SIDE A

Jazz appreciation is one of the most least talked about subject and it is a way of life that is still going on in the world. Jazz appreciation, or listening to jazz, and reading about it is one of the cornerstones of jazzing or jazznetting, or jazz-hanging and listening, i.e., where we all meet as Jazz lovers and 'dig' and read the threads on the sleeves or jacket of the album or CD - nowadays on the video and the Internet. Today with so many genres of popular music, Jazz is no more at the pinnacle of all music. Nonetheless, we will appreciate some artist and their feats, influence and compositions. We will dig Jazz by recognizing some giants and understand their humanity beneath soulful, rhythmic and spiritual jazz rendering. Jazz is the kind of music that lets you hold and lay back and let the music speak for itself and the artist show you where he/she is coming from, and how him/her life inspired this kind of music. Jazz music is without flaw and the artist made recordings that were signposts marking high points, turning points and moments of sheer genius. In short, their music required a lot of listening and reading; their lives need to be know in some depth to be able to appreciate their artfully soulful/spiritual renditions

We had Explosive drummers who were funky; pianists with unusual signatures; some had mesmerizing and and beautiful melodies; others crossed different musical genres; one gets to listen to superb composers and arrangers who new how to put together monster arrangements and and improvisation; then there were those who managed to define their instruments in tandem with the jazz music composition and performance. we had and still have musicians who who have a serene touch and wonderful innovative ideas; there are artists who worked from simple structures and they laid out wonderfully and lyrical and extended improvisations; then there was the spiritually moving and uplifting recordings imbued with the celebration of divine love, with equal measures of devotion and exploration rendered by the artists.

We should by now be aware that the folklore of black Southerners was a process of artistic communication, exemplified in recurring performances of music, folk tales, and material culture. These performances reflect both continuity with Africa and creativity in the New World. The oral traditions of black southerners included creole language such as Gullah and a variety of dialects generally known as "lack speech." Southern black people's speech has also included special linguistic forms such as jive talk, with African-derived slang words such as "guy," "jive," "hip," and "dig" and so forth. More especially notable red such known forms such as rapping, toasting and ritualized linguistic interactions such as signifying and playing the dozens. Bakari Kitwana put it this way in explaining rap music in 1994: "The development of rap music and other forms of black music is a discussion that is often intense, and it never fails to generate a colorful range of emotions and opinions. Ti is a debate that can be heard in our homes and schools, in barbershops, beauty shop,and coffee shops,at work,alongside basketball courts, our playgrounds and in Congress. However, much of what has been said, written and continuously discussed opens a lager void than it fills."

Jazz Origins and Influences

Bakari continues to make his analysis,which is part of the discussion that takes place between Jazz enthusiasts and rap musicians, who, in essence, are simply saying the same thing about these different types of music, and this is a dialogue, as I have appointed out above, which has been going on form the beginning of Jazz music in the south. Bakari adds: "Rap, and other forms of black music intend to promote more careful, critical thinking on the part of the artists, genre enthusiasts and the general public. These types of music provided definitions for difficult, often unapproached, misunderstood, and misrepresented concepts such as hip hop culture and hardcore, among others; and with jazz, as to its relevance to todays generation. Attempts are being made to place the discussion of rap, jazz, soul, R&B into the larger concerns of Black Culture women's struggle, the great disparity between America's minority economic elite and majority poor, and the extensive impact of white supremacy(racism) on Black world Development. Its about rap, jazz, soul, R&B, rock and toll; Its about Signifying; the dozens; Black Culture; music; definition; blacks; race;; gender; Black art; sexuality; community; consciousness; creativity; youth; adults; elders. ancestors; words; politics; economics; Media History; spirituality; healing; liberation; life and Rap, Jazz, Soul, R&B, Gospel and so on." Jazz, as a music form and genre, emanates and is expressed form all these shared experiences. Jazz has influenced and is is influenced by a variety of factors. Jazz has, from the time of its inception in the 20th Century, and through incorporating music from the 19th century, spawned a variety of other genres form New Orleans, Ragtime and New Orleans music from 1890s to 1910s, Dixieland from the 1910s, big band style swing from from the 1930s and 1940s, Bebop from the mid 1940s, along with Latin Fusions, such as Afro-Cuban and Brazilian jazz, from the 1950s and 1960s, jazz-rock fusion from the 1970s and late 1980s we saw the development of acid jazz, which blends jazz influences into funk(Known in some quartos as Afro-jazz) and hip-hop. We also some variants of European and and Asiatic jazz; we also have cool jazz, Hard Pop,soul Jazz, Post bop, Jazz fusion, Modal Jazz, Free jazz and so on.

