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Jazz & Blues: 1920s-30s

"But jazz to me is one of the inherent expressions of Negro life in America;
the eternal tom-tom beating in the Negro soul--the tom-tom of revolt against
against weariness in a white world, a world of subway trains, and work, work,
work; the tom-tom of joy and laughter, and pain swallowed in a smile."


--Langston Hughes, "The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain" (1926)



"Jazz is a good barometer of freedom.  In its beginnings, the United States
 spawned certain ideals of freedom and independence through which,
 eventually, jazz was evolved, and the music is so free that many people say
it is the only unhampered, unhindered expression of complete freedom
yet produced in this country."


--Duke Ellington



Students should be aware that the quality of some of these early recordings is not up to today's technological standards.  However, you can still get the flavor and spirit of these Jazz Age classics, so kick back and enjoy.


General Directions:

  • Click STOP button (top of screen) to turn off the background music; click PLAY or REFRESH button (top of screen) to turn on the background music.
  • Click X in top-right corner of the audio/media player boxes to close them. (NOTE:  The boxes also have STOP and PLAY buttons you can click.)
  • Click BACK button (top of screen) to return to this page.

Most of the audio files require RealPlayer; download your free copy here.  A couple audio-files require Media Player which can be downloaded free here.


To increase your understanding of the music you will hear on this page, review these basics: What Is Ragtime, Stride, and Novelty Piano? and Jazz Listening Tips and Improvisation.





NOTE:

On-campus computers may cause the audio-files to cut out periodically.
Off-campus computers should have no access problems.





Index



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King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band


Hot Jazz and Other Jazz Hits


  •  I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate (1922). Armond J. Piron, composer.  Recorded in 1939 by Mugsy Spanier and His Ragtime Band.  The "shimmy" was a dance step.

  •  Charleston (1925). James P. Johnson, composer.  Recorded by Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra.  The unofficial anthem of the "Flaming Youth" of the '20s.  The "charleston" was a popular dance.

  •  Doctor Jazz (1926). Joe "King" Oliver, composer; Walter Melrose, lyric. Recorded by King Oliver's Dixie Syncopators; Jelly Roll Morton on piano.  Excellent example of Oliver's "hot jazz.

  •   Jazzbo Brown from Memphis Town (1926). George Brooks, composer. Recorded by Bessie Smith.

  •  Deadman Blues (1926). Jelly Roll Morton, composer; Anita Gonzales, lyrics.  Recorded by Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers.

  •  Black Bottom (1926). Ray Henderson, composer; Bud G. DeSylva/Lew Brown, lyrics.  Recorded by Johnny Hamp's Kentucky Serenaders.  The "Black Bottom" was a popular dance.

  •  Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (1927). Recorded by Ma Rainey, with Fletcher Henderson.  Vocal by Ma Rainey.  See August Wilson's play Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.  (NOTE:  Poor quality recording)

  •  Minnie The Moocher (1930). Irving Mills/Cab Calloway/Clarence Gaskill, composers.  Vocal by Cab Calloway.

Read about this song: Minnie the Moocher. Watch three Betty Boop cartoons featuring Cab Calloway and his music: Minnie the MoocherThe Old Man of the Mountain;   and Snow White.



Biographies: Joe King Oliver; Bessie Smith; Gertrude Pridgett ("Ma") Rainey; Cab CallowayJames P. Johnson; Jelly Roll Morton.




*

Bessie Smith


The Queens of the Blues


  •  St. Louis Blues (1914). W. C. Handy, composer.  Recorded in 1929 by Louis Armstrong's Orchestra.   Vocal by Bessie Smith and cornet by Louis Armstrong (an example of "call and response").  Considered the most famous blues song in the world.  (NOTE:  Poor quality recording.)

St. Louis Blues


I hate to see that evening sun go down,

I hate to see that evening sun go down,

'Cause my lovin' baby done left this town.


If I feel tomorrow, like I feel today,

If I feel tomorrow, like I feel today,

I'm gonna pack my trunk and make my getaway.


Interlude: Oh, that St. Louis woman, with her diamond rings,

She pulls my man around by her apron strings.

And if it wasn't for powder and her store-bought hair,

Oh, that man of mine wouldn't go nowhere.


