Big Band Blues

1. Big Band Blues Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and Glenn Miller

2. William “Count” Basie (1904–84) • Basie’s band was the most closely associated with the blues tradition. • Basie was born in New Jersey. • His early experience was as a piano player and bandleader in Kansas City, Missouri.

3. Kansas City • In the 1920s, Kansas City was still a frontier town • Had a famously crooked mayor (“Boss” Pendergast) • His administration encouraged a lively, and illegal, nightclub scene. • Many of the greatest jazz musicians honed their improvisational skills in Kansas City at competitive all-night jam sessions. • Provided a chance for budding virtuosos to test their musical skills and endurance against one another • During the 1920s and early 1930s, black dance bands in Kansas City had developed their own distinctive approach to playing hot dance music.

4. Territory Bands • The Bennie Moten Orchestra and Andy Kirk’s Blue Devils toured the southwestern United States, developing a hard-swinging, powerful style with lots of room for improvised solos. • Linked to the country blues tradition • Relied heavily on riffs • Few of the jazz musicians in Kansas City had the formal music education of East Coast musicians, and they often played with a looser, less precise feeling. • Kansas City musicians relied heavily on “head charts,” arrangements that evolved during jam sessions and were written down only later. • In rhythmic terms, the Kansas City bands tended to swing more intensely and with greater abandon than the East Coast dance bands.

5. Boogie-Woogie • One important influence on the rhythmic conception of the Kansas City bands was the boogie-woogie blues piano tradition. • Sprang up during the early twentieth century in the “southwest territory” states of Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma and became a popular fad during the big-band era • Developed in the environment of the barrelhouses • Solo pianists developed a powerful style that could be heard over the crowd noise.

6. John Hammond • In 1936, John Hammond, who had recently helped start Benny Goodman’s career, heard Count Basie’s band on a late-night short-wave radio show in Chicago. • Hammond was able to get Basie a recording contract with Decca, a new record company interested in capitalizing on the swing craze.

7. Listening: “One O’Clock Jump” • Written by count Basie and Harry James • Performed by Count Basie and His Orchestra • Recorded in 1937 by Decca • The Count Basie Orchestra’s theme song • Excellent example of the Kansas City bands’ relaxed but energetic rhythmic approach • Emphasis on jazz improvisation • Reliance on informal and flexible head arrangements

8. Listening: “One O’Clock Jump” • Structure of the tune • Ten choruses of twelve-bar blues • The basic arranging technique involves heavy use of riffs and call-and-response patterns— divided between the brass and reeds. • A succession of improvised jazz solos • The closest thing to a melody does not appear until the next-to-last chorus.

9. Listening: “One O’Clock Jump” • The recording begins with an eight-bar piano boogie-woogie introduction and two improvised twelve-bar blues choruses by Basie. • Then there is a key change, the band enters, and we hear a series of solos, on saxophone, trombone, saxophone again, and trumpet, each supported by background riffs. • After these solos, Basie plays another chorus in his famous and elegant “two-fingered” style, and then the entire band comes in. • The final three choruses of riffs are what identify “One O’Clock Jump” for swing fans and musicians alike.

10. Edward Kennedy (Duke) Ellington (1899–1974) • Widely regarded as one of the most important American musicians of the twentieth century • Born in Washington, D.C., the son of a navy blueprint maker • Came from a middle-class background and received formal musical training at a young age • As a kid, he hung around the bars and pool halls where ragtime pianists played.

11. Edward Kennedy (Duke) Ellington (1899–1974) • His first band, the Washingtonians, played syncopated dance music in New York in the early 1920s. • Three years later, Ellington’s band was heard by a song publisher and promoter named Irving Mills, who arranged a recording contract for them.

12. Cotton Club in Harlem • From 1927 to 1931, the Ellington band appeared at The Cotton Club in Harlem. • The band often had to accompany “exotic” revues, and Ellington developed a style that he called “jungle music,” characterized by • dense textures, • unusual harmonies, and • muted, growling sounds in the brass. • Although this style reinforced the stereotypes of black culture that many of the white patrons of the Cotton Club came to see and hear, it also provided Ellington with the basis for a unique approach to arranging for the big band.

