[Dixielandjazz] Benny Goodman 1937, it is like Steve Jobs and the Computer

Greg Henry Waters gwatersusa at gmail.com
Fri Oct 7 06:01:01 PDT 2011


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ezk4TWNy8M&feature=related

Such a fast development.  Interested to learn when the cut off was from
small jazz bands
to the big band.  You know in New Orl. marching bands were the first jazz
and dance bands.

Exactly from what I read all the black bands were dance bands and the white
bands were the jazz bands, until Louie came on the scene. Another
interesting question would be what made the musicians want to play jazz and
not play in dance bands.  I was talking to Mel Lewis one night and he said
that jazz bands killed the band business.

Anyway, this band is really swinging.  I use to play with Stan Rubin a swing
era purest at the Glenn Island Casino and we played some swinging tunes, but
again nothing original to Stan's band.  The first time I played with him he
told me to read the written solo I was not allowed to improvise.  So what is
jazz?

Here are the notes from the youtube link.

 Benny Goodman & His Orch. - Peckin' (H.James /B.Pollack), Victor 1937
---------------------------------------
The term "jitterbug" comes from an early 20th century slang used to describe
alcoholics who suffered from the "jitters" (delirium tremens). During the
early 1900s, the term became associated with dancers who danced without any
control or knowledge of the dance. In the Swing era, the term was adopted by
band leader Cab Calloway to describe the swing dancers who, as he put it
„look like a bunch of jitterbugs out there on the floor", due to their fast
often bouncy movements. Calloway's 1935 recording of "Call of the Jitter
Bug" and the film "Cab Calloway's Jitterbug Party" popularized use of the
word "jitterbug". Lyrics to "Call of the Jitter Jug" clearly demonstrate the
association between the word jitterbug, and the consumption of alcohol. "If
you'd like to be a jitter bug, First thing you must do is get a jug, Put
whiskey, wine and gin within, And shake it all up and then begin. Grab a cup
and start to toss, You are drinking jitter sauce! Don't you worry, you just
mug, And then you'll be a jitter bug!"
World War II facilitated the spread of jitterbug to Europe. For instance, by
May 1944 in preparation for D-Day, there were nearly 2 million American
troops stationed throughout Britain. Time Magazine reported that American
troops stationed in France in 1945 „jitterbugged", and by 1946 jitterbug had
become a craze in England.



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