A Concise History of Jazz
 

Unlike classical music, jazz has always been a forward-looking music. We can rightly speak of a classical tradition but the term “jazz tradition” is a contradiction. The very idea of jazz seemingly from its earliest days has been one of no tradition. While classical music worked slavishly from the written page, jazz relied ever-so slightly on this convention and, in many cases, discarded it altogether in order to “speak from the heart.” This is not to say that classical music doesn’t speak from the heart but a piece speaks from only the heart of its composer, the conductor becomes the interpreter of that feeling and his musicians merely participants assisting the conductor in bringing this feeling to the audience. The reason he is called a conductor instead of, say, time-keeper or metronome is that he conducts the composer’s feelings and intentions to the listeners through the musicians. He is actually a medium.

With jazz, each musician is in himself a composer telling a story straight from his heart in so personal a way that the story can never be told the same way twice. A classical musician strives to make each performance identical while a jazz musician is frowned on by his fellows for playing identically at each performance. In classical, the composer’s feeling is mapped on the written page beforehand, in jazz the feeling is spontaneous and must be expressed and captured in that instant for afterwards that instant, having past, will never be again. For this reason, we say that jazz is very existentialist.

The sheet music score of a classical piece is the complete set of instructions for recreating the feeling that the composer wishes to arouse in the listener—page after page of drama, tragedy, comedy, romance, bellows of war, crashes of thunder leaping off the page in rich, startling, impressively ornate notation. By contrast, a jazz musician’s sheet music usually occupies no more than a single page with only the bare melody written on the staff, the chords written above each bar of music. From this minimalist skeleton on a musical idea will arise some of the richest interpretations ever heard—what would have taken dozens of written pages to capture none-for-note—but nearly all of it supplied from the musician’s heart as he was feeling it at that moment. He might play the song again an hour later and play it entirely differently using the same piece of sheet music.

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Some jazz sheet music contains no musical notes only the beats and chords. The rest will be improvised. Although this piece is listed as a guitar chart, it will work with almost any instrument.

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In this jazz chart for Gershwin’s “Summertime,” notes are provided that give the basic melody. Each musician in the ensemble will use those notes to build a solo around. The other musicians will simply play the chords listed above each bar of music until his turn to solo comes up. This is not an excerpt of the total piece of sheet music for this number, it is the entire number. This is all experienced jazz musicians need to make music and they can stretch it out for as long as they please. This piece of music could last five minutes or five hours, could be fast or slow, happy or sad, could be played hot or cool—whatever the musicians are feeling at that moment.

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One page of a Johann Pachelbel piece. The emotion is contained in the notation as well as certain instructions such as “andante” or “poco moto” etc. (although no such instructions are given here). While different musicians would play it somewhat differently, the overall effect on the listener would be the same because each musician wants to stay true to the original feeling Pachelbel was trying to invoke, they would differ only in how they thought the piece should be played to invoke that feeling. Jazz musicians would strip it down so that they could play it with any feeling they want to.

Because jazz has been so progressive, so forward-looking, it has evolved with astonishing quickness. The progression of jazz from Buddy Bolden and Kid Ory to Ornette Coleman and Charles Mingus was so godawful quick that it would be like classical music going from Bach to Stravinsky in the space of 50 years!

When and where did jazz begin? The usual jazz holyland is considered to be New Orleans where it sprang up among the black and Creole communities. This is hard to argue with when one considers the earliest jazz talents seem to have all come out of the Big Easy—Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, Kid Ory, Jelly Roll Morton, Freddy Keppard, Bunk Johnson, Armand Piron, Tony Parenti, Jimmy Palao, Johnny Bayersdorffer, The New Orleans Rhythm Kings, Johnny De Droit, The Original Dixieland Jazz Band (the first jazz band to record), not to mention Buddy Bolden (who never recorded). But jazz was everywhere in America because its disciples traveled around spreading the jazz gospel. Kid Ory went to San Francisco. Morton, Armstrong, Oliver, Keppard and others went to Chicago. Earl Fuller, James Reese Europe and Fletcher Henderson kicked off a vibrant jazz scene in New York City. W. C. Handy was playing around Memphis having spent a good deal of time in New Orleans recruiting musicians for his band. Don Redman in Detroit organized McKinney’s Cotton Pickers into one of the first true jazz big bands that was so impressive that some of the greatest black jazz talent of the 20th century played in the band at some point. Some pioneers as the great Wilbur Sweatman spent time playing jazz in places as Kansas City, Chicago, Minneapolis and New York long before these places became jazz meccas helping to plant the seeds of a future abundant crop.

When did the earliest jazz bands form and what did they sound like? Depending on the historian doing the documenting, jazz started as early as 1885 although all agree that it was definitely in existence by 1902. Buddy Bolden has traditionally been credited with starting jazz but others credit Jelly Roll Morton who began converting ragtime, generally written in 2/4, to 4/4 time which laid the foundation for swing. Handy was also definitely laying the groundwork for jazz by 1909 and perhaps as early as ‘03. I would think the 1885 date is a bit premature. One of the prime ingredients of early jazz was ragtime—a music formed first from barnyard banjo dance tunes played by slaves and sharecroppers and then jig piano and riverboat songs.

Ragtime probably came about around 1890 or so. I have a ragtime recording from 1890 called “Bunch of Rags” by Sylvester “Vess” L. Ossman, a prolific ragtime musician at that period. The point is, we can hear a clear influence of ragtime on early jazz but we do not hear any jazz in ragtime simply the does not appear have been any jazz before the emergence of ragtime. If jass preceded ragtime, it must have undergone a radical transformation and this is untenable. Moreover, ragtime would need time to establish itself as a major musical movement for jazz to have incorporated so much of it. So the first jazz bands probably came into existence by 1895 give or take a couple of years.

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The John Robichaux Orchestra of New Orleans from a photo taken circa 1896. Since several of the band members were known to have played in true jazz bands early in the 20th century, we can surmise that the Robichaux band must have played something that was at least akin to jazz and we can be certain that they at least qualified as a ragtime band on the verge of jass (by the way, “jass” is the correct spelling and I use it to mean early jazz of this period), a proto-jass band. They would have been on the reserved side of things with the Bolden band playing a lot hotter.

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The Buddy Bolden Band circa 1903. There was also a drummer who didn't make the photo shoot. The Bolden Band was unusual for having two clarinets as well as a guitarist (the banjo was by far the preferred instrument in early jazz). Bolden is said to have recorded a single cylinder in 1902 but it is either lost or there are no surviving copies. It would be a priceless recording if anyone can find it. Bolden stands in the back holding a cornet. This is the only known photo of him. He was placed in an asylum in 1907 and remained there for 24 years until dying in 1931. Many prominent jazzmen saw him play and were greatly influenced by him. These include Kid Ory, Jelly Roll Morton and Clarence Williams.

What characterizes jazz musically is swing. So we need to define swing. Now we run into an incongruity concerning American history that can be summed in the question, “When did it really start?” We have no clear genesis mapped out for the term “swing” nor its meaning. Per its name, it must have started off as a physical component of music such as the sway of the body to a rhythm. This swaying was caused by a certain timing issue in the music called swing-feel which was linked inherently to syncopated rhythm. Syncopation is a way of emphasizing the unaccented beat. In standard march meter or in classical music, a 1-2 beat was simply counted ONE-two-ONE-two-ONE-two. To syncopate this, we would keep the accent on 1 but emphasize two. One way to do this would be to subdivide 2 into four sub-beats and only play on the fourth sub-beat so it sounds thus: ONE…twoONE…twoONE…twoONE! Each period representing a sub-beat. Notice how 2 gets a certain emphasize that causes the even timing to become sort of ragged. And, yes, that is the origin of the term ragtime…ragged timing…syncopated timing. It causes the body to sway and hence imparts a feeling of swinging the body…swing-feel.

Indeed, “swing” as a musical term had to be around since the days of ragtime although there is virtually no reference to swing from those times except for a single song recorded in 1912 by a white singer named Elida Morris called “The Trolley Car Swing” written by Joe Young (lyrics) and Bert Grant (music). The lyrics would seem to equate the swinging motion of a trolley car with a dance. The title itself indicates as much and for this to be so then the term “swing” must have been around in this early era of American popular music and must have been known to people in general. After all, the dance of swing was the lindy-hop and the dance of ragtime was the cakewalk and the similarities are undeniable if not striking. In the top clip watch the segment of the white cakewalk dancers at Coney Island where the men unsuccessfully try to flip their partners (difficult to do in sea-soaked sand, I’m sure). In the bottom clip, we see black lindy-hop dancers doing it right. The move is the same and obviously was as much a part of cakewalk as the lindy.


Cakewalk, Comedy, and Coney Island 1903 - YouTube


Whiteys Lindy Hoppers .. Hellzapoppin. - YouTube

The only thing I don’t like about the second clip is that they dressed the musicians and dancers in domestic help uniforms which is not only demeaning but completely inaccurate. When you went to a Harlem dancehall back then, people were dressed to the nines in opulent suits and dresses. Zoot suits were very popular then and no man or woman would have been caught dead in a dancehall dressed like a cook or a maid.

We’ll get into the zoot suit phenomenon later. As America entered the 1910s, jazz went geared up. W. C. Handy’s “Memphis Blues” from 1912 was an example of jazz from this early period. The recording is 1917 or later. The ragtime elements are very strong, so much so that many jazz purists feel this is more properly a ragtime band than true jazz and there is some merit to this speculation. It sounds very much like many of the military bands of that time which began incorporating rags (including Sousa and his protégé Arthur Pryor who was actually the first to do it):


W.C. Handy - Memphis Blues - YouTube

The first true jazz band to record was the Original Dixieland Jass Band in 1917 out of New Orleans (although the recordings were done in New York). They eventually changed the spelling of “jass” to “jazz” because kids kept blacking out the “J” on their handbills. This convention, needless to say, has become the standard. These recordings became so iconic that they set the standard for how Dixieland jazz would sound to this day. There is no evidence that most jazz sounded this way at the time. The few recordings that followed ODJB’s debut gave us a panorama of just how different jazz sounded from band to band which means ODLB had a tremendous impact on the future sound of jazz just by being the first to record. The following is supposedly the very first jazz song every recorded.


Original Dixieland Jass Band - Livery Stable Blues (1917) - YouTube

There has been a charge of racism that the first jazz band to record was white and there may be some merit to the charge but from I can gather, the first jazzman offered a recording contract was a Creole of color named Freddie Keppard whom most people today would instantly identify as a black man. He was offered a contract in 1916 but turned it down. He was afraid other musicians would steal his licks. ODJB became the first jazz band to record simply because they were available and willing.

By the early 20s, most Americans had still not heard real jazz. This changed when Kid Ory’s Sunshine Band played live on the radio in 1922, a piece composed by Ory called “Ory’s Creole Trombone”:


Kid Ory - Ory's Creole Trombone (1922) - YouTube

The broadcast was recorded and so we have it with us today. Notice how different it is from ODJB. The broadcast is credited with the being the first recording of blacks playing in authentic New Orleans style (although if Ory is black then I’m Louis Farrakhan).

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Art Blakeney (left), Ory (center) and Louis Armstrong pal it up backstage at the 1948 Dixieland Jubilee. Louis and Ory were old friends and, in fact, Louis got his big break from Ory when he was just a kid following Ory’s band around New Orleans. He worked up the nerve to approach Ory (who, by all accounts, was a very nice man) and asked to audition. Ory listened to him and told him he played great blues but his jazz needed work. Rather than turn Louis away, Ory brought him into the band under the instruction of the primary cornetist, King Oliver. Oliver and Louis immediately hit off, becoming like father and son. King taught Louis everything about jazz and the rest is history.

By the 1920s, ragtime was an all but forgotten musical form despite the face that raggy elements still abounded in the music of the 20s. It was called “The Jazz Age” which F. Scott Fitzgerald immortalized in his writings but the jazz was often diluted. About this time, many society dance bands had to learn some amount of jazz to land gigs and many of these opted for a light jazz tinge to their otherwise Tin Pan Alley sound. This type of jazz is now known as “sweet.” Paul Whiteman’s band was probably the premier sweet band despite having two of the best hot jazz musicians in its ranks—Frankie Trumbauer on C-sax and Bix Beiderbecke on cornet.


Suite Of Serenades--PART-1 by Paul Whiteman Orchestra on 1928 Victor 78 rpm record. - YouTube

Another type of jazz that often typifies the 20s nowadays is “corn jazz.” Corn was popular among the younger white kids primarily the college set. When you see a 1920 college student today they are typified as wearing pork pie or straw hats, long fur coats and carrying pennants as they drove about in Stutz Bearcat automobiles (a popular sports car of that era). Another image is the cheerleaders with the letter sweaters shouting through megaphones.

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Corn bands often co-opted both looks. Many colleges, in fact, had their own corn bands. Lou Weimer’s Gold & Black Aces were Perdue University’s corn band and recorded a great corn number called “Merry Widow’s Got a Sweetie Now.” Corn jazz is considered a subset of sweet jazz and often included hillbilly skits and what not. Kay Kyser carried on the corn jazz band legacy into the 40s and had a radio show called “The Kollege of Musical Knowledge” that went off the air for good in 1950 unable to compete with the rise of rocknroll. Below, a nice corn number from 1929:


Paul Tremaine and His Aristocrats - Four/ Four Rhythm, 1929 - YouTube

The third type of jazz in the 20s was “swing jazz.” This should not be confused with the swing era jazz although that type of swing is an outgrowth of the 20s swing jazz. This music was hot and heavy on the jazz. Where sweet and corn restrained themselves from going too far, swing jazz pulled out the stops. It was jazz full force with virtually no society dance elements left. Two things need to be noted, however:

1. Many jazz historians do not feel that there ever really were full tilt swing bands. Hot swing was really an ideal to aspire to but could never be reached. No matter how hot it was, it could always be hotter.
2. This is linked to the fact that even the hottest black swing bands of that era played sweet and corn jazz as well. The reason is simply because they wanted to get hired for as many gigs as they could land. So their hot jazz was strewn with sweet and corny elements and it was impossible to remove them.

Perhaps the best swing band recordings of the 20s would be Louis Armstrong’s Hot Five and Jelly Roll Morton’s Red Hot Peppers (both of which featured the incomparable Kid Ory playing tailgate trombone). The first clip is “West End Blues” by the Hot Five from 1928. Louie’s cornet solo in the intro is considered by many jazz musicians to be the start of be-bop which wouldn’t come to fruition over another decade. The second clip is Jelly Roll Morton’s Red Hot Peppers from 1926 doing one of Morton’s many compositions. He is considered to be the first true composer of jazz.


West End Blues - Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five, 1928 - YouTube


Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers:- "Grandpa's Spells" - YouTube

But the twenties had other influences. Starting about 1915, Hawaiian music became a huge rage in the U.S. Hawaiian sheet music sales and recordings were the hottest sellers by far. The guitar started to overtake the banjo in popularity because people wanted to learn to play Hawaiian music which used the guitar instead of the banjo. By the 1920s, American music was thoroughly Hawaiianized. Two of the biggest stars of that era were Roy Smeck and Ukulele Ike (real name Cliff Edwards). Both played the ukulele and were so popular that people began playing ukes more than guitars. If you wonder why so many songs from the 20s are played on ukes, now you know. Roy Smeck was an amazingly talented musician:


Roy Smeck - YouTube

Cliff Edwards from 1929. This song was a gigantic hit for him. You probably thought Gene Kelly did the original version. If Edwards’s voice sounds familiar it’s because he was cast as the voice of Jiminy Cricket in 1940’s Pinocchio.


Ukelele Ike Singing in the Rain 1929 - YouTube

Of course the Hawaiian strain of music would meld with the jazz of that era to produce some interesting hybrids as Mr. Edwards demonstrates in 1926 recording:


Cliff Edwards - Five Foot Two Eyes Of Blue 1926 Has Anybody Seen My Gal - YouTube

So this is how things stood at the end of the twenties. Hawaiian music would continue to be popular into the 40s and even made some inroads into rocknroll but by the 60s, it would all but evaporate leaving behind it, however, the instrument that changed how music was made—the guitar.

Next, we'll cover the swing era.

Ive always been a fan of the 20s swing jazz, something I would enjoy looking into a little deeper.

Soft/easy listening jazz is something I could listen to most of the time, more so than any other style of music or particular genre.

I'm loving this, LL. I'm a long-term fan of jazz in almost any of its styles and periods, but have never been that understanding of the earliest roots of the genre, so the your first two posts have been fascinating. I'm fairly well-versed on jazz from the swing era on., but I'm still really looking forward to it. Keep up the good work!

I had an idea for a thread like this last year using my own research and assignments from class and never acted on it, lol. Good for you taking the initiative :)

lord lareship this is a great thread and thought you mght ot hear from me often BUT i really enjoy threads like this. IT is similar to the thread boo boo and several others made in the metal forum . It helps me with an itroduction to a genre so gopefully in a few weeks i can reply with my thoughts and opinions on music ive listened to!!!!!!!

Thanks for that Lord Larehip, it was a great way to pass half an hour. Im going to pass the next thirty minutes or so looking up Roy Smeck videos on youtube.

:)

Thanks for taking the time and trouble to explain the birth of jass so clearly, Lord Larehip. This is easily the best thing that I´ve read on MB for ages, though I have to admit that so far I´ve only skimmed the text and dipped into a couple of your clips. I really liked Whitey´s Lindy Hoppers and the comment you made about their costumes. Today I´m going to read it all properly - and I´m already wondering what the next installment will tell us.
Well done, and thanks again! :clap:

Great stuff Lord Larelip. I've always thought that the development of jazz would have been impossible without the blues but there's a lot more to it than that. I'm a mere dilettante compared to your scholarly knowledge of jazz's origins and roots.

An interesting and informative treatise LL. Is most of it you, or is some of it brought forward from research sources?

I'd be particularly interested in your source for this:

The Swing Era - Part I

An exact history of how swing and jazz in general took root and spread across the country during the twenties and going into the thirties is impossible. The historical fabric is faded in spots, unraveled in others, ripped with big holes elsewhere. All that’s left is tatters.

