CHAPTER 5

1. CHAPTER 5 During the late 1920’s and early 1930’s, a number of social and economic forces were coming together that would ultimately transform pop culture in America. During these “pre-swing era” years the music business was rapidly changing and becoming more centralized, radio networks were launched that increased its already powerful influence, and public dancing was becoming more and more popular as a way for people to forget about their troubles.

2. New York and Kansas City Jazz was rapidly changing to keep abreast with these developments, and during these years the typical jazz ensemble grew in size, smoothed out its rhythms and standardized its instrumentation. As Chicago declined in influence, the most important center for the development of jazz became New York and Kansas City. As the largest city in America, New York had always been an important music city and was a logical destination for musicians looking for work.

3. New York Many of the top jazz musicians moved to New York in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s, and found literally thousands of nightclubs, speakeasies, cabarets and dance halls.

4. Kansas City Kansas City on the other hand, with its isolated, rural setting, was an unlikely locale to support an important music scene. Nonetheless, Kansas City was the most wide-open town in America, and the music that came out of it was exciting, modern, and literally drenched in the blues. Like New Orleans and Chicago before them, New York and Kansas City each had a rich tradition of mixing politics and corruption that was good for jazz.

5. Harlem Renaissance As an important destination point for the Great Migration, by 1920 the northern Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem had become the largest black community in America. Along with the new immigrants came optimism and a belief that the city was experiencing an awakening of the “New Negro.”

6. Harlem Renaissance The Harlem Renaissance, as it was called, was focused on the arts: theatre, literature, art, poetry, and music.

7. Other leaders of the Harlem Renaissance Zora Neale Hurston Wrote Their Eyes Were Watching God. (1937), written during her fieldwork in Haiti and considered her masterwork; and Moses, Man of the Mountain (1939). Other leaders of the Harlem Renaissance include authors Zora Neale Hurston, James Weldon Johnson and Langston Hughes, and black nationalist Marcus Garvey.

8. He founded the University Negro Improvement Association in August 1914 as a means of uniting all of Africa and its diaspora into "one grand racial hierarchy." Nationalist Marcus Garvey. The Battle Hymn of Africa (black poetry) Africa's sun is shining above the horizon clear, the day for us is rising, for black men far and near; Our God is in the front line, the heav'nly batallion leads, Onward, make your banners shine, ye men of noble deeds.There's a flag we love so well The red, the black and green,Greatest emblem tongues can tell, The brightest ever seen.When pandemonium breaks, the earth will tremble fast, Nor oceans, seas nor lakes shall save the first or last; Our suffering has been long, our cries to God ascending; We have counted ev'ry wrong which calls for an amending.So into battle let us go, with the Cross before; The Angels, great, from high to low, watch forevermore; We see the enemy scatter, and watch their ranks divide-With God there is no fetter for whom He doth provide. All God's children, in trouble, or burdened down with care, No matter where, how humble, His love is ever there; So cheerful let our courage be and rally for the King, The Saviour, Christ, the Lord, is He, whom angels tidings bring. Ho, Africa, victorious! See, the foe goes down! The Christ and Simon lead us to wear the triumphant crown; Jesus remembers dearly the sacrifice with the cross, So raise those banners gladly-never to suffer loss! And so the war is ending, the victor's palm is ours,Crushed 'neath a sorry bending, like dead, fallen flowers, Thus lay the proud men of the day, all lost, forever, Where the demons never say to God, "We'll deliver."

9. 1910s During the 1910’s, political and activist organizations also emerged in Harlem that were associated with the Harlem Renaissance movement. These include the development of the NAACP and the Universal Negro Improvement Association (founded by Marcus Garvey).

10. NAACP The Race Riot of 1908 in Lincoln's hometown of Springfield, Illinois, in 1908 had highlighted the urgent need for an effective civil rights organization in the U.S. This event is often cited as the catalyst for the formation of the NAACP.Mary White Ovington, journalist William English Walling, and Henry Moscowitz met in New York City in January 1909 and the NAACP was born.Solicitations for support went out to more than 60 prominent Americans, and a meeting date was set for February 12, 1909. This was intended to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the birth of President Abraham Lincoln, who emancipated enslaved African Americans. While the meeting did not take place until three months later, this date is often cited as the founding date of the organization.

