"Catching as the Small-Pox"

This week we look at the beginnings of Jazz music, the dance craze and the mania it spawned across the country, and Tin Pan Alley, the birthplace and wellspring of what we now call "standards," the songs that have become a part of the tribal memory of most of us. I would venture a guess that you have heard at least one of the thousands of songs produced by the songwriters who wrote, plugged, and published their songs. Last week's post introduced the area in New York City that became known as Tin Pan Alley and a few of the songwriters who slaved there. This week's post will show the work of three of the most successful, if not artistically than certainly commercially, composers of their day : Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, and the ground-breaking Broadway musical "Show Boat" by Jerome Kern and Richard Rodgers.

This first clip comes from the documentary "The Great American Songbook" and deals with possibly the most diverse, prolific, and popular writers of the 20th century - Irving Berlin. His songs covered so many styles and eras that there was a rumour floating around for years that he kept a black man chained to his piano in the basement because people couldn't believe he could write so well in so many idioms. His work ranges from "Alexander's Ragtime Band, one of the most successful songs of  the Ragtime era, to "White Christmas," a Yuletide standard still recorded today. He is a fascinating character and you can find many versions of his songs all over the Internet. Do some searching and I am sure you will be surprised at how many of them you already know.

 Also from "The Great American Songbook" comes this clip looking at George Gershwin, who moved the tawdry and sentimental songs of Tin Pan Alley into the realm of Art. Not only were his commercial songs beautiful, smart, and touching, but his later orchestral work - especially "Rhapsody in Blue" and "American in Paris" - are considered some of the finest music ever composed in America.

 One of the most important musical events during this period is the emergence of Jazz music, a form many people consider as the only purely American musical form. Though it draws on a number of influences and sources, it remains music rooted in America. Starting in the whorehouses and bars of New Orleans, it becomes, during this period, a national craze, as the textbook says, "catching as the small pox." Here is a clip from Ken Burn's wonderfully amazing documentary series, "Jazz", on its early beginnings.

 Also from the "Jazz" series, is this clip about the early creators of Jazz music . . .

 

 Of course, as we will see throughout the course, when a "new" musical form emerges, it is always met with  opposition. Jazz music and the dance crazes it spawned raised a flood of condemnation. From church leaders to political officials, this "Negro devil's music" had people up in arms, citing it as the destruction of the young and clearly a pathway to hell. Here is another clip from the "Jazz" series:

 One of forgotten artists of this period is James Reese Europe. The social dance craze that swept the country - the Turkey Trot, the Tango, The Foxtrot - were mostly the influence of Vernon and Irene Castle, a husband-wife dance team. However, it was Europe as their music director and the orchestra he formed that were the real engine behind their popularity. Europe's story is an inspiration and I have always been confused as to why no one has ever made a movie of his life, especially about the band he put together that went to the First World War and brought honour and glory to both his race and to America. Here is a clip from the "Jazz" series:

 

    

Let's have a look at the man who "made a lady out of Jazz." Paul Whiteman, more than any other artist, brought the basically marginalized music called Jazz into the mainstream. He smoothed the rough edges and made the infectious rhythms more palatable to the American audience. Some say he made jazz commercial and took all the soul out of it. This is something we will see over and over again throughout the course - white artists taking black music and make it more accessible to a wider audience. Is it a good thing? Yes and no, i suppose. You decide - does he deserve to be known as the King of Jazz? Once again, here is a clip from the "Jazz" series:

    

Finally, here is a short clip that looks at "Show Boat," a Broadway musical that broke many of the boundaries over what was acceptable subject matter for Broadway shows.