Part of the problem was, as usual, racism. Careful records were not preserved or even made that documented how the gospel of jazz traveled nor who the apostles were that carried this good news far and wide. We can be certain that most of those apostles were black therefore ignored by the mainstream and therefore forgotten by posterity. Many recordings made during this time that might have afforded us important clues are now probably gone forever and those that may yet be found will be too sparse to fill out a proper narrative that surely must be rich in detail if it could ever be assembled with all its historical facts in place. Like the burning of the Library of Alexandria, most of the data has perished while only a pitiful few remnants remain—not nearly enough to tell us much of anything but only tantalize us with possibilities.

Another problem was the Depression. So many vibrant jazz scenes across the country collapsed virtually overnight that we know next to nothing about them today. Musicians migrated en masse to wherever they could find work, shutting the door behind them as they left and this, in turn, shut the door on adequate historical research.

Also World War II had an effect. There were so many shortages in the country that the recording industry ground to a virtual halt due to lack of lacquer shipments from the Far East due to Japanese seizure of that region of the world. Records were made from shellac which could not be made without lacquer. To get around the shellac shortage, labels as Capitol bought up stocks of older records, millions upon millions of them, crushed them and melted them down to be pressed into new recordings. By war’s end, Capitol Records sold an astonishing 40 million records! That should give one an idea of how many old recordings were destroyed. How many might be by various early swing bands that are now all but lost to us today is unknown but there were likely a significant number likely in the thousands.

Between 1929 and 1945, much of America’s jazz culture and history was irretrievably lost. The worst part is that we don’t even know enough to miss what we have lost—like losing a million dollars you never knew you had. Much the same thing happened to the original blues artists. We only have their recordings today because people went through the trouble of canvassing black neighborhoods door-to-door (sometimes at great personal risk) to buy old blues records from the occupants four and five decades after the fact. At best, only one in 20 had anything to sell and much of it was not in the best condition. Sometimes a record would be discovered that no one had heard of before but would be unplayable due to years of being used as a placemat for a flowerpot of some such similar thing. What old blues recordings we have today probably represent no more than a hundredth of what was actually released to the public. We can assume the same is true of jazz.

So we must be cognizant of the fact that any history of jazz and the Swing Era in particular is sketchy and arguable. That we cannot credit all the bands who played a role in spreading the gospel of swing around the country, and ultimately the world, is unfortunate but that, as they say, is how it is.

August 21, 1935 – Benny Goodman and band opened at the Palomar Ballroom on Vermont Avenue between Second and Third in Los Angeles with his band that included Gene Krupa on drums, Harry Goodman (Benny’s brother) on bass, Frank Froeba on piano, George Van Eps on guitar and nine horn-players including Pee Wee Erwin (trumpet) and Toots Mondello (alto sax). The singer was Helen Ward. Goodman had the band play a straight safe set unwilling to jump into the deep end of the pool so to speak. The reception was lukewarm. The crowd had heard the frenetic recordings and performances of the band on the radio and they expected something less restrained. After the first set ended either the band’s manager or Krupa (sources vary but was probably Krupa) told Goodman, “If we’re gonna die, Benny, let’s die playing our own thing!” Goodman knew he was right and pulled out the stops. When the band hit the stage for part two they attacked the audience with the craziest music anyone had ever heard and the crowd went crazy. This is now remembered as the birth of swing.

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Although calling this concert the birth of swing is a bit of an overstatement, there is some truth to it. It definitely put swing on the map where it would stay for two decades. But swing didn’t jump out and present itself to the world that night. It was a while in coming. Goodman was perhaps its greatest ambassador but he was definitely not the innovator.

Goodman was born the ninth of 12 children in Chicago to Jewish parents who immigrated from the Russian Empire. Goodman was 10 when he began taking clarinet lessons at the synagogue and then moved to other teachers including classical training with Franz Schoepp. He became interested in jazz and listened to the great New Orleans clarinet masters as Jimmy Noone, Johnny Dodds and the mentally ill genius Leon Roppolo. Goodman had such a natural talent on the clarinet that he was playing professionally with the legendary cornetist Bix Beiderbecke in 1923 at the age of 14! He joined Ben Pollack’s band—the top-rated band in Chicago—in 1925 and recorded with them the following year, his first recordings. Benny’s brother, Harry, was also doing well as a jazz bassist and they usually played together.

In December of that year, David Goodman, Benny’s father, was killed in Chicago in a street accident. Benny had been trying for some time to get his father to retire saying that he and Harry were making enough money to see that he would be comfortable but David refused to consider it. Benny always regretted that his father did not live long enough to see his and Harry’s success and told people his father’s death was the bitterest blow to his family.

The Goodman brothers left for New York and appeared together and separately on a spate of projects up to 1934 including recordings and performances with Glenn Miller, Joe Venuti and Ted Lewis. During the Depression, Goodman purchased the arrangements and songbooks of the great Fletcher Henderson who led the hottest black band in Harlem. Henderson, a genius for arrangements but a poor bandleader, was in deep financial straights and badly needed the money and eagerly accepted Goodman’s help. Henderson’s orchestra, who had argued with leader over the lack of payment, had disbanded during this time so Goodman also hired many of them—the finest jazz musicians the world has ever seen—to train up his own players who were lacking the proper chops.

Fully trained by Henderson’s band and using his arrangements, the Goodman band auditioned for a dance music radio program called “Let’s Dance” and was one of three bands to make the cut. It was a huge break. The program aired for three hours per broadcast and Goodman’s time slot was such that people on the East Coast usually tuned out but the West Coast audience loved it. The radio program was sponsored by Nabisco which was suddenly paralyzed by a strike forcing the program to shut down. Goodman had nothing else going so he took his band on tour but found the reception poor as most people had no idea who he was—until he got to the West Coast where he had been a huge attraction on the “Let’s Dance” program. With his band ready to split on him, Goodman landed a gig at the Palomar Ballroom and the rest is history.

But was Goodman the King of Swing as he is generally designated? What about this Fletcher Henderson? Who was this guy and what role does he play in the birth of swing? He was born to a middleclass black family in Cuthbert, Georgia in 1897 where classical music was the order of the day. He studied classical piano in which he excelled. Among wealthy black families, especially in the South, the playing of blues, jazz and rags was looked down on if not outright forbidden. This disdain for black folk music was even more pronounced in wealthier southern blacks who had transplanted themselves in the North and sought to appear cultured and wanted nothing to do with music that might make them appear to be sharecroppers and field hands in disguise. They shared this disdain in common with religious blacks who pronounced all forms of black folk music (with the exception of hymns and gospel) to be “the devil’s music.”

Henderson was sent to Atlanta University where he studied chemistry and mathematics. He graduated with a degree in chemistry and went to New York looking a job in that line of work. Instead, he was forced to take a job working for a black-owned company called Pace-Handy Music Company where he demonstrated songs on the piano for $22.50 a week. Henderson’s musical talent and knowledge were so good that Harry Pace began using him to organize and run jazz recording sessions for the Black Swan label owned by Pace. Henderson, in addition to hiring the bands that recorded also often played with them and wrote their arrangements. Many musicians wanted him to form a band so they could quit their current gigs and play for him. He formed a cadre of sidemen for the recording sessions. When an opening at Club Alabam on West 54th Street advertised for a bandleader, his sidemen wanting steady work and weekend gigs pressured him to go. Up to then, Henderson had not made up his mind to pursue a musical career full time still toying with the idea of finding a job as a chemist. He auditioned, was accepted and the die was cast. A short time later, Henderson left Club Alabam to take a long-running gig at the Roseland which he converted into the most important jazz venue in the country during his decade-long stint there.

The orchestra played his dazzling, complex arrangements to great acclaim. Although considered staples now, the arrangements were unheard of in Henderson’s time. They required musicians of great talent and proficiency to execute the way Henderson envisioned. True to form, his band membership was a who’s who of the swing era—Lester Young, Chu Berry, Coleman Hawkins, Omer Simeon, Ben Webster, John Kirby, Russell Procope, Clarence Holiday (Billie’s father), Sid Catlett, Buster Bailey and Benny Carter on sax. These were arguably the greatest sax men in the business. His trumpet section boasted Red Allen, J. C. Higginbotham, Benny Morton, Tommy Ladnier, Roy Eldridge, Jimmy Harrison, Rex Stewart, Dickie Wells, Joe Smith and someone named Louis Armstrong. None of the other Harlem bandleaders as Ellington or Chick Webb could come close to that even though each had awesome talent in their respective orchestras. And just as Duke had his Billy Strayhorn to help out on composition and arrangement, Henderson had the great Don Redman.

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Fletcher Henderson and orchestra. Henderson sits behind the drums. Seated on the floor at the left is Coleman Hawkins. Seated behind Hawkins next to the baritone sax is Louis Armstrong.

Don Redman was born in West Virginia in 1900 and was a child prodigy learning to play a variety of instruments and excelled on all of them. By the 1920s, he was touring with Billy Paige’s Broadway Syncopators as clarinetist and sax man. He was also the band’s arranger writing all their charts. When he came to New York, he met Henderson and the two hit it off and began a partnership. Indeed, without Redman, the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra might never have attained more acclaim than being a band that helped great up and coming talent cut their teeth before moving on to greater things—not that the band didn’t serve this function but it was so much more due to the perspicacity of its arrangements.

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Don Redman

Originally, their arrangements were lackluster and derivative. Well played but not particularly noteworthy. But as time went on, Henderson and Redman began to get more daring and innovative realizing their arrangements were not up to snuff and re-recorded some of them the way they were now envisioning.

When Redman began to really hit his stride as an arranger he was commissioned by Paul Whiteman to write for his orchestra. Redman came up with “The Whiteman Stomp” which both Henderson’s and Whiteman’s bands recorded in 1928. Jazz historian Ted Gioia describes it thusly: “…Redman delves into the avant-garde, crafting a highly eccentric orchestration in which fragments of musical shrapnel take flight unpredictably, coalescing into an odd type of jazz, one built on disjunction and entropy. That same year, half a world away, physicist Werner Heisenberg was articulating his famous uncertainty principle, the foundation of quantum physics. Here Redman shows his allegiance to the same zeitgeist, espousing a jagged, pointillistic style in which all continuities are called into question.”


Fletcher Henderson - Whiteman Stomp - N.Y.C. 11.05.1927 - YouTube

A strange mixture of hot swing, avant-garde and corn jazz, some of the novelty effects on the piece are reminiscent of Spike Jones whose own recordings were still a few years away yet.

Also on the recording is saxophonist Coleman Hawkins who had been with Henderson from the beginning. Born in Saint Joseph, Missouri in 1904, his family moved to Chicago and then Kansas. He studied piano, cello and then sax by the age of 9. By the age of 17, he was playing sax for Mamie Smith’s Jazz Hounds and became a full-fledged member in 1922. When the band came to New York, Hawkins quit and joined up with Fletcher Henderson. He would stay with Henderson until 1934 but during that time, he was involved in a number of projects including solo ventures where he made his name. Miles Davis stated that the work of Coleman Hawkins opened doors to new ways of playing and hearing music. After ’34, Hawkins toured Europe as a solo artist until 1939. Lester Young, who played with Hawkins in the Henderson orchestra, stated that Hawkins was the true first president of the sax (Young’s nickname was “Pres”). “As far as myself,” said Young, “I think I’m the second one.”

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Coleman Hawkins

Perhaps the greatest unsung hero of the swing era is Irving Mills. Born in 1894 to a Jewish family on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Mills and his brother, Jack, founded a music publishing company in 1919—Mills Music. Mills got hooked on jazz when he went to the Kentucky Club near 7th and Broadway one night to see the Ellington orchestra play and, instead of hopping from club to club to scope the talent as was his usual routine, Mills was glued to his seat all night.

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Irving Mills

Mills began to sponsor the jazz groups in New York and owned all the most influential including Ellington, Cab Calloway, Fletcher Henderson, Don Redman, Lucky Millinder, Benny Carter, Benny Goodman, Jack Teagarden, Ben Pollack, Raymond Scott, Willie Lewis, Will Hudson and others. He also made the careers of many great songwriters including Harry Barris (“Mississippi Mud”), Hoagy Carmichael, Gene Austin (“My Blue Heaven”), Sammy Fain (“Love Is a Many Splendored Thing”), Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields (“I’m in the Mood for Love,” “On the Sunny Side of the Street”). Mills had deep connections into RCA, Victor (separate companies back then) as well as the best clubs in New York including the Cotton Club—soon to be the most prestigious of them all. In fact, Mills was the man who got the Ellington orchestra into the Cotton Club (at the suggestion of Jimmy McHugh). Mills Music, Inc. Mills Artists Bureau owned all the contracts and copyrights of every band and writer this publishing empire employed. He also booked their gigs through Mills Artists Booking Agency.

Another innovation of Irving Mills was his practice of “bands-within-bands” in which he would pull out a smaller section of a larger orchestra and use them as a backup band or have them record their own material. He was also the first to record black and white musicians playing together in 1928. The band, Warren Mills & his Blue Serenaders, was actually Ellington’s backing singer Adelaide Hall and the Hall Johnson Choir and conducted by Matty Malneck. When Victor Records balked at distributing the record (“St. Louis Blues” b/w “Gems from Blackbirds of 1928”) due to segregation, Mills threatened to withdraw his artists from the label’s roster. Victor immediately capitulated.


Warren Mills and His Blue Serenaders - Gems from Blackbirds of 1928 - YouTube


Warren Mills Blue Serenaders - St. Louis Blues (1928) - YouTube

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Adelaide Hall

Mills was not a musician but he possessed a fine singing voice and had enough talent to pitch in and help write songs. He co-wrote, for example, Ellington’s “Mood Indigo,” “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)” and “Black and Tan Fantasy,” as well as Cab Calloway’s “Minnie the Moocher.” He formed his own band called Irving Mills & his Hotsy Totsy Gang which contained some of the greatest jazz figures of that era including the Dorsey Bros, Benny Goodman, Eddie Lang, Manny Klein, Joe Venuti, Glenn Miller and Red Nichols. Mills sometimes billed himself under the moniker of Joe Primrose. He sometimes sang with the band but usually was in the background. Mills also sang with Ellington’s orchestra as well as that of Jack Pettis. Hearing the following tracks, both recorded in 1928, there is little doubt of just how much the swing era owes to Irving Mills—pretty much everything.


Irving Mills and his Hotsy Totsy Gang - Diga Diga Doo 1928 - YouTube


Jack Pettis and his Pets, Irving Mills vocal - Baby (1928) - YouTube

The playing of Louis Armstrong was another powerful influence on the development swing. When Fletcher Henderson and Don Redman first heard Louis Armstrong play, they contacted him to come to New York and provide the kind of trumpet they were looking for. Armstrong had been in Chicago playing with his mentor King Oliver and racking up quite a name for himself. Louie’s wife, pianist Lil Hardin, told Louis he had to go, this was too important to his career to pass up and so Louis went. He never played with Oliver again although they remained close.

Louis played what came to be known as “licks” or “signatures” that trademarked his sound. They were so distinctive that the listener immediately knew he was hearing Armstrong even if he’d never heard that number before. This became not only a standard for future musicians but, in swing, entire bands. These licks were often resorted to when the musician or the section was low on inspiration. They could fall back on these licks to keep the momentum going. One of Armstrong’s hottest licks was to arpeggiate descending triplets which became a staple in jazz. Another was “the rip” where he would glide up to a high note in a devastating attack and then back off on the volume while playing in vibrato. Trumpet playing in the 30s and 40s was so dependent on rips that one is hard pressed to think of how jazz would have survived without it.

In the clip below, recorded in 1924, we hear how Armstrong’s playing influenced the emergence of swing as well as Redman’s subsequent arrangements. To accommodate Louie’s style, the arrangements became more fluid, more dynamic, more syncopated. Indeed Armstrong’s playing in the 20s is largely what carried jazz into the 30s which might not have happened without him. His playing opened new avenues in the music and therefore new possibilities. The orchestrated backing riffs had to sound more like improvisations giving the whole piece a much hotter, less contrived quality.

“Shanghai Shuffle”:

Fletcher Henderson Louis Armstrong Shanghai Shuffle Roaring 20's Victrola - YouTube

But Armstrong’s most enduring and essential contribution to jazz was his rejection of paraphrasing over changes. If you look at the jazz charts I posted way back, you’ll notice the chords written over each measure or bar of music. Those chords are called changes. Paraphrasing is simply playing the melodic line written on the staff and embellishing it a little bit without deviating much from it. One was paraphrasing the melody. Armstrong outgrew this convention in the late twenties by simply playing something else entirely in each bar and linking each bar together so that the melody was entirely coherent. What made this most remarkable was that it was entirely improvised, done entirely on the fly, making the piece come to life in a way that was almost organic, a living and breathing solo. Bix Beiderbecke referred to it as a “correlated chorus.” Louis would also paraphrase in an amazingly playful way such as playing the melody fairly accurately but then suddenly hitting a note and drawing it out long past its normal duration and then suddenly playing a very fast staccato of notes to catch up just before hitting the end of the bar—a technique called “compressing time.” No classical composer had ever dreamed of doing such things with melody. It laid a foundation for future jazz to such an extent that there would have been no jazz after the twenties without Louis Armstrong.

In Louie’s version of “St. James Infirmary” from 1928, notice his incredible use of vibrato in every line he plays which is every bit as important as the notes themselves. He also does a bit of correlated chorus towards the end after first paraphrasing the melody. All done with a strong sense of swing which no jazz artists had to the extent that Louis did. This is the stuff from which modern jazz was made. It represents the turning point of jazz from traditional to modern:


Louis Armstrong - St. James Infirmary - New York 12.12. 1928 - YouTube

Armstrong’s other contribution was to switch from cornet to trumpet in 1926 which opened a floodgate of future musicians—Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Harry James, Fats Navarro, Donald Byrd, etc. who changed the face of music. Armstrong’s contribution to the evolution of the trumpet (which he switched to because it was brighter than the cornet) was that his ability to hit high notes was far beyond what most other trumpeters could do but club owners and trumpet fans wanted to hear all players hit those notes. As a result, the trumpet had to be redesigned internally to allow the average trumpet-player to hit the notes Armstrong first played without any special modification (even Louis frequently suffered from a bleeding lip hitting all those high notes). There could have been no Swing Era without Armstrong.

Another influence on the Swing Era was whom we have mentioned but not discussed at length is Duke Ellington. To classify the Ellington Orchestra as swing would be absurd. Like the giants of jazz, Ellington is beyond classification. His music was its own jazz school.