I got those St. Louis blues, just as blue as I can be,

Oh, my man's got a heart like a rock cast in the sea,

Or else he wouldn't have gone so far from me.


I love my man like a schoolboy loves his pie,

Like a Kentucky colonel loves his rocker and rye

I'll love my man until the day I die, Lord, Lord.



Listen also to Ethel Water's humorously naughty response, composed by Andy Razaf (1928): My Handy Man.


  •  Downhearted Blues (1922). Lovie Austin, composer; Alberta Hunter, lyrics. Recorded by Alberta Hunter in 1939, but first recorded in 1923 by Bessie Smith--her first big hit.

  •  Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out (1923).  Online sources aren't clear about the composer--either Jimmy Cox, or Ida Cox and B. Feldman.  Recorded in 1929 by Bessie Smith.

  •  Wild Women Don't Have the Blues (1924). Ida Cox, lyrics.  Vocal by Ida Cox.   Here is a short "wild" excerpt by contemporary singer Francine Reed: Wild Women

Wild Women Don't Have The Blues


I hear these women raving 'bout their monkey men

About their trifling husbands and their no good friends

These poor women sit around all day and moan

Wondering why their wandering papa's don't come home

But wild women don't worry, wild women don't have no blues


Now when you've got a man, don't never be on the square

'Cause if you do he'll have a woman everywhere

I never was known to treat no one man right

I keep 'em working hard both day and night

'Cause wild women don't worry, wild women don't have their blues


I've got a sweet disposition and a way of my own

When my man starts kicking I let him find another home

I get full of good liquor, walk the streets all night

Go home and put my man out if he don't act right

Wild women don't worry, wild women don't have their blues


You never get nothing by being an angel child

You better change your ways and get real wild

I wanna tell you something, I wouldn't tell you a lie

Wild women are the only kind that really get by

'Cause wild women don't worry, wild women don't have their blues


  •  Chain Gang Blues (1925). Charles J. Parker and Thomas A. Dorsey, composers. Recorded by Ma Rainey and her Georgia Jazz Band.

  •  Back Water Blues (1927). Bessie Smith, composer.  Recorded by Bessie Smith.  Classic blues structure: three-line verse with first line repeated and a new third line added.

See information on The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927.


Back Water Blues


When it rained five days and the sky turned dark as night

When it rained five days and the sky turned dark as night

Then trouble's taking place in the lowlands at night.


I woke up this morning, can't even get out of my door

I woke up this morning, can't even get out of my door

There is enough trouble to make a poor girl wonder where she want to go.


I went and stood up on a high old lonesome hill

I went and stood up on a high old lonesome hill

I did all I could to look down on the house where I used to live.


It thundered and lightenin'd and the wind began to blow

It thundered and lightenin'd and the wind began to blow

There were thousands of poor people didn't have no place to go.



Read more about "Gimme a Pigfoot": Where Are the Blues.


  •  Strange Fruit (1939)-- Lewis Allen, lyrics; Danny Mendlson and Sonny White, composers.  Vocals by Billie Holliday. Named "Song of the Century" by TIME magazine, and a British magazine dubbed it "one of the 10 songs that changed the world. Here is a somewhat different arrangement of Billie Holliday singing Strange Fruit.

Read commentary about "Strange Fruit":  Strange Fruit or All about Jazz Review.


Strange Fruit


Southern trees bear a strange fruit,

Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,

Black body swinging in the Southern breeze,

Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.


Pastoral scene of the gallant south,

The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,

Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh,

And the sudden smell of burning flesh!


Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck,

For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,

For the sun to rot, for a tree to drop,

Here is a strange and bitter crop.



Biographies:  Alberta Hunter; Bessie Smith; Gertrude Pridgett ("Ma") Rainey; W.C. Handy; Ida Cox; Billie Holiday




*

Louis Armstrong


Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong


  •  West End Blues (1928). Clarence Williams/Joe "King" Oliver, composers.  Recorded in 1929 and 1939 by Louis Armstrong.  Trumpet by Louis Armstrong.  The opening bars made jazz history.

  •  Ain't Misbehavin' (1929). Thomas "Fats" Waller/Harry Brooks, composers; Andy Razaf, lyrics.  Recorded by Louis Armstrong in 1938; vocal and trumpet, Louis Armstrong. From the musical show Connie's Hot Chocolates.

