946. Photograph. December 1, 1946. https://loc.gov/item/gottlieb.08001 (Accessed September 27, 2023)
Browsing through the Library of Congress National Jukebox, I came across a piece that had a curious title. “Shanghai lullaby” was composed by Isham Jones and published under Columbia records in 1923.1 The piece is listed as a foxtrot, which is a dance genre with origins in ragtime and jazz.2 When listening to the piece, you can hear the stylistic characteristics of the foxtrot from the beginning, such as a rhythmic emphasis on beats one and three and common jazz instrumentation.3 When I considered the title, I had anticipated that the piece would be full of painfully obvious appropriation and misrepresentation. To my surprise, much of the piece sounds quite tame in terms of musical markers of otherness. However, the title brings attention to the use of pentatonic melodic figures throughout the piece and sections that feature the distinctive and unexpected tone of the oboe.
When considering cultural appropriation and misrepresentation, power dynamics cannot be ignored. “Shanghai lullaby” is a prime example of misrepresentation and appropriation of an other. Practices like this have a tendency to diminish a different group to nothing more than a few musical markers all for the sake of entertainment, interest, and novelty, which is a completely dehumanizing process. Unfortunately, using musical markers to profit off of marginalized groups was common practice during the period in which this piece was composed. A most notable example of this is Isham Jones and his Orchestra’s recording of “Aunt Hagar’s Blues,” which bears a cover featuring racist caricatures of Black Americans.4
Front page of sheet music edition of “Aunt Hagar’s Blues”5
Unfortunately, this piece participates in and upholds a legacy of cultural supremacy and exploitation. If the title didn’t indicate the musical markers of an other, I suspect that not many listeners today would be able to pick up on the musical othering because so much of the piece is stylistically appropriate to the foxtrot and features a catchy, memorable melody. It really is too bad that the piece boasts a title that, nowadays, negates any enjoyment of the music itself and instead draws attention to a history of demeaning musical marginalization.
3 Conyers, Claude. “Foxtrot.” Grove Music Online. 6 Feb. 2012; Accessed 27 Sep. 2023. https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-1002219055.
4 Bjerstedt, Sven. “Musical Marginalization Processes: Problematizing the Marginalization Concept through an Example from Early 20th Century American Popular Culture.” Lund University, April 4, 2016. https://portal.research.lu.se/en/publications/musical-marginalization-processes-problematizing-the-marginalizat.
There seems to be a major misconception to what the first large wave of Latin American music was in the United States. Many seem to believe that the first large wave was in 1930 with the large wave of immigration from both Cuba and Mexico, this isn’t entirely incorrect. That was a large wave of immigration that brought along music, but the first large foray into Latin music was in 1910. A duo of husband and wife brought over the Argentinian Tango from France.1 Quite the interesting road map… Vernon and Irene Castle were the two that brought the Tango over from France in 1913, confusing right?
“Advertisement: Tango (Tango).” 1977.Vogue, Aug 01, 47.
When the two performed this on Broadway, it was a smash hit and took off immediately. While it took off in the United States, there was a different version centralized in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The Tango scene in Buenos Aires would seem much different from the United States. The Argentinian Tango is characterized by an emphasis on improvisation and the music that accompanies it. If the dance is not accompanied by Argentinian Tango music, it would not fit the bill.
There is a slight problem with the Tango in the United States, they lack any connection to Argentinian composers or performers. Developments that are seen in Argentina, aren’t seen in the United States. This isn’t all bad, there are some good things that came from this problem. Tango is being used on Broadway more frequently, and there are some *fusions* starting to happen, particularly in the jazz scene. Some of the earliest examples include classics like “A Night in Tunisia” played by Dizzy Gillespie. There are also some new tunes written specifically around Tango, “Tango Land” by Henry C Lodge2 is a perfect example. Listen for the syncopation, it’s a defining characteristic of the Tango.3
Around the 1950’s there was a huge stylistic shift in the jazz community, emphasizing fusion. The Mambo, Rumba, and other Latin influences. This was the golden period for Latin American music. Astor Piazzolla, an Argentine composer, was also taking the world stage at this point. Many took notice of his tango and jazz fusion in a Western classical lens, causing a large upset. The upset aside, the French government awarded him with a grant to come and study with the best, Natalie Boulanger.
The tango was taking the world’s attention, and it wasn’t going to let go. It influenced many different genres, and even took Broadway by storm. Its influence cannot be denied in the sects of jazz, symphonic rep, opera, dance, and many more.
Citation:
“Advertisement: Tango (Tango).” 1977.Vogue, Aug 01, 47. https://www.proquest.com/magazines/advertisement-tango/docview/904335846/se-2.
Argentine Tango. Directed by Suzanne Reid and Norah Dale Allen. Spirit of Dance, 1996. https://search.alexanderstreet.com/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cvideo_work%7C2628254
Denniston, Christine. 2003. “Couple Dancing and the Beginning of Tango.” Www.history-of-Tango.com. 2003. http://www.history-of-tango.com/couple-dancing.html.
Kozhevnikova, Evgeniya. (2019). “The Boundaries of Modern Jazz Composition: Interaction between Tango and Jazz Music” master’s Theses. 4727.
León, Javier F. “South American Music in the United States.” In The American Mosaic: The Latino American Experience, ABC-CLIO, 2023. Accessed September 18, 2023. https://latinoamerican2.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/1329969.
Muñoz, Cristina K. “Tango.” In The American Mosaic: The Latino American Experience, ABC-CLIO, 2023. Accessed September 18, 2023. https://latinoamerican2-abc-clio-com.ezproxy.stolaf.edu/Search/Display/1329987.
1León, Javier F. “South American Music in the United States.” In The American Mosaic: The Latino American Experience, ABC-CLIO, 2023. Accessed September 18, 2023. https://latinoamerican2.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/1329969.
2Kozhevnikova, Evgeniya. (2019). “The Boundaries of Modern Jazz Composition: Interaction between Tango and Jazz Music” master’s Theses. 4727.
3Denniston, Christine. 2003. “Couple Dancing and the Beginning of Tango.” Www.history-of-Tango.com. 2003. http://www.history-of-tango.com/couple-dancing.html.
Illustration 26 (Feb. 26, 1920): The Composer Gets Inspiration For Some Jazz Music0
What is jazz? In order to discover what it is, we must discover where it came from. Jazz originated on the West coast of Africa, and was transported to America by slave labor in the late 1800s. In the few holidays that slaves were given when working on plantations, Africans from the west coast would sing spirituals, and songs of celebration. The term “Jaz” was a cry for means of celebration, and would cue high speed music the accentuate the excitement of their holidays off of tedious work.1
Jazz isn’t a specific form of music, but rather a treatment applied to different aspects of music. Jazz was a detail of music so different from the rest, to the point where communities wished it was banned from being listened to. From the usages of new syncopations to the idea of improvisation, Jazz created such a different outlook on what music would sound like, but this certainly isn’t the first time the world has heard of such drastic changes.
Take Beethoven, Wagner, Debussy, and Stravinsky, to name a few, for example. What did all of these composers have in common? They all changed musical conventions to what they felt music should feel and sound like, further “distorting what before them had been accepted as conventionally correct.”2 Just like in the origins of jazz, many were disgusted in the new ideas of such prolific composers. However, if we zoom out of their roles with respect to their creative ideas, we can see the impacts they each had on the effects of music today.
These composers created new emotions that the music brings forth to its audience and to its musicians. This is comparable to that of the experiences between indigenous people and European settlers in “Music In The USA” edited by Judith Tick.3
The European settlers were exposed to new sources of tradition and music. Meanwhile, this same music of the indigenous people had been celebrated for centuries prior to the Europeans settling. Experiencing these new characteristics of music make it difficult for indigenous and jazz genres of music to be boxed into a set category of music – improvisation and restriction of theory skills are not extremely important in these two treatments of music compared to its European Classical counterpoints of music.4 If they are two completely different types of music that come from different backgrounds, then why do we continue to push them together as a whole?
Jazz created a new outlook on music, and thus created a new outlook on life, one that served great prominence in American culture, and continues to do so today.
The questions surrounding the origins of jazz, including what jazz is, where jazz came from and who performs jazz, abound. Numerous articles, books, and dissertations have these or similar titles in reference to jazz. Why? What is the reason? The true origins of jazz have been up for debate for quite some time. Scholars have extensively researched this issue, due in part to its wide and deep lineage of African and African American culture, as well as possessing strong roots in ragtime and blues.
During my end of semester research on “Early Jazz” and the pioneers of the jazz genre, I stumbled upon a newspaper article entitled, “The Origins of Jazz” written in 1921 by Madge R. Cayton. The article was published under “Cayton’s Monthly”, a column in the Seattle Republican newspaper. Madge’s father, Horace Roscoe Cayton Sr., was an American journalist and political activist who launched the Seattle Republican. As the biracial son of a slave and a white plantation owner’s daughter, Horace Cayton created the newspaper with the intention of appealing to black and white readers alike. Below is Madge R. Cayton’s “The Origins of Jazz” article. The article obnoxiously reflects the beliefs of the average white reader of this time period rather than those of the average black reader.
In her article, Cayton briefly explores the origins of the word “jazz” as well as the two specific types of jazz: the “Siamese jazz” which originated in China, and the “Oriental jazz” originating in Africa. Right from the outset, Cayton displays a narrow-minded view of the research on the origins of this “street rhythm” and a lackluster degree of understanding of the topic. Cayton focuses on the African “Oriental jazz” music, outlining her racist and discriminatory remarks. Throughout the article Cayton repeatedly conveys her distaste for jazz music and its glamorization of the African jungle, stating, “It is an attempt to reproduce the marvelous syncopation of the African Jungle. It is the result of the savage musician’s wonderful gift of progressive retarding and acceleration which is guided by his sense of ewing.” The use of the word “savage” in describing the musicians is an immediate indicator of Cayton’s racist tone and underlying belief in white supremacy. The term “savages” has long been denounced as a racial stereotype for African Americans because of their basis in racially motivated scientific studies that found African Americans to be inferior to their white counterparts, making them closer to wild animals than to humans. Clayton continues her barrage of racialized and stereotyped comments on African Americans and their love for jazz music, pointing out a concern about the increasingly larger and more notable venues available to this performance tradition, “Jazz has reigned supreme for some years and most likely, will reign for many more for it has invaded our dance halls, theaters, and concert halls. Even our churches have not escaped without their share of tempestuous music. It has even snatched our very songs, classical and popular, and taken them for its own use, ragging them to death.” This “invasion” Clayton suggests, should return its music to the “forest primeval” which is “more real and refined there than in a hall filled with dancers.” Clayton finishes expanding on the same belittling themes stating, “Because jazz is elemental bringing the savage to the surface, it is dangerous. We cannot afford in our present stage of civilization to accept the standard of the savage even if it is only through the giddy measure of a dance”. Based on Clayton’s writing, jazz puts civilization itself at stake.
I can say with a high degree of confidence that Ms. Cayton’s article on the origin of jazz should be considered frivolous in nature, repugnant given it is rooted in Jim Crow thinking, and filled with racist ideas and a display of close-mindedness common among a large number of white folks in the U.S. in the early 1900’s. Additionally, some people of color, denied the opportunity to learn better, held similar views. For more scholarly research and accurate information into the origins of jazz, pursued by bright, open minded college students, please follow this link >>> (will put link to final project here when finished).
Jazz music emerged during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Like early African-American music, there is an emphasis on call and response patterns or aspects. Moreover, jazz music’s lack of strict structure compared to western classical music gives the musicians freedom to develop and perform in their own distinct styles. This freedom of expression is seen by many as a way of evolving old Negro Spirituals into more contemporary forms of music. However, there are also many who see jazz music as a way of debasing the music and meanings of old spirituals.
In a Chicago Defender article entitled “Spiritualistic Start: That’s What “Jazz Music” had, Says Rosamond Johnson”, the author quotes Johnson’s perspective that jazz music will never die because it is the evolution of plantation music. Johnson, an African-American composer and singer during the Harlem Renaissance, goes on to explain how slave songs evolved into spirituals through the societal changes that African-Americans went through. He goes on to explain how unrest took hold of African-Americans, leading to syncopation and multiple rhythms being played over each other in spirituals, which he claims is the same basic principle of jazz music. Johnson also mentions western classical music, stating that syncopation and the use of many rhythms has made the great symphonies what they are today. In comparison, Johnson claims that by following these basic principles, jazz music is aiding in the appreciation of old spirituals by evolving them into a more contemporary form of music.
H.T. Burleigh had a contrasting opinion to Johnson in that jazz music actually debases spirituals. In a letter written to the public, Burleigh urges both races to preserve spirituals by stopping the progression of spirituals into jazz music. Burleigh claims that spirituals are the prized possession of the African-American race as they were created to demonstrate and perpetuate the struggles and emotions that African-Americans had during and after slavery. He goes even further to state that spirituals are the only legacy of slavery days that African-Americans can be proud of and that they are on the same level as great fold songs from around the world. By “perverting” the melodies and rhythms of spirituals into dance and popular songs, Burleigh says that it is destructive to the meanings of the original art forms, calling jazz music a misappropriation of spirituals.