Indeed, the Ellington orchestra did not prefer to swing as much as they were capable of it:


Duke Ellington - Cotton Club Stomp - YouTube

Duke was a composer and loved to work with moods no differently than a classical composer. His use of subtlety and nuance could rarely be matched and his musicians knew what he wanted. Swing, in contrast, was loud, fast music for the kids who loved it so that’s where the money was prompting Duke to comment that “jazz is music, swing is business.”

However, his placement on the timescale of jazz as well as his fateful decision to move to Harlem from Washington DC enabled him and his band to make indelible contributions to the emerging swing subgenre. In the early days of the era, Ellington and his musicians were laying down riffs that were certainly causing the up-and-coming swing bands to sit up and take notice. It could have hardly have been avoided.

Despite the 1935 date for the start of the Swing Era, I place it at 1928. What really set off the new generation jazz musicians from the earlier ones was simply training. Where the earlier jazz musicians such as the brilliant Freddie Keppard were often musically illiterate, the new generation was highly trained. Many, such as Mary Lou Williams, could write and arrange scores for entire orchestras. Even those that lacked that level of musical sophistication were impressive sight-readers. This is because the new generation was classically trained. Playing in large swing orchestras would simply have been impossible without it. Even earlier jazz musicians who taught themselves to play by ear had to learn to read music such as Kid Ory (who couldn’t have played for Jelly Roll Morton without being able to read) and bassist Wellman Braud (who, after all, would go on to play bass for Duke who demanded all his musicians be competent sight-readers). Louis Armstrong was not that good of a sight-reader until he married Lillian Hardin who was classically trained on piano at Fisk University. She turned him into one of the best sight-readers in all of jazz. He could not have played for Fletcher Henderson without it. There were exceptions such as Bix Beiderbecke who never learned to sight-read particularly well but made up for it with his amazing improvisatory gift.

What the classical training did in the late 20s was allow jazz a much wider cultural and musical expression by incorporating classical music and Tin Pan Alley fare. In this way, jazz was able to reach out to a wider audience as well as attract a higher grade of musician to the genre. It was the very beginnings of jazz as art music. Indeed, songs as “I’m in the Mood for Love” never could have entered the jazz idiom otherwise nor could its authors, Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields, have become household names within jazz without this broadening of the jazz’s horizons by a new crop of more musically sophisticated musicians into its ranks. Art Tatum made a living of taking ordinary popular songs and turning them into incredible jazz masterpieces.

One band that deserves a lot of credit for the birth of the Swing Era, even more than Goddman’s, is Jimmie Lunceford & the Harlem Express. Goodman gets more mention in the history books because Lunceford’s popularity rested mainly in the black public and only nominally among whites. Nevertheless, Lunceford drew more people to his shows than Goodman and was doing this at least two years before Goodman started to play swing. In fact, Goodman didn’t really start to swing until he added Vido Musso on tenor sax to his orchestra in 1936. (Musso was a funny character whose English skills left something to be desired. Once while touring in Stan Kenton’s band, he told someone on the tour bus to crack open a window “before we all get sophisticated.”)

Like Goodman, Lunceford enjoyed radio success while playing at the Cotton Club, his radio stint starting a couple of months before Goodman’s. While Goodman is often credited with starting the racially integrated jazz band in 1935, Lunceford was already working with white composers, arrangers and musicians in 1933. His band was also the first with blacks to play at white colleges. Lunceford, as a rule, never played in segregated establishments preferring the venues known as “black & tans” that admitted white and black clients. While Goodman was dubbed the King of Swing by the white press in 1935, Lunceford was dubbed the “King of Syncopation” by the black press seven or eight months prior to that.


Jimmie Lunceford, "JAZZNOCRACY" (1934) - YouTube
“Jazznocracy” was the Lunceford band’s signature song for quite a while before changing it to “Uptown Blues.” Recorded in 1934, there is no doubt that this is swing well before its supposed “birth” at the Palomar Ballroom.


JImmie Lunceford And His Orchestra - YouTube
“Rhythm is Our Business” was the band’s slogan. A wonderful live clip of the Harlem Express. This gives you an idea of what you would have seen had you gone to the Cotton Club in the thirties. That’s the great Sy Oliver on trumpet.

The Lunceford band specialized in hard swing numbers or what they called “flag-wavers.” The time was right for it. In the wake of major wars, there are baby booms. We know of the most recent one that occurred just after Word War II and the generation that was being born at that time is appropriately known as “baby-boomers.” But a similar boom occurred in the wake of World War I in 1918. Since the U.S. spent only six months in that war, the boom wasn’t as huge as the one that occurred after the Second World War but it was fairly sizable and peaked about 1921. The generation born in those post-war years were now anywhere from 13-17 years old when the Swing Era started. This was the core of the swing generation. They were coming of age and their musical preferences drove the marketplace. They didn’t want Tin Pan Alley songs or ragtime or melodramatic wartime fare, they wanted to cut loose and vent their pent-up energy on the dance floor. Lunceford and Goodman were there to answer the call and others soon jumped in the fray—the Dorseys, Basie, Gene Krupa, Anita O’Day, Andy Kirk, Mary Lou Williams, Stan Kenton, Harry James, etc. Each had their own brand, their own stamp, on swing music.

So we should then outline what constitutes swing. Although there is no clear genesis of the term, swing has as many definitions as it does historians and performers of the music. Some say swing is based on the dividing of a beat into triplets. While this is true, if is FAR from a complete description. That’s like saying the Special Theory of Relativity is about time dilation. Well…yes, but that doesn’t tell us anything particularly useful in understanding Einstein’s theory. Swing is not really definable. It is a feeling. Indeed there is a musical term “swing-feel” which refers to syncopated rhythm. It creates a drive to the music, a “horizontal propulsion.”

But swing-feel cannot be notated on sheet music. Once, I was playing a walking bass piece from sheet music and at a certain bar, I played it exactly as it was written. My instructor shouted, “NO! NO! NO!” He grabbed the bass from me and said, “You have to swing it!” And played the bar the way it was meant to be played which was not as I played it even though I played exactly what was on the sheet music. Swing is a feeling and it is intuitive. If you don’t feel it, you can’t play it. But syncopation is not the only way to swing. You have to play a swing piece in such as way that it “pushes” itself along even without syncopation. When walking a bass, which is generally done in 4/4 time, you put a little accent on beats 2 and 4. The piece will push itself along quite nicely but there is nothing in the notation that tells you to play it that way nor should the 2-and-4 accent be considered syncopation. You just have to swing it.

So how is swing music structured? It wasn’t structured all that differently from earlier jazz except that it was more riff-oriented and had much larger brass and/or reed sections and were streamlined. Riffs are short musical phrases that can be repeated or joined onto other riffs. The riffs can be played in I-IV-V7 or ii-V7 patterns for example. Other riffs can be layered over them. Solos can be built out of various riffs hooked together.

In the tutorial below, we hear various riffs. He plays an end tag riff, for example. A jazz orchestra might learn a way to play that tag and notate it. A band might learn 50 different end tags and the band's arranger will choose the most appropriate one. There are intro riffs, bridge riffs, etc. To improvise a piece, the bandleader or arranger could call out a riff to the drummer who will kick things off with a repeated beat. Then the leader calls out a riff to the sax section and they’ll start playing that riff (he might have a name for it or maybe just a number). When the riff has repeated enough times, he might call out a riff to the trumpets and they’ll start playing a different riff over top the sax section riff. Then he might add in a piano riff to mix in with the rest. Then the bass joins in to set the rhythm in place. Then the clarinetist might stand up and start soloing. At the end of, say, four bars the trombones dash off a short but pointed stab of notes that serves to punctuate what the clarinetist is doing. When the clarinet is done soloing, the leader might nod to the lead trumpet man and he’ll start soloing. And so on. All of them are playing riffs—little musical building blocks by which an entire piece can be constructed on the fly. When the leader feels it is ready, he’ll shout out an end tag and the band will comply. Usually, though, this was all done with charts but the band knew them so well they could improvise without the chart.


Jazz riffs and fun piano bits - YouTube

Jazz is built on riffs as is blues. By extension, rock music uses many of these same riffs. Benny Goodman’s “Sing Sing Sing” (written by Louis “Just A Gigolo” Prima for another band) is an excellent example of constructing a piece out of riffs—building blocks. Some riffs are a few notes long, some are several bars but they are all riffs. Most riffs can also be played in different ways (e.g. inverted or played backwards) to make entirely new riffs.


"SING, SING, SING" BY BENNY GOODMAN - YouTube

With proper coaching, even amateur music students can play complex sounding swing numbers just by learning the riffs out of which each number is built. Below, a group of Japanese high school girls called the Swing Girls perform “Sing Sing Sing.” None of these girls had been playing more than a year at the time this was taped. All you need is decent musicianship and a good arrangement. I’m grateful for the Swing Girls clips because they demonstrate what I’m explaining quite well. Not too much going on at once so you can hear how the riffs are hooked together:


"Sing Sing Sing" / 19 tracks Swing Girls First&Last Concert Live 2004 - YouTube

Glenn Miller’s “In the Mood” is another famous example. Again, the Swing Girls show how convincingly it can be pulled off with a good arrangement and knowing how to play the riffs. To do it this well would still require a great deal of practice but it can be done. Sure, Miller’s band does it better simply because they are far more experienced musicians but even amateurs can pull it off as they do here if they get their riffs down well enough—and this was their ONLY live performance:


In The Mood / ep14 Swing Girls First&Last Concert Live 2004 - YouTube

Thanks to people as Art Tatum, ordinary pieces of pop music can be turned into jazz. Now Tatum did it differently—he wasn’t a swing artist—but he showed the swing artists what was possible with jazz. Again, I offer a Swing Girls clip of them doing a swinging version of “Over the Rainbow” as one can hear how the original piece is “sliced” into riffs and then assembled together to form the song. It’s all in the arrangement:


Over the rainbow / 15 tracks Swing Girls First&Last Concert Live 2004 - YouTube

In a similar vein, here is another Japanese group of swing kids—Little Cherries—again, mostly girls. The opening song is a swinging version of Glenn Miller’s “Little Brown Jug.” Notice how the basic riff doubles back on itself so that it can then be repeated with a fluid continuity. That’s an essential feature of swing structure. It uses that loop to propel itself forward the same way a satellite uses a planet’s gravity as a slingshot to propel itself further and further out into space. It’s a complex concept but the execution is literally child’s play if the band is trained right and understands the concept—in this case building a composition out of repeatable riffs. With the right training, kids can do it.


チャリティーコãƒ� �サート＆新茶まだ¤ã‚Šã€€èŠ±ã®æœ¨è¾²å*´ - YouTube

Hey man, I'm just commenting to tell you that this thread is great. I just stumbled onto it a few hours ago and your super detailed history is complemented with your writing which really draws you into how people can love this music.

As a lover of jazz music myself with not a huge knowledge of it's history, I can't thank you enough for this.

Before going on, let's take a break and learn our jazz lingo and hepcat jive:

-ski, -avous: these are two suffixes (derived from Russian and French, respectively) used in flapper parlance to “dress up” normal words. The suffix could be added to any word. There was only one hard and fast rule: if you responded to a question containing a suffix, you had to use the same part of speech somehow. Example: “Would you like a drink-avous?” “No thanks, I’m on the wagon-avous.” “The sun-ski is so bright!” “Put on a hat-ski.”

A

ab-so-lute-ly: affirmative
Abe's Cabe: five-dollar bill
ace: one-dollar bill
all wet: incorrect
And how!: I strongly agree!
ankle: to walk, i.e.. "Let's ankle!"
apple sauce: flattery, nonsense, i.e.. "Aw, applesauce!"
Attaboy!: well done!; also, Attagirl!
Air-check --- A recording of a radio or television performance.
Did you hear the "air-check" of Billie Holiday with Gerry Mulligan?

The Apple --- New York city. This is now common usage.
We got a gig up in "The Apple" at Minton's with Diz and Bird.

Axe --- An instrument.
Hey, Jack, bring your "axe" over tomorrow and we'll jam.

B

B collar: A dress shirt invented by jazzman Billy Eckstine (known as Mr. B) with a large but loose high-roll collar that forms a sideways “B” in the front allowing the throats of brass- and sax-players to swell while playing without becoming tight. Miles Davis also took to wearing them causing them to become all the rage.
baby: sweetheart; also denotes something of high value or respect
baby grand: heavily built man
baby vamp: an attractive or popular female; student
balled up: confused, messed up
baloney: nonsense
Bank's closed.: no kissing or making out ie. "Sorry, mac, bank's closed."
barrell house: illegal distillery. Barrelhouse was the colloquial term for a cabaret in New Orleans where liquor was served. Barrelhouse music is the type of music played in one of these cabarets.
Hey, Man, I dig this "barrelhouse" music. It flows free.
bearcat: a hot-blooded or fiery girl
beat it: scram, get lost
beat one's gums: idle chatter
bee's knee's: terrific; a fad expression. Dozens of "animal anatomy" variations existed: elephant's eyebrows, gnat's whistle, eel's hips, etc.
beef: a complaint or to complain
beeswax: business; student
bell bottom: a sailor
belt: a drink of liquor
bent: drunk
berries: (1) perfect (2) money
big cheese: important person
big six: a strong man; from auto advertising, for the new and powerful six cylinder engines
bimbo: a tough guy
bird: general term for a man or woman, sometimes meaning "odd," i.e. "What a funny old bird."
blind: drunk
blotto (1930 at the latest): drunk, especially to an extreme
blow: (1) a crazy party (2) to leave
bohunk: a derogatory name for an Eastern European immigrant; out of use by 1930, except in certain anti-immigrant circles, like the KKK
bootleg: illegal liquor
breezer (1925): a convertable car
bright young thing: a younger partier with wealth and class
brown: whiskey
brown plaid: Scotch whiskey
bubs: breasts
bug-eyed Betty (1927): an unattractive girl; student
bull: (1) a policeman or law-enforcement official, including FBI. (2) nonesense, bull**** (3) to chat idly, to exaggerate
bump off: to kill
bum's rush, the: ejection by force from an establishment
bunny (1925): a term of endearment applied to the lost, confused, etc; often coupled with "poor little"
bus: any old or worn out car
busthead: homemade liquor
bushwa: a euphemism for "bulls-hit"
Butt me.: I'll take a cigarette
Bag --- A person's particular interest.
I'd like to play with your combo, dude, but your sound just ain't my "bag.."

Balloon lungs --- A brass man with plenty of wind.
That cat must have "balloon lungs," Stix said he held that note for three and half minutes!"

Barn Burner --- Originally in Sinatra slang this was a stylish, classy woman, but today, it can even be applied to a good football game.
Hey, Quincy, did you see Stella over at the diner? Man, she is one amazing "barn burner."

Beat --- Exhausted or tired.
Man, we been blowin' all night. I'm really "beat."

Birdbrain --- A Charlie Parker imitator.
It's 1957 already. We need something new. I'm gettin' tired of all of the "Birdbrains" around these days..

Blow --- A jazzman's term for playing any instrument.
That European guy, Django Reinhardt, can really "blow."

Blow your top --- A phrase which expresses enthusiasm or exasperation.
Hey man, I know it's tough, but don't "blow your top."

The Bomb --- Very cool.
The Crusader's new CD, "Louisiana Hot Sauce" is "the bomb."

Boogie Man --- In the jazz slanguage of 1935, this was a critic.
Roscoe just waxed a great disc and the "boogie man" gave it a bad review.

Boogie Woogie --- An early piano blues form that was popularized in Chicago. The term has sexual overtones.
Hey, Lester, dig that "boogie woogie" that Yancy is layin' down.

Bose Bouncing --- To play notes so low as to bounce a Bose speaker from its foundation.
I'm sorry, my bassist was just "Bose bouncing.

Bread --- A jazzman's word for money.
Alright, Jack, if ya want me to play, ya gotta come up with some "bread."

Break it down --- Get hot!! Go to town.

Bring Down or Bringdown --- As a verb—to depress. As a noun—one who depresses.
Hey, man, don't "bring me down" with all of this crazy talk.
Hey, let's get out of here, that guy is a real "bringdown."

Bug --- To annoy or bewilder.
Man, don't "bug" me with that jive about cleanin' up my act.

Burnin --- Used to describe a particularly emotional or technically excellent solo.
Hey, man, did you hear that solo by Lee? It was "burnin."

C

Cack: to nap. It’s hard cackin’ on the road between gigs.
cake-eater: a lady's man
caper: a criminal act or robbery
cat's meow: great, also "cat's pajamas" and "cat's whiskers"
cash: a kiss
Cash or check?: Do we kiss now or later?
cast a kitten/have kittens: to have a fit. Used in both humorous and serious situations. i.e. "Stop tickling me or I'll cast a kitten!"
cat: a person, also a hepcat or cool cat. Supposedly derived from a West African word for person.
celestial: derogatory slang for Chinese or East Asians
chassis (1930): the female body
cheaters: eye glasses
check: kiss me later
chewing gum: double-speak, or ambiguous talk
Chicago typewriter: Thompson submachine gun
choice bit of calico: attractive female; student
chopper: a Thompson Sub-Machine Gun, due to the damage its heavy .45 caliber rounds did to the human body
chunk of lead: an unnattractive female; student
ciggy: cigarette
clam: a dollar
Clams --- Mistakes while playing music. Charlie is really layin' down some "clams" tonight.
coffin varnish: bootleg liquor, often poisonous
copacetic: excellent, all in order
crasher: a person who attends a party uninvited
crush: infatuation
cuddler: one who likes to make out
Cans --- Headphones.
That last take was really kickin,' put on the "cans" and lets record the final take.

Cats --- Folks who play jazz music.
I used to partake in late-night jam sessions with the "cats" over at Sid's.

Changes --- Chord progression.
Hey, Pops, dig those "changes" that the Hawk is playin.'

Chart --- A piece of sheet music specially modified to allow a musician to play along with it in an improv situation. Example: a bassist can walk the bass using a chart without a single bass note written on it. A chart is usually not more than one face of a page that will be fleshed out by the musicians’ improv abilities.

Character --- An interesting, out of the ordinary person.
Sonny is certainly a "character."

Chick --- A young and pretty girl.
Hey, Buster, leave it alone. That "chick" is outta your league.

Chill 'ya --- When an unusual "hot" passion gives you goose pimples.
Gee, Jody, doesn't it "chill 'ya" the way Benny plays the clarinet?