This experience come from trickster folk tales and their themes of the struggle for mastery between the trickster and a small animal like Brer Rabbit and a bigger and more powerful adversary. Folklorists like J. Mason and other who collected a cycle of stories featuring the never -ending contest of the slave trickster and old Master. And in both cases, the trickster defeats the his rival through intellect and not physical attributes. In the same, but different way, Black Southern music originated in the plantations, affected and influenced by the hardships of plantation life; some from field hollers of plantation workers; at times from the street cries of of Black urban peddlers; other songs came from southern prison. From haunting spirituals of slaves, black gospel developed music. The Blues evolved from rural performers, right up to the reels and buck dances of slave fiddlers and banjo pickers evolved through fife and drum bands of Mississippi, jug bands of Memphis and Charleston, and brass bands of New Orleans into early Jazz.(Charles Joyner)

Jazz Synergy

Jazz was also influenced by folk belief that is strongly influenced by African patterns of folk belief, as is the music of Jazz. The South was the principal arena in which various African cultural traditions were transformed into an Afro-American culture. Jazz then grew into a world-wide musical phenomenon that there are jazz bands, quartets, quintets, ensembles, big bands, duets, solos and so on. In this piece we would like to appreciate jazz from many fronts, epochs or eras.

There is speculation in the Jazz realm as to whether a certain narrative is suitable for its history. What Jazz does is to tell story of a complex and nuanced musical form that is several centuries old and has rapidly changed and developed. But there are tales, often told of heroic and tragic figures who led bands or played most solos is no more so frequently narrated in the music and cultural lore and world. In this case, one cannot recount the history of Jazz musicians through the prism of one type of genre, instruments or lyrical sounds of artist. It would be instructive and better to talk about Jazz musicians from different eras, without any sequential dates or times. It would be like appreciating music form a vinyl, tape, CD player. iPods or even videos, just going with the flow, and not concerned with the order they have to come in. The artist we will follow will maybe shed the light as to the progression of Jazz form earlier in history, right up to contemporary times. Jazz is nothing if not interactive and improvisatory and a leader or soloist can't go it alone, not all the time, anyway. The following artist contributed immensely to Jazz and we appreciate them as we appreciate the music they have made, by writing about them.

Some Jazz Greats

Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong

Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 - July 6, 1971), nicknamed 'Satchmo' or 'Pops', was an innovative trumpet and singer. He came to be known i in Jazz in the 1920s with an innovative approach towards playing a cornet or trumpet. He was born into a a poor family but at age 5 managed to attend Fisk School for boys, where he was exposed to Creole music. After a short stint as a paper boy, he began to hang out in dance Halls and got to see licentious dancing to the quadrille. He also go to listen to bands like Joe "King" Oliver band. At the age of 11, Bunk Johnson said he taught Louis how t play the cornet. He also showed gratitude to the Jewish family that took him into their household, fed him and natured him. He eventually ended being sent multiple times to a home for juvenile delinquency. Under the strict discipline of Captain Joseph Jones. He got his first dance hall gig at Henry Ponce's and Black Benny became his protector. He resigned from the Kid Ory's band and joined and married Daisy Parker from Louisiana. In 1922 he joined Joe "King" Oliver's Creole band. He worked with many other artists and made his first recordings on the Gennett. He married the second, a lady pianist Lil Hardin. In 1924 he parted company with Oliver in a cordial manner and went to New York to play with the Fetcher Henderson band. In Fletcher's Band he influenced Tenor Saxophonist Coleman Hawkings. Lewis made many recordings at this time arranged by his friend Clarence Williams. He got criticized for accepting the title of King of the Zulus given to him by the people of New Orleans. People tried to emulate him and got their lips cracked for the effort. He recorded with his Hot Five combo;; Dukes Band admired him and followed his shows. He had a great fondness for Marijuana. He played with Earl Father Hines; Erskine Tate's little Symphony; played Fats Waller's music; played with Lionell Hampton. He divorced in 1937 and married his long-time girlfriend, Alpha. Joe Glasser, Armstrong's manager dissolved the Armstrong band and established a six piece band. This group featured Armstrong with Jack Teagarden, then next it was Father Earl HInes and the top swing dixieland musicians, and most of them were ex-big band leaders. This group, The All Stars, at various times included Earl 'Fatha' HInes, Barney Bigard, Edmond Hall. Jack Teagarden, Trummy Young, Avrell Shaw, Billy Kyle, Marty Napoleon, Big Sid Catlett, Cozy Cole, Tyree Glenn, Barett Deems and the Philipino percussionist, Danny Barcelona. He was the first musician to appear on Time Magazine. He toured Africa, Europe and Asia. The nickname Satch is short for Satchelmouth(describing his embouchure). In the Airport in London, Melody Maker Magazine greeted Armstrong with "Hello. Satchmo. this name has stuck since then. He sang with brakeman Jimmie Rodgers, Bing Cosby, duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, Bessie Smith and with Ella Fritzgerald. He recorded Three albums with Ells: Ella and Louis. Ella and Louis Again and Porgy and Bess for Verve Records.

