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Roaring Twenties: Jazz, Blues, & Beyond

Did You Know That . . .

New Orleans - is the birthplace of Jazz?
Chicago - is the city where Jazz evolved its sound?
New York - became America's Jazz capital?
Harlem Renaissance - was a time of intense artistic creativity.

Jazz Facts . . .

The jazz scene shifted to Chicago. Why?
  •  African-Americans moved from agriculturally-based southern states to the industrial North. The move was known as the Great Migration.
  •  The passage of the 18th Amendment and Volstead Act contributed to Chicago's rise in prominence.
  •  Speakeasies attracted musicians.

Subscription Databases Jazz 1920's

Suggested search terms:
-Austin High Gang                     -"Heebie Jeebies"
-Bessie Smith                            -James P. Johnson
-Bix Beiderbecke                       -Joe "King" Oliver
-breakfast dances                      -"jungle effect"
-Bubber Miley                            -Harlem Renaissance
-Chicago Style                           -Louis Armstrong
-Cotton Club                             -"Rhapsody in Blue"
-Creole Jazz Band                     -"Satchmo"
-Duke Ellington                          -"scat singing"
-"East St. Louis Toodle-Oo"       -Speakasies
-George Gershwin                     -"St. Louis Blues"
-Great Migration                        -stride piano
-"gut bucket"                              -Washingtonians
-Harlem Jazz                           
-King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band
-William "the Lion" Smith

Harlem's Cotton Club

Harlem Cotton Club
Duke Ellington's band became the house band for the Cotton Club (catered only to white people). The band was renamed "Duke Ellington and His Cotton Club Orchestra." All Cotton Club staff members and band members were black in this southern-style mansion club.
Harlem Cotton Club New York City... Photograph. Encyclopædia Britannica Image Quest. Web. 13 Dec 2011.

Jazz Trivia

How did Louis Armstrong get these names --
Gatemouth, Rhythm Jaws, Dippermouth, Satchelmouth (Satchmo)?

Aug. 8, 1922

Jazz historians pinpoint this date as the date music changed forever because cornet player Louis Armstrong appeared on the scene.

1923

Creole Jazz Band created its first record.

1923

Bessie Smith, Blues singer, makes her first recording, and Louis Amstrong played his horn when they performed "St Louis Blues.”

1923

"Austin High Gang," a teenage group of white clarinetists, comprised of the following: Benny Goodman and PeeWee Russell; horn player Jack Teagarden; drummer; David Tough; saxophone player Eddie Condon. This group developed a style called "Chicago Style" reminiscent of the rat-tat-tat of a machine gun.

Feb. 12,1924

George Gershwin's jazz symphony "Rhapsody in Blue" premieres at a concert led by band leader Paul Whiteman at New York's Aeolian Hall.

1925 -1928

Louis Armstrong and his wife Lil Armstrong (pianist, composer, arranger of Hot Bands); Louis played in Hot Five and Hot Seven.

1926

During Armstrong's recording of "Heebie Jeebies," he dropped his sheet music, so he had to improvise using his vocal cords sans horn, and the style became known as "scat singing."

'Charleston' Music Created Dance Craze in the Jazz Age

Father of stride piano, James P. Johnson wrote 230 songs and 19 symphonic pieces, and what brought him fame was his song "The Charleston." This song become synonymous with the Jazz Age and created the Charleston dance craze.
CHARLESTON SONGSHEET COVER. - American Songsheet Cover, 1923, For The 'Charleston,' Which Spawned The Dance Craze Of The Same Name.. Fine Art. Encyclopædia Britannica Image Quest. Web. 12 Dec 2011.

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