Chops --- The ability to play an instrument, a highly refined technique. Also refers to a brass players facial muscles.
"He played the hell out of that Gershwin; he's sure got chops." and "My chops are still achin' from last nights gig."

Clinker --- A bad note or one that is fluffed.
Hey, Charlie, that was some "clinker" that you just hit.

Clip joint --- A store or pawnshop where goods are priced higher than they are worth or the merchandise is defective or incomplete but sold at full price.

Combo --- Combination of musicians that varies in size from 3 to 10.
Here me talkin' to ya Lester. Did you see that supreme "combo" that the Hawk put together?

Cool --- A restrained approach to music as opposed to “hot”. A superlative which has gained wide acceptance outside of jazz.
That cat Miles Davis plays some "cool" jazz. That cat Miles, is "cool."

Corny, Cornball --- A jazz man's term for trite, sweet or stale.
Man, Guy Lombardo is one "corny" cat. Man, Guy Lombardo plays some "cornball" music.

Crazy --- Another jazz superlative.
Count Basie's band sure lays down a "crazy" beat.

Crib --- Same as pad.
Hey, baby, come on up to my crib awhile and relax.

Crumb --- Someone for whom it is impossible to show respect.
Sleazy Eddie is a real "crumb."

Cut --- To leave or depart. Also to completely outdo another person or group in a battle of the bands.
Hey, man, did you see the way that two-bit band "cut" when Basie "cut" them last night.

D

daddy: a young woman's boyfriend or lover, especially if he's rich
daddy-o: a term of address; strictly an African-American term
dame: a female; did not gain widespread use until the 1930's
dapper: a Flapper's dad
darb: a great person or thing, i.e. "That movie was darb."
dead soldier: an empty beer bottle
deb: a debutant
dewdropper: a young man who sleeps all day and doesn't have a job
dick: a private investigator; coined around 1900, the term finds major recognition in the 20s
dinge: a derogatory term for an African-American; out of use by 1930
dogs: feet
doll: an attractive woman
dolled up: dressed up
don't know from nothing: doesn't have any information
don't take any wooden nickels: don't do anything stupid
dope: drugs, esp. cocaine or opium.
doublecross: to cheat, stab in the back
dough: money
drugstore cowboy: a well-dressed man who loiters in public areas trying to pick up women
drum: speakeasy
dry up: shut up, get lost
ducky: very good
dumb Dora: an absolute idiot, a dumbbell, especially a woman; flapper
dump: roadhouse
Dad, Daddy-o --- A hipster's way of addressing another guy.
Hey, "daddy-o," what's cookin.'

Dark --- Angry or upset (used in the Midwest).
Joe was in a real "dark" mood after Jaco showed up 30 minutes late for the gig.

Dig --- To know or understand completely.
Hey, dad, I been listenin' to what you been doin' and I "dig" that crazy music.

DeeJay, Disk Jockey --- An announcer of records on radio.
Man, he is one crazy "deejay". He spins some cool disks.

Down by law --- is to have paid dues; that is, to have earned respect for your talent or ability to "get down."
Charlie Parker spent years on the road working a lot of dives to fine-tune his craft. He earned every bit of success and recognition he later received. He was "down by law."

Drag --- As a verb—to depress or bring down a person's spirits or, as a noun—a person or thing which depresses.
Let's get outta here, that guy is a real "drag."

E

earful: enough
edge: intoxication, a buzz. i.e. "I've got an edge."
egg: a person who lives the big life
Ethel: an effeminate male.
The End --- Superlative that is used interchangeably with "too much" or "crazy."
The way Benny blows the clarinet is "the end."

F

face stretcher: an old woman trying to look young
f-ag: a cigarette; also, starting around 1920, a homosexual.
Fakebook: an assemblage of music charts put into a binder and used by the band as their repertoire. So named because the charts are not the full sheet music of a song but just a single page with the intro, melody, bridge and ending written on the staff lines while chord changes and other instructions are written over the staff lines. Lyrics will also be written on them as required. The musicians do not need the full sheet music as they will “fake” it.
fella: fellow. as common in its day as "man," "dude," or "guy" is today, i.e. "That John sure is a swell fella."
fire extinguisher: a chaperone
fish: (1) a college freshman (2) a first timer in prison
flat tire: a bore
flivver: a Model T; after 1928, could mean any broken down car
floorflusher: an insatiable dancer
flour lover: a girl with too much face powder
fly boy: a glamorous term for an aviator
For crying out loud!: same usage as today
four-flusher: a person who feigns wealth while mooching off others
fried: drunk
futz: a euphemism for "f-uck" i.e. "Don't futz around."
Finger Zinger --- Someone who plays very fast.
Ignasio the new guitarist is a finger zinger on the guitar. Damn, that boy is incredible!

Flip --- A verb meaning to go crazy or a noun meaning an eccentric.
That dude is really cooking, I think he's going to "flip."

Flip your lid --- Same as "Blow your top."
That cat looks crazy. I think he's gonna "flip his lid."

Fly --- Smooth or slick.
Hey, Eddie, did you see the hat-check girl Bernice? Man, she is "fly.."

Fracture --- To inspire or move someone.
You are the funniest guy I know. When you start to tell a joke, it "fractures" me.

Freak Lip --- A pair of kissers that wear like leather; one who can hit high C's all night and play a concert the next day.
Ol' Satchmo, ...now he had a pair of "freak lips!"

Funky --- Earthy or down-to-earth.
That George Clinton is one "funky" cat.
Or something that smells bad.
“Funky butt, funky butt, take it away!”

G

gams (1930): legs
gasper: cigarette
gas pipe: a clarinet especially when played in a manner that it makes a bleating sound such as used in Jewish klezmer music.
gatecrasher: see "crasher"
gay: happy or lively; no connection to homosexuality; see "***"
Get Hot! Get Hot!: encouragement for a hot dancer doing his or her thing
get-up (1930): an outfit
get a wiggle on: get a move on, get going
get in a lather: get worked up, angry
giggle water: booze
gigolo: dancing partner
gimp: cripple; one who walks with a limp; gangster Dion O’Bannion was called Gimpy due to his noticeable limp
gin mill: a seller of hard liquor; a cheap speakeasy
glad rags: "going out on the town" clothes
go chase yourself: get lost, scram.
gold-digger (1925): a woman who pursues men for their money
goods, the: (1) the right material, or a person who has it (2) the facts, the truth, i.e. "Make sure the cops don't get the goods on you."
goof: (1) a stupid or bumbling person, (2) a boyfriend; flapper.
goofy: in love
grummy: depressed
grungy: envious
Gas --- As a noun—something that moves you. As a verb—to stir up feelings.
The way that guy beats the skins is a real "gas."

Gate --- Early term for a Jazz musician.
Armstrong is the original Swing Jazz player that's why they call used to call him "Gate."

Get Down --- To play or dance superlatively with abandon.
Jaco can really "get down" on the 4-string.

Gig --- A paying job.
I'm playing a gig in the city tonight.

Gone --- Yet another Jazz superlative.
Lester is a real "gone" cat.

Goof --- Fail to carry out a responsibility or wander in attention.
Hey, Leroy, stop "goofin'" when I'm talkin' to ya.

Got your glasses on --- you are ritzy or snooty, you fail to recognize your friends, you are up-stage.

Groovy --- Used in the fifties to denote music that swings or is funky. For a short while in the sixties, groovy was synonymous with cool. The word has been used little since the seventies.
Hey, Jack, dig that "groovy" beat.

Gutbucket ---Gutbucket refers to something to store liquor in and to the type of music associated with heavy drinking. An early term for lowdown or earthy music.
That cat Satchmo started out playing some real "gutbucket" in the houses down in New Orleans.

H

hair of the dog (1925): a shot of alcohol
half seas over: drunk; also "half under"
handcuff: engagement ring
hard-boiled: a tough person, i.e: "He sure is hard-boiled!"
harp: an Irishman
hayburner: (1) a gas guzzling car (2) a horse one loses money on
heavy sugar (1929): a lot of money
heebie-jeebies (1926): "the shakes," named after a hit song
heeler: a poor dancer
high hat: a snob
hip to the jive: cool, trendy
hit on all sixes: to perform 100 per cent; as "hitting on all six cylinders;" perhaps a more common variation in these days of four cylinder engines was "hit on all fours;" also see "big six".
hoary-eyed: drunk
hooch: booze
hood (late 20s): hoodlum
hooey: bulls-hit, nonsense; very popular from 1925 to 1930, used somewhat thereafter
hop: (1) opiate or marijuana (2) a teen party or dance
hope chest: pack of cigarettes
hopped up: under the influence of drugs
horse linament: bootleg liquor
Hot dawg!: Great!; also: "Hot socks!"
hot sketch: a card or cut-up
Hand me that skin (later modified to Hand me some skin) --- A big expression for "shake, pal."
Hey, whaddya say Rufus, "hand me some skin."

Head or Head Arrangement --- An arrangement of a song that is not written, but remembered by the band members (the tune and progression to improvise on).
Man, Basie's band uses a lot of "heads," not those written arrangements. That's why his band really cooks.

Heat --- Solo space.
Yo, man, I want some "heat" on 'Giant Steps'!

Hep --- A term once used to describe someone who knows or understands. Replaced by "hip" about the same time that cool replaced hot. Some sources believe that "Hep" was the surname of a Chicago gangster of the 1890's.
Dipper Mouth Armstrong is a "hep" cat.

Hide hitter—drummer.
The hide hitter didn't show, so we had to make it a duo.

Hip --- A term used to describe someone who knows or understands. Originally "hep" until the 40's or 50's.
Yardbird Parker is really "hip."

Hipster --- A follower of the various genres of bop jazz in the 50's. These were the precursors of hippies in the 60's.
Those "hipsters" that hang out at Shelly's Manne-Hole are really diggin' the West Coast sound.

Horn --- Any instrument (not necessarily a brass or reed instrument).
That dude can sure blow his "horn.."

Hot --- A term once used to describe "real" jazz. Replaced as a superlative by "cool" in the late 40's or early 50's.
Satchel Mouth Armstrong played some really "hot" jazz in the 20's.

A Hot Plate --- A hot recording.
Boys, I think we got ourselves a "hot plate."


I

I'm Booted --- I'm hip or I understand. It's cool, man, I know just what you mean, "I'm booted."
"I have to go see a man about a dog.": "I've got to leave now," often meaning to go buy whiskey
icy mitt: rejection
Indian hop: marijuana
insured: engaged
iron (1925): a motorcycle, among motorcycle enthusiasts
iron one’s shoelaces: to go to the restroom
ish kabibble (1925): a retort meaning "I should care," from the name of a musician in the Kay Kayser Orchestra

In the Mix --- Put it together, make it happen.
Put that cat "in the mix," we need a drummer for our upcoming tour.

In the Pocket --- Refers to the rhythm section being really together as in...
Those guys are really in the pocket, tonight.

J

jack: money
Jake: great, i.e. "Everything's Jake."
Jalopy: a dumpy old car
Jane: any female
java: coffee
jeepers creepers: "Jesus Christ!"
jerk soda: to dispense soda from a tap; thus, "soda jerk"
jigaboo: a derogatory term for an African-American
jitney: a car employed as a private bus; fare was usually five cents, ergo the alternate nickname of "nickel"
joe: coffee
Joe Brooks: a perfectly dressed person; student
john: a toilet
joint: establishment
jorum of skee: a drink of hard liquor
juice joint: a speakeasy
junk: opium
Jack --- Jazz man's term for another person. Often used in a negative manner.
Please don't dominate the rap, "Jack." Hit the road, "Jack."

Jake --- Okay.
Even though nobody seems to like him, that guy is "jake" with me.

Jam --- To improvise.
The band is "jammin'" inside right now.

Jam Session --- A group of jazz players improvising.
You might want go downstairs, Duke's boys are having a "jam session."

Jazz --- The music which is discussed here. May have come from the French jaser—to chatter. May have come from Jasbo Brown—a dancer.
The 1920's was declared the Age of "Jazz."

Jazz Box --- a jazz guitar.
The Ibanez PM model was developed in conjunction with Pat Metheny to meet his demand for a true "jazz box"

Jitterbug --- A jumpy, jittery energetic dance or one who danced this dance during the swing period.
Artie Shaw is a hot clarinetist. He sure has all of the "jitterbugs" jumpin.'

Jive --- A versatile word which can be used as a noun, verb or adjective. Noun—an odd form of speech. Verb—to fool someone. Adjective—phoney or fake.
Old Satchmo can lay down some crazy "jive." Don't "jive"me man, I wasn't born yesterday. That cat is one "jive" dude.
Also a term for marijuana. “Man, what is this jive?”

JAMF—Jive Ass Motherf-ucker. Someone who is not thought highly of.

Joe Below --- A musician who plays under-scale.
How can you expect to make a buck when "Joe Below" almost plays for free?

Joint: Prison. “Sid’s in the joint again.”
Or a marijuana cigarette: “Hey, man, pass me that joint!”

Jump --- To swing.
Let's check out that bar over there. It sounds like the joint is "jumpin.'"

Junk --- Heroin.
"Junk" and booze have laid a heavy toll on Jazz.

K

kale: money
keen: appealing
kike: a derogatory term for a Jewish person
Kill --- To fracture or delight. You "kill" me, man, the way you're always clowning around.
killjoy: a solemn person
kitten: feminine version of "cat." "She's one fine kitten." Although females can also be referred as "cat."
knock up: to make pregnant
know one's onions: to know one's business or what one is talking about

L

lay off: cut the crap
left holding the bag: (1) to be cheated out of one's fair share (2) to be blamed for something
let George do it: a work evading phrase
level with me: be honest
limey: a British soldier or citizen; from World War I
line: a false story, as in "to feed one a line"
live wire: a lively person
lollapalooza (1930): a humdinger
lollygagger: (1) a young man who enjoys making out (2) an idle person
Lame --- Something that doesn't quite cut it.
Some of the cats that claim to be playin' Jazz these days are layin' down some "lame" music.

Licks, hot licks --- An early term for phrase or solo.
Louie can really lay down some "hot licks."

Licorice Stick --- Clarinet
Gee, Jody, doesn't it "chill 'ya" the way Benny plays that "licorice stick"?

Lid --- Hat.
Hey man, nice lid.
"Lid" has also entered the world of hip-hop slang via a company called Ultimate Lids that makes hats.
A lid is also a bag of marijuana.

M

M: morphine
manacle: wedding ring
mazuma: money
Mick: a derogatory term for Irishmen
milquetoast (1924): a very timid person; from the comic book character Casper Milquetoast, a hen-pecked male
mind your potatoes: mind your own business
mooch: to leave
moonshine: homemade whiskey
mop: a handkerchief
Mrs. Grundy: a prude or kill-joy
mulligan: Irish cop
munitions: face powder

Moldy Fig --- During the Bop era, fans and players of the new music used this term to discribe fans and players of the earlier New Orleans Jazz.
What do you expect, Eddie is a "moldy fig" and he'll never dig the new sounds.

Muggles --- One nickname for marijuana used by early Jazzmen (Armstrong has a song by this title).
Hey, Louis, I need to calm down. You got any "muggles?"

My Chops is beat --- When a brass man's lips give out.
Too many high C's tonight, man, "my chops is beat!!"


N

neck: to kiss passionately; what would today be called "French kissing"
necker: a girl who wraps her arms around her boyfriend's neck
nifty: great, excellent
noodle juice: tea
nookie: sex
"Not so good!": "I personally disapprove."
"Now you're on the trolley!": "Now you've got it!".
Noodlin'—To just play notes that have no particular meaning to a tune or solo.
Quit "noodlin" cat, let's start working the tune.

O

ofay: a commonly used Black expression for Whites
off one's nuts: crazy
"Oh yeah!": "I doubt it!"
old boy: a male term of address, used in conversation with other males as a way to denote acceptance in a social environment; also: "old man" or "old fruit"
Oliver Twist: a skilled dancer
on a toot: a drinking binge
on the lam: fleeing from police
on the level: legitimate, honest
on the up and up: on the level
orchid: an expensive item
ossified: drunk
owl: a person who's out late

Out of this world --- A superlative which is no longer in common use.
I'm tellin' ya, man, the way Benny Goodman blows is "out of this world."

Out to Lunch --- Same as lame.
That guy is "out to lunch," I can't stand the way he plays.

P

palooka: (1) a below-average or average boxer (2) a social outsider; from the comic strip character Joe Palooka, who came from humble ethnic roots
panic: to produce a big reaction from one's audience
panther piss/sweat (1925): homemade whiskey
pen yen: opium
percolate: (1) to boil over (2) as of 1925, to run smoothly; "perk"
pet: like necking (see above), only moreso; making out
petting pantry: movie theater
petting party: one or more couples making out in a room or auto
phonus balonus: nonsense
piffle: baloney
piker: (1) a cheapskate (2) a coward
pill: (1) a teacher (2) an unlikable person (3) cigarette
pinch: to arrest
pinched: to be arrested
pinko: liberal
pipe down: stop talking
prom-trotter: a student who attends all school social functions
pos-i-lute-ly: affirmative, also "pos-i-tive-ly"
pull a Daniel Boone: to vomit
punch the bag: small talk
putting on the ritz: after the Ritz Hotel in Paris (and its namesake Caesar Ritz); doing something in high style; also, "ritzy"

Pad --- House, home, apartment or bed.
Hey, Lester, c'mon up to my "pad" you look like you need to cool down.

Popsicle Stick --- A saxophonist's reed.
I'm playing a great popsicle stick.

Q

quiff: a slut or cheap prostitute

R

rag-a-muffin: a dirty or disheveled individual
rain pitchforks: a downpour
razz: to make fun of
Real McCoy: a genuine item
regular: normal, typical, average
Reuben: an unsophisticated country bumpkin; also, "rube"
Rhatz!: "How disappointing!" flapper
Roach: a butt of a marijuana cigarette. “Man, save the roach for me!”
rotgut: bootleg liquor
rub: a student dance party
rubes: money or dollars
rummy: a drunken bum
Rock --- To swing or jump (as in Jump bands—the fore-runners of Rock and Roll bands).
Louis Jordan's band really "rocks."

Rock and Roll --- Of course the new music of the 50's, but originally slang for sex.
Hey, baby, you're drivin' me crazy, let's "rock and roll."

