JAZZ: SWING: PURE PLEASURE {PART 5 OF 10} (TV)
Summary
The fifth episode in this ten-part miniseries detailing the history of jazz music in America. This installment begins in the middle of the Great Depression as jazz, known then as swing, "rescued" the recording industry as thousands of Americans sought an escape from their difficult lives in the "pure pleasure" of the upbeat, dance-worthy music. Benny Goodman was deemed the "king of swing" as his records sold in vast numbers all over the country, and when he played the Paramount Theater in New York in 1937, teenagers turned out in droves, captivated by his passionate musical style. His fame brought jazz from a form of "cult music" to the American standard of popular music, though Wynton Marsalis notes that segregation continued to create an inaccurate picture of two different "kinds" of jazz, when in fact musicians routinely learned from one another. Duke Ellington never denounced Goodman and generally did not comment directly on race, but he continued to express his frustrations about social inequality through his music. Elsewhere, Louis Armstrong escaped his personal and financial problems by enlisting a new manager, the ruthless Joe Glaser, and performing in a series of movies. Though the roles were typically minstrel-like stereotypes, Gary Giddins notes that he rose above the limited portrayals through the sheer skill of his playing.
Big-bang music continued to grow in popularity, giving rise to the careers of many bandleaders, including the precise and well-dressed Jimmie Lunceford, "taskmaster" Tommy Dorsey and his unique "singing" trumpet, and the "straight-laced" Glenn Miller, whose preference for traditional vocals brought a romantic, if overly "safe," tone to the genre. Clarinetist Artie Shaw was considered Goodman's primary "rival," but he explains that he felt ill-suited to the demands of great fame and developed a dislike for his most popular hits, like "Begin the Beguine," prompting him to disband his group in 1939. Touring proved to be an exhausting and demanding lifestyle for the musicians, who were often forced to work seven nights a week until the union stepped in to negotiate. Many musicians were forced to pay for their own food and lodgings, and black performers, forbidden from staying in many segregated hotels, found comfort and welcome in black-owned businesses and neighborhoods. Teen fans began buying musical instruments and clothes in the styles of their favorite musicians and even starting fan clubs, though detractors, including some psychiatrists, denounced the genre as "orchestrated sex."
Goodman overcame his concerns about performing in public with an integrated band after working with Teddy Wilson, a black pianist whose "light, lyrical" style perfectly complemented his own, as heard on the record "Body and Soul." He then further expanded his band to include a black vibraphonist, Lionel Hampton, and Hampton recalls witnessing Goodman aggressively standing up to a racist observer. Jazz impresario John Henry Hammond then discovered Eleanora Fagan, better known as Billie Holiday, whose unique, "witty" singing style disguised her relatively small vocal range, and she soon performed and recorded alongside Wilson and Ellington, among others. Her difficult life and "don't-care-ish" attitude was reflected in her singing, which projected a simultaneous vulnerability and toughness. In 1937, Goodman challenged bandleader and drummer Chick Webb, noted for his frenetic playing style and short stature owing to spinal tuberculosis, to a musical "battle" at the Savoy Club. Thousands of fans packed into the hall to hear the two greats play, and dancers Frankie Manning and Norma Miller describe their memories of the exciting night, at the end of which Webb was deemed to have "defeated" Goodman's drummer, Gene Krupa. Later, Hammond made yet another exciting new discovery while listening to an obscure Kansas City radio station: Count Basie and his orchestra.
Details
- NETWORK: PBS
- DATE: November 29, 2000 9:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:29:17
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:74591
- GENRE: Education/Information
- SUBJECT HEADING: Education/Information; Jazz; African-American Collection - Music; African-American Collection - News/Talk
- SERIES RUN: PBS - TV series, 2001
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV - Commercials - "Jazz" series home video, CD set and book
- TV - Commercials - General Motors products
CREDITS
- Ken Burns … Executive Producer, Director
- Pam Tubridy Baucom … Coordinating Producer
- Lynn Novick … Producer
- Victoria Gohl … Co-Producer
- Peter Miller … Co-Producer
- Sarah Botstein … Associate Producer
- Natalie Bullock Brown … Associate Producer
- Shola Lynch … Associate Producer
- Karen Kenton … Associate Producer
- Madison Davis Lacy … Consulting Producer
- Geoffrey C. Ward … Writer
- Keith David … Narrator
- Philip Bosco … Voice
- Kevin Conway … Voice
- Anthony LaPaglia … Voice
- Joe Morton … Voice
- David Ogden Stiers … Voice
- Studs Terkel … Voice
- James Lincoln Collier … Interviewee
- Gary Giddins … Interviewee
- Wynton Marsalis … Interviewee
- Dave Brubeck … Interviewee
- Artie Shaw … Interviewee
- Lionel Hampton … Interviewee
- Norma Miller … Interviewee
- Frankie Manning … Interviewee
- Louis Armstrong
- Count Basie (see also: William James Basie)
- Tommy Dorsey
- Duke Ellington
- Joe Glaser
- Benny Goodman
- John Henry Hammond II
- Billie Holiday
- Gene Krupa
- Jimmie Lunceford
- Glenn Miller
- Chick Webb
- Teddy Wilson