Jazz on the Tube is declaring 2021 the “Year of Eddie Durham.”
If you don’t know Eddie Durham (1906-1987), buckle your seat belts. He’s one of the secret sources of the music we call jazz.
Take Eddie out of the equation and a whole lot of things that made jazz jazz would never have happened.
He’s easily one of the most important musicians in the history of jazz and therefore one of the most important musicians in the history of American music.
Whose careers were nourished by Eddie Durham’s genius?
How about these for starters?
The Oklahoma City Blue Devils, Benny Moten, Jimmie Lunceford, Count Basie, Charlie Christian, Lester Young, Glenn Miller – and this is just the short list!
1. Moten’s Swing (1933) – (00:00)
2. Hittin’ the Bottle (1935) – (03:24)
3. Topsy (1937) – (06:24)
4. Good Morning Blues (1937) – (09:38)
5. Swinging the Blues (1938) – (12:26)
6. Countless Blues (1938) – (15:10)
7. Way Down Yonder in New Orleans (1938 – two takes) – (18:07)
8. Jumpin’ at the Woodside (1939) – (24:09)
9. In the Mood (1939) – (27:18)
Documentary about Eddie Durham by the Center for Texas Music History
– Ken McCarthy
Jazz on the Tube
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Music credit: The Jazz on the Tube podcast theme song is “Mambo Inferno” performed by The Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra conducted by Bobby Sanabria from the CD ¡Que Viva Harlem!
P.S. Our unique programming is made possible by help from people like you. Learn how you can contribute to our efforts here: Support Jazz on the Tube
Thanks.
What do Chico Hamilton, Dexter Gordon, Horace Tapscott, Sonny Criss, Frank Morgan, Big Jay McNeely, Marshal Royal, Art Farmer, and Don Cherry of Los Angeles have in common with…
Ornette Coleman, King Curtis, Dewey Redman, Prince Lasha, John Carter, Julius Hemphill, Ronald Shannon Jackson, Ray Sharpe and Cornell Dupree of Fort Worth…
…And with Gene Ammons, Nat King Cole, Jerome Cooper, Richard Davis, Bo Diddley, Dorothy Donegan, Von Freeman, John Gilmore, Johnny Griffin, Milt Hinton, Eddie Harris, John Hartman, Fred Hopkins, Joseph Jarman, Leroy Jenkins, Clifford Jordan, Julian Priester, Wilbure Ware, and Dinah Washington of Chicago.
Think on it a bit before you look at the answer.
What did these great American artists have in common besides the fact that they are Afro-Americans and internationally recognized masters of jazz?
Answer
They all got their professional-level music performance education in a free public high school under just three different teachers.
Sam Browne of Jefferson High School (Los Angeles)
G.A. Baxter of I.M. Terrell (Fort Worth)
Walter Dyett of DuSable High School (Chicago)
If you like music, remember to thank a music teacher. Better yet, look for a local program you can support.
Video made by Jazz on the Tube for FoodMusicJustic.org. New Orleans (2010)
Mr. Oliphant has a special musical gift for all buyers of the book. If you order the book, please save and send Mr. Oliphant a copy of your electronic receipt with a copy of your physical mailing address via email and he will mail it to you. You can reach him here: dave_oliphant AT yahoo DOT com
(Note: You can preview several of the poems below.)
Excerpts from Five Versions of the 12th Street Rag (1967)
Duke Ellington, “Twelfth Street Rag” (Decca, The Original Decca Recordings: Early Ellington), recorded January 14, 1931 (2:58)
Fats Waller and His Rhythm, “Twelfth Street Rag” (Pickwick International Records, Ain’t Misbehaving), recorded June 24, 1935 (2:45)
Count Baise, “Twelfth Street Rag” (Jazz Roots, Jumpin’ at the Woodside), recorded Aril 5, 1939 (3:o8)
From Jazz God and Freshman English (1973)
Dizzy Gillespie, “A Night in Tunisia” (The RCA Victor Encyclopedia of Recorded Jazz, Album 5: Gil to Hig) recorded February 22, 1945 with Don Byas on tenor saxophone (3:08)
Denton (1994)
Euel Box Quintet, “Toddlin'” (Columbia Transcriptions, North Texas State College Jazz Concert), recorded 1957 (3:12)
Shorty Rogers and His Giants, “Planetarium” (Atlantic, Martians Come Back!), recorded March 26, 1955, with Texan Jimmy Giuffre on tenor sax (3:39)
Three Musicians Perform their Freedom (2003)
Charles Mingus, “Ysabel’s Table Dance” (RCA, Tijuana Moods), recorded July 16, 1958 (11:35)
Jazz by the Boulevard (2013)
David “Fathead” Newman, “Hard Times” (Collectibles, Fathead), released in 1958 with Ray Charles on piano (4:43)
P.S. Our unique programming is made possible by help from people like you. Learn how you can contribute to our efforts here: Support Jazz on the Tube
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Ken McCarthy’s Jazz on the Tube interviews filmmaker Abraham Ravett about his film “Forgotten Tenor: A Tribute to Tenor Saxophonist Wardell Gray.”
Tenor saxophone giant Wardell Gray was born February 13, 1921, in Oklahoma City. OK. He was a graduate of the Cass Technical High School, a Detroit school that also lists Donald Byrd, Lucky Thompson, and Al McKibbon as distinguished alumni.
You can order a DVD copy of the film “Forgotten Tenor: A Tribute to Saxophonist Wardell Gray” direct from the filmmaker by writing to aravett AT hampshire DOT edu
Wardell is the soloing tenor on this Count Basie performance
You can order a DVD copy of the film “Forgotten Tenor: A Tribute to Saxophonist Wardell Gray” direct from the filmmaker by writing to aravett AT hampshire DOT edu
– Ken McCarthy
Jazz on the Tube
P.S. Our unique programming is made possible by help from people like you. Learn how you can contribute to our efforts here: Support Jazz on the Tube
Thanks.
Louis Armstrong was a genius – no doubt about that.
But there’s no such thing as a genius in a vacuum.
For some strange reason, the culture and community that gave birth to Louis Armstrong is given short shrift in accounts of his life and art.
In his autobiography and in interviews, Armstrong painted a vivid picture of the world he grew up in, but until now, there has been no in-depth inquiry into what he meant when he said things like “I figure singing and playing is the same,” or, “Singing was more into my blood than the trumpet.”
Now thanks to Vic Hobson’s book “Creating the Jazz Solo” we’re starting to understand what he meant.
P.S. Our unique programming is made possible by help from people like you. Learn how you can contribute to our efforts here: Support Jazz on the Tube
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