The JAZZ Story

     (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).