References:
“HARRY BURLEIGH BEWAILS MISUSE OF FOLK SONGS: SAYS JAZZ DEBASES THEM; DISLIKES SPIRITUALS USED AS FOX TROTS.” The Chicago Defender (National edition) (1921-1967), Nov 18, 1922, pp. 8. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/harry-burleigh-bewails-misuse-folk-songs/docview/491939656/se-2.
Thompson, Noah D. “SPIRITUALISTIC START: THAT’S WHAT “JAZZ MUSIC” HAD, SAYS ROSAMOND JOHNSON.” The Chicago Defender (National edition) (1921-1967), Jan 21, 1922, pp. 7. ProQuest, https://www.proquest.com/historical-newspapers/spiritualistic-start/docview/491909144/se-2.
The way white people describing Black Americans and their music never ceases to shock me, especially from an older source like a 1920s newspaper article. In the specific article I will be referring to, the title is “Dancers Need Substitute for U.S. Jazz”. At first glance, I thought it was a flier notifying its readers that dancers for a show were needed, but this is not at all what the article dives into.
It was hard to tell where this “article” came from because there was no author stated and all it says at the top is “Prague, Czech Home Service”. I was unsure if this was a newspaper or a subsection of a paper. This was extra confusing because the topic was on American music but there were European countries in it. However, after a closer look, I realized that it was a transcribed message from, likely, a radio show.
The very first “ear” catching statement made by the narrator was quoted from a musical composer “many people are unable to realize the difference between jazz and dance music”(Par. 1) The narrator goes on to share their own thoughts on this statement. It is a bit hard to deduce who the narrator is and anything of their background, but it seems like they have only heard the white american perspective. Comments such as “Old Negro folk songs were only sung. Their rhythm originated from the rhythm of work. So-called modern jazz has no effect on feelings, but only on the lowest primitive urges.”, and “American owners of slaves and plantations”(Par. 3-4). This second comment alone lets me know that this narrator didn’t view these people as enslavers. This to me says that they don’t understand the trauma and suffering of slavery, therefore they don’t understand the meaning behind slave songs. Slave songs also aren’t jazz. They influenced jazz, but the reverse is not true.
Work Cited:
DANCERS NEED SUBSTITUTE FOR U.S. JAZZ. (1954, March 17) Prague, Czech Home Service. Translated in DAILY REPORT. FOREIGN RADIO BROADCASTS (Publication no. FBIS-FRB-54-053, published 1954, March 18), HH2-HH3. Available from Readex: American Race Relations: Global Perspectives, 1941-1996: https://infoweb-newsbank-com.ezproxy.stolaf.edu/apps/readex/doc?p=TOPRACE&docref=image/v2%3A12895BC6AA32DB40%40FBISX-131CEE8714B10AF8%402434820-131CEE95A3BF5E00%4036-131CEE9605E97168%40DANCERS%2BNEED%2BSUBSTITUTE%2BFOR%2BU.S.%2BJAZZ.
Discussion in class lately has focused a lot on what are the right ways to study music that is not from our culture or with things that are unfamiliar to ourselves. While we aim to learn and gain knowledge from those around us we often go about doing so in the wrong ways. I found myself captivated by the need to first look at my own identity before I can even begin to learn from someone else. I think it is important when trying to understand identity you have to understand your own and the significance of that.
Reading into Duke Ellington, I cam across a book that he wrote about himself. The book spans over 500 pages and is filled with his reflections on every aspect of his musical persona. Speaking in first, second, and third person narrative, Ellington delves into the depths of his music identity. The book is falling apart at the seams and the plastic jacket put on by the library seems to be the only thing keeping it intact. Enjoying the book so much to the point of wanting my own copy I quickly found it near impossible to find a “new” copy of the book and every copy I can across was in similar condition. Skimming through the book one sees it is set up as a performance with multiple “acts” that divide the book up. The “blurb” or synopsis of the book (written by Ellington) draws the reader in with his third person perspective.
“My Favorite Tune? The next one. The one I’m writing tonight or tomorrow, the new baby is always the favorite….The author of these words has created some of the best-loved music in the world: ‘Mood Indigo,’ ‘Sophisticated Lady,’ ‘Caravan,’ ‘Take the A Train,’ ‘Solitude.’ More of a performance than a memoir, this book by Duke is Duke, with everything but the soundtrack. He never wanted to write an autobiography and he hasn’t. What he’s done is lay it all down– the times he’s had, the people he’s know. A superior name-dropper, the Duke only drops names he knows– and he’s known them all: Presidents, George Gershwin, Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald, Orson Welles, and most especially his own “boys in the band,” Billy Strayhorn, arranger–lyricist who was “my right arm, my left arm, and all the eyes in the back of my head,” plus Sonny Greer, Cootie Williams, Johnny Hodges, and many others. There are short takes: essays on his philosophy of life (Music, Night Life, God and Wisdom, all pass scrutiny); journals of his triumphant tours across the world; and his “Sacred Concerts.” Throughout, he writes with all the elegance, panache, sophistication, and innocence that are marks of his unforgettable music Duke Ellington’s talent radiates a special energy, and a magic that could only evolve from a grandiose love of life. His book, bursting with anecdote and spirits, honors that great gift.”
While the book goes through each “Act” and looks at his tours, the numerous big names he has gotten to know, his personal philosophy of life, and different journal articles about it; it also includes an interview he holds with himself. This was a part I found most fascinating as he conducts a very well done interview with himself that asks questions such as “Do you consider yourself as a forerunner n the advanced musical trends derived from jazz?,” “How do you regard the phenomenon of the black race’s contribution to the U.S. and world culture?,” “What is God for you”, “What does America mean to you,” and so many more.
I was quickly taken by this book and immensely curious to its contents. I found that Duke’s performances have to include the art of writing this autobiography-that-is-not-an-autobiography. This book is valuable information into the life of Duke Ellington. If we could’ve had a book written like this (or maybe spoken aloud) by specific Native American tribes we would learn so much about their perspective of their own music. It’s a great example of quality sources with credible authors. In class (and especially in my education classes) we discuss how everyone is an expert in their life and to their identity. While looking at one individual is not always the best way to learn about a whole group of people it is a great place to start.
American composer, Aaron Copland, is one of the most well known composers of the 20th century and one of the largest influencers of “American Music” … whatever that means. I still don’t know.
The Piano Concerto is one of Copland’s compositions with heavy jazz influences. It was first performed in Boston on January 28, 1927. While it is regarded a success today, upon its premiere it did not receive that recognition. After reading letters from listeners following the premier of the Piano Concerto, Copland wrote to Russian composer, Nicolas Slonimsky, on his reaction to the general public’s distaste of the composition.
“How flattering it was to read that the ‘Listener’ can understand Strauss, Debussy, Stravinsky – but not poor me. How instructive to learn that there is ‘no rhythm in this so-called concerto.’” 1
Gertrude Norman and Miriam Lubell Shrifte, Letters of Composers, an Anthology (New York: The Universal Library Grosset & Dunlap, 1927), 401.
In this concerto, “Copland himself explicitly states that he intended in this piece to explore the possible applications and extensions of jazz rhythm to modern art music”2. But why was the public so adamant against this piece? Perhaps it was the placement of jazz in the concert hall.
“The challenge was to do these complex vertical and horizontal experiments and still retain a transparent and lucid texture and a feeling of spontaneity and natural flow. If I felt I had gone to the extreme of where jazz could take me, the audiences and critics in Boston all thought I had gone too far.”3
Copland had many influences on his music, including Ravel, Rouseel, Satie, Milhaud, and Stravinsky. Copland’s main influence that I want to explore is jazz. Milhaud and Les Six are often credited with influencing Copland’s “jazzier” works. Something to explore in greater depth is the implications of limiting Copland’s influencers, especially when it comes to jazz, to white men and why the audience in Boston reacted the way they did when they heard jazz infiltrate their concert halls.
Blame It On The Blues is a 1914 jazz/blues/stomp song by Chas. L Cooke. It is written in the key of G in simple duple time. The beginning of the piece starts off with a sequence that repeats three times, each time down an octave. The right hand retains the melody throughout the entire piece and the left hand plays an eighth note pattern that alternates from being on the beat to being syncopated. The right hand is mainly syncopated. Like many blues pieces, there are many accidentals scattered throughout the whole song. The song itself is only about three pages long, but with its many repeats, it becomes around six pages. Just by looking at it and doing a quick musical analysis of the piece, you can tell it’s jazz/blues. When you listen to it, you can feel its syncopation and it definitely sounds very repetitive, almost cyclical. When I had this thought about the piece being “cyclical” I hadn’t even realized what the image on the title page was. It is a man and woman, drawn in black and white, sitting in a coil which looks like circles going up and up. Listening to the piece also makes me feel cartoonishly upbeat and active, like I want to complete a task. I think this is because jazzy, old-timey music such as this piece is used in soundtracks for silent films. In those films, the characters/people are moving around very quickly (due to the way it was animated) doing mundane or silly activities. Still, I couldn’t help but listen to it multiple times. I started this post in a very serious and focused mood but I couldn’t help but go down a rabbit hole of popular jazz/blues tunes of the early twentieth century. I guess you might say I could “blame it on the blues”.
Welcome back to Part II of my blog series “The Harp: Do You See it as a White Instrument?”.
As we have previously discussed, if the average American were asked what they envision when they think of harp music, it is likely that their description would most closely match Western classical music. Their image of a harpist would most likely match that of a white woman, angel, or cherub.
Conversely, if the average American were asked what instruments they think of when they think of jazz or swing music, the harp would unlikely be named at all.
Silhouette of five players in a jazz band, none of whom are playing the harp1
Allow me to challenge these prevailing images by introducing you to Olivette Miller, a Black swing harpist born in 1914.
From left to right: Gene Sedric, Cliff Jackson, Olivette Miller, and Josh White2
What do we know about Olivette Miller?
It was very difficult to find scholarly secondary sources about Olivette Miller. In fact, Catalyst, the library interface for St. Olaf and Carleton Colleges, shows only 15 results for “Olivette Miller”, and they are mostly references in the context of her famous father or ex-husbands (I smell academic sexism). Google results for Miller include a sparse Wikipedia page3, IMDB page4, and an African American Registry entry5, each listing very few, if any, credible secondary source references. One of the best scholarly sources I could find was The New York Public Library Archives and Manuscripts6, which only briefly mentions Olivette Miller under the biographical information for her father, saying she “was a renowned jazz harpist”. I searched for a recording of Miller playing the harp for a very long time, but only found a recording of her singing7:
What did a mid-twentieth century audience know about Olivette Miller?
There are far more references to Miller in primary source newspapers, where you discover, after digging, that she was famous in her time. In a 1942 article within the Arkansas State Press8, shown below, a headline reads “Olivette Miller Featured With Noble Sissle”, a prominent jazz composer. The article informs readers that Miller studied harp at the Conservatory of Paris, which is no small feat.
A newspaper clipping from the New York Age in 1948 announces that Olivette Miller gave a surprise appearance at Fisk University, calling her “New York’s boogie woogie harpist”9:
A clip from the Cincinnati Enquirer advertises Olivette Miller directly underneath Jackie “Moms” Mabley, calling Miller the “World’s Greatest Swing Harpist”10:
I also found the advertisement for a movie called “The Joint is Jumpin’”, shown below, which stars and highlights Olivette Miller11. It appears as though the film is lost. Still, Olivette must have been featured because advertisers believed her fame would help ticket sales.
In conclusion, we know that Olivette Miller was famous in her time, but that she has since been lost to history. What does her disappearance from modern-day discussions of jazz or harp say about race, identity, and representation in American music? Do we only preserve in our memories individuals who fit our expectations for race and genre?
P.S. If you want to hear what jazz harp would sound like, here’s a recording from the only slightly more-discussed jazz harpist, Dorothy Ashby, born 18 years after Olivette12:
2 Gottlieb, William P. Portrait of Gene Sedric, Cliff Jackson, Olivette Miller, and Josh White, Café Society Downtown, New York, N.Y., ca. Mar. United States, 1947. , Monographic. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/gottlieb.15891/.
5 “Olivette Miller, Jazz Harpist.” African American Registry, 22 Aug. 2021, https://aaregistry.org/story/olivette-miller-jazz-harpist-born/.
6 Fullwood, Steven G. “Flournoy Miller Collection.” Flournoy Miller Collection, The New York Public Library Archives and Manuscripts, https://archives.nypl.org/scm/20858.
7 Protone Records. “Olivette Miller – Look Up.” YouTube, YouTube, 6 May 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d_fFvFgECc.
8 “Olivette Miller Featured With Noble Sissle.” Arkansas State Press, 6 Nov. 1942, p. 7. Readex: African American Newspapers, infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/readex/doc?p=EANAAA&docref=image/v2%3A12F3CB549363AB38%40EANAAA-1338AA535C345258%402430670-1338A17A590FB5E0%406-1382D12EF361EDE0%40Olivette%2BMiller%2BFeatured%2BWith%2BNoble%2BSissle. Accessed 17 Oct. 2021.