11. 1920’s and 1930’s - Jazz everywhere! Due to the work and support for African Americans and fascination with the African American culture and music, Jazz was all over the place in Harlem during the 1920’s and 1930s. You could hear it in dance halls like the Savoy, Renaissance, and Roseland Ballrooms. You could hear it in nightclubs like the Cotton Club, Connie’s Inn and Small’s Paradise. It was jazz that to a large degree drew white America to Harlem to get a voyeuristic taste of the exotic world of the African American.

12. The New York Club Scene Owney “the Killer” Madden, proprietor of the Cotton Club, was one of the white downtown gangsters that controlled much of the Harlem nightlife by bootlegging liquor to speakeasies and operating exclusive nightclubs that catered to rich and famous patrons. The high prices at the clubs essentially instilled a “whites only” policy by keeping the local middle-class blacks out. The big three were Connie’s Inn at 131st street and Seventh Ave, where an evening out cost an average of $15 per person in 1929; Small’s Paradise, a huge club at 135th and Seventh Avenue with space for 1500 customers; and The Cotton Club, the “Aristocrat of Harlem” 142nd and Lenox Avenue.

13. The Cotton Club (where Duke Ellington end’s up getting his big start) Reserved for whites only, the Cotton Club was a vestige of the Jim Crow South. The name itself was a slap in the face to blacks, evoking the memory of the crop most associate with slavery and plantations. The exterior to the club had a log cabin façade, while the backdrop to the stage was a replica of a plantation house. There were murals depicting primitive African life on the wall. The band played “Jungle Music” while dancers performed in elaborate, risque floor shows that had themes of darkness, danger, and Africa.

14. Moulin Rouge Café de Paris Hollywood Club Lafayette (with 2,000 seats) Apollo Theatre on 125th which specialized in vaudeville acts, stage shows, and musical revues. Downtown Night Clubs include: Theaters include:

15. Harlem home to biggest dance halls in the country. Admission was cheap $50. White and blacks could mix. Hottest Bands were lead by Fletcher Henderson, Chick Webb, Cab Calloway, and others. The Savoy was were the biggest dance fad of the 1920’s originated. In 1927, dancers started doing the Lindy Hop as a tribute to Charles Lindbergh’s famous solo “hop” across the Atlantic. The Lindy Hop was an exciting, athletic dance where dancers sometimes actually threw their partners up in the air. Dancing and Dance Halls

16. Tin Pan Alley Tin Pan Alley is the name given to the collection of New York City-centered music publishers and songwriters who dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century.The start of Tin Pan Alley is usually dated to about 1885, when a number of music publishers set up shop in the same district of Manhattan. The end of Tin Pan Alley is less clear cut. Some date it to the start of the Great Depression in the 1930s when the phonograph and radio supplanted sheet music as the driving force of American popular music, while others consider Tin Pan Alley to have continued into the 1950s when earlier styles of American popular music were upstaged by the rise of rock & roll.Tin Pan Alley was originally a specific place in New York City, West 28th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenue. There is a plaque on the sidewalk on 28th St between Broadway and Fifth with a dedication.

17. Song Writers of Tin Pan Alley • Irving Berlin - wrote God Bless America, White Christmas, Blue Skies, Puttin on the Ritz • Jerome Kern - All The Thing You Are, The Song is You, The Way You Look Tonight. • George Gershwin - Summertime, I Got Rhythm, Someone to Watch Over Me • Richard Rogers - My Funny Valentine, My Romance, and with Oscar Hammerstein II wrote the music for Broadway shows like South Pacific, Oklahoma, and The Sound of Music. • Cole Porter - Night and Day, What is This Thing Called Love, I’ve Got You Under My Skin and Let’s Fall In Love.

