Jazz, Big Bands and the Swing Years

Chapter 7/8

Ragtime vs African Americanized Marches

• John Philip Sousa (white) – popularized marches Stars and Stripes Forever, march http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4v9Da5DpYo

• Scott Joplin – (black) – popularized ragtime http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57DCa6cboHA

Similarities – steady pulse

Differences - Ragtime had more syncopation, more blue notes, and more swing

New Orleans

• Mixed African American / White population• Blacks, and creoles(light skinned) were mostly

formally trained musicians• Professional musicians were typically looked

down upon and considered lower class

• Jazz was orginially a street form with negative connotations

• The spread of Jazz can be associated with Prohibition in the 1920s.

Dixieland Jazz Band

• First Jazz recording 1917 in NYC

• All white group of musicians

• Helped bring jazz to a larger white audience

• Musicians began moving out of New Orleans to other cities, especially Chicago

Chicago

• Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, and Bix Beiderbecke – best known musicians

Jelly Roll Morton

• 1890-1941

• Creole pianist and composer from New Orleans

• 1926 – formed a studio band called the Red Hot Peppers

• Grandpa’s Spells http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSv-EqtHtEE

Louis Armstrong• From New Orleans, moved to Chicago

• Known for technical prowess

• Bright tone – bugle, cornet, trumpet

• Stonger emphasis on improvised solos

• Notable practitioner of scatting – the practice of using nonsense syllables instead of words to indicate an instrument

• , scat http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3fGrQYHHBI

Leon “Bix” Beiderbecke

• 1903-1931• 1923-came to Chicago and formed a band of young

white musicians called the Wolverines• Cool School strain of jazz – a warm mellow sound

opposite of Armstrong’s bright tone• Pioneered a ballad style in jazz – a slower number• Remember, fast numbers weren’t really fast and slow

numbers weren’t really slow.• One of the first modernists in Jazz. Used the whole-tone

scale which gave listeners an exotic sound.• Singin the Blues

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ue9igC7flI

The Swing Era

• 1935-1945 – most popular period for Jazz

• Ensembles are referred to as “big bands”

• New York – musicians were accompanists for classic blues singers during recording sessions, and formed dance orchestras to play at clubs in Manhattan and Harlem

Fletcher Henderson

• 1897-1952• Fletcher Henderson Orchestra let by Fletcher Henderson

– pianist• Much arranging was left to lead saxophonist Don

Redman• Evolved with influence from Louis Armstrong –

innovative, hot swinging style with relaxed rhythm, and from the Paul Whiteman Orchestra – dance band that identified itself with jazz.

• Drums used sparingly at first – rhythm section was tuba and banjo

• Band went bankrupt by 1934 and disbanded

Fletcher HendersonSugar Foot Stomp http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjEiyhESlh4

NY VS New Orleans

• NY –3 (later 4-5) saxophones, 2(later 3-4) trumpets, 1 (later 2-4) trombones

• Homophonic

• *********************************************

• New Orleans – frontline horn section – clarinet, trumpet, and trombone

• Polyphonic

Kansas City Style

• Musicians generally had less formal training unlike musicians from New Orleans and Chicago

• More emphasis was placed on individual solo• Arrangements made up on the spot• One member would dictate a short melodic

figure (RIFF) and the band would play it back in unison or with improvied harmonies ( RIFF CHARTS)

William “Count” Basie

• 1904-1984

• Born in Red Bank, NJ – moved to Kansas City

• Pianist

• Possessed the finest rhythm section of the swing era

• His musicians were not formally trained

Count Basie – Doggin’ Around – AABA form http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z5MOyL1cco

Count Basie - April In Paris http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sU1yg6_l0_4

Benny Goodman

• 1909-1986 Born in Chicago, a white clarinetist• Swing was a fully formed style by the 1930s, but

was not accepted into mainstream popular music – Benny Goodman’s orchestra was most responsible for that acceptance

• Goodman purchased Fletcher Henderson’s library and it became a basis for the band’s style

• In The Mood http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR3K5uB-wMA

Benny Goodman, cont.

