The History of Jazz (88 page)

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Authors: Ted Gioia

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13
. John Miller Chernoff,
African Rhythm and African Sensibility
(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979), pp. 23, 50.

14
. This and below from Henry Edward Krehbiel,
Afro-American Folk Songs
(New York, 1914; reprinted, New York: Frederick Ungar, 1962), pp. 64–65.

15
. John Storm Roberts,
Black Music of Two Worlds
(New York: Praeger, 1972), p. 10.

16
. Included in Julius Lester’s compilation of slave memoirs, drawn primarily from the Library of Congress collection,
To Be a Slave
(New York: Dial Press, 1968), pp. 112–113.

17
. Johan Huizinga,
The Waning of the Middle Ages
, trans. F. Hopman (New York: St. Martin’s, 1984), p. 88.

18
. Eugene D. Genovese,
Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made
(New York: Pantheon, 1974), pp. 311–312.

19
. For more on Robert Johnson, Son House, Charley Patton, and the Delta blues tradition, see Ted Gioia,
Delta Blues
(New York: W.W. Norton, 2008).

20
. Samuel Charters,
The Roots of the Blues: An African Search
(New York: Perigee, 1982), p. 127.

21
. Sandra Lieb,
Mother of the Blues: A Study of Ma Rainey
(Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1981), p. xiii.

22
. Quoted in Daphne Duval Harrison,
Black Pearls: Blues Queens of the 1920s
(New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1993), p. 43.

23
. For much of this information I am indebted to Robert Dixon and John Godrich’s
Recording the Blues
(New York: Stein and Day, 1970), pp. 20–43.

24
. This and the following quote from Rudi Blesh and Harriet Janis,
They All Played Ragtime
(New York: Knopf, 1950), pp. 134–135.

25
. See Craig H. Roell,
The Piano in America, 1890–1940
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1989), esp. pp. 32–36. See also John Edward Hasse, “Ragtime: From the Top,” in
Ragtime: Its History, Composers and Music
, ed. John Edward Hasse (New York: Schirmer, 1985), pp. 11–16.

26
. From the
St. Louis Globe-Democrat
of June 7, 1903, cited in Blesh and Janis,
They All
Played Ragtime
, p. 68.

CHAPTER 2: NEW ORLEANS JAZZ

1
. See James P. Baugham, “Gateway to the Americas,” in
The Past as Prelude:
New Orleans 1718–1968
, ed. Hodding Carter (New Orleans: Tulane University Press, 1968), pp. 280–281.

2
. Leonard V. Huber,
New Orleans: A Pictorial History
(Gretna, LA: Pelican Publishing, 1991), p. 9.

3
. Pops Foster and Tom Stoddard,
The Autobiography of Pops Foster, New Orleans Jazzman
(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1971), p. 13. For further information on epidemics in New Orleans, see John Duffy’s essay “Pestilence in New Orleans,” in Carter,
The Past as Prelude
, pp. 88–115. See also Huber,
New Orleans
, p. 12.

4
. Ned Sublette,
The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo
Square
(Chicago: Lawrence Hill, 2008), p. 11.

5
. For an especially extreme characterization of the link between vice and the origins of jazz, see Stephen Longstreet,
Sportin’ House: A History of New Orleans Sinners and the Birth of Jazz
(Los Angeles: Sherbourne Press, 1965).

6
. Donald Marquis,
In Search of Buddy Bolden, First Man of Jazz
(Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1978), p. 58.

7
. Foster and Stoddard,
The Autobiography of Pops Foster
, pp. 29, 37.

8
. Bill Russell, “New Orleans Music,” in
Jazzmen
, ed. Frederic Ramsey Jr. and Charles Edward Smith (New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1959), p. 35. For more information on Storyville, see also Al Rose,
Storyville, New Orleans
(Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1974); Leroy Ostransky,
Jazz City: The Impact of Our Cities on the Development of Jazz
(Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1978), esp. pp. 32–44; and Samuel Charters,
A Trumpet Around the Corner: The Story of New Orleans Jazz
(Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 2008), pp. 158–161.

9
. These comments by Paul Barbarin, Johnny St. Cyr, and Kid Ory are from interviews conducted by the noted New Orleans jazz scholar Bill Russell and published posthumously in his
New Orleans Style
, comp. and ed. Barry Martyn and Mike Hazeldine (New Orleans: Jazzology Press, 1994), pp. 60, 63, 175.

10
. Alan Lomax,
Mister Jelly Roll
(New York: Duell, Sloan & Pearce, 1950), p. 61.

