"It Don't Mean A Thing If It Ain't Got That Swing"

The Great Depression that swept through North America in 1929 had a huge devastating effect on the music of the late 20s and early 30s. With jobs as scarce as hens' teeth and whole families starving, the idea of purchasing records or going to a night club to hear some dance music bordered on the insane. The economy was depressed and the spirit of the people was even lower. Something was needed to stir the hearts, souls, and feet of the nation. Like a lightning bolt from Zeus in the heavens, Swing music arrives and "let the good times roll." Here is a clip from Ken Burns' "Jazz" series:

Is there possibly any thing so infectious and joyful as Swing music from the 30s and 40s? Just as the Great Depression was starting to lift and prosperity was returning, if not quickly than certainly steadily, Benny Goodman and his Orchestra was there to tell people "Blues skies, nothing but blue skies from now on." From the "Jazz" series:

 Benny Goodman's band and the other big bands that sprung up to play this new hot dance music dotted the landscape with their performances. The Palomar in Los Angeles, the Savoy Ballroom and the Cotton Club in New York City, even the Palais Royale in Toronto, were meccas for young people who wanted to dance and jive the night away, to put the troubles and strives outside the door and enter into a world of "pure pleasure." Doing the Lindy Hop and the Big Apple and the Jitterbug were ways to escape the present and pay no heed to the looming dark future. Europe was falling under the sway of Facism and the drumbeat of war was souding again but they couldn't match the drums of Gene Krupa!! This is from the movie "Hollywood Hotel" and features the song that sums up the whole period and sound - "Sing, Sing, Sing":

Is it any wonder that this music is still so popular today? The Big Band Sound endures because it brings in and employs many aspects of American music that went before and it mixes them all up in a bag and out pops something new and old and hot and cool and tame and wild - a true American Invention.

Of course, it is futile to try and present even the tip of this huge musical iceberg. Swing is far too big and influenced too much of the music we listen to today. Through the "four on the floor" rhythmns to the youth marketing to the driving irressitable beats to the wild abadonment, Swing had it all. But mostly, and at the core of it, is the joy and almost giddy nature of it. I defy any one to be in a bad mood and not spring out of it by watching or listening to the Andrews Sisters. Here is a clip from the Abbot and Costello film "Buck Privates":  

Black and White Blues

This week we look at the beginnings of much of the music we listen to today: blues and early country, both  musical genres that grew out of the hardships of the rural poor. In a sense, they are both about the blues. Although they appear somewhat distant from each other, their emotions have much in common. In spite of much of country music being gospel based, it can also be said that the blues has many of its roots in the music of the church. It comes from field hollers and work songs, from African melodies, from the pain and humiliation of slavery, infused with the yearning for redemption and salvation. Music becomes deliverance.

Here is a clip from Ken Burns' amazing series "Jazz" that looks at Bessie Smith and the beginnings of "race records":

 

This clip comes from the two-part series "American Roots Music" and covers the same ground as the clip above. It is interesting to note that the term "race records" was meant to classify more than stigmatize and the word "race," at that time was a word of pride among African Americans. To be a "man of race" was to denote a man proud of his African heritage. Even though it looks racist to us through our somewhat "enlightened" eyes, at the time, it was a matter of black pride and power. I find it fascinating how we often distort things when we view them through the prism of our concerns and not in their original historical context. Maybe Bakhtin is right when he says context gives meaning.

 

At the same time as the blues - delta blues, country blues, and classic blues -  is developing in the rural areas of America, another seminal music is blossoming. with its roots deep in the English and Celtic folk ballad tradition. Country music gives voice to the trials and tribulations of the rural poor. Though many of the songs had been passed down from generation to generation, it was until A. P. "Doc" Carter decided to collect and perform them with his wife and sister-in-law that the music was taken seriously. Shortly afterward, Ralph Peer - a Missouri born talent scout for Okeh Records -  set up the now famous recording session in Bristol, Tennessee in 1923 and recorded the Cater Family and Jimmie Rodgers. This clip is also from "American Roots Music."

 

Soon the radio starts to broadcast shows that featured this music and the working class and rural farm workers became a solid and steadfast audience, both as purchasers of the records and listeners of the radio broadcasts. The biggest and most important show was the Grand Ol' Opry, broadcast every Saturday night on WSM out of Nashville, Tennessee. It still exists and the broadcast is still very much at the heart of contemporary country music. You can't call yourself a country music star until you played the Opry. Here is yet another clip from "American Roots Music" dealing with the importance of radio in the promotion of country music.

Finally, here is a "lost" clip edited out of the first Star Wars trilogy. Why? I have no idea - it certainly would have added a deeper and more resounding insight into the nature of Darth Vader and his relationship with Luke Skywalker.