Rusty Gate --- Someone who can't play.
That cat swings like a rusty gate.

S

sap: a fool, an idiot; very common term in the 20s
sawbuck: ten-dollar bill
says you: a reaction of disbelief
scratch: money
screaming meemies: the shakes
screw: get lost, get out, etc.; occasionally, in pre 1930 talkies (such as The Broadway Melody) screw is used to tell a character to leave: one film features the line "Go on, go on--screw!"
screwy: crazy; "You're screwy!"
sheba: one's girlfriend
sheik: one's boyfriend
shine box: a bar or club for black patrons
shiv: a knife
simolean: a dollar
sinker: a doughnut
sitting pretty: in a prime position
skee: Scotch whiskey
skirt: an attractive female
smarty: a cute flapper
smoke-eater: a smoker
smudger: a close dancer
snort: a drink of liquor
sockdollager: an action having a great impact
so's your old man: a reply of irritation
spade: yet another derogatory term for an African-American
speakeasy: a bar selling illeagal liquor
spill: to talk
splifficated: drunk
spoon: to neck, or at least talk of love
static: (1) empty talk (2) conflicting opinion
stilts: legs
strike-me-dead: bootleg liquor
struggle: modern dance
stuck on: in love; student.
sugar daddy: older boyfriend who showers girlfriend with gifts in exchange for sex
swanky: (1) good (2) elegant
swell: (1) good (2) a high class person
Sackbut --- The Sackbut was a 16th century instrument, similar to the trombone.
The History of the Sackbut

Scat --- Improvise lyrics as nonsense syllables. Said to have originated on the "Hot Five" song "Heebie Jeebies" when Louis Armstrong dropped his lyrics.
I can really dig Dizzy's new way of singing "scat."

Scene --- A place or atmosphere.
In the late twenties, Armstrong was the man on the New York "scene."

Schmaltz it --- Play it "long-haired."

Schmaltz or Schmalz --- It's the Yiddish word for chicken fat, and has been a slang term in the U.S. since the '20s for anything sickeningly sweet or "greasy," especially music or poetry.
That Lombardo guy is popular, but he sure plays a lot of "schmaltz."

Scratch --- (see Bread)
I need to get my axe fixed, but I got no "scratch."

Screwin' the Pooch --- Really bad mistakes while playing music.
Roscoe must've had a bad day, cause he's really "screwin' the pooch."

Send --- to move or to stimulate.
Roscoe, you really "send" me.

Sharp --- Fashionable.
Hey, Rufus, that's one "sharp" looking suit of clothes you're sportin' there.

Sides --- Records.
We sat around and dug "sides." Or, as George Crater (or was it Ira Gitler?) once put it, "I sat around with another musician and Doug Sides." ~ Bob Blumenthal

Skins player --- The drummer. (Skins comes from the days when cowhide or other dried animal skin was used to make drum heads.)
Man, we were all ready to have a little improv jam session but our "skins player" skipped out on us. There's one cat that I'm gonna skin!

Smokin' --- Playing your ass off.
I can already tell from outside that Jimmy is "smokin'" tonight.

Snap your cap --- Same as "Blow your top."
Hey, Buddy, calm down. Don't "snap your cap."

Solid --- A swing-era superlative which is little used today.
Little Jazz can blow up a storm, he's really "solid."

Split --- To leave.
Sorry I can't stick around Slick, I gotta "split."

Square --- A somewhat outmoded term meaning unknowing which can be a noun or a verb.
That cat is a real "square"

Sugar band --- A sweet band; lots of vibrato and glissando.

Supermurgitroid --- really cool.
That club was supermurgitroid!

Swing --- to get a rocking or swaying beat.
Ellington's band "swings" like no other. It's elegant.

Sraw Boss --- From Dan Nicora: The term was explained to me by Richard Davis, bassist with Thad & Mel, and many NY groups. It refers to the lead alto player in a big band, being the dude who leads all the other saxophones, knows all of the answers and takes care of the crew.

T

take someone for a ride: to take someone to a deserted location and murder them
tasty: appealing
tea: marijuana
teenager: not a common term until 1930; before then, the term was "young adults."
tell it to Sweeney: tell it to someone who'll believe it
three-letter man: homosexual
tight: attractive
Tin Pan Alley: the center of the music industry in New York City, located between 48th and 52nd Streets
tomato: a "ripe" female
torpedo: a hired thug or hitman
trip for biscuits: wild goose chase

Tag --- Used to end the tune, repeating the last phrase three times.

Take five --- A way of telling someone to take a five minute break or to take a five minute break.
Hey, Cleanhead, this is a cool tune and we're blowin' too hot. We oughta "take five."

Too much --- Just one more jazz superlative. Originally something so good, that it is hard to take.
Art Blakey is a fantastic drummer. His playing is "too much."

Torch --- Used occasionally as a description of a song that expresses unrequited love.
Nobody could sing "torch" songs like Peggy Lee.

Train Wreck --- Event during the playing of a tune when the musicians "disagree" on where they are in the form (i.e. someone gets lost), so the chord changes and the melody may get confused for several bars, but depending on the abilities of the musicians (it happens to the best of them), there are usually no fatalities and the journey continues.

Tubs --- Set of drums.
Jo is really hot tonight. Listen to him pound those "tubs.."

Two beat --- Four-four time with a steady two beat ground beat on the bass drum. New Orleans Jazz.
I can't dig this "two beat" jazz. My boys got to have four even beats to the measure.

Two-feel --- When the bass plays a number or part of a number in root-fifth pattern consisting of two half-notes in 4/4 time.

U

unreal: special
upchuck: to vomit
upstage: snobby

V

vamp: (1) a seducer of men, an aggressive flirt (2) to seduce
viper: a pot smoker due to the hissing sound that hitting a joint produces.
voot: money

W

water-proof: a face that doesn't require make-up
wet blanket: see Killjoy
white lightning: bootleg liquor
wife: dorm roomate; student.
"What's eating you?": "What's wrong?"
whoopee: wild fun
Woof! Woof!: ridicule
Wail --- To play a tune extremely well.
Count Basie did a tune called "Prince of Wails"—a clever play on words. Damn, Basie's band can really "wail."

Walking bass or walking rhythm --- an energetic four-beat rhythm pattern.
I really dig the way Earl plays the 88's. He plays the tune with his left hand and a "walking bass" with his right.

Wax a disc --- Cut a record.
I just "waxed a disc" up at Rudy Van Gelder's studio with Jimmy Smith.

Wig, Wig out --- To flip out. Also to think precisely.
I don't know what happened, man, we were just sittin' there and Louie just "wigged out."

Wild --- Astonishing or amazing.
It's really "wild" the way Lee plays the trumpet.

Witch Doctor --- A member of the clergy.
Have you heard, Margie's brother is a "witch doctor."

Woodshed (or Shed) --- To practice.
Duke was up all night shedin' that untouchable lick.

X

Y

"You slay me!": "That's funny!"

Z

zozzled: drunk
Zoot --- Used in the thirties and forties to describe exaggerated clothes, especially a zoot suit. The suit was composed of expensive material, baggy pants with tight cuffs, a drape coat with padded shoulders and wide lapels, a wide-brim hat sometimes with a large feather, expensive dress shoes, a B collar shirt, a fancy tie and a long watch chain. The colors of the zoot suits were very loud and even clashed. A pimp’s ostentatious dress is derived from the zoot suit. Young Mexicans that adopted the look became known as pachucos. During the war, Zooters were seen by other Americans as unpatriotic and attacked on the streets by sailors and marines and later the police resulting in “the zoot suit riots” of 1943.
Look at that cat's "zoot" suit. It's crazy, man.

That is indeed a great info on Jazz and swing music..i really appreciate you posting it out here. Thanks for doing that.

Great thread Lord L. Really cool to see Lunceford mentioned. Can't wait until you get to the sixties, cheers.

One of the first jazz big bands to form outside New York was in Detroit during the Paradise Valley days. This band was McKinney’s Cotton Pickers. They were formed in Ohio by drummer William McKinney as the Synco Septet in 1922. Four years later, they were in Detroit where McKinney expanded the band to 10 pieces and brought in a new drummer, Cuba Austin, so he could concentrate on managing the band. As McKinney’s Cotton Pickers, they were signed to Victor (to become RCA-Victor in 1929) and were very popular from 1927 through 1931. McKinney envisioned his band rivaling anything in New York but to achieve this, he knew he would have to get someone from New York to train up the band so he contacted Don Redman. Redman gladly came to Detroit and began writing the band’s arrangements with the help of the band’s brilliant trumpeter, John Nesbitt. Redman also played sax and clarinet in the band as well as singing some of the numbers. In addition to Redman, Austin and Nesbitt, the other members were Prince Robinson, George Thomas, Dave Wilborn, Todd Rhodes, Ralph Escudero, Claude Jones, Milton Senior and Langston Curl.

When Redman took over the band, there was an influx of impressive New York jazzmen joining the band in Detroit including Benny Carter, James P. Johnson (pianist who wrote “Charleston”), Fats Waller, Coleman Hawkins, Sydney de Paris, Quentin Jackson, Doc Cheatham, Rex Stewart and many others. The Cotton Pickers are largely the reason there was a Paradise Valley in Detroit with one jazz club after another lined along Hastings Street. The king of the Detroit jazz clubs was the Paradise Theatre. Every black jazz and blues talent either lived in Detroit or spent great amounts of time there. The Gotham Hotel was the favorite spot for this talent. Sammy Davis, Jr. used to rent out an entire floor when he came through. Duke Ellington spent a great deal of his off-time in Detroit and always stayed in the same room at the Gotham. The switchboard operator of the hotel was Marla Gibbs later known as Florence the maid on the TV series The Jeffersons. Gibbs’ father, Chester Rentie, was the honorary mayor of Paradise Valley. B. B. King married in Detroit and Charlie Parker’s wife was from Inkster, a suburb just outside Detroit. Bluesman John Lee Hooker moved to Detroit and started his recording career there in the late 40s. Paradise Valley gave birth to Baker’s Keyboard Lounge, the oldest operating jazz club in the world which is still going.

McKinney’s Cotton Pickers from a 1930 recording on RCA-Victor:

McKinney's Cotton Pickers "BABY WON'T YOU PLEASE COME HOME" (1930) - YouTube

Another Redman-Nesbitt arrangement from 1928:

McKinney's Cotton Pickers(USA)It's a precious thing called love..1928 - YouTube

Redman stayed with the band until 1931 and then Benny Carter took over as arranger. The Depression hit Detroit harder than anywhere else in the country (Detroit was, in fact, known as “the epicenter of the Depression”) and the orchestra was hard put to survive. By 1934, McKinney’s Cotton Pickers were no more (another source states that they stayed together until 1945). There was also a band called the Chocolate Dandies who used many of the same personnel as McKinney’s band but they were strictly a studio band and never toured. Again, Redman did their original arrangements but was then taken over by Benny Carter. The Dandies recorded in New York.


The Chocolate Dandies - Star Dust - New York, 13.10. 1928 - YouTube

A new McKinney’s orchestra was formed in the 1970s that used Redman’s original arrangements. While the Cotton Pickers did not have the arsenal of soloists found in Fletcher Henderson’s orchestra, their numbers demonstrated the prowess of Don Redman and Benny Carter as arrangers. We are fortunate to have their recordings because they represented a regional band that existed in every part of the United States at that time but most of whom evaporated without a trace after the Depression. Only those that had recording contracts with major labels have left something behind for posterity. The Cotton Pickers are one of those very few bands.

Pianist Todd Rhodes would go onto found Todd Rhodes and His Toddlers in the Detroit area. Rhodes also gave us bassist James Jamerson who played bass on 95% of the Detroit-era Motown hits as one of the Funk Brothers and whose bass playing was a huge influence on Paul McCartney, Jack Bruce, Victor Wooten, Flea and others (Jamerson continued to play in a small combo with Rhodes even after becoming a Funk Brother). Rhodes and the Toddlers also gave us “Blues for the Red Boy” in 1949, recognized as an early rock and roll classic and which Alan Freed used as the theme music for his legendary Moon Dog rock and roll radio program. Rhodes worked with Detroit rocker Hank “The Twist” Ballard and made the career of Chicago blues singer LaVern Baker when she moved to Detroit to front the band. Although Rhodes brought up a number of musicians heard on Motown recordings, he never appeared on a Motown song himself (contrary to some assertions) and died in 1965.


Todd Rhodes - Blues For The Red Boy - YouTube

After the Depression, swing underwent the changes that most people today recognize as swing music. This was due in no small part to the role played by white bands that are not as well known today as they should be. These bands pushed the envelope among the white audience before Goodman arrived on the scene.

Jean Goldkette was an example. Born in France in 1893 but spending his childhood in both Greece and Russia, John Jean Goldkette emigrated to the U.S. in 1911. Although a classical pianist, Goldkette usually didn’t actually play in his own band preferring to be behind the scenes. He put together some of the greatest jazz musicians of his time in one band including Bix Beiderbecke, Frankie Trumbauer, Eddie Lang, Joe Venuti, Pee Wee Russell, Hoagy Carmichael, Miff Mole, Red Nichols, the Dorseys and arranger Bill Challis. Vocals by the Keller Sisters & Lynch. When Goldkette’s band took up residence in Detroit in the early 20s—in Paradise Valley—he never left and signed a contract with Victor. Fletcher Henderson’s/McKinney’s Cotton Picker trumpeter, Rex Stewart, wrote that Goldkette put together “the first original white swing band in history.” He further wrote of Henderson’s band going up against Goldkette’s: “The facts were that we simply could not compete with Jean Goldkette’s Victor Recording Orchestra. Their arrangements were too imaginative, their rhythm too strong.”

Being in Detroit, Goldkette, in fact, had a hand in helping to organize McKinney’s Cotton Pickers. He was also musical director of the Detroit Athletic Club for over two decades and co-owned the Graystone Ballroom (which I’ve been to many times). He recorded mostly in Detroit and operated out of the Book-Cadillac Hotel (still standing).

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The Book-Cadillac Hotel as it looks today showing the Book Tower on the left.

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The Jean Goldkette Orchestra

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Jean Goldkette


Jean Goldkette - Proud Of A Baby Like You, 1927 - YouTube
The Goldkette band featuring Bix Beiderbecke on trumpet.

In 1927, Goldkette formed the Orange Blossoms in Detroit. In 1929, the Orange Blossoms reformed as a cooperative and elected a bandleader which turned out to be the tall, handsome alto sax player in the band—Glen Gray Knoblauch who simply went by the name of Glen Gray. In October or 1929, the band was ready to record and changed their name to the Casa Loma Orchestra. Their focus was on hot jazz due to the arrangements written by Gene Gifford, the band’s banjoist.


The Casa Loma Orchestra - Dust (1930) - YouTube

The band’s signature number was “The Casa Loma Stomp” which they recorded a number of times for different labels as Victor, Brunswick and Decca. A nice, frenetic swing number with some good bass slapping. The pace of this number was one not many white jazz bands at the time dared to attempt although black bands as the Lunceford orchestra were making a name for themselves with these “flag-wavers.”


The Casa Loma Stomp (Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orch.) - YouTube

Casa Loma was a hard act for any other band to follow. They were well trained, never got of out sync no matter how fast they went, were never out of tune and allowed much longer solos by certain members than any other band, e.g. baritone sax man Clarence Hutchenrider’s 68-bar solo on “I Got Rhythm.”


78rpm: I Got Rhythm - Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra, 1933 - Brunswick 6800 - YouTube

This was all before Goodman’s gig at the Palomar. While Fletcher Henderson was a major influence on Goodman, so was Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra. Goodman was enthralled by the talent of this band out of Detroit so little known today (unless you listen to “40s-on-4” on Sirius/XM radio, then you’ll hear them quite a bit).

Casa Loma offered a modern, updated style of jazz that truly rebelled against white people’s notions of what jazz and white jazz musicians should sound like. Still other early big bands got back to the music’s New Orleans roots. One of these bands was Ben Pollack’s. The Chicago-born self-taught drummer got his start in the New Orleans Rhythm Kings (NORK), a traditional jazz outfit in the early twenties. I can’t find any evidence that he actually played in NORK (he may have sat in) but the band did contain another future early swing bandleader, sax man Jack Pettis. In 1924, Pollack was on the West Coast jamming with an array of musicians. The ones he liked he organized into a band in 1925 and what a band!

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Ben Pollack & His Park Central Orchestra in 1926 featuring Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman on the far left. Next to Goodman stands Gil Rodin later to become an executive for MCA. Pollack stands in the center. Harry Goodman stands third from the right.

In 1928, Pollack decided to hire in a new drummer so he could focus on his duties as bandleader and brought in the legendary Ray Beauduc. That same year, Pollack also recruited trumpeter Jimmy McPartland of the Austin High Gang and trombonist Jack Teagarden. Needless to say, that was one hell of a lineup.


Louise - Ben Pollack And His Park Central Orchestra (Victor) - YouTube


78rpm: Bashful Baby - Ben Pollack and his Park Central Orchestra, 1929 - Victor Scroll 22074 - YouTube

After the Depression struck, the band had trouble finding work. McPartland and Goodman left first and then Teagarden left in 1933. Miller had quite a lot of extra work most notably with the Dorsey Brothers so his departure was inevitable. Shortly after Teagarden left, the band fell apart from lack of gigs. The core of the band formed a cooperative and who handed over the reins to Bob Crosby and became Bob Crosby & His Bobcats. This stuff was definitely swing. Below, the band performs a song by bassist Bob Haggart who was also the arranger for both Crosby and Pollack. Ray Bauduc is on the drums. Although Bob Crosby neither looks nor sings like his more famous brother, Bing, he was still a competent bandleader who deserved more from posterity than he has gotten. In fact, this is a magnificent clip:


Bob Crosby - Big Noise Blew In From Winnetka - YouTube

Here, the band gets a little closer to its Dixieland/New Orleans roots but it’s still swing:


Bob Crosby -- Charleston (VintageMusic.es) - YouTube

This will have to do for the early Swing Era. We still have plenty more to cover which we will do in Part 2 (yes, we're still in Part 1).

I hope you took the time to study the hepcat jive little dictionary I posted. It was by no means exhaustive but it gives a decent overview and an important one into the jazz mentality.

