The most popular bandleader of the decade was Paul Whiteman
(1890-1967), who ironically became known as the King of Jazz, although
his first successful bands played no Jazz at all and his later ones precious
little. These later bands, however, did play superb dance music, expertly
scored and performed by the best white musicians the extravagant
Whiteman paychecks could attract. From 1926 on, Whiteman gave
occasional solo spots to such Jazz-influenced players as cornetist Red
Nichols, violinist Joe Venuti, guitarist Eddie Lang (1904-1933), and the
Dorsey Brothers' trombonist-trumpeter Tommy (1905-1956) and
clarinetist-saxophonist Jimmy (1904-1957), all of whom later became
bandleaders in their own right.
In 1927, Whiteman took over the key personnel of Jean Goldkette's
Jazz-oriented band, which included a young cornetist and sometime pianist
and composer of rare talent, Bix Beiderbecke (1903-1931). Bix's very
lyrical, personal music and early death combined to make him the first
(and most durable) jazz legend. His romanticized life story became the
inspiration for a novel and a film, neither of them close to the truth.
Bix's closest personal and musical friend during the most creative period of
his life was saxophonist Frank Trumbauer (1901-1956). Fondly known as
Bix and Tram, the team enhanced many an otherwise dull Whiteman
record with their brilliant interplay or their individual efforts.
THE BEIDERBECKE LEGACY
Bix's bittersweet lyricism influenced many aspiring jazzmen, among them
the so-called Austin High Gang, made up of gifted Chicago youngsters
only a few of whom ever actually attended Austin High School. Among
them were such later sparkplugs of the Swing Era as drummers Gene
Krupa (1909-1973) and Dave Tough (1908-1948); clarinetist Frank
Teschemacher (1905-1932); saxophonist Bud Freeman (1906-1991);
pianists Joe Sullivan (1906-1971) and Jess Stacy (b. 1904); and
guitarist-entrepreneur Eddie Condon (1905-1973). Their contemporaries
and occasional comrades-in-arms included a clarinet prodigy named Benny
Goodman (1905-1986); and somewhat older reedman and character, Mezz
Mezzrow (1899-1972), whose 1946 autobiography, Really the Blues,
remains, despite inaccuracies, one of the best Jazz books.
Trumbauer, though not a legend like Bix, influenced perhaps as many
musicians. Among them were two of the greatest saxophonist in Jazz
history, Benny Carter (b.1907) and Lester (Prez) Young (1909-1959).
BLACK & WHITE
A great influence on young Goodman was the New Orleans clarinetist
Jimmie Noone (1995-1944), an exceptional technician with a beautiful
tone. Chicago was an inspiring environment for a young musician. There
was plenty of music and there were plenty of masters to learn from.
Cornetist Muggsy Spanier (1906-1967) took his early cues from King
Oliver. In New York, there was less contact between black and white
players, though white jazzmen often made the trek to Harlem or worked
opposite Fletcher Henderson at the Roseland. When a young Texas
trombonist, Jack Teagarden (1905-1964), came to town in 1928, he
startled everyone with his blues-based playing (and singing), very close in
concept to that of Henderson's trombone star, Jimmy Harrison
(1900-1931). These two set the pace for all comers.
Teagarden, alongside Benny Goodman, worked in Ben Pollack's band.
Pollack, who'd played drums with the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, was
quite a talent spotter and always had good bands. When Henderson
arranger Don Redman took over McKinney's Cotton Pickers in 1929 and
made it one of the bands of the `20s, his replacement was Benny Carter.
Carter could (and still can) write arrangements and play trumpet and
clarinet as well as alto sax. For many years, he was primarily active as a
composer for films and TV; but in the late 1970's, Carter resumed his
playing career with renewed vigor. (Editor's Note-Carter just turned
eighty and is still playing and recording.)
THE UNIQUE DUKE
Another artist whose career spanned more than fifty years is Duke
Ellington (1899-1974). By 1972, he was one of New York's most
successful bandleaders, resident at Harlem's Cotton Club--a nightspot
catering to whites only but featuring the best in black talent.
Ellington's unique gifts as composer-arranger-pianist were coupled with
equally outstanding leadership abilities. From 1927 to 1941, with very few
exceptions and occasional additions, his personnel remained unchanged--a
record no other bandleader (except Guy Lombardo, of all people) ever
matched.
Great musicians passed through the Ellington ranks between 1924 and
1974. Among the standouts: great baritone saxist Harry Carney
(1907-1974), who joined in 1927; Johnny Hodges (1906-1970), whose
alto sax sound was one of the glories of jazz; Joe (Tricky Sam) Nanton
(1904-1946), master of the "talking" trombone; Barney Bigard
(1906-1980); whose pure-toned clarinet brought a touch of New Orleans
to the band; Ben Webster (1909-1973), one of Coleman Hawkins' greatest
disciples; drummer Sonny Greer (1903-1982), and Rex Stewart
(1907-1967) and Cootie Williams (1910-1985), an incomparable trumpet
team. Among the later stars were trumpeter Clark Terry (b. 1920) and
tenor saxist Paul Gonsalves (1920-1974).
Ellington's music constitutes a world within the world of Jazz. One of the
century's outstanding composers, he wrote over 1,000 short pieces, plus
many suites, music for films, the theater and television, religious works and
more. He must be ranked one of the century's foremost musicians,
regardless of labels. His uninterrupted activity as a bandleader since 1924
has earned him a high place in each successive decade, and his
achievement is a history of Jazz in itself.