9 “Olivette Miller, Jazz Harpist, at Fisk University.” New York Age, 5 June 1948, https://www.newspapers.com/clip/69869071/olivette-miller-jazz-harpist-at-fisk/.
10 “The Latin Quarter (Advertisement).” The Cincinnati Enquirer, 12 Oct. 1947, https://www.newspapers.com/clip/69852170/the-latin-quarter-advertisement/.
11 “The Joint Is Jumpin’ (1949).” DREAM13 Media, 10 Aug. 2021, https://media.dream13.com/the-joint-is-jumpin-1949/.
12 Regent Records. “Dorothy Ashby – Thou Swell.” YouTube, YouTube, 20 June 2010, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYBTr6CxpU8&t=234s.
Frankie Manning in 1938, age 24 (from the Frankie Manning Foundation)
I first heard about Frankie Manning through my participation in St. Olaf Swing Club, where we learn to dance a style of swing called Lindy Hop. I watched a few videos of Manning dancing, and even learned to dance one of his signature moves, the “Frankie sixes”. However, besides Frankie Manning’s name, I never felt like I knew much about the origins of Lindy Hop. Now, as a student officer of the St. Olaf Swing Club, I feel both an obligation and a curiosity to learn more.
“Dancers in Savoy Ballroom 1953” (from Grove Music Online)
Knowing also that Lindy Hop was created by Black dancers in America, I found that the African American Newspapers database was the perfect place to start piecing together Lindy Hop’s origin story. A column from a newspaper published in Topeka, Kansas in 1931 advertised for a spring N.A.A.C.P. dance happening at the Savoy Ballroom, which would feature a “National Lindy Hopper’s Contest” at midnight. The Savoy Ballroom, located in Harlem in New York, ended up being mentioned in almost every source I found relating to Lindy Hop and the early Lindy Hop dancers.
A different segment in the exact same publication states outright that Lindy Hop originated in the Savoy Ballroom, as opposed to Broadway revues where the dance style had been made available to wider audiences in the U.S.
“Harlem Credit for the Lindy Hop” (from Plaindealer)
At the 1939 World’s Fair in New York, a $100,000 theater was built to showcase the dance styles that had developed in the Savoy Ballroom. Fairgoers could pay 25 cents admission to enter the theater, where they could view 20-minute dance performances by “the country’s greatest rhythm dancers”.
While I could not find a list of the aforementioned rhythm dancers who performed at the 1939 World’s Fair, multiple primary and secondary sources gave me the names of some of the pioneers of Lindy Hop. Along with Frankie Manning, “Shorty George” Snowden (who was genuinely a really short guy), “Twistmouth George” Ganaway, Herbert “Whitey” White, and Norma Miller (“the Queen of Swing”) were likely to be mentioned in accounts of the history of Lindy Hop. “Shorty George” actually coined the term “Lindy Hop” in 1937 as a reference to Charles Lindbergh’s solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. The Frankie Manning Foundation website is an excellent source of short biographies of Lindy Hop’s founding dancers, including historical photographs.
The amount of primary and secondary source material available on this topic thrills me, especially compared with the lack of sources on other topics of interest to me. I can and probably will dig into the history of Lindy Hop and the Savoy Ballroom for hours on end, but for now I can only share a glimpse into where my curiosity will take me: was Ben Homer’s 1939 song, “Shoot the Sherbert to Me Herbert” referencing Herbert “Whitey” White? The song has the ideal tempo and rhythm for lindy hopping, and was written during or right after when “Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers” were performing at the Savoy Ballroom. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not.
Conyers, Claude. “Lindy Hop.” Grove Music Online. Oxford University Press, February 6, 2012. https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-1002219309?rskey=qigfiF&result=1.
Conyers, Claude. “Manning, Frankie.” Grove Music Online. Oxford University Press, February 23, 2011. https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-1002092553?rskey=rYzt6E.
Conyers, Claude. “Savoy Ballroom.” Grove Music Online. Oxford University Press, February 23, 2011. https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-1002092697?rskey=rYzt6E.
“Dancers in Savoy Ballroom 1953.” Grove Music Online. Oxford University Press. Accessed October 11, 2021. https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-d58879bf34d84a3885995f0814115f9c?rskey=rYzt6E.
In 1914, Henry Edward Krehbiel published Afro-American Folksongs: A Study in Racial and National Music. Although white, he was critical of the research that had come before him in relation to black music. In his book, he notes that the “overwhelming majority of the travellers who have written about primitive peoples have been destitute of even the most elemental knowledge of… music.” (13). This was in response to the gross misclassification of African instruments by people such as Dr. Richard Wallaschek. It was also a widely known fact in musicology back in the day that black folk music came as a result of white spirituals. While Krehbiel admits later on that “[s]imilarities exist between the folksongs of all peoples.” (14), he ultimately concludes that “the songs of the black slaves of the South are original and native products.” (22).
W. C. Handy
It was from this environment that William Christopher Handy was born. Those of you know know jazz history may know W. C. Handy for his influence in blues, pre-jazz, and in early jazz. While scouring the Library of Congress’ National Jukebox, I looked up blues songs by date and saw “The Memphis Blues” early on. The earliest recording in the National Jukebox is, coincidentally, also from 1914, although the sheet music is from 1913.
Songs like this and “St. Louis Blues” helped shape the face of popular black music and eventually popular music as a whole through what’s known as the 12 Bar Blues. This song form repeats a particular 12-bar harmonic structure throughout most of the song, only varying it slightly between different songs. This was not only popular throughout the early 1910s and 20s, but can also be seen throughout much of popular music in the 50s and 60s, including Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode” and Bill Haley’s “Rock Around the Clock.”
It’s all a bit ironic in hindsight to see the original claims of white music influencing black music end up being quite the opposite today. While it’s not fair to say that it was a one way influence, it’s impossible to go through the journey of American music through W. C. Handy to Chuck Berry to Beyoncé and not recognize the huge influence of black musicians and black music in general on what American music is today.
I came across an article from the Chicago Defender by Oscar Saffold with a completely different topic in mind for my post. The article describes a situation in which a white composer by the name of John Powell came up with a similar theory to George Pullen Jackson’s on the nature of spirituals. Using quotes from Krehbiel, H. T. Burleigh and other notable authors and composers, Saffold argues against these attempts to appropriate the history of the spiritual; however, I was struck by a quote at the end of the article that didn’t quite fit in. “We only have to preserve them and discourage the tendency to set them to jazz. They… should be spared this prostitution.” [1] This confused me, as spirituals have a long history of being set in classical music; However, when you think about the reputation of early jazz at the time as a form of popular music, it is easier to understand why these classical critics and performers would be so adverse to it.
“Never before have such outrageous dances been permitted in private as public ballrooms, and never has there been used for the accompaniment of the dance such a strange combination of tone and rhythm as that produced by the dance orchestras of today.”[2]
Jazz wasn’t taken seriously as a form of music due to it’s function as popular dance music. It was seen as an art which required less skill, was constantly compared to other genres and was predicted to die out relatively quickly. Oftentimes the criticisms weren’t about the music itself but of racialized fears of a musical ‘other’. Knowing how widespread and accepted jazz is now, some of these criticisms seem laughable. Surely we can all appreciate the timelessness of this quote about early jazz: “Certainly if this music is in any way responsible for the condition and for the immoral acts which can be traced to the influence of these dances, then it is high time that the question should be raised: “Can music ever be an influence for evil?”[3]
Front cover featuring Elvis Presley, Teen Life, April 1957
From the days of early jazz to Elvis in the 1950’s, rock and roll in the Satanic Panic of the 1980’s and even to rappers today, we can look back throughout history and see many instances of backlash against popular music for being a corrupting force of the youth. We oftentimes look back and laugh, and ask what we were so afraid of; however, whenever anything new comes we keep on asking the question: Can music ever be an influence for evil?
_____
Saffold, Oscar E. “How American Folk Songs Started.” The Chicago Defender (National Edition) (1921-1967), Feb 25, 1933. https://search.proquest.com/docview/492356076?accountid=351.
Walser’s Keeping Time: Readings in Jazz History
ibid
Works Cited:
Front cover featuring Elvis Presley, Teen Life, April 1957. http://www.rockandroll.amdigital.co.uk/VisualResources/VisualSourceViewer.aspx?imageid=991897&visualsearch=elvis&vpath=gallery
Saffold, Oscar E. “How American Folk Songs Started.” The Chicago Defender (National Edition) (1921-1967), Feb 25, 1933. https://search.proquest.com/docview/492356076?accountid=351.
We all have heard of The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, and the Jackson 5, but where did Motown come from and how has it been important? Whenever I think of Motown my mind jumps straight to the thought of Detroit. The … Continue reading →
Sheet music is always super exciting. Well, maybe not always. But, that statement probably would have fit popular sentiment in the late 19th and early 20th century as evidenced by all Tin Pan Alley composers, lyrists, and producers who churned an exorbitant amount of music. Looking through the Sheet Music Consortium, one such piece caught my eye because it not only seemed connected to our class discussions on Tin Pan Alley, but also our classes on Jazz and the Blues.
“The Jazz-Me Blues” were published by Palmetto Music Publishing Company in New York in 1921, and were written by Tom Delaney, who surprisingly, seems to be a bit of an enigma in my academic research sources.1 What I did find was that he lived from 1889 to 1963, was an African American composer, and he wrote a lot of jazz and blues songs that were popular in the 20’s and later.2 “The Jazz-Me Blues” are one of his songs for which there are many later recordings, a lot of them include a full band and exclude the vocal line.3 Maybe this is the way that Delaney meant for the piece to eventually be performed, as the cover of the music pictures what appears to be an all-black jazz band, and the piano arrangement was just for individual household consumption.
Something else that is interesting about the cover is that it differs from the sheet music covers we looked at and talked about in class. Most of those depicted fictional scenes or characters, a famous singer or performer, or racial caricatures if depicting black people. Perhaps this is a notable band, and separated from the time, we don’t know that. But what is important is that the fame of the band is not what is being used to sell the music unlike the ones in class. It also is worth noting that this is a positive portrayal of black Americans; not a caricature. Is that only because right above are the words “Jazz” and “Blues”, which were connected to blackness? Or, was this music written for a different audience and purpose than what we looked at in class?
Turning the page to look at the actual provides other examples of the coupling of certain music and race, albeit in a perhaps more covert manner. The melody relies on syncopation, even mentioning the word “syncopation” in conjunction with what jazz is. This is one of the sonic markers of blackness that we spoke about in class. Additionally, the lyrics talk about jazz and “jazz-time”, as well as “ragtime” and, of course, “blues”. Again, these are all musical genres that at the time were considered black.
Another interesting portrait is painted by the lyrics:
Down in Louisiana in that sunny clime,
They play a class of music that is super-fine,
And it makes no difference if it’s rain or shine,
You can hear that jazz-in music playing all the time.
It is almost as if the people in Louisiana do nothing but sing, dance, and play jazz. Yet, this also can be read in conjunction with the last line: “I’ve got those dog-gone low-down jazz me, jazz me blues”, implying that life is really is great as long as you have jazz, which seems to thus celebrate jazz.
Ultimately, in thinking about how Rydell argued that sheet music was responsible for normalizing public attitudes, I wonder about what message this song spread.4 I’m not sure. On the one hand, it seems to reinforce a lot of the musical black stereotyping we have talked about in class. Yet, on the other hand, it does come across a celebration of jazz, and, according to some sources, it was this composition, among others, that helped Delaney get out of poverty. Perhaps, like much of life, the answers are not as clear as they may at first appear.
4 Robert W. Rydell, “Soundtracks of Empire: ‘The White Man’s Burden,’ the War in the Philippines, the ‘Ideals of America,’ and Tin Pan Alley”, European journal of American studies [Online], 7-2 (2012). Accessed on March 22 2018. DOI : 10.4000/ejas.9712.
March of Time, in 1946, did a feature on the boom in night clubs in the United States. For relevant numbers, March of Time cites that there were 70,000 nightspots in the U.S. is 1946. In the central hub of night clubs in the 40’s, New York was home to several thousand of that number.
Clearly nightclubs were prevalent in society, so the roles that employees took in such spaces may reasonably reflect the standard across the U.S. at that time. It is incredibly striking how much March of Time emphasizes the various important role’s that females play in nightclubs. However, is is equally disappointing to see the women constantly referred to as objects for monetary gain.
The documentary starts by describing the various jobs at a nightclub. Once the narration moves past the roll of the door-man, they come to the job of the coatroom or “checkroom girls.” The narration describes that
In most clubs, the checkroom girls are hired at a fixed salary by an outside concessionaire. He picks them for the kind of personality that will attract tips and everything they collect goes into their employer’s box, which is securely locked.
The rhetoric implies a distrust to these girls, and emphasizes that their social interactions are strictly for monetary gain. Certainly, it would not have hindered the narration to indicate the useful service that these women provided for the nightclub.