Hepcat jive appears to have originated in Harlem but has its roots in slavery. When the slaves didn’t want the white people around them to know what they were saying, they switched to a coded lingo or patois. This patois became an argot known as jive which is an alternate name for jazz (e.g. “jive swing”). It was a mixture of black slang, musician-speak, Over time, the coded phrases lost their meaning and jive just became another word for bulls-hit. “Man, don’t jive me!” “Cut out with all that jive, man!” Just ways of saying, “Stop talking nonsense.” “Jive”, in turn, became itself a code word for marijuana.

In Harlem during the height of the jazz phenomenon, the hipsters and jazz cats spoke an almost foreign language:

“Say, dads, lay me out a mezzroll, you know I’m righteous!”

“Ain’t yo T-man, Jeff. Go find Mezz.”

In the above exchange, the first person was asking for a marijuana cigarette or a “mezzroll.” In Harlem, there was once a 2nd-rate jazz musician named Mezz Mezzrow who, although a white Jew, considered himself an honorary black. He lived in a black area, married a black woman and hung out with the bruthas. He played clarinet but wasn’t that good. What he could do that put him the company of the best jazz musicians in Harlem was grow and sell his own marijuana that could damn near blow your head off. Without a doubt, it was the best s-hit out there. If you sold pot (i.e. if you are a T-man), your product was inevitably compared with Mezz’s. His stuff was so special that a joint of had its own name—a mezzroll. He sold his stuff only to other jazz musicians. It was not at all uncommon in those days to hear a T-man tell a customer, “This s-hit here ain’t as good as Mezz but it’s pretty close.” If you heard that then you knew Mezz was in short supply or no one would waste two seconds buying anything else if they could get real Mezz. Saying that you are righteous means that you are good for it. “You can slip him some scratch, man, he’s righteous” means you can lend him money, he’ll pay you back. A “Jeff” is a square, the opposite of a hepcat. So the second dude was telling the first, “I’m not selling any of my mezz pot to a square (and therefore untrustworthy) jerk like you. You want some, go talk to Mezz.” By the way, Cab Calloway’s 1932 number “The Man From Harlem” is about Mezzrow and contains the line, “let’s light up on this weed right here and we’ll get high and forget about everything!”

Indeed, the hepcat jive was fueled by marijuana which was declared illegal in the United States in 1937. Back then, getting caught with pot was a serious offense. Possession of a single joint would get you prison time (this continued through the 60s). So the coded language came in handy and it was constantly changing to thwart the cops who would get hip to the words and phrases. That’s why there are so many different words for marijuana—pot, gage, boo, grass, reefer, joint, roach, tea, etcetera—which is the sacrament of jazz. There are even rumors of serious marijuana jazz cults in Harlem (not so outlandish since marijuana is a sacrament of the Ethiopian Church which constantly gets its monks in trouble with the law enforcement in that country).


Buck Washington - Save The Roach For Me - YouTube

But pot was present in other forms of music back then. I know an old man who played in country and hillbilly bands in 40s and he said they smoked pot in all kinds of ways. One that I’d never heard of before was that they’d put a bunch of pot in a bucket, ignite it, cover the bucket with a blanket and then get under the blanket and start inhaling like mad. The jive and the pot carried over through blues and into rock and roll quite effortlessly.


The Five Keys - Ling Ting Tong - YouTube

Much of the jive is part of our everyday language and yet much it is still quite esoteric. But the fact that we use so much of the jive in our daily conversation demonstrates how thoroughly American society has been “jazzercised.” While the jive developed among the black jazz musicians, the cool white folks were hip to it and both spoke and understood it. Among many young whites, it was a badge of honor to be able to converse in jive. In the clip below featuring singer Ella Mae Morse and pianist Freddie Slack (both white) from 1945 about a jazz/blues club in Detroit, they engage in a bit of hepcat banter and it’s a bit hard to “get a handle on” (that’s hepcat jive too). The lyrics throughout are all jive.


ELLA MAE MORSE ~ HOUSE OF BLUE LIGHTS ~ 1945 - YouTube

The songs of Johnny Mercer often contained jive that sounds fairly comprehensive to us today because we are so used to it but was quite puzzling to the squares of the 40s and 50s. His lyrics to the jazz classic “Satin Doll” run:

Cigarette holder
Which wigs me
Over her shoulder
She digs me
Out cattin’
Some satin doll

Baby, shall we go
Out skippin’
Careful amigo
You’re flippin’
Speaks Latin
That satin doll

Here the line “Speaks Latin” is code for the jive. She speaks jive—she’s a hepcat.

The great sax man, Eric Dolphy, wrote a piece called “Miss Ann” which was published in 1962, just two years before Dolphy’s untimely death at the ripe old age of 36. While he might have written the number for someone named Ann, in black-American parlance, a Miss Ann is a white woman who looks down her nose at black people. I don’t know how prevalent this term is today but the first time I saw a chart for it (from The Real Book p. 274), it jumped out at me.

Ultimately, an argot exists for a people to mark themselves off from the rest of society. The hippies of the 60s did just that by copping the jive of jazz pretty much lock, stock and barrel. Rap has too. Kids today think the term “homey” is new. So who are the ones who are really out of touch? Although jazz is often seen as dinner jacket music today, it was music on the outer edges of society. Indeed in many ancient cultures, musicians were fringe figures, people barely reputable. Anyone who has ever busked on a street corner knows the truth of this. There the musician rubs elbows with both ordinary people out and about their business as well as bums and prostitutes. The musician partakes a bit of both worlds. Jazz was the original American music of rebellion. And rebel it did.

Swing in Nazi Germany

Towards the end of World War I in 1918, the constitution of the Deutsches Reich or German Empire was “reformed” in October. On the 29th of that month, a rebellion broke out in the northern city of Kiel led by sailors, soldiers and workers. The rebellion spread and became a full-blown revolution in which the participants split into various councils modeled on the Bolsheviks and their successful revolution in Russia in 1917 that resulted in the formation of the Soviet Union (from the Russian word “sovet” or council). There was little violence and no one was killed. The German revolutionaries called themselves social democrats. There were two main factions of social democrats—the USPD that wanted to make peace immediately and control Germany’s industries in the socialist fashion (essentially state-owned rather than private) and the SPD that favored continuing the war effort and instituting a parliamentary system of government. The German Revolution, as it is now known, caused consternation under the supporters of the old monarchy, namely the aristocrats and the middle class. Was Germany to be taken over forcibly by communism?

The answer came on November 7, when the Revolution entered Munich and resulted in King Ludwig III fleeing Bavaria. Two days later, the German Republic was proclaimed by a joint coalition of USPD and SPD leaders. On November 11, Germany, paralyzed by lack of international support, the joining of America and its vast industries into the war on the side of the Allies, a naval blockade and a severe shortage vital resources, agreed to an armistice with the allies under which Germany would not be put upon to make concessions.

In 1919, a national assembly was convened in the city of Weimar and a new constitution written for the Deutsches Reich. It was adopted on August 11 and the Weimar Republic was born. It would last only 14 years but manage to reform currency and tax laws, institute a railway system and manipulate the Treaty of Versailles by getting its reparation payments reduced through the Dawes Act (Named after General Charles Dawes, a bank president and amateur musician who, in 1911, had published an instrumental piece called “Melody in A Major.” Dawes went onto become Vice-President of the United States in the Coolidge Administration and was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 1926. Upon Dawes’ death in 1951, bandleader and composer Carl Sigman wrote lyrics for “Melody in A Major” and a recording was released that year that saw some success. Seven years later, Sigman reformatted it as a rock n roll song and had Tommy Edwards sing it. The resulting recording immediately shot to #1 in September of 1958 under the title “It’s All in the Game.”).

Unfortunately, the Weimar Republic years were also plagued by hyperinflation and wars between various paramilitary organizations from the left and right including the newly formed National Socialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP who would be more infamously known to the world as the Nazis. But culturally, the Weimar Republic imported American jazz as well as American and British movies which the younger Germans fell in love with. There was also a great deal of decadence during those years and brothels, strip joints and sex clubs of every type sprang up all over Germany but especially in Berlin and Hamburg (whose Reeperbahn sex district still exists which I visited in the 1980s while I was in the service and all I can say is that there is nothing like it in the U.S.). Black entertainers were popular at the clubs.

There was a small black population living in Germany. A very few were American, most were either from Africa or were fathered by men from Africa. Interracial marriages had been legalized in German in 1890 (but illegal in the United States since the 1850s).

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French colonial soldiers from Africa were sent by the French government to occupy the Rhineland after World War I. These soldiers proved popular with the Germans as they were more courteous and well behaved than the French soldiers who were tired of the war and angry at their German neighbors. Some of these French colonial soldiers married German women. The resulting half-black children presented a problem for the Germans, many of whom did not like the idea of these people having German citizenship and being allowed to run for office, vote or join the military. About 400-600 half-black children were born from these marriages and were dubbed “the Rhineland bastards.” In all, about 20,000-25,000 blacks lived in Germany. In a very few cases, white Germans acknowledged them as family—something most white Americans have yet to do.

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While thousands of blacks lived in Nazi Germany where life for them was not easy, they were not herded into the death camps nor under any mass extermination order. In fact, Joseph Goebbels, minister of propaganda, found them useful to portray the Nazis’ tolerance of others they deemed inferior. Most blacks tried to become part of a traveling show called “Afrika Schau” run by a woman whose mother was Liberian. She was married to a white German man. Although Afrika Schau was demeaning to blacks, it was a means of survival during the Nazi years. But certainly not all 20,000-25,000 blacks in Germany could be in the show and lighter-skinned blacks were barred from it altogether as they did not resemble the stereotypical idea of black Africans that the average German expected.

At the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, crowds adored Jesse Owens, a Black-American athlete, after watching him consistently beat the best German athletes in the running events. The story that he was snubbed by Hitler is not true. Hitler had been congratulating the German athletes who won medals (the Germans, in fact, did very well in those games) but was told by the IOC that he must congratulate all athletes or none. Hitler was not about to congratulate all of them and could not had he wanted to so by the time Owens won his events, Hitler was no longer congratulating any athletes. But Owens insisted throughout his life that he loved the German crowds at Berlin who cheered him wildly. Such a thing never had happened to him in the U.S. Owens also stated that after he won one of his medals, he passed closed to the box where Hitler was seated and Hitler waved at him and he waved back. Even Hitler had enough decorum to acknowledge the man of the hour.

After returning to the States, however, Owens was almost all but ignored except by blacks who rightfully regarded him as a hero. White-Americans could not have cared less about him. He was offered no endorsements, no movie roles, no book deals. The only money he received was when someone threw a bag containing $10,000 into a car he was riding in during a parade. He, in fact, ended up declaring bankruptcy and was successfully prosecuted for tax evasion. While in Germany, Owens stayed in the same swanky hotels that the German athletes stayed in and given the same treatment. Back in the States, in spite of his victories on the behalf of the U.S., he still was only allowed to stay in “colored” establishments. Owens had to make a living however he could and worked as a sportswriter for a time, at a dry cleaner, as a gas station attendant and a jazz music DJ. As publicity stunts he would outrun racehorses to win bets. He stated, “People say that it was degrading for an Olympic champion to run against a horse, but what was I supposed to do? I had four gold medals, but you can’t eat four gold medals.” While Hitler sent Owens an inscribed photograph of himself after the games were over, Franklin Roosevelt ignored him as did his successor, Harry Truman (“Hitler didn’t snub me – it was FDR who snubbed me. The president didn’t even send me a telegram.”). Not until Eisenhower would Owens receive any recognition from a president for his achievements and the classy way he represented his country in Nazi Germany.

When German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl was commissioned to make a documentary of the games, she included footage of Owens winning his medals. Goebbels argued that the footage should be removed as it made Germany look bad. Riefenstahl replied that removing the footage would be precisely the thing that would make Germany look bad. Owens won fair and square and it would reflect favorably upon Germany not to shy away from it. The decision was sent to Hitler who never ruled against Riefenstahl over anything (she was the only person in the Third Reich that Hitler would see without an appointment). He said to keep the footage in.

Hitler, however, shrugged off Owens’ victories to Albert Speer as a fact that the Negro physique was superior in running abilities. He railed against the Rhineland Bastards in Mein Kampf and perhaps for this reason, the Nazis sterilized about 400 of them. This was done without their knowledge. The fate of Nazi Germany’s black population remains largely a mystery. Even most Germans did not know blacks actually lived in Germany under the Nazis. There are so few records available that the fates of most of them remain to this day unknown (as a parallel, the number of missing black children in the United States to date is astonishing—upwards of 800,000 in the last five years have vanished without a trace with virtually no mention of it in the media). Some black Germans were known to have ended up in the camps but they were not imprisoned en masse.

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Hans Massaquoi applied for membership in the Hitler Youth but was denied.

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So Black-American and British culture had made headway into Germany during the Weimar Republic years. Indeed, many Germans loved jazz and ragtime as well as American and British movies when they were available. The younger Germans enjoyed their freedoms and leisure time which they often spent listening to jazz music from America. When the national socialists took power in 1933 with the election of Hitler to the office of chancellor, the Weimar Republic came to an end and the Third Reich began.

The national socialists stressed nationalism, racial purity and a rejection of foreign and especially Jewish influences. They also placed a premium on physical fitness, mental soundness and the desirability of Aryan/Nordic physical characteristics. They also stressed order and cleanliness and felt that the best way to instill these values into the German psyche was to start with the youth. The aesthetic vision of the Nazis was of paramount importance in understanding them. The art of the Nazis was both realist and idealist—a type called “blood and soil.”

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They detested anything else referring to it as “entartete kunst” or degenerate art. Dadaist or cubist art, for example, was degenerate and a product of madness that glorified physical deformity. Worse, it was all a plot by the Jews to pervert and ultimately destroy true Aryan culture. The Hitler Jungen or Hitler Youth was Nazi Germany’s answer to the Boy Scouts. The youth learned to live ordered, regimented lives consisting of everything from hiking to games requiring physical stamina to art to schoolwork. Conformity was mandatory and instilled through the wearing of uniforms, drilling and marching to martial-type music.

While many German youths were swept up in the national socialist ideal, many were not and, in fact, detested it. Typical of teens, they wanted their independence and felt a need to rebel against societal norms. There were gangs of working class kids called Meuten, a group called Edelweisspiraten who consciously rejected the norms of Hitler Youth and the more affluent youth who detested the martial and völkisch music the Hitler Youth played and marched to. They loved American jazz, particularly swing, called themselves swingjugend or swing youth but are also known as Swing Kids (and mostly occupied the 14-18 age demographic).

The swing kids marked themselves off from the rest of society by wearing their hair longer than German boys wore it, girls wore their hair long without braids which were considered proper in German society. They dressed in their type of zoot suits: Boys wore long coats with a Union Jack pin and homburg hats (very popular in Britain), carried umbrellas, wore two-tone or checkered shoes with crepe souls, an ornate scarf, an expensive button-down dress shirt with a semi-precious stone. Girls wore the dresses popular among British girls who danced to swing and applied a lot of makeup—deliberately more than German society generally approved of. The swingjugend learned all the swing dances such as the jitterbug and the lindy-hop. They hung out at clubs even though most were underage. If they couldn’t get into the clubs, they held loud swing parties. They were also fond of giving the nazi salute and yelling “Swingheil!” as a taunt to national socialists.

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The Nazis hated jazz which they dubbed entarete musik or negermusik which they saw as a product of both Negroes and Jews—the blacks invented it and the Jewish label-owners and jazz club owners promoted it not to mention that the King of Swing was also a Jew.

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As jazz was outlawed in Germany, the swingjugend took great pleasure in illicitly procuring swing records even getting record storeowners to order them in if they promised to buy them. Some got hold of short wave radios and tuned into Allied broadcasts of swing. Among the swing youth, there was great prestige in owning the records and they were treated like priceless treasures.

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But the Nazis had various tricks up their sleeves. While swing music was outlawed in Germany starting in 1935, the Nazis began to make their own swing music. The following clip is National Socialist swing by Charlie & His Orchestra.


Charlie and his Orchestra (Mr. Goebbels Jazz Band) - Bei mir bist Du schön - YouTube


Charlie & his Orchestra - Elmer's Tune (German Submarines) - YouTube

Charlie & His Orchestra was really Lutz Templin mit seinem Tanz-Orchester (a.k.a. Bruno & His Swinging Tigers). “Charlie” was really singer Karl Schwedler. When jazz was forced underground in Germany, Templin and his drummer, Fritz Bocksieper snapped up the best jazz talent they could find in Berlin and set about finding ways to slip under the radar. They did this by performing their jazz with pro-German lyrics. It was better than being shut down. They also occasionally utilized harpsichords instead of pianos to take the edge off the black sound of the boogie-woogie rhythms. Basically, they were trying to Germanize jazz over two decades before prog rock would Europeanize rock and roll.


Lutz Templin - ( 2 / 2 ) Für ein süßes Mädel - YouTube

When news of the band reached Goebbels, he saw them as a great opportunity to broadcast Nazi propaganda to the Allies and had the band absorbed into the Reichsministerium. Schwedler was allowed to travel to neutral countries to gather up jazz and popular dance music records and sheet music to bring back to Berlin for the band’s use. From March 1941 to February 1943, Charlie & His Orchestra made 90 recordings of swing covers with lyrics redone to reflect pro-Nazi and anti-communist propaganda under the auspices of Joseph Goebbels and the Propagandaministerium that provided the band their lyrics.

As one can hear, the music is beautifully arranged and performed. The arrangers were Templin, trombonist Willy Berking and Franz Mück. The recordings were broadcast over the radio every Wednesday and Saturday at 9 p.m. The recordings were distributed to POW camps and occupied countries on 78 rpm discs. When Allied bombing knocked out Berlin’s broadcast capabilities, the band was moved to Stuttgart to broadcast on the Reichssender Stuttgart station. When that too fell silent from Allied bombs, the band performed on international shortwave. Over a quarter of the British heard the broadcasts and even Churchill was said to be a faithful fan of the band. The band members were not really Nazis but joining the Reich Ministry was a way to survive. When not performing for the Nazis, the band continued playing at underground venues.

In January 1942, Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, wrote to Reinhard Heydrich, head of the SD, concerning the swingjugend, that “the whole evil must be radically exterminated now.” He wanted the “ringleaders” arrested and put into camps “to be re-educated.” He also wanted sentences extended to “2-3 years” saying that it was “only through the utmost brutality” that Germany would get these people under control and save the country from ruination. As a result, the swing clubs were raided and the swingjugend beaten, arrested and carted off to the camps.

