MUSIC LOG for GROUP 4
NOTE: the selections 5-17 are in blue print now, as the focus for the next Listening Quiz (LQ on LG4b).
BACKGROUND OF R&B
- “Down South Camp Meetin’,” 12 September 1934; Fletcher Henderson (performed by Fletcher Henderson and His Orchestra).
Fletcher Henderson was one of the most influential swing bandleaders and arrangers of the era. He is heard on this recording playing piano behind a band that includes a large horn section, clarinets, guitar, bass and drums. Note the incorporation of the “call and response” of traditional singing in African-American churches into the interplay between the horns.
- “Battle of Swing,” 1938; Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra.
Duke Ellington was the dominant artist of the 1930s, the decade when swing became the nation’s music. This 1938 example anticipates the melodic angles and harmonic adventures of the bebob era to come (Schuller, liner notes). The unison melody lines are particularly striking in this arrangement.
- “Minnie the Moocher,” 1942; Cab Calloway and His Orchestra.
Born in New York in 1907, Calloway was probably the most popular African-American entertainer of the 1930s. This tune is his signature song, recorded several times over Calloway’s long career. With his overwhelming charisma and vocal showmanship coupled with the outstanding jazz orchestra he assembled, Calloway represents a transitional figure between the swing and jive music.
- “Straighten Up and Fly Right, 1943”; Nat King Cole.
Nat King Cole is often associated with a smooth, pop sound backed by string orchestras, his direction after the mid-1940s. But in the early 40s his music combined the rhythms of Harlem jump bands with his own jazz piano playing and smooth vocals (Heckman, liner notes). Recorded in Los Angeles, this is a transitional cut between swing jazz and r&b. It also invites a question: is it a charming novelty song or a veiled protest number?
R&B
- “The ‘G’ Man Got The ‘T’ Man,” 1945; Cee Pee Johnson.
The West Coast, specifically California, was the center for the category of r&b known as jive music during the 1940s. Originally from Dallas, Texas, Cee Pee Johnson enjoyed his peak success from 1936 through the 1940s. The personality and inhibition that were important qualities in a jive bandleader come through on this recording about a marijuana dealer’s run-in with the law.
- “Let’s Get Together,” 1946; Al “Stomp” Russell.
This trio, led by Russell, was another player in the West Coast jive music associated with Central Avenue in Los Angeles. This recording is interesting in that Russell creates the jive sound and feel without the horns.
- “Choo Choo Ch’ Boogie,” 1946; Louis Jordan and His Timpany Five.
While jive was jumping in California, New York’s Harlem had its own style of r&b, played by jump bands like this one led by Louis Jordan. Jordan was one of the most successful band leaders of the 1940s; this was his first big hit, selling millions of records. He was a flexible musician who recorded with Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, and Louis Armstrong (Heckman, liner notes). His music influenced later r&b musicians and well as rock-and-rollers.
- “That’s All Right, Mama,” 6 September 1946; Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup.
Born in rural Mississippi in 1905, Crudup taught himself to play guitar at age 30 in order to earn extra money playing dances. He moved to Chicago in 1940 where he met Tampa Red, Memphis Minnie, and other country blues artists and began making records. Crudup returned to Mississippi after World War II and several of his tunes (including this one) became regional r&b hits.
- “Hound Dog,” 1952; Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton.
Written by a trio that included famous pop songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, this tune was recorded by r&b singer Thornton in 1952. Thornton brought her background of country blues and gospel singing to the interpretation of the song, which became emblematic of the cross-over r&b/rock-and-roll songs.
COUNTRY MUSIC
- “I Want to Be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart,” 1935; Patsy Montana and The Prairie Ramblers.
This was one of the earliest hillbilly bands to become popular by capitalizing on the “western craze” by fusing country style and instruments with a jazz-influenced swing feel. Yodeling had been popular in Southern music for decades among both black and white groups, traced back to nineteenth-century touring groups from the European Tyrols. Born in Hot Springs, Arkansas, in 1914, Patsy Montana (real name, Ruby Blevins) opened doors for female country singers; most of her predecessors had been members of “family groups.”
- “Ida, Sweet as Apple Cider,” 1936; Milton Brown and His Brownies.