Three outstanding contributors to Ellingtonia must be mentioned. They are
trumpeter-composer Bubber Miley (1903-1932), the co-creator of the first
significant style for the band and, like his exact contemporary Bix
Beiderbecke, a victim of too much, too soon; bassist Jimmy Blanton
(1918-1942), who in his two years with Ellington shaped a whole new role
for his instrument in Jazz, both as a solo and ensemble voice; and Billy
Strayhorn (1915-1967), composer-arranger and Ellington alter ego who
contributed much to the band from 1939 until his death.
STRIDE & BOOGIE WOOGIE
Aside from the band, for which he wrote with such splendid skill,
Ellington's instrument was the piano. When he came to New York as a
young man, his idols were James P. Johnson (1894-1955), a brilliant
instrumentalist and gifted composer, and Johnson's closest rival, Willie
(The Lion) Smith (1898-1973). Both were masters of the "stride" school of
Jazz piano, marked by an exceptionally strong, pumping line in the left
hand. James P.'s prize student was Fats Waller. New York pianists often
met in friendly but fierce contests--the beginnings of what would later be
known as jam sessions.
In Chicago, a very different piano style came into the picture in the late
`20s, dubbed boogie-woogie after the most famous composition by its first
significant exponent, Pinetop Smith (1904-1929). This rolling,
eight-to-the-bar bass style was popular at house parties in the Windy City
and became a national craze in 1939, after three of its best practitioners,
Albert Ammons, Pete Johnson and Meade Lux Lewis, had been presented
in concert at Carnegie Hall.
KANSAS CITY SOUNDS
Johnson was from Kansas City, where boogie-woogie was also popular.
The midwestern center was a haven for Jazz musicians through-out the
rule of Boss Pendergast, when the city was wide open and music could be
heard around the clock.
The earliest and one of the best of the K.C. bands was led by Bennie
Moten (1894-1935). By 1930 it had in its ranks pianist Count Basie
(1905-1984) who'd learned from Fats Waller; trumpeter-singer Oran (Hot
Lips) Page (1908-1954), one of Louis Armstrong's greatest disciples; and
an outstanding singer, Jimmy Rushing (1903-1972). The city was to put its
imprint on Jazz during the `30s and early `40s.
DEPRESSION DAYS
The great Depression had its impact on Jazz as it did on virtually all other
facets of American life. The record business reached its lowest ebb in
1931. By that year, many musicians who had been able to make a living
playing Jazz had been forced to either take commercial music jobs or leave
the field entirely.
But the music survived. Again, Louis Armstrong set a pattern. At the helm
of a big band with his increasingly popular singing as a feature, he recast
the pop hits of the day in his unique Jazz mold, as such artists as Fats
Waller and Billie Holiday (1915-1959), perhaps the most gifted of female
Jazz singers would do a few years later.
Thus, while sentimental music and romantic "crooners" were the rage
(among them Bing Crosby who had worked with Paul Whiteman and
learned more than a little from Jazz), a new kind of "hot" dance music
began to take hold. It wasn't really new, but rather a streamlining of the
Henderson style, introduced by the Casa Loma Orchestra which featured
the arrangements of Georgia-born guitarist Gene Gifford (1908-1970).
Almost forgotten today, this band paved the way for the Swing Era.
THE COMING OF SWING
As we've seen, big bands were a feature of the Jazz landscape from the
first. Though the Swing Era didn't come into full flower until 1935, most
up-and-coming young jazzmen from 1930 found themselves working in big
bands.
Among these were two pacesetters of the decade, trumpeter Roy (Little
Jazz) Eldridge (1911-1989) and tenorist Leon (Chu) Berry (1908-1941).
Eldridge, the most influential trumpeter after Louis, has a fiery mercurial
style and great range and swing. Among the bands he sparked were
Fletcher Henderson's and Teddy Hill's. The latter group also included
Berry, the most gifted follower of Coleman Hawkins, and the brilliant
trombonist Dicky Wells (1909-1985).
Another trend setting band was that of tiny, hunchbacked drummer Chick
Webb (1909-1939), who by dint of almost superhuman energy overcame
his physical handicap and made himself into perhaps the greatest of all Jazz
drummers. His band really got under way when he heard and hired a
young girl singer in 1935. Her name was Ella Fitzgerald (b. 1917).
THE KING OF SWING
But it was Benny Goodman who became the standard-bearer of swing. In
1934, he gave up a lucrative career as a studio musician to form a big band
with a commitment to good music. His Jazz-oriented style met with little
enthusiasm at first. He was almost ready to give it up near the end of a
disastrous cross-country tour in the summer of `35 when suddenly his
fortunes shifted. His band was received with tremendous acclaim at the
Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles.
It seems that the band's broadcasts had been especially well timed for
California listeners. Whatever the reason, the band, which included such
Jazz stars as the marvelous trumpeter Bunny Berigan (1908-1942) and
drummer Gene Krupa, not to mention Benny himself, now scored success
after success. Some of the band's best material was contributed by
arrangers Fletcher Henderson and his gifted younger brother Horace.
As the bands grew in popularity, a new breed of fan began to appear. This
fan wanted to listen as much as he wanted to dance. (In fact, some
disdained dancing altogether.) He knew each man in each band and read
the new swing magazines that were springing up--Metronome, Down Beat,
Orchestra World. He collected records and listened to the growing number
of band broadcasts on radio. Band leaders were becoming national figures
on a scale with Hollywood stars.
OTHER GREAT BIG BANDS
Benny's arch rival in the popularity sweepstakes was fellow clarinetist
Artie Shaw (b.1910), who was an on-again-off-again leader. Other very
successful bands included those of Jimmy Dorsey and Tommy Dorsey,
whose co-led Dorsey Brothers Band split up after one of their celebrated
fights.
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.