18. The Music Biz and Birth of Radio • Depression almost kills recording industry. • Sale of records went from over 100 million in 1927 to around 5 million in 1933. • Advent of talking movies caused many theatres to stop using live orchestras and music revues. • Vaudeville died and Prohibition ended. • A new broadcast medium - the radio - was also changing the landscape. • People started staying home and opting to venture out for movies instead of live music.

19. Radio changes the entertainment industry • Underwent explosive growth in first few years. • Between 1920-1924, 600 stations began broadcasting. • Radio executives realize the value of music programs. • Throughout 1920’s it is estimated that music programming accounted for some 60 percent of all broadcast time. • In 1927 three small networks were launched in New York: NBC Red, NBC Blue, and CBS. • It become increasingly clear that a small number of business executives - “gatekeepers” - were deciding which orchestras would be featured on the music programs that would be heard by millions. • Record companies, radio networks, booking agents, music publishers and management companies all began to exert tremendous pressure on musicians to have the right look, sound and repertoire.

20. Birth of the Jazz Band • Through 1920’s and 1930’s jazz band experiment with increasing their size. • Because dance halls kept getting bigger and bigger, the amount of volume a band needed to fill them kept growing. • Duke Ellington exemplified this trend: his first band in 1924 had six members. By 1927 he had 10 men, by 1930, 12 and by 1940, 15 members. • The Depression made musical labor cheap and available. • With more members in the band, there was an increased emphasis on written arrangements. • During the years leading up to 1935, the bands of Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, and others worked out arranging techniques that became standardized during the Swing Era. • Saxophones are added because of their wide range (Alto, Tenor, Bari). • During the 1920’s Coleman Hawkins became the first star of the tenor saxophone as a featured soloist with Fletcher Henderson. • Two beat rhythms as the norm are replaced with smoother 4/4 rhythm.

21. Paul Whiteman Orchestra • Symphonic Jazz - (used 20 to 30 instruments adding orchestral instruments such as the voilin and oboe. • Want to “make a lady of out of jazz” as he called it because jazz had an image problem. • February 12th, 1924 he hosts a concert in Aeolian Hall and brings jazz music to the classical area by showcasing new performers such as George Gershwin and his Rhapsody in Blue. For the first time, jazz was given an important place on the concert stage of the classical music world. For that, he became know as the “King of Jazz.” • At one point was the most popular band leader in New York. • Alumni include Bix Beiderbecke, Frankie Trumbauer, and both Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey • Not much improvisation in his charts because of the strict arrangements. • Gave future pop star Bing Crosby his first job. • Paid top dollar (as much as $350 a week). • Was grossing over a million dollars a year by 1922.

22. Fletcher Henderson • Was a chemist who went to New York for work. Could find work. • Became a “song plugger” for Pace and Handy and soon was producing recordings sessions for Black Swan Records and their classic blues singers like Ethel Waters and Bessie Smith. • 1923 - secure a gig for his newly formed orchestra. • Next lands gig at the Roseland, the top ballroom in Harlem at the time, where they stayed for nearly 10 years. • Infatuated with hot soloists and set about to acquire the best. • Nearly every great jazz musician of the era passed through his band. • Alumni include Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, and Don Redman (arranger who created the mold for big band arrangements of the swing era.

23. Big Band Innovations of Fletcher Henderson Orchestra • Sectionalization - Dividing up the band into brass, reeds and rhythm section. Used call and response style. • Ensemble Swing - Writing parts for the band that sound like that were improvisations, including freer rhythms and jazz inflections, just as a soloist would. • Block Chord Writing - Harmonizing melodies into two or three parts for each section to make them thicker and fuller. • Solos - Incorporating improvised solos throughout as an essential element of the arrangement. • When Don Redman left in 1927 to join the rival McKinney’s Cotton Pickers, the arranging duties were passed on to saxophonist Benny Carter, Henderson’s brother Horace, and ultimately Fletcher himself. • Continued to be one of the elite black bands in New York through the early 1930’s.