Brown was the first Western swing bandleader and his band is the prototype: twin fiddles (one of these played by Cliff Bruner, who later formed his own band), electric steel guitar (a fairly new electrified instrument), guitar, banjo, piano, bass, and vocals. Later groups added large horn sections, but the fiddles remained at the forefront of Western swing. This tune was a popular song dating from 1903, famously sung by vaudevillian Eddie Cantor (Green, liner notes).
- “New San Antonio Rose,” 1940; Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys.
Known as the “King of Western Swing,” Bob Wills was the most famous performer of the genre; his recordings span the years 1932-1973. The horns contrast with the Brown example (#12). Wills plays fiddle and inserts the vocal interjections in the background. (Lead vocalist is Tommy Duncan.) In 1944, Wills commented on his band’s popularity: “We’re hep. We’re the most versatile band in America. Sure we give ’em Western music, but we give ’em rhumbas, too. And when there are jitterbugs in the joint we get ’em so happy they can’t stay on the floor” (liner notes).
- “Walking the Floor Over You,” 1941; Ernest Tubb and the Texas Troubadours.
Tubb was a pioneer of the country music genre known as honky tonk, which featured electrified instruments and subject matter now considered the classic stuff of country music: drinking, cheating, broken hearts. Honky-tonk music took its name from the small, tough joints where the music was heard (thus the electrification) over the din of patrons drinking, smoking, talking, and dancing. Tubb was instrumental in convincing the record industry to use the term “country and western” instead of “hillbilly.”
- “Pistol Packin’ Mama,” 1942; Al Dexter and His Troopers.
This early honky tonk tune might be considered a transitional one between Western swing and honky tonk. The instrumental arrangement has a Western swing feel, using a honky-tonk combo. Bing Crosby recorded the song during WWII and had a big hit.
- “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” 1946; Bill Monroe and His Bluegrass Boys.
Bluegrass began in 1945 when Bill Monroe began to perform supercharged, high-speed versions of the traditional string band music associated with Appalachia. Proponents of bluegrass rejected electronic instruments and favored high tenor lead voices with tight harmony. This music was “discovered” by the1960s Folk Revival movement and bluegrass moved from the country to the city.
- “I Can’t Help It (If I’m Still In Love With You),” 1951; Hank Williams and the Drifting Cowboys.
This is classic honky-tonk from the poet laureate of the post-WWII working class. (“Listen to the stories,” Charlie Parker once said. . .) Hank Williams only recorded for six years before his death in 1953 at the age of 29, but he is widely regarded as the father of modern country music. His style epitomizes the vocal inflections and instrumentation of early 1950s country, and he influenced (both as singer and songwriter) performers in many different genres.
- “Always Late (With Your Kisses),” 1951; Lefty Frizzell.
Outside of Hank Williams, no other country music singer of the era was as influential as Lefty Frizzell. The prominence of piano in the recording is a common feature of the honky-tonk sound. Frizzell stretches his syllables and curls the melody to add emotional inflection to his songs. (It would be an interesting experiment to tune into a country station on the radio see how long it takes before you hear someone doing the same thing.)
[#1 is recorded from Fletcher Henderson: Tidal Wave, Decca Jazz GRD-643, 1994.]
[#2 is recorded from Duke Ellington: 1938. CBS Records, Inc./Columbia Special Products P2 13367, 1976.]
[#3 is recorded from Best of the Big Bands: Cab Calloway, Columbia CK 45336, 1990.]
[#4, 7, and 9 are recorded from Straighten Up and Fly Right: Rhythm & Blues from the Close of the Swing Era to the Dawn of Rock & Roll, NWR 261, 1977.]
[#5-6 are recorded from West Coast Jive, Delmark Records DD-657 Apollo Series, 1992.]
[#8 is recorded from Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup/That’s All Right, Mama, Bluebird 61043-2, 1992.)
[#10, 12, 14-15, and 17 are from Country: The American Tradition, Sony DIDP 098776, 1999.]
[#11 is recorded from Country Music: South and West, New World Records 287, 1977.]
[#16 is recorded from Hank Williams: 40 Greatest Hits, Polygram Records, Inc., 1978; released on CD by Mercury 821 233-2.]