  •  (What Did I Do To Be So) Black and Blue (1929). Thomas "Fats" Waller,  composer; Harry Brooks/Andy Razaf, lyrics.  Recorded by Louis Armstrong in 1929; vocal and trumpet by Louis Armstrong.  See discussion in Ralph Ellison's novel Invisible Man.

Read also this commentaryTake One on Black and Blue and Take Two: The Editor.



(What Did I Do To Be So) Black and Blue

Version sung by Louis Armstrong


Cold empty bed...springs hard as lead

Feels like ole Ned...wished I was dead

What did I do...to be so black and blue


Even the mouse...ran from my house

They laugh at you...and all that you do

What did I do...to be so black and blue

I'm white...inside...but that don't help my case


That's life...can't hide...what is in my face

How would it end...ain't got a friend

My only sin...is in my skin

What did I do...to be so black and blue


(What Did I Do To Be So) Black and Blue

Longer version


Verse: Out in the street, shufflin' feet,

Couples passin' two by two,

While here am I, left high and dry,

Black, and 'cause I'm black I'm blue.

Browns and yellers, all have fellers,

Gentlemen prefer them light,

Wish I could fade, can't make the grade,

Nothing but dark days in sight:


Chous 1: Cold, empty bed, Springs hard as lead,

Pains in my head, Feel like old Ned.

What did I do, to be so Black And Blue?

No joys for me, No company,

Even the mouse ran from my house,

All my life through, I've been so Black And Blue.

I'm white inside, It don't help my case

'Cause I can't hide, what is on my face, oh!

I'm so forlorn, Life's just a thorn,

My heart is torn, Why was I born?

What did I do, to be so Black And Blue?

'Cause you're black, Folks think you lack

They laugh at you, And scorn you too,

What did I do, to be so Black And Blue?

When you are near, they laugh and sneer,

Set you aside and you're denied,

What did I do, to be so Black And Blue?

How sad I am, each day I feel worse,

My mark of Ham seems to be a curse!

How will it end? Ain't got a friend,

My only sin Is my skin.

What did I do, to be so Black And Blue?


Watch this Betty Boop cartoon featuring a young Louis Armstrong and his music: I'll Be Glad When You're Dead, You Rascal You.


Biographies: Louis ArmstrongLouis ArmstrongThomas"Fats" Waller.




*

Duke Ellington


Edward "Duke" Ellington


  •  East St. Louis Toodle-Oo (1926). Duke Ellington/Bubber Miley, composers.  Recorded in 1928 by Duke Ellington.

  •  Jungle Nights In Harlem (1930). Duke Ellington, composer.  Recorded by Duke Ellington and his Cotton Club Orchestra.

  •  Mood Indigo (1930). Albany "Barney" Bigard/Duke Ellington, composers; Irving Mills, lyrics. Recorded in 1931 by Duke Ellington.  One of Ellington's classics.

Mood Indigo


You ain't been blue; no, no, no.

You ain't been blue,

Till you've had that mood indigo.

That feelin' goes stealin' down to my shoes

While I sit and sigh, "Go 'long blues".


Always get that mood indigo,

Since my baby said goodbye.

In the evenin' when lights are low,

I'm so lonesome I could cry.


'Cause there's nobody who cares about me,

I'm just a soul who's bluer than blue can be.

When I get that mood indigo,

I could lay me down and die.


Biographies: Duke Ellington or Duke Ellington. Listen to selections from Ellington's early repertoire: Traveling with 'The Duke'.




8

Ella Fitzgerald, with Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman


Ella Fitzgerald


Biographies: Ella Fitzgerald or Ella.




*

George Gershwin


Gershwin's Symphonic Jazz


  •  Rhapsody In Blue (acoustical, 1924). George Gershwin, composer.  Recorded by Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra.  Signature music of Paul Whiteman's Orchestra.   Here is a more symphonic recording: Rhapsody in Blue (1951).

Biographies: Tribute to George Gershwin--many audio-excerpts included;  George Gershwin.



*


Background MIDI: Duke Ellington's "Don't Get Around Much Any More"
Source:  http://members.tip.net.au/~bnoble/music/midilist.htm



This page is for educational use only.


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File posted: 1/29/2007
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