After the war, Lutz Templin helped to found ARD, the second largest public broadcasting network in the world after the BBC. Karl Schwedler was said to have emigrated to the United States in 1960. For all its bravado, the Nazi Thousand-Year Reich lasted only 12 years, two years less than the Weimar Republic it hated so much. Many of the swingjugend were imprisoned in camps through much of the war, some were sentenced to death for their ties to the White Rose resistance even though none had actually worked for any resistance organizations (the war ended before any were executed), still others were forced onto the frontlines of the war and died in battle. But many swing youth survived the war and the camps to see justice meted out in Nuremburg.

[QUOTE]But jazz was everywhere in America because its disciples traveled around spreading the jazz gospel. Kid Ory went to San Francisco. Morton, Armstrong, Oliver, Keppard and others went to Chicago. Earl Fuller, James Reese Europe and Fletcher Henderson kicked off a vibrant jazz scene in New York City. W. C. Handy was playing around Memphis having spent a good deal of time in New Orleans recruiting musicians for his band. Don Redman in Detroit/QUOTE]

One detail about the original spread of Jazz: Those we would call the originators of this new music called jazz didn't exactly pack up of their things and leave New Orleans out of the mere goodness of their hearts to "spread the gospel of jazz". This might be what is written in history textbooks but the truth isn't quite as rosy. The truth is that on November 12, 1917, Secretary of War Newton D. Baker issued and order forbidding open prostitution within five miles of an army cantonment, this essentially outlawed New Orleans red-light district which honestly was the source of most jazz musicians business at the time. These musicians were forced to travel up the Mississippi and look for work elsewhere, and it's no surprise they ended up in other urban areas along the river: Chicago, New York and Kansas City.

[QUOTE=PaperGong;1367261]No, it isn't written in the history books that way. The Storyville crackdown is pretty well-known and covered extensively by Ken Burns. I left it out because I'm posting a "concise" history which means a lot of stuff will not be included. I leave those details to other posters to mention if they believe I am remiss in omitting it, which is fine with me. Fill in whatever details you feel should be covered and--viola!--they are now covered!

It was basically the Navy the did the cracking down. Too many sailors getting rolled. The city accepted their help because it was free.

Well, great work so far! Keep going! I can't wait till you get to my favorite era: Bebop :)

Impressive and informative, thanks

Part II

The start of swing as we now identify with it occurred in Kansas City in the thirties. Like New York, the jazz of KC was not homegrown but soon took on a character of its own. KC had long been a ragtime stronghold since it sat squarely in the region where most of the ragtime innovation was occurring—namely Missouri. Scott Joplin composed the majority of his rags in Sedalia, Missouri. The great ragtime composer Percy Wenrich was known as “the Joplin Kid” because he hailed from Joplin, Missouri. Another great ragtime composer, James Scott, hailed from Neosho, Missouri. Wilbur Sweatman, who was a pivotal figure in the transition of ragtime to jass was born in Brunswick, Missouri. Kansas City as well as St. Louis and Chicago were very attractive venues for the ragtimers. Kansas City had its own ragtime scene centered at 18th and Vine which could boast being the home of great ragtime composers as Charles L. Johnson and Irene Cozad.

As some of the surrounding towns as Sedalia had their ragtime culture destroyed by overzealous teetotaling Christians who got into office and promptly began outlawing and shutting down the clubs that catered to the ragtime crowds by 1909, the musicians and publishers packed up and moved onto places as KC who readily took them in.

Kansas City was the watering hole of the U.S. Anybody traveling cross-country was bound to stop there to recharge their batteries. Hence, places of entertainment were needed. Bars, saloons and clubs of every kind sprang up and they all needed some kind of live entertainment to draw patrons in. By the twenties, when ragtime fell out of favor and jazz reared its head, 18th and Vine began to attract jazz musicians without missing a beat. When Prohibition was put into effect in 1922, the juice flowed unabated in KC thanks to mob boss Tom Pendergast. He kept the clubs open long past sundown and on into sunup and the juice flowed the whole time turning KC into a different kind of watering hole. Prohibition was not enforced in Kansas City. Big Boss Pendergast made sure of it by buying off the cops.

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Big Tom Pendergast. Despite being a big mob boss, the biggest in Kansas City, which he essentially owned, he was generally well-liked by the club owners and musicians. He enjoyed jazz and a good party and kept the lights on, the music playing and the booze flowing all night long all through the Depression. Life would have been much tougher for a lot of jazz musicians if not for Tom Pendergast who changed the face of jazz. If the cops raided a club and arrested people, Big Tom had a lawyer waiting at the police station where the arrestees would sign out and head straight back to the clubs to carry on until dawn. The Boss of the Blues—Big Joe Turner—remembered Big Tom quite fondly.

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The two biggest bosses in Missouri—Tom Pendergast and Harry Truman. Without Big Tom’s backing, Truman might never have become a senator much less president. Despite Pendergast’s undeniable mob connections, Truman never apologized for their relationship. Whether they were close friends or secret political partners has been the subject of much speculation. Probably a bit of both.

But KC hit its stride with the onset of the Depression. So many vibrant but small jazz scenes closed down not from legislation but from lack of money and work. The musicians needed to find gigs and badly. Word went out: Go to Kansas City! So they went. With a City Hall under the thumb of Tom Pendergast no vice was off limits. If you couldn’t get it at home, come to Kansas City and you’ll get it there for sure provided, of course, you could pay for it. At a typical KC club, the bar and the brothel were in the same building. Downstairs, you could get beer, booze and wine. The clubs also openly sold marijuana cigarettes (usually three joints for two bits). Like to gamble? Come to Kansas City and gamble your night and your money away! Before there was a Vegas, KC hauled in $100 million a year in gambling revenues—huge money in those days. Adding in drug and prostitution revenues (at least a million dollars each per year) and there was little doubt that without the underground economy, Kansas City would have been little more than a back road town struggling to survive.

With more and more jazz scenes shutting down due to the Depression, the talent flocked to KC. By the mid-30s, Kansas City boasted at least as much jazz talent as New York or Chicago. The jazz scene of KC simply took over 18th and Vine from the ragtimers. In fact, one of the earliest jazzmen to play there was the native Bennie Moten who was taught piano by two of Scott Joplin’s former-pupils. In fact, we can watch the evolution of jazz just by watching Moten. From a ragtimer to a traditional jass band, Moten’s band would eventually trade tuba for double bass and banjo for guitar, the ensemble expanded and within the space of a decade was a full-fledged big band that could rival any other in the country. The difference between the two clips below show how much the band changed in only seven years.


Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra - Kater Street Rag (1925) - YouTube


Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra - "Moten Swing" (1932) - YouTube
One of the final recordings of the Moten band—pure swing.

One reason Moten’s band was so versatile was the presence of Walter Page. Page started off in Kansas City in 1923 as part of Billy King’s Road Show. Two years later, they were Oklahoma City ready to break up when Page stepped forward to lead the band. He added for more musicians to the original nine and renamed the band Walter Page’s Blue Devils. Walter Sylvester Page was born in Gallatin, Missouri February 9, 1900 to Edward and Blanche Page. At 10, Walter, already playing music, moved to Kansas City with his mother. Page got involved in marching bands playing bass drum and tuba because he was a big kid. In fact, as an adult he weighed in a 250 lbs and was nicknamed “Big ‘Un.”

When Page went to see John Wycliffe’s orchestra play at his high school, he saw Wellman Braud playing double bass. Braud, who started off in New Orleans in the early days of jazz and also did a stint with Ellington, impressed Page. “When Braud got ahold of that bass, he hit those tones like hammers and made them jump right out of the box!” Page decided “that’s for me.” Page later attended the University of Kansas at Lawrence as a music student where he became an excellent sight-reader learning both bass and sax. He completed a three-year music program in one year and so filled his extra time by taking classes on gas engines.

Page joined the Moten orchestra in 1918 playing double bass, bass saxophone and tuba. He stayed with Moten until starting his gig with Billy King. When King’s band mutated into the Blue Devils, there were a territory band covering the area from Oklahoma City to Wichita. When the Blue Devils hit their prime, they were a premier hot swing band. Page knew he had the best band in the territory and wanted to go up against his former boss, Bennie Moten, to crack KC wide open. Page claimed it never happened but others say it did and that the Blue Devils won hands down. Whether true or not, Moten certainly recognized the Blue Devils as his more serious competition in Kansas City. So Moten simply began buying off the band members of the Blue Devils by offering them higher salaries. The Blue Devils contained such notables as Count Basie, Eddie Durham, Jimmy Rushing, Lester Young, Buster Smith and Oran “Hot Lips” Page. In 1929, Durham and Basie left the Blue Devils for Moten. The following year, Hot Lips and Rushing left Big ‘Un for Moten. Unable to keep his band intact, Page himself rejoined with Moten in 1931. According to Basie: “Big ‘Un in there on bass made things a lot different in the rhythm section, and naturally that changed the whole band and made it even more like the Blue Devils.” Hence the big change in the band’s sound. Page stayed with Moten only a short time before leaving to play with the Jeter-Pillars Plantation Orchestra in St. Louis.


Walter Page's Blue Devils - Blue Devil Blues (1929) - YouTube


Walter Page's Blue Devils - Squabblin' - YouTube

In the above clips, both recorded in November of 1929, Page plays tuba in the first and double bass in the second except for a part where he sets it down to play a baritone sax solo and then goes back to the bass again. The solos by Buster Smith and Hot Lips Page are already outstanding even though both were just 21 at the time. The guitar and drums round out the rhythm in a way that feels like swing even though both numbers are in 2/4 time.

When Moten and band went to New York in 1928, he did not bring his jumpy sweet band sound with him, instead he went for the sophisticated sounds of Henderson and Redman and began incorporating their arranging style into his own. Many Southwestern bands followed suit. This was aided in part by the fact that many of Southwestern bands were landing gigs at venues populated by white patrons who were not well versed in the blues tradition to begin with so the swingier arrangements were fine with them.

The white attitude towards the more traditional jazz styles is summed up in the August 1926 edition of The Etude Music Magazine:

“Why have the words Jazz and Jagg the same meaning?” asks the humorist.

“Because they are both an irregular, jerky movement from bar to bar,” chortles the joker.

The world has been passing through a kind of musical jamboree. Jazz, with all its symptoms, was literally a species of musical intoxication. Starting in America, it spread over all the globe. Out of the mēlée came a few minds which had been trained in the better schools of music. With great ingenuity, Whiteman, Gershwin, Lopez, Lange, and others, modified and beautified the Jazz orchestra until the results were often surprisingly interesting. Thus we believe that Jazz, like new wine, is purifying itself.

That it will unquestioningly have a bearing upon American music of the future is generally conceded. How could it be otherwise? The ears of our children have been filled to the brim with these inebriating rhythms, for years. When maturity and training of the right kind is given to these youngsters the “pep” of Jazz will still remain in their subconscious minds. Like the voice of an epoch it will appear in its proper way and in its proper place and at the proper time.

The old Jazz of the screeching Jazzomaniac will not torture victims much longer. Our sympathies go out to the old gentleman on the cover of this month’s issue. He is merely one of the thousands of parents who have invested in a musical education for daughters only to hear as a result the abominations of Jazz. Now that fashion for Jazz is passing and better music is taking its place, we may look forward to a time when our aural tympani will not be shattered by a pandemonium of horrible noises.

The primal rhythms and beats of the jazz that jumped up out of New Orleans and socked the world in the jaw were being toned down and refined for more orchestral settings and whites related to that quite naturally as did the wealthier blacks and this was as true for the Southwest as it was for New York or Chicago and Moten recognized that this change had come. Some may argue that the above quoted passage refers to bands like Whiteman’s rather than swing which is likely true enough but The Etude was really a classical music periodical and the average white person being less highbrow felt about swing the way that the staff of The Etude felt about Whiteman-type sweet jazz—that it was more cosmopolitan and accessible than the old jass.

In 1935, Moten fell ill while the band was touring through Denver. Doctors examined him and said he needed surgery immediately and began operating but Moten would not survive and died on the operating table at the age of 40. Afterwards, Basie was elected by the other members to take over the band. Walter Page rejoined the band that year and played with them until 1942.

Unlike the others, Basie was not born in Missouri or Kansas but New Jersey on August 21, 1904. Basie grew up hearing different style of music and especially liked the stride piano that came out of Harlem from the likes of James P. Johnson, Fats Waller and Willie “the Lion” Smith. He began playing both drums and piano. He was largely self-taught and so was not a sight-reader but still displayed considerable skill. He was hired at the local movie theatre doing chores until the manager trusted him enough to run the projector. When the house pianist was absent, young Basie was already good enough to fill in for him. He made only a little money, his payment consisting of getting to see all the movies for free. Basie loved all the faraway places seen in the films and wanted to visit them. “I just wanted to be on the road with a show so much that I would have gone along just to be a water boy for the elephants if I could,” he said.

Basie played with a few bands around town mainly as a drummer. Basie’s best friend was Sonny Greer who was also a drummer. When Basie saw the proficiency of Greer’s drumming compared to his own, he decided to shelve his drumming career and devote himself to piano. Greer, as we know, went on to play drums for Ellington pretty much for the entire life of the band.

Basie eventually went to New York, unable to resist the allure of the Harlem music scene. There he met Johnson, Smith and Waller. Waller, in particular, took an interest in Basie and let him occasionally play the house organ at the Lincoln Theatre in Harlem where Waller had a steady gig (movies were silent at that time and required musical accompaniment sometimes provided by a hired musician or by a nickelodeon of the player-piano type). Waller then helped Basie land a job in vaudeville with a burlesque show. Basie also ran into his old buddy, Sonny Greer, who was, by now, playing drums for Ellington.

When Basie’s show reached Kansas City, Basie encountered blues piano which he had not paid much attention to earlier and he began incorporating blues into his sparse stride style. Blues offered Basie and, through him, the entire jazz world, a new vocabulary. This was due mainly to the fact that many of the KC bands started as sextets in the Southwest. Upon coming to KC, they expanded to ten pieces. Because it is harder to let 10 players improvise around each other, they worked from charts and lead sheets that were based on blues vocal traditions. Kansas City jazz was largely blues-based even if less so after 1928 but blues was favored in the KC jazz scene largely because of the success of Basie.

After being stranded in Oklahoma in 1927 when his touring show fell apart, Basie ended up in a cheap hotel room in Tulsa without much to do. He would wile away the hours in the local bars. One night, he went back to his room rather inebriated and collapsed in his bed. He awoke late the next morning to the sounds of Louis Armstrong until he realized the impossibility and came fully awake now wondering where the jazz music was coming from—it was beautiful! He staggered downstairs, hung over, and saw the Blue Devils in the back of a truck playing for all they were worth to a crowd that had gathered to hear them.

Basie stated: “I just stood there listening and looking because I had never heard anything like that band in my life.” Basie felt compelled to join them saying, “…hearing them that day was probably the most important turning point in my musical career.” So Basie joined the Blue Devils as pianist and his career as a premier jazzman had begun. Basie was among the first bandleaders in the Southwest to abandon the tuba for the double bass which had the effect of converting jazz from 2/4 to 4/4 time. 4/4 time is an essential ingredient for swing because swing relies on a walking bass line which walks in 4/4 time.

By 1936, Basie moved his band out of Kansas City and into Chicago for an extended gig at the Grand Terrace Ballroom under the name of the Count Basie and His Barons of Rhythm. Basie began innovating with his orchestral setup. He hired two tenor saxes instead of one—Herschel Evans and Lester Young. Young thought Evans played with too much vibrato so Basie separated them by having them flank the alto sax man, Earle Warren. This introduced an interesting tension between Evans and Young that often resulting in cutting contests between the two men. Audiences loved it and soon other big bands were featuring two tenor saxes.

When Basie moved the band to New York in 1937, he began using a variety of singers to front the band. The first was Billie Holiday to supplement the band’s longtime male singer, Jimmy Rushing. She never recorded with Basie because her voice was such a jazz instrument of itself that producers were afraid its nuances would be lost in a large orchestra so she always recorded with small combos. But in live performances, Billie was as happy to sing with a big band as not and her work with Basie is said to be legendary. It may have been at this time that Billie and Lester Young began their long affair.

They first played the Woodside Hotel, then the Roseland (Fletcher Henderson’s main haunt) and then the Savoy in 1938, home of the lindy-hop, where Chick Webb’s band ruled and a battle of the bands was planned. This battle has taken on legendary proportions but the general consensus is that Basie’s band won. Webb’s band, fronted by Ella Fitzgerald, played forcefully and aggressively but Basie’s band, fronted by Billie, responded with finesse. The battle really put Basie on the map. Major gigs and recording contracts flowed Basie’s way and he soon became world-renowned.


Count Basie and His Orchestra: One O' Clock Jump (Basie) - November 3, 1937 - YouTube
Basie’s signature song recorded in New York.


Chick Webb - STOMPIN' AT THE SAVOY - YouTube
Chick Webb’s signature song written by the band’s saxophonist, Edgar Sampson. Chick Webb’s orchestra played hardcore flag-wavers, even more so than Lunceford’s. The remarkable thing about Chick Webb was that he was crippled. He could stand on his own but could not walk without help yet he had no trouble operating the foot pedals of his drum kit.

But even before Moten’s band was playing in the white hotels, Alphonso Trent had already started this in 1924 with is gig at the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas. This led to other gigs and then to broadcasts. By 1928, the band was recording and became nationally known. Despite recording only four sides, their arrangements were complex and rivaled anything by Fletcher Henderson or Ellington.

In 1925, Terence Holder left Trent’s outfit to form his Dark Clouds of Joy. In January of 1929, Holder left to start a new band and the Dark Clouds were taken over by Andy Kirk. Raised in Denver, Kirk came out of the music program there under the tutelage of the Paul Whiteman’s father. The band became Andy Kirk & His Twelve Clouds of Joy. Kirk recruited a saxophonist named John Williams who headed a band called the Synco Jazzers.

Williams came over to Oklahoma City from Memphis leaving his wife, Mary, a 19-year-old pianist, in charge of the band to fulfill contractual obligations. She joined him eventually in Oklahoma City but the band then relocated to Tulsa. Mary did not play with the band at this time but instead drove a hearse. Kirk’s band then landed a gig in Kansas City and so they all went. By now, Mary began writing arrangements and occasionally sitting in with the band.