In contrast to these women, the head waiter does not need to put his money in a lockbox to give to the employer. Rather, the head waiter is seen dealing with thrifty costumers by putting them at poor tables until they tip him generously. On screen, the costumer is seen giving the head waiter a $5 bill to change seats. This was drawn in direct opposition to the checkroom girls who received a half-dollar and needed to put it in a check box immediately.
This March of Time documentary short was meant as an education tool for those who did not go to nightclubs to understand their “social order.” The depictions in this documentary continue to label the women in the nightclub business as objects to be examined and payed according to their visual aesthetic while labeling the men in the nightclub business as individuals who grant a service. This, of course, reflects the social attitudes of mid 20th century America. Nevertheless, it is valuable to examine and take note of such subjugating examples because patriarchal attitudes certainly have not died out by the year 2017.
The value of this documentary short, specifically for american music, is its emphasis on nightclub culture. In the postwar era, genres such as bebop was born in late night club sessions (after the patrons would leave), but most of the music being played was dance music. The music itself is mentioned a number of times as an important key to success for any nightclub, but the individual musicians are never mentioned. This attitude toward musicians views them as providing a function service (much as how the checkroom girls are presented). These social situations are what provided the motivation for beboppers to focus their music on their own personalities.
One of the most prevalent clubs in Harlem was the Cotton Club, where Duke Ellington played frequently. Although Duke was not mentioned in the video, his music was played throughout. Therefore, I have left a song here for you to enjoy.
In a democracy at war, the cultural values of a young and vigorous nation can and must be preserved.
The closing lines of Upbeat in Music echo the rising nationalist sentiment that permeated America in the 1940s. This film, originally premiered in 1943 catalogues the musical year. And if one quote can sum up America’s musical life in the middle of World War II, it is certainly the one listed above. Upbeat in Music is a short documentary put together by newsreel makers, the March of Time. This year, 1943, in particular is compelling. America was in the middle of World War II and the nation’s sole preoccupation was establishing a strong national identity. Music was not spared from this endeavor. In fact, music is perhaps one of the great definers on American musical identity. This short film while attempting to discuss only 1943 ended up encapsulating the spirit of American Music as a whole in a few key ways.
Committee determining “Hit-Kit” songs
First, the entire film is preoccupied with the definition of “American” sound. To be fair, the film was made during a time of increasing nationalist fervor. World War II was in full swing and music was not be be exempt from the military industrial complex. In fact, the film points out throughout WWII the US Government printed in “hit kits” (books of five American songs and one song by an Allied Nation) that would be given to soldiers in the field. What got to go inside of the hit-kits was hotly contested. So much so that the government formed Music Committees of msuicians and impresarios like Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, and Paul Whiteman to determine which pieces of music were “American” enough to be included. At this crucial time in history, it became incredibly important that America establish a cohesive musical identity. And the most American way to establsih and American musical identity is certainly through the formation of a government committee.
Even after the reel moves on from talking about World War 2, it continues to emphasize a true “American” sound. The reel describes the efforts of American composers to create Americna works, referring to the compositions of Duke Ellington, Virgil Thomson, and Aaron Copland. Later, the video goes on to describe the way the Jukebox is changing the music industry and discusses the way musicians are struggling to maintain credit for (and therefore profit from) their work. This struggle reflects a another aspect of American music as a whole: the duality of the musician both as an artist and businessperson. The film spends a great deal of time talking about Serge Koussevitsky and the BSO and acknowledging the Metropolitan Opera and several large symphony orchestras as both important business and important artistic forces.
The last section of the film focused heavily on popular music, pointing out that the American musical landscape is predominantly molded by the desires of a white, middle class market. This too is present throughout all of American music hisotry, the idea of capitalism and music coinciding. The presence of these sentiments from a documentary in the 1940s only proves that markets for music have been driving forces behind musical development in America long before the new millenium.
The film discusses the growing importance of jazz and recognizes the importance of Marion Anderson‘s recordings of spirituals as well, only briefly touching on the subject. While the film does discuss composers like Duke Ellington and performers like Anderson, it is also important to not the racist overtones that permeate the work. Nearly every person in the film is white, and when Ellington was brought up, through praised for his work in jazz, he was contrasted against “serious” composers like Copland and Thomson. Paul Whiteman was considered to be the standard bearer for jazz when it came to determining what should go into the “hit-kits” rather than someone like Duke Ellington who had a great deal of experience in the subject. In fact, no person of color was allowed on the “hit-kits” committee. As I said earlier, this film succeeds in painting a complete picture of American music history, and that history includes racism.
The film closes with the patriotic images of young soldiers giving recitals and the reminder that “In a democracy at war, the cultural values of a young and vigorous nation can and must be preserved”. For a nation at war, the preservation and definition of musical culture was of utmost importance. Upbeat in Music serves both as a time capsule and as an example of the major themes in American musical history. It is an invaluable insight into the ways music interacts with politics, culture, and economics as well as the way we talk about and research music.
Sources
Crawford, Richard. America’s Musical Life: A History. New York: W.W. Norton, 2005.
LP Album Cover. Rhapsody in Blue: the 1925 Piano Roll, Michael Tilson Thomas, Columbia Records, 1976.
One of the most notable compositions that comes to mind when ruminating on symphonicjazz is Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” (1924). Listen Here. In thanks largely to Paul Whiteman’s clever marketing as an “Experiment in Modern Music” and its premiere performance in a well-known venue, the Aeolian Hall, the piece was largely well-received by audiences and critics.1 Much of the praise for Gershwin’s work was that it encompassed what American’s wanted out of distinctly “American Music.” As Crawford points out, it encompassed three strands of development: blues as popular music, the spread of instrumental jazz, and a want for modernism in the classical sphere.2
As we’ve discussed in class, the perception of Gershwin’s music as uniquely American can be troublesome because to some it seeks to exploit and adjust music of cultures aside from Gershwin’s own for the profit of symphonic tastes. As Crawford also points out, it was certainly not the first to present black dance music or jazz in concert settings although many think it to be so simply because the previous works by composers like Will Marion Cook or W.C. Handy are less well known simply because of their minority in that era’s society.3
Manitou Messenger, Feb. 14, 1933.
A story that’s less-often told is that some people really did not enjoy “Rhapsody in Blue” or jazz elements in general. When exploring writings on jazz, I came across an article from our very own campus paper, The Manitou Messenger. Interestingly, an article from 1933, nine years after the premiere of “Rhapsody in Blue,” conveyed stern opposition to jazz band at St. Olaf saying “jazz is profanity in music.”4
“Many…students who aspire to and cherish the higher things in life despise this type of music.”5
Is this negative reception of jazz a sign of the times at St. Olaf in the 1930s? It seems pretty forthright, which at first lead me to think there was room for anti-jazz, conservative thinking on campus at the time. However, in the publication later that month, another student wrote an opinion article which countered that the former article “was of very little consequence” and “hardly worthy of a serious reply.”6 This author claimed that this jazz band nay-sayer was fueling the fire that the college was attempting to paint itself as heavily religious.
Manitou Messenger, Feb. 28, 1933.
“Why be afraid to admit St. Olaf is not a monastery?”7
Interestingly, both authors simply signed their articles with their first initial leaving some room for anonymity. Although we don’t know who these students sharing their opinions were, what they were studying, or where they are now, we do know that responses to jazz were not all in loving favor.
1 Richard Crawford, America’s Musical Life: A History, (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2001), 573.
Vinyls: “Big Bands and Territory Bands of the 20s and 30s”
As I sifted through the LPs in the Music Library’s vinyl collection, I was particularly drawn to a section on big bands. The two LPs that piqued my interest the most did not catch my eye because of their cover art, but rather their titles; “SWEET AND LOW BLUES: Big Bands and Territory Bands of the 20s,” and “JAMMIN’ FOR THE JACKPOT: Big Bands and Territory Bands of the 30s.” My first thoughts upon seeing these records were: 1. I know a little about big bands, right? and 2. What is a territory band?
“Jammin’ for the Jackpot”
These two vinyls are collections of popular territory band recordings from the 20s and 30, and inside each of them are extensive and informative essays on the history of territory/big bands. Today we are more familiar with the term big bands, but at the time these ensembles were called territory bands. Territory bands were regional dance bands in the Midwest, south, and southwestern states. Their principal function was to provide music for ballroom dancing, which was becoming increasingly popular in the 20s and 30s. From roughly the end of World War I until the Great Depression, dance orchestras in the United States grew in number, size, and popularity in response to this call for dance music. However, in the forward to “JAMMIN’ FOR THE JACKPOT: Big Bands and Territory Bands of the 30s,”J.R. Taylor writes that, during this period,
“Jazz musicians were in frequent creative tension with the dance band industry – exploiting and expanding its musical resources, learning its professional lessons, earning its wages, and chafing under its difficult working conditions and many artistic restrictions.”
This complicated relationship existed vice versa as well, because jazz soloists served as a creative source for dance band – the innovative phrasing, rhythms, and “the adaptations and assimilations from classical music,” (Taylor). However, it is important to note that not all territory bands or big bands were strongly jazz oriented – a detail that gets overlooked now as we tend to blend the genres of jazz, big band, and swing (I myself am guilty of making that generalization without thinking.)
Here is a digitized recording of “Madhouse” performed by Earl Hines and His Orchestra — one of the tracks found on “JAMMIN’ FOR THE JACKPOT: Big Bands and Territory Bands of the 30s,” so you can hear the style of music I am referencing.
Earl Hines and His Orchestra
By the time the Great Depression hit in the 30s the territory bands were failing to survive, as live music was replaced with the radio, and having a disposable income was no longer an option. While all of this was going on, back at St. Olaf a mysterious “L” was expressing their own opinion on jazz music and dancing in the Manitou Messenger. “L” calls the jazz band “contemptible,” “obnoxious,” and “profanity in music.” The author argues that the jazz band and jazz music do not correspond with the (Christian) spirit of St. Olaf College, and should thus be driven off the hill.
“L” does, however, recognize that jazz music naturally calls us to dance. They even pose the question “Why allow temptations such as this to exist?” if we know it’ll just make us want to get up and start dancing. Remember, dancing was forbidden at St. Olaf during this time. When you search the Manitou Messenger archives for “dancing” during this period it is consistently referred to as “folk-dancing” or “traditional-dancing” or “Norwegian-dancing” – safe forms of dancing that correspond with the mission of the college.
So, there’s quite a contrast between the popularity of ballroom dancing accompanied by touring territory bands in the 20s and 30s, and the nasty portrayal of jazz music and dancing by a student from St. Olaf. All I can do is wonder what “L” would think about our jazz bands and swing club.
Another example of taboo dancing in the Manitou Messenger. Taken from “Growing Pains,” published in 1935.
Knowing little about past artists St. Olaf has brought to campus, I set about my research seeing if any of the few jazz artists I know had ever performed on campus. One of my favorite being Benny Goodman, I began there. Although he never did perform on campus, and his name did not result in many articles, I did find a few important ones that expand on previous posts in this blog. In this post in particular, I will be adding to what Noah Livingston discussed this week as well on diversity within the music department at St. Olaf College.
Kristi McGee, a senior in 1989-90, wrote a strong letter explaining her reasoning for St. Olaf desperately needing a Jazz program in its curriculum. Whereas Noah’s found article seems to have a focus on the lack of diverse students at St. Olaf, McGee focuses on the musical and political benefits in relation to the college that a jazz program would bring.
Politically, McGee states that it is odd that the college does not have a jazz program implemented:
It seems ironic that an institution such as St. Olaf with high aspirations, and goals of diversification has not implemented a formal Jazz program. The emphasis on sacred and choral music and the disregard of other important musical genres, mainly Jazz, perpetuates St. Olaf’s image as a homogeneous, conservative, and conformists institution.
Any college cannot advocate for diverse student body while maintaining a conservative mindset on any matter, and although the college today is very open to dialogue, discussion, and change, it is evident through many of this blogs post that St. Olaf was not always accepting of opposing viewpoints. It appears that in the late 80’s and early 90’s, St. Olaf was in flux as it seeked to gather a larger diverse student body. Though it wished to accept new perspectives, it was not ready to let go of more traditional views on western music forms and what was considered art music and popular music.
To support her argument that jazz music is just as influential as other traditional musical genres, McGee list many influential artists and composers of jazz, and then proceeded to
Copland Clarinet Concerto, preformed by Benny Goodman, conducted by Aaron Copland, 1963.
explain how contemporary composers such as Ravel and Stravinsky had jazz influence their work. The example I will be using is Benny Goodman and how he influenced Aaron Copland’s Clarinet Concerto.
Goodman is a jazz and clarinet legend, and is considered the “king of swing.” His style and work as a clarinetist and as a band leader went on to influence a multitude of other artists and composers. This includes Aaron Copland and his Clarinet Concerto. Although it is now a standard of the classical clarinet repertoire, Copland’s Concerto was inspired by jazz techniques and Benny Goodman’s own playing.
McGee goes on to describe, in her own way, that to acknowledge jazz in an academic way would be to elevate it to a similar status that the school holds its coral and traditional western music to, which would then better acknowledge the work of the African American and other diverse American population that were instrument in creating and defining the one music style that is original to the United States, jazz.
