Americans used to be so musically literate that not only was sheet music routinely sold in the lobbies of theaters, but the sheet music of a hit could sell a million, even millions, of copies.
People would take home the hits of the day and play them with friends and family at home and in public places like barbershops.
Then along came recorded music and the population as a whole shifted away from making music to consuming it.
Still the music survived and a new wave of young musicians used the new technology to usher in a golden age of performance. (Think Charlie Parker playing his Lester Young records over and over and studying them under a musical microscope.)
A few generations later, the government bureaucrats who control public education, started, in their infinite wisdom, to remove music education from the schools kicking the legs out from basic music literacy which even the poorest child once had as a birthright. (Think Louis Armstrong learning basic solfege and singing EVERY DAY in class as part of the normal curriculum for schoolchildren in early 20th century New Orleans.)
Not only is music education disappearing, but appreciation of music skill seems to be in decline.
The case can be made that today popular music is in the hands of a few studio-based producers who use software tricks like auto-tune to homogenize music and remove human skill from its creation.
From one perspective things could start to look incredibly bleak.
But thanks to musician ingenuity, there’s a light on the horizon.
In addition to schools and teachers who continue educating children in music, a new generating of artist-educators have taken to the online world to make the art and science of jazz available in a way it has never been before to anyone with an Internet connection.
Despite all the challenges, in this one corner of the world, we are truly living in a golden age of music education.
Jazz on the Tube sits down with one of the innovators to talk about the phenomenon.
– 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!
Memphis produced George Coleman, Hank Crawford, Booker Little, Phineas Newborn, Jr, Jamil Nasser, Charles Lloyd, Harold Mabern, and Louis Smith. And that’s the shortlist.
What the heck was going on there? The great Phil Schaap explains.
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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This book is a model for jazz biography (and really for a biography of any creative person.) It not only documents the striving of an individual artist, in this case, William Parker, but also the dynamic communities that are essential for the development of artists.
I strongly recommend this book for music educators, music students, and anyone who wants to get “under the hood” of what goes into making an artist who succeeds in expanding the boundaries of the art.
Anyone interested in (or nostalgic for) the stunning flowering of creative music that took place in the 1970s when, believe it or not, rents in the East Village and Soho of Manhattan were low and musician-operated venues were abundant will also love this book.
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.
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!
Jazz on the Tube is declaring 2020 the “Year of Eddie Durham.”
If you don’t know Eddie Durham (1906-1987), buckle your seat belts. He’s one the 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
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.
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!
The Annual San Marcos Texas, Eddie Durham Tribute Sponsored by the Calaboose African American History Museum
The secret creative “spark plug” behind the success of the Blue Devils, Jimmy Lunceford, Lester Young, Freddie Green, Charlie Christian and Count Basie. Arranger of Glen Miller’s “In the Mood” too!
The entire wide-ranging, free-wheeling conversation – unedited – complete with numerous sidebars, including some genealogical information which despite Aurora’s surprise may actually have a degree of accuracy (to be continued.)
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.
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.
