CHAPTER 3
“Social Dance and Jazz”
Chapter 3 (outline)
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Technology and the Music Business
“Freak Dances”
James Reese Europe and the Castles
(Early) Jazz as Popular Music
Dance Music in the Jazz Age
Latin Dance Music
“Freak Dances”
• Craze for Ragtime Dance Music (c. 1910)
• Decline of formal balls w/ set programs
• Rise of “Dance Halls”
- Live house bands w/ solo singers
- “stock” arrangements of popular hits
• Play by request (respond to audience moods)
• Threat to “morality” (overtly sexual)
- use of “bumpers” (to keep dancers apart)
- dances outlawed or banned in various locales
Dance Examples
• The Waltz (19th Century) 009 Late Nineteenth Century Waltz
and Loomis' Glide Mazurka - YouTube
• Turkey Trot (1900-1910) A short movie clip of the Turkey
Trot. - YouTube
• Texas Tommy (S.F. 1910-13) Texas Tommy Swing –
YouTube
• Foxtrot (1914-20s) 1920's Fox Trot – YouTube
• Charleston (1920s) 1920's The Charleston – YouTube
• Tango (in US, c. 1913) Valentino style Argentinian tango
1930's - Film 164 – YouTube
• The Tango Vs The Charleston - YouTube
The Castles
• Vernon (1887-1918) &
Irene (Foote) (1883-1969)
• Married 1911
• Featured Broadway dancers
• Watch Your Step (1914)
- introduces Fox Trot
• “Castle House” (Dance School)
• Modern Dancing (book)
• Endorsed RCA Victor records
- Castle House Orchestra (JRE)
• Fashion trend-setters & crossmarketing
• Exs.
- The Castle Walk by Vernon and Irene Castle
(1915) – YouTube
- A Tribute To Irene & Vernon Castle – YouTube
James Reese Europe (1881-1919)
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Classically trained
“Clef Club Orchestra” (NYC)
Society Orchestra (w/ Castles)
WWI - 369th Regiment Band
“Harlem Hellfighters”
• “Just before Jazz” style
• Exs.
- James Reese Europe the Hellfighters - YouTube
- How ya gonna keep em down on the Farm - Lt.
- James Reese Europe - Castle House Rag –
YouTube [Textbook Example: p. 84]
- Ampico Lexington 88n - Monkey Doodle (James
Reese Europe) - YouTube
Jazz (“Jass”)
• Af-Am influences on Dance
Music (1890s-1920s)
• New Orleans (Storyville)
• Mixture of ….
- Band Music
- Funeral Processions
- Mardi Gras celebrations
- Ragtime (piano music)
- Latin/Caribbean beat
• Used for dances/parties
• Small irregular groups
(primarily winds & brass,
bass & drums)
Buddy
Bolden
Band
(1905)
Original Dixieland Jazz Band
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1st commercial “jass” band
All white NOLA musicians
Chicago (c. 1916-17)
NYC (early 1917)
Recordings (March 1917)
- Original Dixieland Jass Band
plays "Livery Stable Blues" on
Victor 18255 FIRST JAZZ
RECORD
• “Novelty” record (?)
• “Hot” style (syncopated)
- cornet lead (Nick LaRocca)
- clarinet & trombone
countermelodies
- rhythm section
(piano & drums = steady beat)
“Tiger Rag”
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Rec. 17 Aug 1917 (low sales)
Rec. 25 March 1918 (smash hit)
Jazz “Standard”
Based on NOLA tunes & ragtime
Cornet lead
Clarinet – high countermelody
Trombone – “Tailgate” style
Piano & drums (march-like)
Group “improvisation”
(somewhat)
• Text book Ex.: p. 87: Original
Dixieland Jazz Band - Tiger rag
King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band
• Joe “King” Oliver (1885-1938)
- To Chicago (1919)
- Creole Jazz Band (1922)
- Recordings on Gennett (1923)
• Louis Armstrong (2nd cornet)
• Poor businessman (Oliver)
- CJB disbands in 1924
- out of music by 1931
• Textbook Ex., p. 88: King
Oliver's Creole Jazz Band:- "Dipper
Mouth Blues" (1923) – YouTube
• 12-bar Blues (3 4mm phrases)
• Form = Intro, A (2x),
B (2x) [clarinet], A,
C (3x) [cornet wah-wah], A
Other “Hot” Bands
• McKinney’s Cotton Pickers - McKinney's Cotton
Pickers "BABY WON'T YOU PLEASE COME
HOME" (1930) - YouTube
• Duke Ellington (“Jungle Music”) - Duke Ellington
& his Cotton Club Band - Old Man Blues (1930)
Check and Double Check
• Jean Goldkette - My Pretty Girl - Jean Goldkette
and His Orchestra – YouTube
• Casa Loma Orchestra - Glen Gray and the Casa
Loma Orchestra
Noble Sissle (1899-1975) &
Eubie Blake (1887-1983)
• Both members of James Reese
Europe’s bands
• Songwriting team
• Shuffle Along (1921-22)
- all black cast
- integrated audience (!)
• “I’m Just Wild About Harry”
• Exs.
- Vaughn De Leath sings "I'm Just Wild
About Harry" on Gennett 4905, song by
Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake
- Eubie Blake and his "Shuffle Along"
Orchestra - Bandana Days (1921) YouTube
Paul Whiteman (1890-1967)
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Classical training
West Coast dance bands
Navy – concert band
“Symphonic Jazz”
- syncopated dance music
- strict arrangements
• “King of Jazz”
- self-described
- strong marketing
• “White” version of jazz
history
Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra
San Francisco (1918-19) –
syncopated dance orchestra
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Ambassador Orchestra
(Atlantic City, NJ) – 1920s
Top-Notch Arrangers: Ferde Grofé, Fletcher Henderson (!)
White Jazz Musicians: Bix Beiderbecke, Dorsey Brothers
1st Recordings – 1920 for Victor Talking Machine (RCA)
“An Experiment in Modern Music” (1924) Rhapsody in Blue
Leading Figure through mid-1930s (movies, radio, etc.)
Over 600 recordings