Sources
Copland, Warfield, Goodman, Warfield, William, Goodman, Benny, Copland, Aaron, and Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Performer. Concerto for Clarinet and String Orchestra : With Harp and Piano. Old American Songs [sets 1 and 2]., 1963.
McGee, Kristi. “Jazz program desperately needed in music department.” Manitou Messenger, 06 Oct. 1989, pp. 5.
jazclarinetist. “Benny Goodman – Copland Concerto for Clarinet and String Orchestra.” YouTube, YouTube, 28 Mar. 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmMFL1zZ-tU.
Miles Davis is remembered today as one of the most influential figures in the development of jazz in the 20th century. Starting his career with a more conventional cool jazz sound, Davis pushed conventions by experimenting with his playing, compositions, and album instrumentation. I consider the pinnacle of his experimentation to be his 1970 album, Bitches Brew. This album is currently available to be checked out at the St. Olaf Music Library (you need to listen to this if you haven’t already). Unknown to a “Jazz” album at the time, Bitches Brew lacks typical jazz standards, song structures, and melodies in the conventional sense. Instead, Davis gives us a dense and chaotic musical landscapes. The music often sits on 1 chord for minutes, with the musicians improvising wildly over it. Also notable is its bizarre instrumentation of 2 drummers, 2 keyboardists, 2 bass players, 2 percussionists, and a distorted electric guitar. Davis fully embraces this new electric sound, which gives this album a bit of a psychedelic feel.
To me, Bitches Brew is Davis declaring war on all preconceived notions of what “jazz” ought to be. To me, this album is a revolution. I think much of Davis’ rejection of the status quo throughout his career stems from his infamous personality. He had a reputation for his bad temper, a large ego, and general rudeness. To get an idea of what he was like off the stage, I found an interview with Playboy Magazine from 1962. In this interview, Davis talks about his views on other musicians, critics, the creative process, and concerts. Race is a dominating theme throughout the conversation. Given his historical significance and the complex history of race within jazz, I find his comments to be especially impactful.
On prejudices he’s experienced
PLAYBOY: Did you grow up with any white boys?
DAVIS : I didn’t grow up with any, not as friends, to speak of. But I went to school with some. In high school, I was the best in the music class on the trumpet. I knew it and all the rest knew it — but all the contest first prizes went to the boys with blue eyes. It made me so mad I made up my mind to outdo anybody white on my horn. If I hadn’t met that prejudice, I probably wouldn’t have had as much drive in my work. I have thought about that a lot. I have thought that prejudice and curiosity have been responsible for what I have done in music.
On white jazz musicians
PLAYBOY: In your field, music, don’t some Negro jazzmen discriminate against white musicians?
DAVIS : Crow Jim is what they call that. Yeah. It’s a lot of the Negro musicians mad because most of the best-paying jobs go to the white musicians playing what the Negroes created. But I don’t go for this, because I think prejudice one way is just as bad as the other way. I wouldn’t have no other arranger but Gil Evans — we couldn’t be much closer if he was my brother. And I remember one time when I hired Lee Konitz, some colored cats bitched a lot about me hiring an ofay in my band when Negroes didn’t have work. I said if a cat could play like Lee, I would hire him, I didn’t give a damn if he was green and had red breath.
Interviews like these are a fantastic way to get a sense of an artist’s personality. I can see why some might have considered him to be rude or short tempered, but to me, I see an artist with very little care for anything besides his work. Davis was not interested in the superficiality of the entertainment industry. He was a man who simply lived his life and refused to conform. To me, his defiance is admirable.
Refrences
Erenkrantz, Justin. “Miles Davis. A Candid Conversation With the Jazz World’s Premier Iconoclast” Accessed October 30th 2017. http://www.erenkrantz.com/Music/MilesDavisInterview.shtml
Ruhlmann, William. “Miles Davis.” Allmusic. Accessed October 30th 2017. https://www.allmusic.com/artist/miles-davis-mn0000423829/biography
This Manitou messenger article is a report on a talk given by a St. Olaf professor about jazz music. Even though the article is more of a report on what happened, it seems to be a good representation of students’ opinions and other opinions of the time because the author didn’t feel the need to argue against what this professor said.
It is clear that Overby doesn’t think that jazz music is “good.” The criteria that he sets up for this judgment doesn’t speak well for what jazz is, but it conveys the thoughts that show the well-established differences in popular and classical music. Overby claims that jazz has some goodness through the “modern school of composition.” Walter Damrosch’s view from around the time of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue reflects a similar claim. He argues that jazz is a very low form of art, but that a great composer could lift it up into something with more emotion.
So, Overby is saying that not all jazz is to be condemned. Yet, according to the views expressed in this article, jazz is only praiseworthy once it has been made into symphonic jazz. This goes back to the fact that many things get changed and appropriated to suit audiences so that the product can be acknowledged and respected. Often people validate their actions of appropriation by saying that it comes from a place of respect for the original, but did composers have to respect original jazz sources to begin with in order to use them? Paul Whiteman, known as “the King of Jazz,” called it primitive, which seems inherently disrespectful to me. His orchestra can be heard on this LP titled, “Jazz.” Most people can recognize that the nature of developments like symphonic jazz aren’t entirely favorable for everyone involved all the time, but it is important to reflect on this in order to apply modern issues of cultural appropriation.
Sources
Crawford, Richard. America’s Musical Life. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2001.
Duke Ellington (born Edward Kennedy) became a prominent jazz musician throughout the mid 20th century. His name has become synonymous with jazz throughout households in the United States of America. As many jazz musicians, Duke Ellington toured across the United States with his orchestra playing the repertoire that would make the most money. In 1957, this orchestra and the esteemed composer himself made a visit to Carleton College on November 5th. And, in the tradition of great school newspapers, the Manitou Messenger advertised the concert. However, as intriguing as this article was, a little deeper digging revealed a more interesting resource: an article reviewing the concert from the Carletonian. To be fair, the Manitou Mess certainly wasn’t skimping on their coverage: the concert took place at Carleton, so it only makes sense for the more substantial review of the concert to appear in the Carletonian. The intriguing part of the article is the student’s opinion of the concert. The reviewer says that Ellington “proved once again, in Skinner memorial chapel, Tuesday night, that he is still one of the very best jazzmen around, with one of the very best bands.” The author goes on to praise Ellington’s jazz ability, but later in the article notes that despite Ellington’s status as a premier jazz musician, the concert was not “consistently good from a strictly musical standpoint”. The reviewer explains that the audiences more “sensitive ears” would have been repelled by the “exhibitionism” offered by some of the jazz soloists. Below is a recording of one of the pieces that were played at the concert:
As is often true of historical sources, this opinion on Ellington’s orchestra tells us more about the reviewer than the music itself. Duke Ellington’s career was on the decline by this point in the 1950s. He was focusing on writing sacred music and toured playing his most popular pieces. The author of the article points out that Ellington mainly played works that the audience knew and refers to Ellington as an “institution”. Even though the concert may not have been as musically perfect as the audience expected, they still knew that Ellington was an important part of history. Already, just a few decades into his career, Duke Ellington was a sacred relic.
Record titled “Jazz in the 1920s”
This quick institutionalization of jazz figures is also reflected in the records of the time. While searching through the St. Olaf Halvorson Music Library for records of Ellington’s made around the late 1950s, I found it difficult to find a single record of Ellington’s music alone. The early solo record of his on file is from the 1970s. One record I did find from around the time was part of a Library of Congress series on Jazz music. Ellington appeared once on the record. It seems as if the effort to collect jazz and codify it as a genre began at the same time as the art form itself. This tradition of feeling a need to preserve and codify art forms like jazz was passed down from Blues collectors who also felt a need to define their genre. These two artifacts, in particular, illustrate the incredible spread and popularity of jazz throughout the country. However, they also represent the way white audiences controlled what music became popular and marketable, as well as the way jazz musicians’ careers depended on the benevolence of a fickle American public.
Mostly, however, I chose to write about this particular Manitou Messenger article because Duke Ellington came to Northfield, and Carleton didn’t like it. What a story.
Sources
Hodeir, André and Gunther Schuller. “Ellington, Duke.” Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press, accessed October 30, 2017, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/08731.
In this article is presented a very enthusiastic and nationalistic view of jazz, which aligns with popular opinions today. The history of jazz has been quite romanticized over the past decades, but it hasn’t always been championed as the emblem of American music. Jazz was a music that first emphasized the performer over the composer. It featured improvisation over conventional structure and overall was a very rebellious art form, both musically and socially. Racism at the time created a deep-seated opposition to jazz because its racial associations and untraditional aspects. Jazz went from an unacceptable and rebellious art form to America’s music. How did this happen? First there was a time where many people, including Oles thought that Jazz was an inferior and unsophisticated from of music. And a few decades later, it was celebrated as truly American music revering its original composers and performers.
Manitou Messenger article by Soren Lura 1930
Soren Lura ’31, for example had a pretty popular opinion in his time towards jazz. His opinions reflect the opposition towards Jazz for its supposed barbaric and unconventional characteristics. He states that jazz is primitive and compared it to the music and dance of cavemen. Oscar Overby, a guest speaker in 1931, also had a similar opinion to Lura with one exception.
Guest Speaker Oscar Overby
“Music develops the whole man physically, mentally and spiritually, and jazz only develops the physical…. However not all jazz is to be condemned. Some of it has good qualities which are being used in the modern school of composition.” ~Oscar Overby
Overby had an exception that jazz was not all that bad because certain qualities were being used in modern composition. This opinion reflected the racial prejudices and divide amongst people. So how did opinions of Jazz change from Overby and Lura to Townsend’s popular view? One explanation is exactly what Overby expressed. Many people might have become more welcoming to jazz as legitimate music when it was adapted for the concert hall. This again suggests that people were only accepting to what they thought of as the most prestigious and cultivated music and that there was a clear hierarchy in music.
George Gershwin composing
George Gershwin was known for his compositions to include jazz and blues idioms, however it was composed for an orchestra, or a small band, both already being established genres of music. Many of his compositions were highly regarded and became the symbol of truly American music. Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue received much praise because if it’s unprecedented innovation in combining jazz and traditional styles, making it more palatable for white audiences. He of course received opposition as well, but over time, Rhapsody in Blue came to hold a permanent place in American music. It is interesting that as soon as a white man redefined black music for white audiences, it was celebrated.
Rhapsody Album Cover
In the recording of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, in the album, Rhapsody: Ferrante and Teiche and their Magic Pianos, there are elements of jazz and concert music. Firstly, the parts are written out, ignoring the improvisational aspect of jazz. It was also meant to performed in a concert hall, instead of settings like speakeasies or rent parties, which ironically, Gershwin frequented. Based on its popularity and number of performances, Rhapsody in Blue popularized jazz for those who otherwise disapproved of it.
liner notes from album
Gershwin’s “cultivated” jazz also contributed to what people adopted as America’s sound. Gershwin’s work was so popular because he combined “low” music with modern music and provided America with a sound that was independent of European influence…even though we know it wasn’t. This shows that even as people were struggling to define truly American music, they still turned to the belief that European styles were superior. It is important to acknowledge these problematic issues because they contribute to the misrepresentation and erasure of a culture’s art and innovation.
Works Cited
ClassicFM. George Gershwin and the Art of America.
Ferrante and Teicher and their Magic Pianos. Rhapsody, Belleville, NJ. 1955.
Lura, Soren. “The Jazz Mania.” Manitou Messenger , 25 Nov. 1930, pp. 2.
“Oscar R. Overby Speaks on Jazz.” Manitou Messenger , 28 Apr. 1931, pp. 1.
“Rhapsody in Blue.” Nonesuch Records Inc. Nov. 1992.
Townsend, Allan. “An Introduction to Jazz.” Manitou Messenger , 3 Feb. 1956, pp. 3.
Learned in the traditional Classical style, Will Marion Cook “brought the skills of a classically trained musician to an African-American musical theater” (Crawford, 534). Cook heavily inspired and popularized black theater productions, and made a name for himself by combining grand opera traditions with black folk culture.
Will Marion Cook, a heavy influencer in black theater
“I’m Coming Virginia” was written in 1926 by Donald Heywood with lyrics by Cook. The song has been adapted numerous times over the years and is now a staple in dixie-land repertoire. One recording of this song appears on an album by Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong called “Havin Fun”. Recorded from 1949-1951, this two hour album features songs by Crosby and Armstrong recorded from Crosby’s radio program. What I find most intriguing is how the theatrical style of the album echoes that of Will Marion Cook’s original theatrical music and productions.
Louis Armstrong and Bing Crosby, ca. 1950
The first track “Where the Blue of the Night” is all banter between the musicians as they settle in for the night. The first track helps to set the scene for what one can imagine was a program filled with laughter in and out of the music. I think it is a bit of stretch to say that Crosby and Armstrong were performing in this style as an homage to Cook, but I do think that Cook’s works heavily influenced the looser performance styles heard on this album. Crosby and Armstrong were close friends outside of the performance hall, and they both recognized the value created in sharing their friendship with others. Like Cook, Crosby and Armstrong did away with a traditional form of musical presentation. The constant banter mingled with the audience laughter adds a level of genuineness to the album, while the talent of singing and playing by Crosby and Armstrong respectively grounds the album in legitimacy.
