The JAZZ Story
First among black bandleaders were Duke Ellington and Jimmie Lunceford
(1902-1947). The latter led a highly disciplined and showmanship-
oriented
band which nevertheless spotlighted brilliant jazz soloists, among
them
saxophonists Willie Smith and Joe Thomas and trombonist Trummy Young
(1912-1984). The man who set the band's style, trumpeter-arranger Sy
Oliver (1910-1988), later went with Tommy Dorsey.
A newcomer on the national scene was Count Basie's crew from Kansas
City, with key soloists Lester Young and Herschel Evans (1909-1939) on
tenors, Buck Clayton (1912-1992) and Harry Edison (b.1915) on
trumpets, and Jimmy Rushing and Billie Holiday (later Helen Humes) on
vocals.
But important as these were (Lester in particular created a whole new
style
for his instrument), it was the rhythm section of Basie that gave the
band
its unique, smooth and rock-steady drive--the incarnation of swing,
Freddie Green (1911-1987) on guitar, Walter Page (1900-1957) on bass,
and Jo Jones (1911-1985) on drums and the Count on piano made the
rhythm section what it was. Basie, of course, continued to lead
excellent
bands, but the greatest years were 1936-42.
EXIT THE BIG BANDS
The war years took a heavy toll of big bands. Restrictions made travel
more difficult and the best talent was being siphoned off by the
draft. But
more importantly, public tastes were changing.
Ironically, the bands were in the end devoured by a monster they had
given birth to: the singers. Typified by Tommy Dorsey's Frank Sinatra,
the vocalist, made popular by a band affiliation, went out on his own;
and
the public seemed to want romantic ballads more than swinging dance
music.
The big bands that survived the war soon found another form of
competition cutting into their following--television. The tube kept
people
home more and more, and inevitably many ballrooms shut their doors for
good in the years between 1947 and 1955. By then it had also become
too
expensive a proposition to keep 16 men traveling on the road in the
big
bands' itinerant tradition. The leaders who didn't give up (Ellington,
Basie,
Woody Herman, Harry James) had something special in the way of talent
and dedication that gave them durability in spite of changing tastes
and
lifestyles.
The only new bands to come along in the post-war decades and make it
were those of pianist-composer Stan Kenton (1912-1979), who started
his
band in 1940 but didn't hit until `45; drummer Buddy Rich (1917-1987),
a
veteran of many famous swing era bands and one of jazzdom's most
phenomenal musicians, and co-leaders Thad Jones (1923-1990), and Mel
Lewis (1929-1990), a drummer once with Kenton. Another Kenton
alumnus, high-note trumpeter Maynard Ferguson (b. 1928), has led
successful big bands on and off.
THE BEBOP REVOLUTION
In any case, a new style, not necessarily inimical to the big bands
yet very
different in spirit form earlier Jazz modes, had sprung up during the
war.
Bebop, as it came to be called, was initially a musician's music, born
in the
experimentation of informal jam sessions.
Characterized by harmonic sophistication, rhythmic complexity, and few
concessions to public taste, bop was spearheaded by Charlie Parker
(1920-1955), an alto saxophonist born and reared in Kansas City.
After apprenticeship with big bands (including Earl Hines'), Parker
settled
in New York. From 1944 on, he began to attract attention on
Manhattan's
52nd Street, a midtown block known as "Swing Street" which featured a
concentration of Jazz clubs and Jazz talent not equaled before or
since.
BIRD
Bird, as Parker was called by his fans, was a fantastic improviser
whose
imagination was matched by his technique. His way of playing (though
influenced by Lester Young and guitarist Charlie Christian (1916-
1942), a
remarkable musician who was featured with Benny Goodman's sextet
between 1939-41), was something new in the world of Jazz. His
influence
on musicians can be compared in scope only to that of Louis Armstrong.