24. Often called the greatest jazz composer, if not the greatest American composer. First jazz composer to write extended works. First to write in a variety of different styles. He was his own arranger. His arrangements were ground breaking in their use of complex harmonies, instrumental voicings and utilizing the unique talents of his musicians. Great bandleader in jazz. He lead an orchestra for more than 50 years. Born in Washington D.C. His father worked as a butler and a caterer (occasionally at the White House), and taught his son good manners. Early in life developed a strong sense of self confidence. His aristocratic manner of dressing and interactions with others caused a classmate to give him his famous nickname at the age of fourteen. In 1917, after dropping out of high school three months before graduating, he started his first group, the Dukes Serenaders. Age 14 writes his first composition “Soda Fountain Rag.” Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington

25. Was a businessman and networked on his own. Followed around pianist Willie “The Lion” Smith and James P. Johnson. Sought advice on long taxi rides through Central Park from orchestra leader and composer Will Marion Cook. Made contacts in Tin Pan Alley. Hired James “Bubber” Miley on trumpet who studied the mute techniques of Joe Oliver and because a master of the plunger mute (popular for growls and speech like notes). During the Cotton Club Years he had to provide music for the lavish floor shows that started nightly at midnight and 2:00am. Every six months a new show would start so Ellington was constantly writing. Jungle Style: Ellington’s first style of writing. Because the shows at the Cotton Club were exotic and risque, Ellington used musical elements such as “Bubber” Miley’s & “Tricky” Sam Nanton’s growling and bluesy plunger techniques to get his Jungle Sound. Drummer Sonny Greer used a giant set of percussion instruments that included tympani, gongs and chimes to achieve all kinds of interesting musical sounds and effects. 1928 - One of Ellington’s most important soloists, alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges joined the group. Stayed at the Cotton Club from 1927 -1931. During the Cotton Club years established himself as a composer, arranger, and bandleader par excellence. Receives national exposure for the first time, as CBS Radio Network started broadcasting live from the Cotton Club. Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington

26. Duke Ellington

27. Kansas City - The Pendergast Machine • 1500 miles from New York another scene was developing in Kansas City. • Kansas City was a major riverboat, railroad and slaughterhouse center. • The standard vices of gambling, prostitution and drugs were present well before Prohibition brought in the bootleggers and organized crime element. • During the early twentieth century, the city was slowly coming under the de facto control of Tom “Boss Pendergast.

28. Kansas City - Tom “Boss Pendergast By 1926 had maneuvered on of his minions, Henry F. McElroy into the post of city manager (the equivalent of mayor) and sruck a deal with the mob boss Johnny Lazia (the “Al Capone of Kansas City”) to run the police force, Pendergast’s control of Kansas City politics was complete. The Pendergast “administration” was one of the most remarkable and corrupt in U.S. history. He was the ultimate power broker who befriended the poor and built up a popular grassroots political base. Kansas City became an oasis of prosperity that enabled it to remain Depression-proof throughout the 1930’s. There was not one single alcohol violation in Kansas City during the entire Prohibition Era!!!

29. Kansas City Club Scene • The Subway - at 18th and Vine - had regular jam sessions the attracted out of town musicians. • The Sunset Club - at 18th and Highland was where blues shouter Joe Turner tended bar and sang while boogie-woogie virtuoso Pete Johnson played the piano. • The Cherry Blossom - at 12 and Vine, had the most notorious cutting contests (musician playing for superior ranking and work). • The Reno Club - at 12th and Cherry, had four show nightly. Prostitutes took clients via a private stairway. The Reno club discovered Count Basie Orchestra in 1935. It was where a young Charlie Parker would hang out and listen to Lester Young, Basie’s main tenor soloist.

30. Kansas City Trivia • It is because of the notorious cutting contests and jam sessions that Kansas city rhythm section players developed tremendous chops and endurance that made them among the hardest swinging players of their generation. Sometimes one song could last three hours: Although horn players can rest and relax during other solos, the rhythm section is forced to play for hours on end. This is why they became so strong and music was second nature to them.