As mentioned earlier, Will Marion Cook had a huge influence on the Broadway performance styles of his time. Crosby and Armstrong experienced similar success and influence on their industries. While Cook did not directly influence the duo, parallels in the theatrical performance style are evident. One thing that they also have in common? They were havin’ fun.
Works Cited
Crawford, Richard. America’s Musical Life: A History. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2001.
Dryden, Ken. “Havin’ Fun” AllMusic, accessed October 9, 2017.https://www.allmusic.com/album/havin-fun-2-cd-mw0000584963
Havin’ Fun. Recorded June 20, 2007. Storyville, 2007, Streaming Audio. Accessed October 9, 2017. http://search.alexanderstreet.com/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Crecorded_cd%7C1023638.
New Orleans at the beginning of the 20th century was a hotbed of musical innovation. The rich oral traditions of African Americans and the upbeat, commercial dance music of the day collided in the city’s thriving nightlife, ultimately giving rise to a new style of dance music that melded the harmonic and formal idioms of the blues with the rhythmic vitality of ragtime. This new music was called “jazz.”
The 1917 recording of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band playing Livery Stable Blues (linked below) clearly illustrates the blending of ragtime and blues styles that forms the basis for jazz music. Each “stanza” basically follows a standard 12-bar blues progression: four bars of tonic harmony, two bars predominant paired with two bars of tonic, concluding with two bars of dominant harmony leading back to the tonic. This harmonic scheme is paired with catchy melodic material that is reminiscent of popular song. Clearly meant for dancing, Livery Stable Blues features the driving pulse and jaunty syncopations of ragtime.
Another key element of jazz music is improvisation; it is likely that most of the music played by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band was improvised. In his 1946 article entitled “This is Genuine Jazz,” Douglas S Enefer claims that “real jazz is composed by the executants – both individually and collectively – as they play . . . often the theme may be stated only once; thereafter the melodic line is implied rather than stated.” This melodic treatment can be heard in Livery Stable Blues: melody lines are clearly stated in the clarinet and trombone at the very beginning, and are varied, embellished, and commented upon in subsequent verses. Improvising variations in this way is an integral part of the jazz style.
Finally, jazz music is often associated with a spirit of free-spiritedness and abandon. In Livery Stable Blues, the ODJB takes this freedom to an extreme degree, with rooster crows on the clarinet, horse whinnies on the trumpet, and cow moos on the trombone. This musical evocation of a barnyard could be understood as a simple comedic gimmick, or could be interpreted as a critique of the extreme formality and stuffiness of classical concert culture. Either way, it is clear that light-heartedness and subversion are central tenets of the ODJB’s musical style and public image.
New Orleans may have been the birthplace of jazz, but the music quickly spread throughout the nation. The ODJB itself played in many major cities, including Chicago and New York. The new style took hold, and jazz continued to evolve and proliferate throughout the world. Today jazz is studied, performed and enjoyed by a global audience.
Sources
Charters, Samuel. Trumpet around the Corner: The Story of New Orleans Jazz. University Press of Mississippi, 2008. ProQuest Ebook Central, accessed 8 October 2017.
Crawford, Richard. America’s Musical Life: a History. 1st ed., New York, Norton, 2001.
Enefer, Douglas S. “This is Genuine Jazz.” The Negro, 1 Feb. 1946.
Livery Stable Blues. Rec. March 1917. Vintage Vinyl, 2014. Music Online: Jazz Music Library. Accessed 9 Oct. 2017.
This article located on the African American Newspapers database provides an interesting and useful African-American perspective on the wake of jazz music and the usage and history of the word itself. The article, titled “What is ‘Jazz’?,” was published in 1926 in The Negro Star, a newspaper run by Hollie T Sims that circulated during the former part of the twentieth century that featured African American news intended for an African-American audience, one of the few newspapers to do so at the time. Having access to commentary during the early stages of jazz from an African-American perspective here is very useful as most of the primary scholarship on the primarily African American genre is from white musicians and scholars. This article in particular offers interesting insight, especially in regards to the coinage and use of the actual term “jazz,” as it points out that much of the reason it is relevant to even discuss is due to the fact that famous white musicians had been using the word to describe certain black music and made claims about its origins, the paper even calling composer W. Franke Harling’s transposition of a black spiritual “a so-called jazz transposition.”
In answering the question of “what is jazz?”, the article describes the complex history of what this term may more accurately refer to and the origins of this style of music described by these white musicians, calling it “the child of ragtime,” and further explains the importance of the unique instrumentation common in early jazz music. But in the end, it tells the truth of the complicated nature of trying to answer the question and locate the origin, as it is the “‘chop suey’ of the musical world.” It is very telling to me to read of a primary source written by an African American during the time the complicated genre of jazz was being born and to see that what is normally thought of as purely an invention of African Americans in fact may have been a sort of appropriation of a term by white musicians to describe a more diverse and complicated array of black music that at the time was colliding.
Sims, Hollie T. “What is ‘Jazz’?” The Negro Star [Wichita] 17 Sep. 1926: 1. Web.
With today being what would be Thelonious Monk’s 100th birthday, I thought it would be appropriate to honor his legacy by making my blog post about him. Monk is widely considered to be one of the greatest jazz pianists, and as a jazz pianist, I consider him to be one of my personal idols. Monk had a unique, unpredictable style while improvising, characterized by his angular melodies, use of dissonance, and a highly percussive attack. Monk is often credited as one of the founding fathers of bebop, the dominant style of jazz in the United States from the 40s to the 60s. Monk’s mastery at the keys is rivaled by his ability as a composer. A large amount of his compositions have made it into the standard jazz repertoire, including “’Round Midnight”, “Straight, No Chaser”, “Blue Monk”, “Epistrophy”, and many more. Almost as unique as his playing style is his sense of fashion, which typically included a suit, sunglasses, and a wacky hat.
The Monk song I decided to share in this blog post is “Straight, No Chaser” which is one of Monk’s most popular compositions. In this tune, Monk uses simple a simple 12 bar blues progression and a single melodic idea. The melodic idea is continuously displaced within the measure and has a unique ending each time. The result is extremely original and creative. Since it’s original recording in 1951, the tune has been covered by an array of jazz giants, including Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Keith Jarret, and Cannonball Adderley. Monk’s uniqueness and abrasive style made the general public slow to embrace him, but his genius was slowly realized over time. Thelonious Monk’s passed away in 1982, but he was certainly not forgotten. His impact on the state of jazz is immeasurable.
Enjoy this recording of Monk playing with his combo in Italy in 1961.
Sources
ABBOTT, FRANCES. “Monk, Thelonious: (1917–1982) JAZZ MUSICIAN.” In The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture: Volume 12: Music, edited by MALONE BILL C., by WILSON CHARLES REAGAN, 294-96. University of North Carolina Press, 2008. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5149/9781469616667_malone.135.
Givan, Benjamin. “Thelonious Monk’s Pianism.” The Journal of Musicology 26, no. 3 (2009): 404-42. doi:10.1525/jm.2009.26.3.404.
From fields to labels, African-American music is rooted in rhythm. One of the most evident developments of a rhythmic tradition is that of jazz. As broad of a genre as jazz is, I will focus not on the style of music, but rather the rhythmic elements that were carried over from traditional spirituals found in the fields of slaves to jazz groups of the 20th century.
As noted by Crawford, slaves were not given access to instruments in an attempt by the slave owners to prevent rallying calls of rebellion. In response, a tradition developed known as Pattin’ Juba, or a rhythmic hand slapping to accompany songs. Over time and with the abolition of slavery, instruments (among many things) were available to recently freed slaves.
As generations became more removed from the binds of ancestral slavery, the rhythmic style of Pattin’ Juba was transferred to household objects like jugs and washboards. Still in a state of poverty, the freed slaves created their own instruments to supplement the music they had sung in the fields. Below is an image of a collection of homemade instruments.
A washboard, homemade drum and homemade horns (1934-1950)
With the same accessibility as one’s own hands and feet had been in slave field, drums and washboards played a prevalent role in early post-slavery music. One group that popularized the washboard was the Washboard Rhythm Kings. Donning thus name from 1931-1934, the group was a small band of predominantly black musicians that performed jazz music. From 1930-1935, the Washboard Rhythm Kings recorded a series of collections of their music. The full album can be found here, and I would like to highlight two tracks in particular that draw strong parallels to the slave music before them.
Four members of the Washboard Rhythm Kings (c.1931)
Track #9, “Lonesome Road”, carries many familiar elements of black slave and church music. A speaker engages in dialogue with the other musicians and speaks of “a little revival meeting” and talks of how a singer will “open up this meeting with a little solo”. Following the solo, the speaker speaks to the soloist much like a preacher to a congregation member, saying “Sit down brother. Bless you, bless you.” The song carries on in a freeform fashion.
Track #2, “Washboards Get Together”, is a fantastic example of the rhythmic capabilities of a washboard. Without too much difficulty, the listener can picture a similar rhythm to the washboard rhythm being played out on arms and legs in the Juba dance. As stated previously, the accessibility of instruments like the washboard furthered the intensely rhythmic tradition of the music found in slave fields. Below is a video of the Washboard Rhythm Kings performing an unknown song that highlights the excitement in their playing.
African-American slave and church music exists as an important facet to early American music. Starting in the fields and moving eventually into the popular vernacular, the music continues to play a pivotal role in shaping American music. The rhythmic figures remain a cornerstone in modern jazz, and can be seen in performances by mid-20th century groups like the Washboard Rhythm Kings. Accessible instruments enabled further complications of rhythm, and opened up new opportunities for the rise of jazz.
Lomax, Alan. Folk musical instruments including homemade horns, homemade drum, and washboard, between 1934 and 1950. Lomax Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs. Accessed October 2, 2017.
Disney’s The Jungle Book, released in 1967, was a huge box office success. The film was praised highly for its attention to voice casting as a primary identifier of character’s personality and animation. Unfortunately, it is this exact quality which creates some problematic issues.
The monkeys of the jungle are racially coded as black, a problematic choice of animal characterization, and further worsened by aural stereotypes. In their essay “The Movie You See, The Movie You Don’t,” scholars Susan Miller and Greg Rhode note that “Jungle Book frequently relies on verbal class and gender stereotyping for its “innocent” fun, displacing the visual black and white of Song of the South onto aural stereotypes.” While the animation of monkeys would clearly not be racist, specifically representing those monkeys as African American puts the innocence of intentions a little more into question.
The very lyrics and style of the song King Louis sings become quickly controversial in light of the black coded nature assigned to his character. The famous song, “I Want to Be Like You” which King Louis and the monkeys sing, is all about the desire they hold to be human. The refraining chorus states: “Ooh, ooh, oh! I wanna be like you, I wanna walk like you, talk like you, too ooh, ooh. You’ll see it’s true, ooh, ooh! An ape like me, ee, ee. Can learn to be Juoo ooh man, too ooh, ooh.” Writing an entire song about the monkeys desiring recognition as humans, and clearly coding those monkeys as black poses an incredibly racist issue in the film, highly inappropriate for a children’s animation.
Next, the issue of the black coded nature becomes further problematic by the fact that they are once again played by white actors. Just as Jim Crow in Dumbo was voiced by white actor Cliff Edwards, so King Louis is voiced by white actor Louis Prima. While it would clearly be racist to choose African American voices to present these stereotypes, it is in many ways worse to choose a white actor to play a clear racial stereotype as this is the exact premise behind blackface minstrel performances.
Even within the plot of jungle book itself, the idea of minstrelsy is promoted by the fact that Baloo dresses up in monkey attire, and proceeds to imitate and sing the same song as King Louis. Baloo, as a non-monkey, donning “monkeyface” and performing in exaggerated style, his perceived understanding of what that means, is a close parallel to blackface in which a white, dons “blackface” and proceeds to imitate a black coded performance based on offensive stereotypes.
Comparing the images of Baloo in monkey attire, with images of blackface performers, once again the similarities are disturbingly similar. The hair, large lips, cartoonish body language, Baloo is clearly putting on a blackface performance with King Louis.
The images and parallels, promotion and reinforcement of blackface minstrel performance in today’s society is still present and alive in areas many don’t realize. Perhaps more disturbing is attempting to understand how to respond to such images in our culture. It is difficult to determine the intentionality of these types of images and stereotypes present in The Jungle Book. Are the creators deliberately placing racist material in their films, or are these simply embedded structures that people promote without realizing or understanding the implications of their meaning? Would boycotting any film which presents these stereotypes prove helpful in any regard? Ultimately, the only way that a society can change is through each individual influence on it. Becoming better educated in historical traditions, mistakes, and problems can help us become more aware of them in today’s society and prevent us from incorporating them into our own productions of art, actions, or words. By understanding the history of traditions such as blackface and minstrelsy we can become more aware of their presence in films such as The Jungle Book and make better judgments and criticisms of their problematic issues and hopefully prevent the continuation of them in future films.
