Black History Month

Okay, so I didn’t post last week. I was in Vegas, and didn’t have my wonderful Mac with me to make a list. Sorry. I doubt anyone actually noticed.

This weekend is the last weekend in February, and so I’ve decided to take advantage of Black History Month while I still can. This week’s list focuses on two things: 1)some of the great musical achievements brought by African Americans (knowing me, that of course means jazz), and also a little on actual history and some pioneering moments in black history. I didn’t really focus on modern black history or music, because I don’t really feel equipped with the knowledge or the music to do so. Deal with it.

Because this list is a little more based on history and less on music, I’m going to include an explanation for why I included each song. I hope you find it informative!

This week’s list:
1. “Maple Leaf Rag” by Scott Joplin
2. “Memphis Blues” by Jim Europe’s 369th Infantry Band
3. “Charleston” by James P. Johnson
4. “West End Blues” by Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five
5. “Black Beauty” by Duke Ellington
6. “Jumpin’ at the Woodside” by Count Basie
7. “Manteca” by Dizzy Gillespie
8. “Rose Room” by the Benny Goodman Sextet
9. “Stardust” by Louis Armstrong
10. “Strange Fruit” by Billie Holiday
11. “Fables of Faubus” by Charles Mingus
12. “Pastime Paradise” by Stevie Wonder

And here’s why:
1. Joplin, a black man, was an excellent classical pianist, but with a generous understanding of the African folk music, which was popular among poor blacks, especially in the South. He fused the two and invented what we know as ragtime, a precursor to jazz and therefore the rest of modern music. This is a classic Joplin song.
2. Jim Europe led this all-black military band during World War I, and was immensely popular for the time. The band played the mostly-accepted style of music called blues almost exclusively, at a time when a fledgling style of music called “Jass” was gaining popularity but was mostly considered dirty and inappropriate. In addition to preparing the American public for a more swinging sound, he was among the first few black musicians to receive acclaim at a national level. Funny how no one has heard of him today, eh? This song was kind of the band’s theme song.
3. Pretty much everyone knows the tune to the popular 20’s dance, the “Charleston”. The original song was written by James P. Johnson, a major influence in early jazz, especially on the style of jazz piano. He is one of the primary inventors of the piano style known as “Harlem Stride”, exemplified beautifully in this recording.
4. Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five and Seven (those are names of two ensembles) recorded some truly classic and immensely influential tracks. This is one of them. It begins with a solo by Louis, “simple in its complexity and complex in its simplicity”, followed later by some mild but classic scat singing. These recordings are where “scat” began.
5. A beautiful recording from early in Ellington’s career. This is another example of Harlem Stride from another of its masters. If you don’t know who Duke Ellington is, go Google it, because I don’t have time (or space) to explain it.
6. This is THE classic song by Count Basie. Basie’s influence on modern music is only slightly less than Louis Armstrong’s, and equal with Duke Ellington.
7. Dizzy Gillespie is one of the three founders of the style of jazz called be-bop, which began in the mid-40’s (ish). Diz, sometimes known as the “spokesman” for the be-bop movement, helped to get the music out to larger and more (racially) diverse audiences. Be-bop evolved later into a style known as hard bop, from which funk, soul, R&B, hip-hop, and rap music were developed.
8. Benny Goodman was a white man, I know. The great thing about him was that he cared more about making good music than he did about meeting society’s expectations. This sextet featured several black musicians: Lionel Hampton on vibes, Charlie Christian on guitar, and either Fletcher Henderson (as is the case in this recording) or Teddy Wilson on piano. This drew enormous criticism, for a white man like Goodman to have the audacity to record and perform with black musicians. If I remember correctly, this is the first racially ‘integrated’ recording of music ever, made in 1939.
9. This was kind of a selfish indulgence. I love this song, especially this recording. It epitomizes the genius of Louis Armstrong, and what he did to music, and the world.

These last three are more focused on history than on music.
10. This song is about lynching of blacks in the South. It was a huge risk on her career for Billie Holiday to sing this song, but I’m glad she did. It’s incredible. I feel like it’s important enough to include the lyrics, so here they are:

“Southern trees bear a strange fruit,
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant south,
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,
Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh,
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh.

Here is fruit for the crows to pluck,
For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,
For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop,
Here is a strange and bitter crop.”

Chilling, isn’t it?
11. This song is homage to who Mingus calls (jokingly) the “first, or second, or third All-American Hero”, Orval Faubus, the governor of Arkansas who fought the Supreme Court decision in Brown vs. Board of Education and mobilized the Arkansas National Guard to prevent the“Little Rock Nine” from going to a “white school”. This is a classic song in anger and frustration with racism. The lyrics:

“Oh, Lord, don't let 'em shoot us!
Oh, Lord, don't let 'em stab us!
Oh, Lord, don't let 'em tar and feather us!
Oh, Lord, no more swastikas!
Oh, Lord, no more Ku Klux Klan!

Name me someone who's ridiculous, Dannie.
Governor Faubus!
Why is he so sick and ridiculous?
He won't permit integrated schools.

Then he's a fool! Boo! Nazi Fascist supremists!
Boo! Ku Klux Klan (with your Jim Crow plan)

Name me a handful that's ridiculous, Dannie Richmond.
Faubus, Rockefeller, Eisenhower
Why are they so sick and ridiculous?
Two, four, six, eight:
They brainwash and teach you hate.
H-E-L-L-O, Hello.”

It makes more sense if you listen. I promise.
12. This song was stolen by Coolio about twenty years later as the basis for his hit, “Gangsta’s Paradise”. The appalling thing is that Coolio changed the meaning of the song completely. Coolio was portraying the terrible conditions of life for inner-city blacks today. In this recording, however, Stevie Wonder points out many of the terrible things that have happened to his race, but with the main idea that we need to move on, that things are improving, and that with time things will continue to do so. I like that; it’s a great message of hope.

The lyrics:
“They've been spending most their lives
Living in a pastime paradise
They've been spending most their lives
Living in a pastime paradise
They've been wasting most their lives
Glorifying days long gone behind
They've been wasting most their days
In remembrance of ignorance oldest praise
Tell me who of them will come to be
How many of them are you and me

Dissipation
Race Relations
Consolation
Segregation
Dispensation
Isolation
Exploitation
Mutilation
Mutations
Miscreation
Confirmation....... to the evils of the world

They've been spending most their lives
Living in a future paradise
They've been spending most their lives
Living in a future paradise
They've been looking in their minds
For the day that sorrow's gone from time
They keep telling of the day
When the Savior of love will come to stay
Tell me who of them will come to be
How many of them are you and me

Proclamation of Race Relations
Consolation
Integration
Verification of Revelations
Acclamation
World Salvation
Vibrations
Simulation
Confirmation....... to the peace of the world

They've been spending most their lives
Living in a pastime paradise
They've been spending most their lives
Living in a pastime paradise
They've been spending most their lives
Living in a future paradise
They've been spending most their lives
Living in a future paradise
We've been spending too much of our lives
Living in a pastime paradise

Let's start living our lives
Living for the future paradise
Praise to our lives
Living for the future paradise
Shame to anyones lives
Living in a pastime paradise”