31. Characteristics of Kansas City Style • 12 bar blues commonly used • Head arrangements and other simple arrangements • Emphasis on improvised solos, especially tenor sax • Boogie-Woogie influence • Light, crisp, powerful swing from rhythm section • Cultivated Tenor players (Lester Young, Herschel Evans, and Ben Webster). Legendary story of Fletcher Henderson’s band coming to Kansas where the word spread about a cuttin contest: Coleman Hawkins from Fletchers Band, Young, Evans, and Webster were the last saxophonist playing till dawn. A draw was declared.

32. Territory Bands • Traveled the Midwest • The home 'territories' were loosely defined, but some classifications emerged. Generally, the areas were defined as Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, West Coast, Southwest and Northwest. In addition, some state-groupings became common. One such group was usually referred to as MINK — Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas. Another group was VSA — Virginia, South Carolina and Alabama.The Southwest proved especially fertile for territory bands. Texas, with its spread-out geography and relatively large population, offered the greatest opportunity with developed markets for dance music in Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Amarillo, and other cities.

33. Territory Bands Produced Legendary Groups • The Clouds of Joy (1929 - feature Mary Lou Williams who became one of the finest pianist and arrangers) • The Blue Devils - Led by bassist Walter Page the band included Lester Young on tenor, Count Basie on piano, Buster Smith on alto sax and Jimmy Rushing on vocals. Many of the Blue Devils when into Bennie Moten’s band include Walter Page himself. • Benny Moten Orchestra - Considered to be the top band in Kansas City from 1930 until 1935 (when he died on the operating table during a tonsillectomy). Moten’s band included Ben Webster on tenor, Count Basie on piano, Young, Rushing and Page. The cats possessed a great rhythmic drive and power that Count Basie’s Orchestra was to be known for in the coming years. • The Count Basie Orchestra - originally called Bill Basie and the Baron of Rhythm. Basie secured a residency for the Baron of Rhythm at the Reno Club, where experimental shor wave radio statioin W9XBY was broadcasting on a weekly basis. When Columbia Records producer John Hammond heard the band from his car radio in Chicago in 1936, he drove to Kansas City and set the wheels in motion for Basie to debut in New York, get a recording contract, and become the most famous of all Kansas City Bands. • The Jay McShann Orchestra - last great Kansas City era band. His featured soloist was 18 year old alto saxophonist Charlie Parker, who in just a few short years, would become the leader of the modern jazz revolution.

34. Territory Bands Produced Kansas City Shouters • Little Jimmy Rushing - sang with Basie from 1935-1950. Know as “Mr. Five by Five” for his diminutive stature and expansive girth. Rushing was the greatest of all blues shouters. • Big Joe Turner - Turners greatest popularity came in the 1950’s when he had several R&B hits including “Shake, Rattle and Roll” in 1954. • Joe Williams -- had a career that started in the late 1930’s. Williams’ biggest hit came in 1954 with Count Basie. “Every Day I have the Blues” almost single-handedly revived Basie’s career when hard times had fallen on big bands. Later in his life, William became more of a crooner in the style of Nat King Cole.

35. Demise of Kansas City Bands • Came to an end in the early 1930s. • Basie is discovered and leaves in 1936. • Many musicians follow success to New York. • Talent Scouts descend on Kansas and rob most of the talent. • Tom Pendergast’s reign of power was unraveling. • By mid decade a number of high profile gang assassinations took place, including Johnny Lazia in 1933, and three of Pedergast’s rivals at a polling place on election day in 1934. • Pedergast was losing as much as $50,000 a day better on the race track and was eventually indicted for income tax evasion in 1938. Convicted the following year and sent to Leavenworth Prison. • Dealing with the huge debt Pendergast left meant the city spent years of rebuilding its economy. • As jobs for musicians started to dry up, America’s entry into WWII and the draft, gas and rubber rationing and entertainment tax that came with it was the final blow that put an end to the glory years of Kansas City jazz.