Works Cited:
Miller, Susan, and Greg Rode. “The Movie You See, The Movie You Don’t.” From Mouse to Mermaid: The Politics of Film, Gender, and Culture.” Ed. Bell, Elizabeth, and Lynda Haas, Laura Sells. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1995. 86-103. Print.
The cover of Miles Davis’ 1970 album Bitches Brew has in many ways become more iconic than the album itself.[1] Illustrated by Mati Klarwein, the mystical, Afro-centric imagery fused with psychedelic textures intensely deals with contradictory themes and ideas that were undoubtedly relevant in American political and racial culture at the time. Simultaneously, Klarwein’s contradictory images seem to capture the conflict inherent in Davis’ work throughout his career: how does a jazz giant like Davis continue to innovate without moving too far away from jazz?
The gatefold cover of Bitches Brew, illustrated by Klarwein
His answer was to explore contradictory influences even further. Bitches Brew spearheaded the jazz-rock-fusion movement, replacing numerous components of his ensemble with electronic instruments, and rejecting traditional jazz structures in favor of the looser, long-form rock style. Davis also utilized a massive, rotating group of musicians, on numerous tracks using three keyboardists, two drummers, and two bassists.
This dichotomy was inherent to reception of the album as well. While some lauded Davis’ creativity in synthesizing what was commonly viewed as two divergent forces in American music, jazz purists thought that Davis had crossed the line and had abandoned jazz altogether. Critic Bob Rusch even went so far as to say, “this to me was not great Black music, but I cynically saw it as part and parcel of the commercial crap that was beginning to choke and bastardize the catalogs of such dependable companies as Blue Note and Prestige….” [2]
Davis singlehandedly changed many conceptions of what made jazz and jazz musicians
In typical Davis fashion, his response to the jazz establishment was essentially a giant middle finger: a second electronic, jazz-rock album titled Live-Evil, released in 1971.[3] As the title suggests, it featured live recordings by Davis and his personnel at the Cellar Door music club in Washington DC, most of whom also appeared on Bitches Brew. But the “live” component made up only half of the music, the rest of which was recorded in Columbia Studios. Again, we see Davis exploring dichotomies in the later stages of his career, balancing the chaotic violence of a live performance with the hyper-controlled realm of a studio session.
The cover art (again provided by Klarwein) provides a striking realization of this strange contrast. The pregnant, yet skinny black woman on the front is a perfect foil to the pale, grotesque, bloated monster on the back. As part of the ‘reflective’ nature of the album, the upper-left corner of the back says “Selim Sevad Evil”: “Miles Davis Live” backwards. John Szwed’s biography of Davis provides some clarity as to the origins and meaning of the cover art, via a quote from Klarwein:
“I was doing the picture of the pregnant woman for the cover and the day I finished, Miles called me up and said, ‘I want a picture of life on one side and evil on the other.’ And all he mentioned was a toad. Then next to me was a copy of Time Magazine which had J. Edgar Hoover on the cover, and he just looked like a toad. I told Miles I found the toad.”[4]
Gatefold cover of Live-Evil, illustrated by Klarwein
Ironically, Live-Evil was much more well received than Bitches Brew, despite the fact that it took what critics dislike about BB to further extremes. It was lauded for its accessibility and musical purity, even though the tracks had greater levels of electronic manipulation.
But perhaps the biggest difference between the holistic art of the vinyls is the liner notes. Bitches Brew contains a lengthy, poetic assessment of the music by Ralph J. Gleason, American music critic, founding editor of Rolling Stone magazine, and cofounder of the Monterey Jazz Festival. Its an abstract piece of writing that seemingly rejects the nitpicking of other critics concerned with such subjective notions as genre:
“so be it with the music we have called jazz and which i never knew what it was because it was so many different things to so many different people each apparently contradicting the other and one day i flashed that it was music.
that’s all, and when it was great music it was great art and it didn’t have anything at all to do with labels and who says mozart is by definition better than sonny rollins and to whom.”[3]
But when one opens the centerfold of Live-evil expecting to find another passionate defense of Davis’ innovations, they instead find a series of candid pictures of Miles.
Not concerned with critics, nor legacies, these liner notes simply say “This is me.” Or perhaps, “Me is This.”
Notes: –Both Vinyls are available in Halvorson Music Library. Bitches Brew call number: M1366.D3 B5. Live-evil call number: M1366.D3 L5.
[2] Rusch, Bob. Ron Wynn, ed. All Music Guide to Jazz. AllMusic. M. Erlewine, V. Bogdanov (1st ed.). San Francisco (1994): Miller Freeman Books. p. 197.
[3] Davis, Miles. Live-Evil. Columbia, 1972. LP.
[4] Szwed, John. So What: the Life of Miles Davis. Simon & Schuster; Reprint edition (January 9, 2004) p. 319.
Album cover for Ella Fitzgerald’s 1960 album, Ella in Berlin: Mack the Knife, which contains her legendary performance of “How High the Moon”
In the late 1950s and 1960s, as the Civil Rights Movement took precedence in American politics, critics began to view music through the lens of race. Jazz was a frequent subject of scrutiny because of its history as an African American art form commonly performed by white musicians. Until this era, jazz was considered a “colorblind” art form, but as racial tensions rose, it became impossible to ignore the racial implications that came with the performance of jazz.1
Almena Lomax, a civil rights activist and journalist for the African American newspaper, the Los Angeles Tribune, criticizes Ella Fitzgerald for her acquiescent attitude toward white producers in a 1960 article. Lomax asks, “how come once she is on it [a television program] and the magic of her name has been used to snare viewers, she is given the lesser roles . . . and why does she continue to sit still for such patronizing treatment?” According to Lomax, Fitzgerald had the ideal voice to sing Gershwin, but at a recent all-Gershwin program, Fitzgerald was relegated to sing “only the ‘virtuoso’ numbers–in the tradition of the Negro showing his ‘extra heel,’ or his sixth finger, or his tail, or whatever it is that stamps him as something else but human.” Lomax goes on to compare Fitzgerald’s rendition of “How High the Moon” to such Uncle Tom-like behavior:2 We cannot be sure of what rendition Lomax is referring to as the “last time” Fitzgerald sang “How High the Moon.” Fitzgerald first recorded the song in 1956 on her album Lullabies of Birdland, and another performance of it was recorded in 1958 at Mister Kelly’s, but the recording was not released until 2007. So Lomax is either referring to the Lullabies of Birdland version or a performance she heard live. She is not, however, referring to the famous Ella in Berlin: Mack the Knife recording of “How High the Moon” because that concert did not occur until February 13, 1960, about a month after this article was published.
Assuming Lomax was using the Lullabies of Birdland recording as her reference, I am wondering if Lomax may have had different thoughts about the implications of “How High the Moon” after hearing the Ella in Berlin recording. You can hear the transformation Fitzgerald’s interpretation underwent between 1956 and 1960 by listening to the links below:
In the earlier recording (which Lomax may have been referring to), one could feasibly make the argument that Fitzgerald’s scatting merely serves to please white audiences. She begins the song politely, moves into the expected scatting section using her bag of tricks, and then closes nicely in a little over three minutes. By contrast, the later recording carries a markedly more defiant tone. Taking nearly seven minutes, but a much faster tempo, Fitzgerald sings with an almost frightening virtuosity. As she transitions into the scatting section, her voice becomes brassy and her tone almost exasperated on the words:
We’re singing it
Because you ask for it
So we’re swinging it just for you
As her scatting progresses, she sings, “I guess these people wonder what I’m singing” but continues to scat at the same pace, showing that she does not care if the audience keeps up or not. Her scat includes low, exasperated sounds that make it clear she is not singing to please. She also quotes a number of songs, including “Ornithology” by saxophonist Charlie Parker, aligning herself with the bebop direction of jazz. Toward the end of the song, she seems to put on an affected operatic tone that arpeggiates the tune excessively, followed by a low “hng” sound imitating the sound of an instrument. She moves so quickly through these polarized styles that the effect is shocking more than it is impressive or pleasing to the ear.
So while Lomax is wise to be skeptical of Fitzgerald’s exclusive use of virtuosity in comparison to white performers, she could not yet know that Fitzgerald would reclaim this virtuosic style for herself in Berlin. On a final note, in is significant to consider the history of the song “How High the Moon.” Written by white broadway songwriters Lewis and Hamilton and first popularized by white singing duo Les Paul and Mary Ford, “How High the Moon” was in fact transformed into its scatting glory by Ella Fitzgerald. Rather than letting the song own her, she owned it.
Footnotes
1 Monson, Ingrid T. Freedom Sounds: Civil Rights Call out to Jazz and Africa. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
3 Fitzgerald, Ella, Louis Jordan, Louis Armstrong, Sy Oliver, Gordon Jenkins, Benny Carter, André Previn, and Bob Haggart, performers. Ella: The Legendary Decca Recordings. Recorded August 29, 1995. GRP Records, 1995, Streaming Audio. Accessed April 7, 2015. http://search.alexanderstreet.com/view/work/715022.
4 Fitzgerald, Ella, Paul Smith, Jim Hall, Wilfred Middlebrooks, and Gus Johnson, performers. The Complete Ella In Berlin: Mack The Knife. Recorded August 17, 1993. GRP Records, 1993, Streaming Audio. Accessed April 7, 2015. http://search.alexanderstreet.com/view/work/691638.
Many people write epitaphs, either for themselves or in honor of the death of another person. They are usually short texts meant to be inscribed on tombstones. Rarely does someone write a jazz composition that is over 4000 measures long and takes more than two hours to perform for their epitaph. To my knowledge, Charles Mingus has been the only person to create a jazz piece of such epic proportions.
Attempting to record the piece for the first time, however, was fraught with problems from the beginning. First developed in 1962, Mingus conceived this project as a “live workshop” with a big band for newly composed music. The plan was for him to write the music and record it with a live audience at The Town Hall in New York City. Thanks to United Artists Records, the deadline for the music was rescheduled five weeks earlier than originally planned. Mingus not only pushed himself to the limit, but the musicians as well, unleashing his notorious wrath upon them if he was not satisfied. As a result, the musicians were tense and fearful and the music was still being passed around during the live show. The Town Hall concert was so disastrous that Mingus never looked at the score again for the rest of his life.
In 1988, almost 10 years after his death, musicologist Andrew Homzy discovered the four foot high score for Epitaph. The first full-length recording was appropriately recorded after Mingus’ death and the 31 piece orchestra was conducted by Gunther Schuller at the Lincoln Center in 1989. Finally, Mingus’ magnum opus was fully realized.
The importance of this work could not be understated. As a review from the New Yorker stated, “It marks the first advance in the composition of large-scale jazz works since Duke Ellington’s 1943 Black, Brown and Beige” [2]. Even more than 50 years after its completion, the piece still stands certainly as one of Mingus’ most difficult works. However, it is difficult to classify it as predominantly jazz or classical. Ellington’s Black, Brown and Beige as well as Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue are considered jazz symphonies, primarily classical compositions with jazz influences. Epitaph transcends this and becomes an integration of the jazz and classical forms rather than a work that contains influences of the other. As The Boston Phoenix appropriately states, “It’s uncategorizable. It has nothing to do anymore with ‘jazz’ or ‘classical’ music, or anything. It’s just Mingus” [3].
1. “NPR Presents Charles Mingus’ ‘Epitaph.'” Chicago Metro News, Sept. 30, 1989. http://www.infoweb.newsbank.com (Accessed April 6). 2. Balliett, Whitney. “Jazz: Mingus Regained.” The New Yorker, August 21, 1989. http://mingusmingusmingus.com/mingus-bands/epitaph (Accessed April 6). 3. The Boston Phoenix. http://mingusmingusmingus.com/mingus-bands/epitaph (Accessed April 6.)
Crawford notes that the representation of women in jazz music was primarily restricted to vocal performance and singing. That being said, the contribution by these female performers was quite significant and one wonders how the nature of jazz could have been enhanced if more contributions existed of female composers or instrumentalists in the genre.
Sarah Vaughan has been hailed as a revolutionary vocal performer whose vast range of both vocal technique and emotional quality created a new standard of jazz performers. Even within the same piece, Sarah Vaughan’s style can change drastically as seen in her recording of “My Favorite Things”
While the beginning displays an incredible lyrical and smooth quality to it, the last half of her performance contrasts this with a much crisper consonants, harsher vowels, and an improvisatory, drawn out rhythmic quality.
Entirely other music techniques can be seen in her performance of “Nobody Else But Me” which possess much more of the style of the last half of “My Favorite Things.” Long, held-out alto notes create a power and confidence in her voice steering away from the more soft, sensual or sultry sound of other vocal jazz music.
The question of women’s role in jazz music can raise interesting questions of how the genre of jazz might have been different if more women composers had been represented. It is also interesting to contemplate how the genre may have changed, if at all, if it had possessed more female composers and more male vocal performers.