13. Individualistic Approach to Writing • Ellington experimented with the same basic musical resources as other big band arrangers: • Devised unusual musical forms • Combined instruments in unusual ways • Created complex, distinctive tone colors • Wrote for extreme registers of instruments • Wrote dissonant chord voicings • Ellington’s experiments were aided by the remarkable stability of his band. • He grew to know the individual players’ strengths and weaknesses. • He wrote parts specifically for particular musicians.

14. Less Commercial Success • Even though Ellington was well respected as a composer and had some big hits, he had less commercial success than other band leaders. • Ellington’s idiosyncratic approach meant that his band enjoyed less commercial success than more mainstream-sounding dance orchestras.

15. Listening: “Ko-Ko” • Music and arrangement by Ellington (1937) • Form: twelve-bar blues with eight-measure introductory section • Overall mood of this recording is not the typical happy, upbeat feel of most swing music. • Ensemble sound is dark and thickly textured.

16. Glenn Miller (1904–44) • Trombonist/bandleader • From 1939 until 1942, the Miller Orchestra was the most popular dance band in the world, breaking records for record sales and concert attendance. • Most of his songs are still popular with swing dancers. • Miller developed a peppy, clean-sounding style that appealed to small-town Midwestern people as well as to the big-city, East and West Coast constituency.

17. Glenn Miller (1904–44) • Joined the Army Air Corps in 1942 • Led a band in the military • Was killed during World War II when his plane went down over the English Channel in 1944

18. Listening: “In the Mood” • Performed by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra (1939) • Number One on the charts for twelve weeks • Best-known recording of the swing era • Tune based on a short riff featured in the saxophones • Twelve-bar blues with an eight-bar bridge • Famous improvised trumpet solo, later transcribed and permanently written in the music • “Trick” ending, with the band getting quieter and quieter and then exploding into a big finish

19. Listening: “In the Mood” • Introduction (eight) • A (twelve-bar blues) • A (twelve) • B (eight-bar phrase) • B repeat • B (eight) two saxes alternate solos • B (eight) repeat

20. Listening: “In the Mood” • Connecting phrase (four) • B (eight) trumpet solo • B (eight) repeat • Connecting phrase (two) whole band • A (twelve plus two) main riff returns • A (twelve plus two) same music but quieter • A (twelve) even softer • A (twelve plus six) same music but loud

21. Mills Brothers • African American vocal harmony group • The most successful and longest-lived of the swing-era vocal groups • Perfected a secular version of the African American jubilee quartet tradition • Their smooth, jazz-influenced style appealed to a broad audience.

22. Mills Brothers • One of the first black musical groups to broadcast on network radio and score commercial success in mainstream pop market

23. Listening: “Paper Doll” • Performed by the Mills Brothers (1942) • Their biggest hit record • Sold over 6 million copies • Stayed on the pop charts for thirty-six weeks, twelve at Number One • A sophisticated vocal arrangement of a Tin Pan Alley love song originally written in 1915

24. Listening: “Paper Doll” • Slow section—refrain • Guitar introduction • A (sixteen) I’m gonna buy… • B (sixteen) When I come home… • Fast section (double-time feel) • I guess I had a million dolls, verse I (sixteen) • I’ll tell you boys, verse II (sixteen) • A (sixteen) I’m gonna buy, refrain • B (sixteen) When I come home, refrain

25. ASCAP, the AFM, and the Decline of the Big Bands • Decline of the big bands • The swing era lasted almost exactly a decade, ending almost as suddenly as it had begun. • By the close of 1946, many of the top dance bands in the country had either broken up or formed smaller, more economical units. • Related to changes in the music business as well as shifts in popular musical taste

26. ASCAP, the AFM, and the Decline of the Big Bands • The big radio networks were feuding with ASCAP over royalties. • In 1940, the radio networks formed a rival licensing agency, Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI). • BMI allowed songwriters outside of Tin Pan Alley to collect royalties from the use of their songs in the broadcast media. • This boosted country and western and rhythm & blues musicians. • In 1941, ASCAP called a strike, withdrawing the rights to broadcast any material composed by their members. • In 1942, the American Federation of Musicians called a strike against the recording companies. • In the end, the strike put many dance band musicians out of work.