Parker's principal early companions were Dizzy Gillespie, a trumpeter
of
abilities that almost matched Bird's, and drummer Kenny Clarke
(1914-1985). Dizzy and Bird worked together in Hines' band and then in
the one formed by Hines vocalist Billy Eckstine (1914-1993), the key
developer of bop talent. Among those who passed through the Eckstine
ranks were trumpeters Miles Davis (1927-1991), Fats Navarro
(1923-1950), and Kenny Dorham (1924-1972); saxophonists Sonny Stitt
(1924-1982), Dexter Gordon (1923-1990), and Gene Ammons
(1925-1974); and pianist-arranger-bandleader Tadd Dameron (1917-1965).
Bop, of course, was basically small-group music, meant for listening,
not
dancing. Still, there were big bands featuring bop--among them those
led
by Dizzy Gillespie, who had several good crews in the late `40s and
early
to mid-50's; and Woody Herman's so-called Second Herd, which included
the cream of white bop--trumpeter Red Rodney (b. 1927), and
saxophonists Stan Getz (1927-1993), Al Cohn (1925-1988) and Zoot Sims
(1925-1985), and Serge Chaloff (1923-1957).
BOP VS. NEW ORLEANS
Ironically, the coming of bop coincided with a revival of interest in
New
Orleans and other traditional Jazz. This served to polarize audiences
and
musicians and point up differences rather than common ground. The
needless harm done by partisan journalists and critics on both sides
lingered on for years.
Parker's greatest disciples were not alto saxophonists, except for
Sonny
Stitt. Parker dominated on that instrument. Pianist Bud Powell
(1924-1966) translated Bird's mode to the keyboard; drummers Max
Roach and Art Blakey (1919-1990) adapted it to the percussion
instruments. A unique figure was pianist-composer Thelonious Monk,
(1917-1982). With roots in the stride piano tradition, Monk was a
forerunner of bop--in it but not of it.
JAZZ-ROCK FUSION
In the wake of Miles Davis' successful experiments, rock had an
increasing impact on Jazz. The notable Davis alumni Herbie
Hancock (b. 1940) and Chick Corea (b.1941) explored what soon
became known as fusion style in various ways, though neither cut
himself off from the jazz tradition. Thus Hancock's V.S.O.P., made
up of `60s Davis alumni plus trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, pursued
Miles’ pre-electronic style, while Corea continued to play acoustic
jazz in various settings. Keith Jarrett(b. 1945), who also briefly
played with Davis, never adopted the electronic keyboards but flirted
with rock rhythms before embarking on lengthy, spontaneously
conceived piano recitals. The most successful fusion band was
Weather Report, co-founded in 1970 by the Austrian-born pianist
Joe Zawinul (b. 1932) and Wayne Shorter; the partnership lasted
until 1986. The commercial orientation of much fusion Jazz offers
little incentive to creative players, but it has served to introduce
new young listeners to Jazz, and electronic instruments have been
absorbed into the Jazz mainstream.
New York - The Jazz Mecca
New York City is the Jazz capital of the world. Jazz musicians can
be found playing at jam sessions, smoky bistros, stately concert halls,
on street corners and crowded subway platforms. Although the music was
born in New Orleans and nurtured in Kansas City, the Big Apple has long
been a Mecca for great Jazz. From the big band romps of Duke Ellington
and Count Basie at The Savoy Ballroom in Harlem to the Acid Jazz jam
sessions downtown at Giant Step, New York continues to serve as the
proving grounds for each major Jazz innovator.
52nd Street - The Street That Never Slept
Between 1934 and 1950, 52nd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues was
the place for music. The block was jam-packed with monochromatic five-
story brownstone buildings in whose drab and cramped street-level
interiors there were more clubs, bars and bistros than crates in an
overstocked warehouse. 52nd Street started as a showcase for the small-
combo Dixieland Jazz of the speakeasy era then added the big-band swing
of the New Deal 30s. Before its untimely demise, hastened by changing
real estate values, The Street adopted the innovations of bop and cool.
So in just a few hours of club hopping, a listener could walk through the