11
. Baby Dodds and Larry Gara,
The Baby Dodds Story
, rev. ed. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1992), p. 16. See also William J. Schafer,
Brass Bands and New Orleans Jazz
(Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1977).

12
. Marquis,
In Search of Buddy Bolden
. See also Donald Marquis,
Finding Buddy Bolden: The
Journal of a Search for the First Man of Jazz
(Goshen, IN: Pinchpenny Press, 1978; rev., 1990). For an alternative account of Bolden’s career, see Danny Barker,
Buddy Bolden and the Last Days of Storyville
, ed. Alyn Shipton (London: Continuum, 1998); this version is entertaining and typical of jazz myth making at its most colorful, but unfortunately draws heavily on a single source, notably an “oral history” conducted with nonmusician “Dude Bottley,” who is in turn a fictionalized composite of other unnamed informants.

13
. Louis Armstrong quoted in Bill Russell,
New Orleans Style
, ed. Barry Martyn and Mike Hazeldine (New Orleans: Jazzology Press, 1994), p. 136. For Bolden’s band as “routineers,” see Lomax,
Mister Jelly Roll
, pp. 58–60.

14
. Matthews and Bocage quoted in Marquis,
In Search of Buddy Bolden
, pp. 100, 105.

15
. Quoted in ibid., p. 111.

16
. See H. O. Brunn,
The Story of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band
(Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1960).

17
. Lomax,
Mister Jelly Roll
, p. 3, emphasis mine.

18
. This story was recounted by Nesuhi Ertegun to Whitney Balliett. Ertegun had heard it originally from Kid Ory. See Whitney Balliett,
American Musicians: 56 Portraits in Jazz
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1986), p. 25.

19
. This letter is reprinted in Ralph de Toledano, ed.,
Frontiers of Jazz
(New York: Frederick Ungar, 1947), pp. 104–107.

20
. Nat Shapiro and Nat Hentoff,
Hear Me Talkin’ to Ya
(New York: Rinehart, 1955), p. 123.

21
. Ibid., pp. 40, 45, 22.

22
. Beiderbecke quote from George Hoefer, “Bix Beiderbecke,” in
The Jazz Makers
, ed. Nat Hentoff and Nat Shapiro (New York: Rinehart, 1957), p. 94.

23
. Gary Giddins, “Happy Birthday, Pops,”
Village Voice
, August 23, 1988, p. 101. See also Gary Giddins,
Satchmo
(New York: Doubleday, 1988), esp. pp. 42–47.

24
. See James Lincoln Collier,
Louis Armstrong: An American Genius
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1983), pp. 18–33, for an especially hard-nosed account of this period of Armstrong’s life.

25
. Giddins,
Satchmo
, p. 64. Terry Teachout,
Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009), pp. 36–37.

26
. Quoted in Whitney Balliett’s essay “Le Grand Bechet,” in
Jelly Roll, Jabbo and Fats: 19
Portraits in Jazz
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1983), pp. 37–38.

27
. Teachout,
Pops
, p. 71.

28
. Martin Williams,
King Oliver
(New York: A. S. Barnes, 1960), p. 4. For texts of the letters, see Frederick Ramsey Jr.’s essay “King Oliver and His Creole Jazz Band,” in
Jazzmen
, ed. Frederick Ramsey Jr. and Charles Edward Smith (New York: Harvest Books, 1939), esp. pp. 87–91.

CHAPTER 3: THE JAZZ AGE

1
. John Chilton in the liner notes to
Louis Armstrong: The Hot Fives Volume One
(Columbia CK 44049).

2
. From a radio interview, cited in James Lincoln Collier,
Louis Armstrong: An American
Genius
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1983), p. 133.

3
. Gary Giddins,
Satchmo
(New York: Doubleday, 1988), p. 82.

4
. Ansermet’s comments have been translated and reprinted in a number of anthologies. See, for instance, “Bechet and Jazz Visit Europe, 1919,” in
Frontiers of Jazz
, ed. Ralph de Toledano (New York: Frederick Ungar, 1947), pp. 115–120.

5
. Richard Hadlock,
Jazz Masters of the Twenties
(New York: Macmillan, 1965), p. 18. Emphasis is Hadlock’s.

6
. Quoted in Bob Doerschuk, “A Visit with Earl Hines,”
Keyboard
, April 1982, p. 39.

7
. Max Kaminsky with V. E. Hughes,
My Life in Jazz
(New York: Harper & Row, 1963), p. 40.

