SWING DANCE ~
LINDY HOP ~ HUSTLE ~ Alaska
Archive 5
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(Text is adapted from “The Swing Book”):
EVEN MORE OF
“THE GLORY DAYS OF SWING”!!
It took
awhile, but swing finally became an art form. In the 1920’s, Paul
Whiteman, the leader of one of the most popular dance bands back then, tried to
put jazz at the level of European classical music, calling his music “symphonic
jazz.”
Whiteman’s Orchestra
Whiteman & Friend at another venue…
(Maybe this is why his efforts to
sophisticate jazz failed?)
But even in
the 1930’s, jazz was still considered a lowly form of music. “In those
days people thought if you were playing jazz, you were stepping down,” Artie
Shaw once said. But the pioneers of swing kept pushing on. Their
ultimate break into mainstream society came on January 16, 1938 when Benny
Goodman played at Carnegie Hall.
That night,
tension was high. The band was overawed by the grandness of the Hall and
started out hesitantly. Then they let go and started playing like they
would for their usual dance crowd. Drummer Gene Kruppa beat his drums
like a dervish, his hair flying, and sweat dripping.
Gene in Action on the Drums at another gig…
Members of the
Count Basie and Duke Ellington orchestras made guest appearances on stage with Goodman’s
band. Goodman’s integrated quartet played the most well-received numbers
that night, with Lionel Hampton’s vibraphones thrilling the crowd.
Gene Krupa with Benny Goodman and Lionel Hampton @ Carnegie Hall
1938
By the time
the band played its closing number, “Sing, Sing, Sing,” the crowd was
screaming, and applauding, and in a state of near delirium. “Carnegie
Hall was always known as the holy of the holiest,” Hampton recalled. “No
jazz had ever come near there.” But it was there now!!!
Gene Krupa,
Carnegie Hall 1938
BUT!!! That
astounding night wasn’t over yet!! The Carnagie Concert was only the
first half of what was easily the most magical night ever witnessed in
swing. Right after the Carnagie show ended, members of Goodman’s band
raced uptown to Harlem to a battle of the bands at the Savoy Ballroom.
Count Basie, newly arrived from Kansas City, was taking on Chick Webb, the King
of the Savoy.
Basie’s sound
was a new approach to swing. It injected the blues of the Southwest into the
big band format, creating a propulsive four-beats-to-the bar rhythm that moved
the music along like never before. Basie’s band was a direct challenge to
the sounds of Harlem. Webb’s band played complex arrangements.
Basie’s songs were stripped to their essential elements, beating to the heart
not just entertaining the mind.
And it wasn’t
just a “Battle of the Bands” that night. Ella Fitzgerald, Webb’s singer,
and Billie Holiday, Basie’s vocalist, also squared off against each other that
night.
Ella & Chick at the
Savoy
Billie Holiday
According to
electrified accounts of the evening, the bands blew so hard at each other, it
seemed as if the walls of the Savoy were going to blow down. The battle
was not a judged competition, but judged by the clapping of the crowd – but the
clapping for each band was too close to clearly call.
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