WAYNE COMMUNITY COLLEGE
MUS 112-40 Introduction to Jazz
Fall, 2015-2016
Tuesday/Thursday 5:30 – 8:30 p.m.
SJAFB Library Bldg.
Instructor Information
Instructor: Dr. Joseph Hodges
Telephone Numbers: (252) 523-9093 (H) (252) 527-8591 Ext 2379 (O)
Office Hours: 8-9:30 a.m.
E-Mail Address: jmhodges@waynecc.edu
jhodges@lenoir.k12.nc.us
FAX Number:
(252) 527-9014
Dr. Hodges’ Playlist
• https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVilO
s2j2UbIxOcAxOUPzqfMniAaHM3db
Student Information Form
• Please use the QR Code below complete the
information form or visit
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1jkzI5xXEJvPyKCQo2Um80y
JUgyfsUj3InkGAXsRtkeQ/viewform?c=0&w=1
Paul Whiteman, “Changes”
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The most popular superstar of the 20th century
Born in Denver
Organized the Barbary Coast Ragtime
Formed his first ballroom band in 1919.
Popular in Los Angeles, Atlantic City and new York
Became famous with Victor release of Whispering
and Japanese Sandman
Bing Crosby Make Believe (1928)
• Whiteman’s first important jazz hire came
from vaudeville – Bing Crosby
• The most popular singer in the first half of the
20th century
• Son of a Southern preacher
• Became a major link between jazz and the
mainstream
• Helped make Armstrong’s musical approach
accessible to the white public.
Fletcher Henderson, “Copenhagen”
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1897-1952
Looked to Whitman for inspiration
Studied classical music with his mother
Traveled to New York in 1920 for post graduate
study in chemistry
• Recorded with Ethel Waters and Bnessie Smioth
• Black musician working in midtown for exclusively
white clienteles offering polished and
conventional dance music
• Upset by new man on the scene – Duke Ellington
James P. Johnson, “You’ve Got to Be
Modernistic”
• Born on February 1, 1894, in New Brunswick,
New Jersey, James Johnson was an influential
African-American jazz pianist and a key figure in
the transition from ragtime to jazz, but is still
often skipped in musical history. Noted for his
unusual ability to create variations and add
musical embellishments to popular songs,
Johnson pioneered the "stride" style of jazz piano
and became famous for his hit "Carolina Shout."
He died in New York City on November 17, 1955.
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James P. Johnson. (2015). The Biography.com website. Retrieved 08:59, Aug 27, 2015, fromhttp://www.biography.com/people/james-p-johnson9355994.
Duke Ellington, “Black and Tan Fantasy”
• Simply put, Ellington transcends boundaries and fills the world with a
treasure trove of music that renews itself through every generation of fans
and music-lovers. His legacy continues to live onand will endure for
generations to come. Winton Marsalis said it best when he said "His music
sounds like America." Because of the unmatched artistic heights to which
he soared, no one deserved the phrase “beyond category” more than
Ellington, for it aptly describes his life as well. He was most certainly one
of a kind that maintained a lifestyle with universal appeal which
transcended countless boundaries.
• Duke Ellington is best remembered for the over 3000 songs that he
composed during his lifetime. His best known titles include; "It Don't
Mean a Thing if It Ain't Got That Swing", "Sophisticated Lady", "Mood
Indigo", “Solitude", "In a Mellotone",and "Satin Doll". The most amazing
part about Ellington was the most creative while he was on the road. It
was during this time when he wrote his most famous piece, "Mood
Indigo"which brought him world wide fame.
6. Louis Armstrong and the First Great Soloists
• Louis Armstrong, “Hotter Than That”
• Armstrong, “West End Blues”
• Added as a third trumpet to Henderson’s Band
in 1924.
• Added the authority of swing, the power of
blues and the improvisational logic of a
storyteller
Armstrong / Earl Hines, “Weather Bird”
• Earl Hines - Born on December 28, 1903, in
Duquesne, Pennsylvania, jazz pianist Earl
"Fatha" Hines became known for his
innovative style. He produced some of his
most notable music alongside Louis Armstrong
in the late 1920s, and later became a
prominent bandleader. Following a late-career
resurgence in popularity, Hines played
regularly until his death from a heart attack on
April 22, 1983, in Oakland, California.
Bix Beiderbecke / Frank Trumbauer,
“Singin’ the Blues”
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Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke (March 10, 1903 -- August 6, 1931) was an
American jazz cornetist, jazz pianist, and composer. A native of Davenport, Iowa.
Bix Beiderbecke was one of the great jazz musicians of the 1920's; he was also a
child of the Jazz Age who drank himself to an early grave with illegal Prohibition
liquor. His hard drinking and beautiful tone on the cornet made him a legend
among musicians during his life. The legend of Bix grew even larger after he died.
Bix never learned to read music very well, but he had an amazing ear even as a
child. His parents disapproved of his playing music and sent him to a military
school outside of Chicago in 1921. He was soon expelled for skipping class and
became a full-time musician. In 1923 Beiderbecke joined the Wolverine Orchestra
and recorded with them the following year. Bix was influenced a great deal by the
Original Dixieland Jass Band, but soon surpassed their playing. In late 1924 Bix left
the Wolverines to join Jean Goldkette's Orchestra, but his inability to read music
eventually resulted in him losing the job. In 1926 he spent some time with Frankie
Trumbauer's Orchestra where he recorded his solo piano masterpiece "In a Mist".
He also recorded some of his best work with Trumbauer and guitarist, Eddie Lang,
under the name of Tram, Bix, and Eddie.