8
. For example, compare Collier,
Louis Armstrong
, p. 287, with Giddins,
Satchmo
, p. 225.

9
. Russell Sanjek and David Sanjek,
American Popular Music Business in the 20th Century
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1991), pp. 12, 20.

10
. Quoted in Ralph Berton,
Remembering Bix
(New York: Harper & Row, 1974), p. 13.

11
. George Johnson, “The Wolverines and Bix,” in Toledano,
Frontiers of Jazz
, pp. 126–127.

12
. Eddie Condon with Thomas Sugrue,
We Called It Music
(New York: H. Holt, 1947), p. 80; Hoagy Carmichael and Louis Armstrong quoted in Nat Hentoff and Nat Shapiro,
Hear Me Talkin’ to Ya
(New York: Rinehart, 1955), pp. 142–143, 158; Mezz Mezzrow, from his autobiography, written with Bernard Wolfe,
Really the Blues
(New York: Random House, 1946), p. 68.

13
. Hentoff and Shapiro,
Hear Me Talkin’ to Ya
, p. 153.

14
. William Howland Kenney,
Chicago Jazz: A Cultural History, 1904–1930
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), p. 12.

15
. Ibid., p. 13.

16
. For these and other witticisms and commnetaries by Eddie Condon, see Condon with Sugrue,
We Called It Music
, and Eddie Condon and Hank O’Neal,
The Eddie Codon Scrapbook of Jazz
(New York: St. Martin’s, 1973).

17
. Condon with Sugrue,
We Called It Music
, p. 107.

18
. Bud Freeman,
Crazeology: The Autobiography of a Chicago Jazzman
(Urbana, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1989), p. 4.

19
. Hentoff and Shapiro,
Hear Me Talkin’ to Ya
, p. 119.

20
. Quoted in Burt Korall,
Drummin’ Men: The Heartbeat of Jazz: The Swing Years
(New York: Schirmer, 1990), p. 54.

21
. Robert Hilbert,
Pee Wee Russell: The Life of a Jazzman
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), p. 17.

22
. Leonard Feather,
The Book of Jazz from Then Till Now
(New York: Bonanza Books, 1965), p. 88; Nat Hentoff, “A White Jazz Original,”
Inquiry
, June 26, 1978, p. 31; Gunther Schuller,
The Swing Era: The Development of Jazz, 1930–1945
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1989), p. 610. Bud Freeman comments here and below from Hilbert,
Pee Wee Russell
, p. 67.

23
. For a fuller discussion of Teagarden’s unusual techniques see Schuller,
The Swing Era
, pp. 591–593.

24
. Joe Darensbourg and Peter Vacher,
Jazz Odyssey: The Autobiography of Joe Darensbourg
(Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1987), p. 76. Michael Brooks quote from accompanying notes to
Bix Beiderbecke, Volume 1: Singin’ the Blues
(Columbia CK45450).

25
. Budd Johnson, as told to Michael Zwerin, “Dues Paid,”
Downbeat
, February 8, 1968, p. 19.

26
. This interview, originally published in
Downbeat
(March 7, 1956, pp. 9–11) is reprinted in Lewis Porter, ed.,
A Lester Young Reader
(Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991), pp. 157–164.

27
. Rex Stewart,
Jazz Masters of the 30s
(New York: Macmillan, 1972), pp. 11–12. Sonny Greer comments from an oral history conducted by Stanley Crouch in January 1979, on file at the Rutgers Institute of Jazz Studies.

28
. Robert Goffin,
Jazz: From the Congo to the Metropolitan
, trans. Walter Schaap and Leonard Feather (New York: Doubleday, 1944), p. 145.

29
. Berton,
Remembering Bix
, p. 353.

CHAPTER 4: HARLEM

1
. David Levering Lewis,
When Harlem Was in Vogue
(New York: Vintage, 1982), p. 108.

2
. Willie “The Lion” Smith with George Hoefer,
Music on My Mind
(New York: Doubleday, 1964), p. 156.

3
. Lewis,
When Harlem Was in Vogue
, p. 107.

4
. Many early studies of the Harlem Renaissance downplayed the role of jazz, but in the final years of the twentieth century a more nuanced appreciation came to the fore. See, for example,
Black Music in the Harlem Renaissance
, ed. Samuel A. Floyd Jr. (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1990); and Steven Watson,
The Harlem Renaissance: Hub of African-American Culture, 1920–1930
(New York: Pantheon, 1995).

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