When Charlie Parker died on March 12, 1955, he left a massive void in the world of jazz. While tragic, it was inevitable: a long battle with heroin addiction had threatened his life in the past. Though he didn’t invent the genre, he was widely considered to be one of the “fathers of bebop” who had galvanized the transformation of Duke Ellington’s “specialized jungle rhythm” into the virtuosic, intellectual, and cutthroat style of post-war jazz.[1]
Charlie ‘Yardbird’ Parker (1920-1955)
Less than a month after his death, the national edition of the Chicago Defender suggested that Parker’s passing also signaled the end of bebop. The article claimed that without ‘Yardbird’ Parker “time and wear may render [bebop] worthless commercially.”[1]
While this concern may seem legitimate in the face of tremendous loss, modern hindsight rejects the notion that death can halt the development of musical style, particularly when that development stems from a genius. Parker, aside from being responsible for the partial transformation of musical sound, was also responsible for the transformation of musical thought. He revolutionized the way jazz musicians though about harmonic approaches to improvisation. He also drastically increased the use of contrafact composition (composing over existing harmonic material), expanding the framework in which jazz musicians could operate and providing a model for how they could develop their musical chops.
For all of the praise that the Chicago Defender heaps on ‘Yardbird’ for his contributions to jazz, they neglect to mention why this was his nickname. The answer is provided in another national edition five years later:
[2]
The anonymous author describes a person that, trapped within the gritty and difficult world of the inner-city, finds consolation in thinking about Bird and memorializing him through graffiti. For him, Bird (Parker himself as well as the nickname) symbolizes the ability to know “the freedom inside his head that allowed him to dream- and fly up, out and away” from the challenging circumstances of his life.[2] The author invokes the name of Dadelus, the Greek man who dreamt to fly away from his prison cell via his own ingenuity. Dadelus serves as a parallel to Bird, who used his innovative music to fly away the past and change the landscape of jazz, becoming a mythological figure in his own right.
With these two articles together, it almost seems as though the latter serves as a direct answer to the former. Bird’s music will not die because people’s dreams will not die. And as long as people continue to dream, the creativity and passion of Bird will be memorialized in both stone and flesh. The connection of flight and dreams as they relate to Parker remained relevant into the 1960s, as jazz musicians reacted to the development of the civil rights movement. As Bird did before them, they used their own perspectives to mold jazz into an expression of freedom. Bird and his music lived on, and will continue to as long as musicians continue to dream.
“It’s not unlawful to sing or play any kind of music in the United States of America, no matter how good or bad it sounds. Jazz is based on the sound of our native heritage. It is an American idiom with African roots-a trunk of soul with limbs reaching in every direction, to the frigid North, the exotic East, the miserable, swampy South, and the swinging Wild West.”[1]
Left- Duke Ellington’s autobiography; Right- Mercer Ellington’s memoir of his father
This passage from Duke Ellington’s autobiography, Music is my Mistress, hints at his plain writing style and his lifetime success in jazz. Ellington wrote his biography for the celebration of his 70th birthday in 1973, but its intent is not entirely clear. While he has a few revelations on music, God, and his Sacred conventions, to share, most of the book is spent listing the unique experiences he had and the many people that he worked with or that influenced him, all of whom are described as “good guys.” As Eileen Southern said in her book review in The Black Perspective in Music, “a great deal of essential data is missing…nowhere in the book is a hint of the pain Ellington must have experienced.”[2]
In contrast, his son Mercer Ellington wrote a memoir of his father that painted a much different picture of his life. Perhaps tainted by his experience of not seeing much of his father, Mercer summarizes some of the moments when Ellington was sidelined because of his race, such as when Ellington wrote Black, Beige, and Tan as a parallel and critique to African American history and received a patronizing response from critics or the many moments that Ellington had to prove his bands’ worth in comparison and competition with white jazz bands.
Perhaps the fact that Ellington left out the more bleak and tough moments of his life shows his view on protesting racial issues. Mercer quotes his father, “’I think a statement of social protest in the theater should be made without saying it.’”[3] His piece, Black Beige and Tan, and his 1963 cover of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue have undertones of critique on white appropriation of jazz by the virtuosity, styles, and stories that he implements, but they have to be inferred. Arguably, these conflicting accounts also show Ellington contributing to the white narrative of jazz. Ellington’s success was not only because of his talent as a musician and bandleader, but he did not outwardly fight the racist structures controlling his profession. Since his autobiography was published at a time when Ellington was celebrated by white audiences as a successful American jazz musicians, it makes sense that he chose to leave his African American experience out.
[1] Edward Kennedy Ellington, Music is my Mistress, (New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc, 1973), 436.
[2] Eileen Southern, “Reviewed Work: Music is My Mistress,” The Black Perspective in Music, 2, no. 2 (1974): 211-212.
[3] Mercer Ellington, Duke Ellington in Person: An Intimate Memoir, (Boston: Hougton Mifflin Company, 1978), 94.
When Gershwin wrote “I Got Rhythm” for the 1930’s musical Girl Crazy, he couldn’t have known what effect he had on the direction of jazz for years to come. The chord progressions and simple rhythm changes presented in “I Got Rhythm” have become second nature in the most common harmonic structure of jazz.
It was 1930, and the Gershwin brothers were working on the score of Girl Crazy, their next Broadway show. The chorus of the song, based on a syncopated four-note figure, was cast in standard 32-bar AABA form with a two-bar tag. Of the seventeen lines in the lyrics of its chorus, thirteen are set to the same four-note figure, a rhythmic cell that hits only one of the four strong beats in the two bars it covers.
For Ira (George’s brother and lyricist), “rhythm” in this song was tied up with aggressive, accented, syncopated groupings of beats. Together the music and lyrics would create a catchy tune that would become something so great in very little time.
Within ten days of the opening of Girl Crazy on the 14th, three significant recordings of “I Got Rhythm” were made.
“On the 20th, Freddie Rich, conductor of the CBS Radio Orchestra, recorded it with a group under his own name. On the 23d, Red Nichols and His Five Pennies—all thirteen of them, and including Goodman, Krupa, Miller, and other members of the Girl Crazy pit band, plus vocalist Dick Robertson—made their own version. And on the 24th, one of New York’s best black bands, Luis Russell and His Orchestra, recorded another version. Each can be taken to represent the beginning of a different approach to Gershwin’s number: (1) “I Got Rhythm” as a song played and sung by popular performers; (2) “I Got Rhythm” as a jazz standard , a piece known and frequently played by musicians, black and white, in the jazz tradition; and (3) “I Got Rhythm” as a musical structure , a harmonic framework upon which jazz instrumentalists, especially blacks, have built new compositions.”
The endurance and progression of popularity in the jazz tradition expanded largely due to its extensive use by early bebop musicians. The chords were first used in 1930s and developed into a popular jazz standard. “I Got Rhythm” became extremely common in the ’40s and ’50s when composers listened to the song and wrote a new melody over its chord changes, thereby creating a contrafact- a new melody overlaid on a familiar harmonic structure. Gershwin’s influence in jazz music is now ubiquitous. In Robert Wyatt’s book The George Gershwin Reader,
Popular musicians like Sidney Bechet, Lester Young, Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker started to imitate Gershwin’s style.
1 Crawford, Richard. “George Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm” (1930).” The American Musical Landscape. University of California Press. 1993. Web. 23 Mar. 2015. <http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft0z09n7gx&chunk.id=d0e6504&toc.id=d0e14086&brand=ucpress>.
2 Wyatt, Robert. “George Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm” (1930).” The George Gershwin Reader. New York: Oxford UP, 2004. 156-172. Print.
John Coltrane is known as one of the world’s most skilled saxophonists. As a jazz composer as well, his pieces fell into the bebop and hard bop jazz genres before incorporating modes and spearheading the free jazz movement. He was never one to do the same thing twice. He is also known for taking a theme or melody, stretching it out over a long period of time (sometimes as long as 45 minutes), repeating it over and over, playing it differently with each repetition.
In August of 1964, columnist for the Chicago Defender Louise Davis Stone managed to exchange a few words with Coltrane during the intermission of one of his shows. She asked him a question that was on the minds of many: whether or not the jazz genre was fading and losing the interest of many of its listeners.
Coltrane did not give a concrete answer, saying, “I don’t know whether jazz is dying or not. My records are selling well and I’m happy about that. I have no fear about my music being too way out. You are not going to find something new by doing the same thing over and over again. You add something to the old. You have to give up something to get something.”¹ Not having a firm answer can seem a bit disconcerting to some, especially to those to thoroughly enjoy the jazz genre. However, Coltrane’s comments about adding something to the old has merit. How else will an artist forge their own paths if they only cover exactly what has already been written and performed?
When Coltrane arranged “My Favorite Things,” for example (https://play.spotify.com/track/6oVY50pmdXqLNVeK8bzomn), he was not interested in performing it the same fashion as Mary Martin and Patricia Neway from the original Broadway performance (Sound of Music). He turned the vocal line into a solo for saxophone. The general “groove” of the song was changed as well from the original. Coltrane added new things to the old, made it his own, and gave the track a new life and spirit.
To the modern ear of the time, these alterations sounded more new age than what they were used to. That is exactly what Coltrane is not afraid of: new ideas and concepts that make the listeners’ ears perk up.
¹LOUISE, DAVIS STONE. “The Jazz Bit.” The Chicago Defender (National Edition) (1921-1967), Aug 01, 1964. http://search.proquest.com/docview/493094849?accountid=351.
Originally from New Orleans, LA, the Original Dixieland Jass Band (ODJB) was recruited to Chicago in 1916 to perform at Schiller’s Cafe. There was interest in bringing a New Orleans-style band to Chicago. After a number of personnel changes, ODJB was booked to perform in New York City. Starting in January 1917, ODJB took up residency providing upbeat dancing music at Reisenweber’s Restaurant in New York City.
At the time, the center of the music recording industry was New York City and New Jersey. ODJB had earned their own following in New York and received invitations to record. In the end of February, the band recorded with Victor Talking Machine Company and recorded two sides of a 78 record under the Victor name. The song here, Dixie Jass Band One-Step, and Livery Stable Blues were the first songs released on this record.
Original Dixieland ‘Jass’ Band – Dixie Jass Band One-Step Victor 18255-A, February 26, 1917 Library of Congress National Jukebox
With the release of this record, ODJB gained immense popularity in America. The members dubbed themselves “Creators of Jazz” having given the American people their first taste of jazz with their record release. After a successful first release, the ODJB recorded more songs for a total of 25, 2-song records before the group’s disbandment in 1925.
Dixieland jazz is different than what we think of as “jazz” today. It follows the 12-bar blues model, but instead of having a dominant soloist in the foreground, each of the five players play throughout. It sounds as if each player is playing his own solo throughout the whole song. It gives a different flavor of ensemble than we are used to in today’s instrumental music.
One of the primary uses for this music was dance. The complexity of the music itself and each of the five instruments intertwining with each other parallels that of public dancing. Everyone dances to the same beat, but each person on the dance floor is dancing his or her own way. No one looks or sounds the same. The same applies to Dixieland Jazz.
John Chilton. “Original Dixieland Jazz Band.” The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 2nd ed.. Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press, accessed March 2, 2015, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/J339300.
Jazz is a musical style native to the United States, that emerged in the early Twentieth century. Jazz was influenced from Blues music, which was established most notably by W.C. Handy in 1917. Jazz has new sound that incorporates both the African American musical stylings and the European American form of music. This hybridization of the two heritages created a unique style of music which we now call under a big genre “umbrella,” Jazz. In the Library of Congress photo archives, a photo of the reputable Sarah Vaughan was present among many photos of white jazz singers. She became popular in the late 40s and early 50s when Jazz was really hitting it’s stride as popular music, with the likes of Frank Sinatra.
Vaughan was highly influenced by the early blues style, of W.C. Handy. Handy’s invention or development of the Memphis Blues, drew on the folk style of the old southern plantation music. The emotional context of this music is heard in the vocal stylings of the renowned Sarah Vaughan. The memphis blues eventually took shape to the 12-bar blues, which also led to the development of Jazz.
While Vaughan represents a big part of the Jazz era, more commonly was the presence of white artists, such as Doris Day, Peggy Lee, and Sinatra. They emulated the sounds of a soulful Vaughan, singing on topics that go back to the days of slavery.
“St. Louis Blues” is a great example of an old dixieland jazz band song that evolved over the years. In the recording provided in the above link, the instrumentation, while has elements of a traditional jazz band also still has southern sounds to it… likely from New Orleans. In the video below, the song is presented in a different style of blues and jazz, one that emerged later with artists like Bessie Smith, Louis Armstrong, and Sarah Vaughan.
Bibliography
Gottlieb, William, photographer. “Portrait of Sarah Vaughan in Café Society (Downtown).” Photograph. New York, N.Y.: Library of Congress Prints & Photographs. Aug. 1946. Online.
The book is falling apart at the seams and the plastic jacket put on by the library seems to be the only thing keeping it intact. Enjoying the book so much to the point of wanting my own copy I quickly found it near impossible to find a “new” copy of the book and every copy I can across was in similar condition. Skimming through the book one sees it is set up as a performance with multiple “acts” that divide the book up. The “blurb” or synopsis of the book (written by Ellington) draws the reader in with his third person perspective.
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