The band recorded in Kansas City, Chicago and New York. Between 1929 and 1930. While in Chicago, Mary recorded two solo sides on piano for the Brunswick label. The label was so wowed by the performances that the decided to distribute them and Jack Kapp of Brunswick (and founder of Decca and whose brother, Dave, founded Kapp Records formerly “American Decca”) suggested to Mary that she use the stage name of Mary Lou and so the single (“Drag ‘Em / Nightlife”) was issued by Brunswick under the name Mary Lou Williams in 1930. It sold very well and Mary Lou Williams became famous almost overnight. People often came to see the band because Mary Lou was in it and so Kirk gave her most of the piano duties so that she was sitting up front on the stage where everyone could see her. Through the forties, she had her own piano workshop radio program.


Mary Lou Williams - Night Life - YouTube
Mary Lou Williams “Nightlife” (1930)

Born in Atlanta in 1910, Mary Lou grew up in Pittsburg. She showed a very unusual talent for music from a very young age and taught herself to play piano so well that she was performing publicly by age six. In 1924 at the age of 14, Mary Lou was already playing for Ellington’s early combo, the Washingtonians. By 15, she was playing for McKinney’s Cotton Pickers at Harlem’s Rhythm Club. Louis Armstrong came in and watched her play for a while and was so pleased that she picked her up from the piano stool and kissed her. And now, six years later, she was the toast of the jazz world.

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Mary Lou Williams was beautiful besides being extremely talented and intelligent. Trombonist Jack Teagarden was in love with her and they supposedly had an on-again off-again affair. He proposed to her several times but she always turned him down, not interested in dealing with the fallout of being a black woman married to a white man back in those days.

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Mary Lou plays cards in her apartment with Tadd Dameron (left) and Dizzy Gillespie (right).

A couple of Andy Kirk numbers arranged (and the latter one also written) by Mary:


Andy Kirk and his twelve clouds of joy - Little Joe from Chicago - YouTube


Andy Kirk - Mary's idea - YouTube

We would be incorrect to call Mary Lou Williams a swing jazz musician and arranger. She was far too complex to be pigeonholed that easily. Williams was a virtual blank canvas that could be painted on in any style. She would jump from one emerging style to the next never to return to an earlier style. Swing was only one of the stepping-stones of jazz styles that she experimented with. She moved from swing to bop without the slightest hiccup and never looked back. Indeed, she had no reason to look back. Once she exhausted a certain style, she had no reason to continue dickering with it and simply left it behind to find new modes of expression. She is often remembered for her 1945 work, Zodiac Suite, which was a mixture of styles as bop, classical and swing performed usually with no more than a trio of piano, bass and drums. Like a restless butterfly, Williams could not settle on any flower for very long. Even late in her career, when artists of the Swing Era were rehashing their old material for a new audience, Williams was still pushing the envelope of her creativity as with her stunning 1963 release Black Christ of the Andes which bears the stamp of her conversion to Catholicism. What we hear is the evolution of her own spirit in her music not just a repertoire. Indeed, Mary Lou Williams was the very spirit of jazz. Two selections from Black Christ of the Andes:


Mary Lou Williams - It Ain't Necessarily So - YouTube
It Ain’t Necessarily So


Mary Lou Williams - St Martin De Porres - YouTube
St. Martin de Porres

By the time the Kansas City jazz scene died with the imprisonment of Big Tom Pendergast in 1940, it had made indelible changes not only to jazz but to American music as a whole. One duo that left KC and went to New York in the early fifties were KC native and singer Big Joe Turner and pianist Pete Johnson who started playing together at the Sunset Club and then picked up regular gigs at the Kingfish and the Back-Biters’ Club. These clubs were owned by The Pineys—Walter “Little Piney” Brown and his older brother, Thomas Jefferson “Big Piney” Brown—who are responsible for getting Big Joe’s career going.

When Joe and Pete signed to Atlantic Records, they recorded a slew of numbers that were of the most defining sounds of rock and roll. Basically, it combined blues with boogie-woogie and backed with a KC-style band with large sax section. These songs include classics as “Shake, Rattle and Roll,” “Roll ‘Em Pete” (originally recorded in 1938), “The Chicken and the Hawk,” “Flip, Flop and Fly,” “Honey Hush,” and “Boogie Woogie Country Girl.” All rock and roll classics.


Big Joe Turner - Shake, Rattle & Roll - YouTube
In this clip, Joe is backed by the great Detroit band of Paul Williams whose own million-seller “The Hucklebuck” (1949) is considered one of the first rock and roll songs. It was based on a bop number called “Now’s the Time” by another KC native, Charlie “Bird” Parker. Turner wasn’t called “Big Joe” for nothing. His voice was so loud, when he sang at Carnegie Hall, he did not use a microphone. This clip demonstrates how deeply rock and roll’s roots are embedded in Kansas City jazz.


Pete Johnson - Rocket Boogie - YouTube
Pete Johnson was quite famous in his day but has been largely forgotten now. He and Joe recorded together for many years but also recorded their own material separately (Pete even recorded as a backup singer). Pete’s “Rocket Boogie” served as the basis for “Rocket 88” by Ike Turner & His Kings of Rhythm who recorded the number at Sun Studios in 1952 (Sam Phillips, for some reason, renamed them Jackie Brenston & the Delta Cats). This is often cited as the first true song of rock and roll (Ike Turner dismissed this notion contemptuously throughout his career). Ike Turner’s piano intro on the number was lifted and played note-for-note by Little Richard in “Good Golly Miss Molly.” So, again, we see how the legacy of Kansas City jazz was passed on in the early days of rock and roll.

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Big Joe Turner at Sportree’s Bar on Hastings Street in Detroit. He is in the center of the photo with the dark suit next to King Porter whose band played hard-hitting R&B. Paul “Hucklebuck” Williams was an alumnus of this band. The great singer, Alberta Adams, is seen on the left with the dark-collar on her coat.

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Joe played with everybody who was anybody in the jazz and blues scenes. Here, he uses the great King Kolax ensemble as backup. The Kolax band was another of the great KC jazz bands and Kolax himself (playing the trumpet) is another of the forgotten great jazzmen.

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Joe also jammed with the greatest KC jazzman of them all

After the marriage of Thomas Francis Dorsey and Theresa Langton early in the 20th century, they lived in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania and had four children although we are only concerned with the two oldest—James or Jimmy (born in 1904) as he was known and Thomas Francis, Jr. or Tommy (born 1905). The elder Thomas was a coal miner who played the trumpet and eventually became a bandleader and music teacher. He taught both his sons to play the trumpet which both did quite well. In 1913, Jimmy was playing trumpet in J. Carson McGhee’s King Trumpeters. By 1915, he started learning sax and then clarinet after that.

Tommy, on the other hand, also started learning the trombone. At 15, Jimmy got Tommy a gig in a territorial band called the Scranton Sirens which he also belonged to. But after a while, the Dorsey brothers decided to form their own band—Dorsey’s Novelty Six—with Tommy usually on trombone and Jimmy usually on clarinet or sax but neither of them gave up the trumpet and continued to play and record with it throughout their careers.

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The Rhythm Jugglers from 1925. Tommy Dorsey stands at far right. The man with his arm around him is the great Bix Beiderbecke.

In 1928, the Dorseys started their own band on the Okeh label simply called the Dorsey Brothers. Although personnel changed over time, the band contained some of the top-notch white New York jazzmen such as Jack Teagarden on trombone, Eddie Lang on guitar, Bunny Berigan on trumpet, Joe Venuti on violin, Frank Shoemacher on sax, Stan King on drums, Artie Bernstein on bass, Joe Tarto on brass bass, Arthur Schutt on piano and vocalists as Mildred Bailey, Johnny Mercer, Bing Crosby and Bob Crosby. Also a guy named Glenn Miller played trombone for them. They were a studio band and did not tour but were quite popular.

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The Dorsey Brothers from 1934. The female vocalist is Kay Weber. To the left of her is Tommy Dorsey. Jimmy stands to the right and Glenn Miller is next to him.

Over the years, the Dorsey Brothers changed labels going to Melotone in 1931, then Columbia that same year and then Brunswick in 1932. They stayed with Brunswick through 1934 until the brothers split up in 1935 and each went their separate ways. They simply were not agreeing on musical direction. Jimmy loved fast-paced, hot swing numbers whereas Tommy wanted to slow things down. The fights were horrible with each brother screaming at the other and smashing their instruments against walls and floor causing crucial rehearsals to be called off. But, in 1935, the band’s last released recordings contained two #1 hits: “Lullaby of Broadway” featuring Bob Crosby on vocals and “Chasing Shadows.”

As solo artists, Tommy would rack up 17 hits while Jimmy would get 11. They would not play together again for a decade when they finally made a V-disc together in 1945. V-discs were recordings made specifically for armed forces fighting overseas. They combined their orchestras for the live sessions. They played together again in 1947 for the movie called “The Fabulous Dorseys.” With their differences ironed out, Tommy and Jimmy wanted to start collaborating again and the public was anxious to see it happen.

Their popularity was such that they were given their own television variety program, Stage Show (created by Jackie Gleason), in the early to mid-50s. There was no other bandstand show on television at that time so the show had high exposure and was extremely popular. They had many musical guests from jazz and from the new-fangled rock and roll including Elvis Presley who debuted on national television on the Dorsey program in 1956. The sky seemed to be the limit for the brothers when Tommy suddenly died that year by choking to death in his sleep. Tommy had trouble sleeping and started using tranquilizers but was so sedated this time that he didn’t awaken when saliva collected in his throat and he simply choked to death. Jimmy was heartbroken and died the following year of cancer. Jimmy’s last recording, released in 1957 posthumously on the Fraternity label, was appropriately titled “So Rare” as it was a rock and roll recording and very different from anything he had done before! He certainly plays with the fire that had always spurred him on. It sold 500,000 copies earning him a gold record and a #2 slot on the charts. It’s quite good:


Jimmy Dorsey - "So Rare" - YouTube


Tommy Dorsey - I'm Getting Sentimental Over You - YouTube
“Getting Sentimental Over You” is considered Tommy Dorsey’s signature song which demonstrates his skill and substitutes a flatted fifth for the normally flatted seventh which adds a deeper dimension of emotion that is bolstered by his amazing fluidity in the upper register normally only achievable by the trumpet. The harmonies of the reed section are beautiful. The song enjoyed a bit of a rebirth in the early 60s when it was used in an episode of “The Twilight Zone” called “Static” about a bitter, aging man who finds his old radio in the basement and tunes into a live broadcast of Dorsey’s band. When informed that the station had long ago shut down and that Dorsey had died some years before, the man eventually finds himself transported back in time where he has a chance not the let the opportunities go by that he had missed before. I saw this episode as a young boy in the 60s—the first time I had ever heard of Tommy Dorsey and I never forgot him. For years afterward, whenever I heard anybody’s version of “Sentimental” I would feel a little shiver.

The Dorsey band continued on after the deaths of its founders first led by Warren Covington who garnered a #1 hit in 1958—“Tea for Two Cha-Cha.” Sam Donahue took over leadership in 1961 for quite a number of years and then it was taken over by Buddy Morrow who ran the band until his death in 2010. I do not know if the orchestra is still going.

The impact of the Dorseys on jazz cannot be underestimated. Tommy’s trombone playing possessed an impressive pure tone, a marvelous vibrato and could burn through the upper register of an instrument that normally plays baritone. He could play long phrases never losing that pure tone. Virtually anyone who takes up trombone is required to study the playing of Tommy Dorsey.

Jimmy Dorsey picked up a great deal of skill going from Jean Goldkette’s band to Red Nichols and then to Ted Lewis (himself a marvelous clarinetist). He was certainly Goodman’s closest rival on the clarinet and Jimmy deserves a place among the sax greats as Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young and had an even greater impact on be-bop than the other two. Charlie Parker talked about how much he loved to listen to Jimmy play extremely fast staccatos of notes, each precise and clean and musically related and not just filler. This is exactly what inspired Bird to play in his style that would revolutionize the genre.

We should not go so far as to proclaim Dorsey a bopper, he was not. He was a big band man—that was his bread and butter, that was his audience and he certainly knew that a new jazz audience would not likely accept him but Dorsey also knew how to update his sound with intelligence and taste to avoid sounding stale and dated. Jimmy’s band doing a flag-waver from 1944:


SUNSET STRIP ~ Jimmy Dorsey & His Orchestra 1944 - YouTube

While Jimmy was more forward-looking than his brother, we should not write Tommy off as a lightweight. I have seen old 50s footage of Tommy playing with some of the bop greats and, while he does not appear completely at ease (he was staunchly old school) he was certainly not lost and fumbling either.

The Dorseys certainly had something that set them apart from other great white jazzmen who started at the same time but who could not last far into the 30s such as Red Nichols and Miff Mole (but who nevertheless left behind a good body of recorded work). The Dorseys not only hung on for three decades but died at the height of fame. That kind of longevity does not happen without the approval of layman and musician alike.

In 1996, the U.S. Postal Service released a Dorsey Brothers commemorative stamp:
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Women like Mary Lou Williams awakened or at least reminded the world of the fact that women weren’t merely singers but superb musicians, writers and arrangers. World War II wrought immense changes in America. All the changes were so radical that one is hard pressed to guess which was the most important. First of all, conscription began to empty out the swing orchestras and big bands. Bandleaders found themselves with a strange irony—they had to hire lesser musicians to take the place of their top-notch players and yet had to pay these novices more! Increasingly, the jazz orchestras started recruiting female musicians. Because so many traditionally male bands refused to recruit female musicians (even though a great many had female singers fronting for them), the all-girl band became a rising phenomenon during the war. There were all-girl bands before then and probably always had been but certainly not in swing. These all-girl bands were also more likely to be integrated simply because of the dearth of experienced female jazz musicians. If a trumpet-player from an all-black female band got pregnant or sick and had to take time off, the band had to find another female trumpeter quickly and nearest one was as likely to be white as black and she was likely to be in need of a gig so the band would offer her the gig and she would accept.

The newspapers during World War II were full of female musicians looking for work or all-female bands looking for female musicians. Often these bands could get hired entertaining troops. With so many men in uniform away from their wives and girlfriends and stuck in situations were they had little opportunities to even see women much less meet them, all-female swing groups were in great demand much to the chagrin of the all-male swing bands in need of gigs. Female jazz musicians saw an opportunity and made the most of it. For instance, the August 1, 1944 edition of Down Beat Magazine carried the following classifieds amidst ten other ads by or for male musicians:

“GIRL VOCALIST”
“GIRL ALTO SAX AND CLARINET”
“GIRL DRUMMER”
“EIGHT PIECE GIRL BAND”
“GIRL TRIO”
“GIRL TENOR SAX”

Not that these “girl” musicians were new to performing in jazz bands, they were not. Most had cut their teeth performing in the many all-female jazz and dance band ensembles that paraded through the vaudeville venues in city after city for a couple of decades now.

So women had long established themselves in the American popular music scene. Many were veteran performers who played in every kind of situation paying their dues and honing their skills no differently then their male counterparts. Many played just as well if not better. In the following clip, the ladies display their multi-talented musical skills:

The Ingenues from 1928:

The Ingenues - Band Beautiful (1928) - YouTube

No differently than the male musicians, the female swing and jazz artists took an early interest in music and began playing an instrument or two (or three or four) usually while still in elementary school. Many came from musical families and so grew up playing in ensembles. By high school, most had either started their own bands or were playing in someone else’s. Sometimes they played in ensembles with males but were often excluded and so formed all-female bands. One of these was Joy Cayler who was dubbed the Queen of the Trumpet.

Cayler formed her first band at age 16 in Denver in 1940. By 1943, she was already taking her band on the road having signed with a booking agency. At 19, Cayler wrote the band’s arrangements, laid down and enforced the rules, did all the hiring and firing and had the added burden of protecting her girls from unscrupulous men and unwanted pregnancies. Since most of her girls were no older than her, she had to promise their apprehensive parents that she would keep their daughters out of trouble on the road.

Female musicians in orchestras faced ridiculous criticisms and stereotypes that male musicians never had to worry about. For example, if two women in a band were tight with each other and liked to go out together to hit the town, they had to be careful not to do this too much or the rumors would start flying that they were lesbians. While this may not be a big deal nowadays, such innuendos could and did ruin careers back in the Swing Era. While male musicians on the road left a lot of illegitimate children behind, the female musicians had to be careful not to get pregnant. Unwed pregnant women were highly stigmatized in American society up until the 1970s. Abortions were out of the question. If a girl got pregnant, she had to go live somewhere out of sight until she had her baby which would then be put up for adoption. In some cases, the girl’s mother would tell people the baby was hers and the girl would take on the roll of older sister to her own child. In an all-girl swing band, the members had to appear to the public as “good girls” and if any got pregnant, there was an abortion doctor or midwife in Europe that she would be secretly sent to see whose name was well known among the female musicians.

Sometimes, though, the ladies made things work in their favor. Cayler recalled that train travel during the war was exceedingly difficult for bands—especially black bands and all-girl bands. Train cars were always reserved for servicemen first, then people in wheelchairs, then pregnant women. Needing desperately to get her band to their gigs, Cayler would have some of the girls grab whatever wheelchairs they could find and get in them while other band members posed as their caretakers. Still other girls wadded up their clothes and put them under their jackets and posed as pregnant women. The ruse worked every time. Another time, two of her girls were stranded and to get them to the next gig, Cayler used her feminine wiles on a Parcel Post driver to go get them and bring them to town for the gig and he did.

Joy Cayler:
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The sexualization of female musicians and singers has always gone on. Cayler claimed her publicity shots “make me look like a stripper…but that that was the mode of the day.” Here she wears a gown with a fully open bosom and holds her instrument as though she was merely posing with it rather than being able to play it. Female musicians had to contend with costume changes even more than their instruments. Many sax players complained that the strap of the instrument cut into their skin while they wore the low-cut dresses. Also standing for long periods in heels was debilitating and female bassists bore the brunt of that as did female drummers who found working the kick drum and high hat pedals quite a challenge. Some drummers changed to flat shoes after sitting behind the traps but some actually played with their heels on—no one knows how. Why did they do this? Because they had to look feminine—that was of the utmost importance even more than the music. This was the reality for female musicians in a society that “looks first and listens second.”