• Goodman had racially mixed bands – a practice that was uncommon for the time. This helped bring jazz to a more diverse audience and therefore increased its popularity

• He is known in the history of jazz as the benchmark of its success

• He was the first jazz ensemble to perform at Carnegie Hall in 1938 – concert sold out, tickets were $2.75

• “KING OF SWING”

Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington• 1899-1974

• He brought his band from Washington to NY in the early 1920s

• Band started as a syncopated dance orchestra, but were influenced by two things

• It Don't Mean a Thing If It Aint Got That Swing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FvsgGp8rSE

Influence #1

• Trumpeter James “Babber” Miley from New Orleans

• Babber affected Ellington the same way Armstrong affected Henderson

• Miley did this freakish growl effect with his trumpet, putting a plunger over the bell and making a growling sound with his throat (ex. 1927 East St. Louis Toodle-Oo)

• http://youtu.be/-_Y0cJ-aEbY

Influence #2

• The Cotton Club in Harlem – he was hired for a residency as a house band

• Operated by mob owner Owney Madden

• Sold illegal alcohol during Prohibition

• Offered black entertainment to a primarily white Manhattan audience

Art Influence

• Ellington was an artist

• He brought ideas of color, texture, and mood to manuscript paper instead of canvas

• This can be seen in songs such as “Mood Indigo,” “ On a Turquoise Cloud,” and “Magenta Haze.”

• Ellington was unique because he spent so much time playing with the same musicians, the parts he wrote were written specifically for their abilities

• The parts were labeled not by instrument, but with the performers name

A Pulitzer Prize?

• Career lasted well into the 1970s

• Ellington was denied the Pulitzer Prize for music, primarily because of racism

• In 1999, the centennial of Ellington’s birth, he was posthumously awarded a special and belated Pulitzer award

Other Big Bands

White Orchestras

• Access to major recording labels, the finest and the most prestigious ballrooms, and had the most radio exposure

• Technical perfection, finest musicians, extremely conservative, leaned toward the “sweet” side of popular music

Black Bands

• Bold and driving music whenever racial customs allowed

• Leaned toward the “hot” and “sweet” side of popular music

• “Sweet” and “hot” coexisted before a mass audience

Glen Miller Orchestra• Glen Miller 1904-1944, trombonist

• Orchestra was formed in 1939

• Through his efforts as bandleader and arranger, he developed the most commercially viable style of any swing band

• “Hot” – In the Mood

• “Sweet” – Moonlight Serenade http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQseFAcWvtE

Tommy Dorsey

• 1905-1956• An early colleague of Goodman, Miller, and

Beiderbecke• One of the finest trombonists of any style• Instead of as a gruff instrument, Dorsey

presented the trombone as a beautiful solo instrument.

• His tone, phrasing, and remarkable breath control were the primary influences on Frank Sinatra.

Artie Shaw

• 1910-2004• The only real threat to Benny Goodman’s

clarinet expertise• His sensitive personality did not fit with the

pressures of musical commercialism. • His band was so unstable, they formed and

disbanded 8 times between 1936 and 1955• Formed a curious group consisting of a

Dixieland band with a string quartet!

• Though sweet and hot prevailed for a long time in the Swing Era, commercialism soon prevailed.

• The music of the bands became more polite; the arrangements became more conservative and began to crowd the space previously reserved for improvising jazz soloists.

• The greatest fame, money, and exposure was again given to white artists, but musicians would continue to explore their creativity and technical abilities in private jam sessions.

• This eventually will lead to bebop in the 1940s.

World War II

* Rationing of gasoline and other products

Curtailed touring and record production

• It became too expensive to fund big bands

• Many band members were drafted

Crooners

• Crooners – singers of popular ballads

• 1942-1944 – Musician’s union imposed a ban on recording. Singers were NOT union members and so were exempt!

• Because of this, public attention went to singers, particularly crooners (Like Sinatra)

REVIVAL• In 1998, there was an experienced swing

revival with bands like the Brian Setzer Orchestra and the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies

• Cherry Poppin Daddies, Zoot Suit Riot http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd5HqNEfaUA

• Brian Setzer Orchestra Jump Jive and Wail http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHWcN5YxuYc