Lecture 5 The Great Migration • Starting around 1915, approximately two million African-Americans from southern states moved north to cities like Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, and New York • Many came to escape the racism and discrimination of the Jim Crow South • Many came because of the promise of jobs in the mills, foundries, stockyards, and meatpacking plants Jazz Musicians and Chicago • Chicago became the focal point of the jazz world in the 1920s • Jazz musicians from New Orleans actually started arriving in the city well before that • By 1925, almost all of the major players on the New Orleans scene had relocated to the Windy City Chicago Nightlife • By the mid-1920s there were literally hundreds of dance halls, theatres, speakeasies, and cabarets • Speakeasy: a place where alcohol was illegally served during the Prohibition Era in the United States • Cabaret: a restaurant serving liquor and providing entertainment (as by singers or dancers) Chicago & the Mob • During his administration from 1914-1931, Mayor Big Bill Thompson, befriended club owners, bootleggers, pimps, gamblers, and gangsters by turning the other cheek to their activities, allowing vice to thrive • Crime syndicates took control of the city • The leaders of the Chicago mob scene were Bugs Moran, who controlled the north side, and Al Capone, who controlled the south side The Mob, Prohibition & Jazz • At the heart of the mob empire during Prohibition was the sale and distribution of illegal alcohol • Control of nightclubs and speakeasies was essential to business • Jazz musicians playing in speakeasies often witnessed police raids and gunfights as the turf wars for control of the illegal liquor business were fought Demise of the Chicago Scene • By the late 1920s, New York was becoming the center of everything • New York provided plenty of jobs for musicians • Nightclubs, theaters, and dance halls • The radio and recording industries • The sheet music publishing empires of Tin Pan Alley • By the end of the 1920s, brutal gang warfare in Chicago solidified public support for cracking-down on crime • As police raids intensified, mob violence increased, making clubs even more unsafe for jazz musicians • The final blow to the Chicago jazz scene was the repeal of Prohibition, ending the era of speakeasies and loose morals Louis Armstrong (1901 – 1971) • Born on August 4, 1901 in the section of New Orleans known as “The Battlefield” • First achieved fame as a cornet player, later switching to trumpet • Later in his career he was best known as a vocalist Louis and the Karnofskys • At the age of 7, Louis went to work for the Karnofskys, a Russian-Jewish immigrant family who delivered coal to the prostitutes of Storyville • Louis rode in their wagon and blew a long tin horn to let the Karnofsky’s clients know they were coming • Mrs. Karnofsky insisted that Louis eat a good dinner every evening before going home • One day, Louis spotted a cornet in a pawn shop window and asked the Karnofskys to advance him the $5 to buy it • To express gratitude towards the Karnofskys for their kindness to him, Armstrong wore a Star of David pendant for the rest of his life Armstrong’s Early Troubles • Dropped out of school for good at the age of 11, and formed a vocal quartet that sang and danced on the street corners of Black Storyville • In 1913, he was arrested for firing his stepfather’s pistol on New Year’s Eve • Was sent several times to the New Orleans Home for Colored Waifs as a result of his delinquency The Waif’s Home Brass Band • While at the Waif’s Home, Louis quickly became the best cornet player in its marching band • When Armstrong led the band through his old neighborhood for the first time, all the prostitutes, gamblers, thieves, and beggars were waiting for the band because they knew he would be in it • The onlookers were so proud to see that little Louis—someone from their neighborhood—had done so well, that they dropped enough coins in the boys’ hats to pay for brand-new instruments and uniforms for the whole band Early Career • In 1914, Louis was released from the Waif’s Home • He began playing in parades, dance halls, and seedy bars • He astonished older musicians with his tone, power and musical ideas Armstrong & King Oliver • Joseph “King” Oliver was Armstrong’s idol • Oliver (called “Papa Joe”) acted as a mentor and almost as a father figure to young Armstrong • In 1918 when King Oliver left for Chicago, Armstrong took Oliver’s place as the cornetist in Kid Ory’s band • In 1922, Armstrong joined the exodus to Chicago, where he had been invited by Oliver to join his Creole Jazz Band What’s in a Name? • The nickname Satchmo or Satch is short for Satchelmouth, describing his embouchure • In 1932, then Melody Maker magazine editor Percy Brooks greeted him in London with “Hello, Satchmo!” shortening Satchelmouth, and it stuck • Early on he was also known as Dippermouth, a reference to the propensity he had for refreshing himself with the dipper from a bucket of sugar water which was always present on stage with Joe Oliver’s band in the early 1920s • Friends and fellow musicians usually called him Pops, which is how Armstrong usually addressed his friends and fellow musicians Split from Oliver • Armstrong was happy working with Oliver, but his second wife, pianist Lil Hardin Armstrong, urged him to seek more prominent billing • He and Oliver parted amicably in 1924 • Armstrong moved to New York City to play with the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra, the top African-American band of the day • Armstrong switched to the trumpet to blend in better with the other musicians in his section Hot Five & Hot Seven • He returned to Chicago, in 1925, and began recording under his own name with his famous Hot Five and Hot Seven • His recordings with pianist Earl “Fatha” Hines and trumpet introduction to West End Blues remain some of the most famous and influential improvisations in the whole of jazz history Armstrong’s Vocal Style • Armstrong is considered to be the first important vocal interpreter of jazz and popular songs • Although not as expressive as his trumpet playing, the relaxed phrasing of his singing was copied by many • The uniquely gritty coloration of his voice became a musical archetype that was much imitated and endlessly impersonated • Armstrong was not the first to record scat singing, but he was masterful at it and helped popularize it 1930s & 1940s • In the late 1930s Armstrong began to experience problems with his fingers and lips, which were aggravated by his unorthodox playing style • As result he began to branch out and develop his vocal style, and make his first theatrical appearances • After spending many years on the road, he settled permanently in Queens, New York in 1943 in contentment with his fourth wife, Lucille Satch over the Beatles • In 1964, he recorded his biggest-selling record, Hello, Dolly! • The song went to #1 on the pop chart, making Armstrong the oldest person to ever accomplish that feat at age 63 • In the process, Armstrong dislodged The Beatles from the #1 position they had occupied for 14 consecutive weeks with 3 different songs Later Years • In his later years, Armstrong played more than three hundred gigs a year • He also toured Africa, Europe, and Asia under sponsorship of the US State Department with great success and become known as “Ambassador Satch” • While failing health restricted his schedule in his last years, within those limitations he continued playing until the day he died • Louis Armstrong died of a heart attack on July 6, 1971, at age 69 Struttin’ with Some Barbecue Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five, recorded December 9, 1927 Personnel: Louis Armstrong (cornet), Johnny Dodds (clarinet), Edward “Kid” Ory (trombone), Johnny St. Cyr (banjo), Lil Hardin Armstrong (piano) Hotter Than That Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five, recorded December 13, 1927 Personnel: Louis Armstrong (cornet & vocals), Johnny Dodds (clarinet), Edward “Kid” Ory (trombone), Johnny St. Cyr (banjo), Lonnie Johnson (guitar), Lil Hardin Armstrong (piano) West End Blues Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five, recorded June 28, 1928 Personnel: Louis Armstrong (trumpet & vocals), Jimmy Strong (clarinet), Fred Robinson (trombone), Mancy Cara (banjo), Earl “Fatha” Hines (piano), Zutty Singleton (drums) Weather Bird Louis Armstrong and Earl “Fatha” Hines, recorded December 5, 1928 Personnel: Louis Armstrong (trumpet), Earl “Fatha” Hines (piano) Leon Bismark “Bix” Beiderbecke (1903 – 1931) • Born March 10, 1903 in Davenport, Iowa • A notable jazz cornetist as well as a talented classical and jazz pianist • He made innovative and influential recordings with Frankie Trumbauer • He wrote several compositions for the piano, and recorded one of them (In a Mist) Early Life • As a teenager he would sneak off to the banks of the Mississippi to listen to the bands play on the riverboats that would come up from the south • Partially because of frequent absences due to illness, Beiderbecke’s school grades suffered • His parents sent him to the exclusive Lake Forest Academy just north of Chicago in order to improve his academic schooling Early Days in Chicago • Bix soon began going into Chicago as often as possible to catch the hot jazz bands of the day at the clubs and speakeasies around Chicago • Often he did not return to his dormitory before curfew or was even still found off- campus the next day • He was soon asked to leave Lake Forest academy due to his academic failings and extracurricular activities in Chicago Bix & Frankie Trumbauer • In 1925, Bix met saxophonist