His hits record include "Stardust", "What a Wonderful World", "When the Saints go Marching In", "Dream a little dream of Me", "Ain't Misbehaving", 'Stomping on the Savoy", "We have all the Time in the World", "Hello Dolly",(which Nearly toppled the Beattles from the Bill Boards Top 100 charts). He also had Grammies with these tunes:"St. Louis Blues"(1929), "Weather Birds", "Blue Yodel #9(Standing on the Corner) [1930), "All of Me"(1932), "Porgy and Bess"(1958), "Hello Dolly"(1964), Heebie Jeebies"(1926), "What a Wonderful World"(1968), "Mack the Knife"(1955) and "West End Blues"(1928)

Sidney Betchet

He was born on May 14th, 1897 and passed on on May 14, 1959. He was born in a wealth Creole family. He was a jazz musician who played a saxophone, Clarinet and was also a composer. He had a forceful delivery, well constructed improvisations, and a unique, and wide vibrato which was his signature. Despite is prowess as a Clarinet player, he was well-known and dubbed the first grandmaster of the saxophone. He left New Orleans at twenty and travelled between New York and Chicago. He was arrested in Paris for being in the scene of a shooting of a woman, and served time. He was deported afterwards. Ken Burns, in his documentary, says the shootout started when Sidney was arguing with another musician who told him he played the wrong notes. Betchet challenged the man to a duel, but others say he was ambushed by this other musician.

The highlights of his life as a jazz musician when he sided with "Tommy Ladnier " session "Weary Blues". "Really the Blues were with Louis Armstrong in "Clarence Williams Blue Five"; In the 1940s with "New Orleans Feetwarmers"; and in a 1938, and various of his compositions. In 1940 he made an appearance on NBC's The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin street and played his masterpieces "Shake it and Break I" and St Louis Blues along with Henry Levine's dixieland band. He has also recorded a pop version of the song "The Sheik Araby" playing six different instruments: clarinet, soprano saxophone, Tenor saxophone, piano, bass and drums. Sidney Bechet said: "I started by playing The Sheik on piano, and played the drums while listening to the piano, I meant to play all the rhythm instruments, but got mixed up and grabbed my soprano, then the bass, then the tenor saxophone, and finally finished up with the clarinet. Duke Ellington observed thus: "Bechet to me was the very epitome of jazz... everything he played in his whole life was completely original. I honestly think he was the most unique man to ever be in this music. Robert Palmer, the music reporter for the New York Times wrote of Bechet that: By combining the 'cry' of the blues players and the finesse of the Creoles into his 'own way,' Sindney Bechet created a style which moved the emotions even as it dazzled the mind. Bechet did some private recordings found in Max Miller's archives in 1944, 1946 and 1953 and all have never been released. In 1968 Bechet was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame.

Duke Ellington

Unlike other leaders of big bands, Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (1899-1974 0 personally created and composed all the music his orchestra played. Wit his insight and sensitivity he composed,designed and set it up for specific players and emphasized the individuality of his band members. His is America's greatest all round musicians- composer, orchestrator/arranger, songwriter, bandleader/conductor, accompanist and soloist. Duke is the most influential artist in the history of recorded music. H e is also recognized as one of the greatest figures in the history of jazz and his music was in the categories of blues, gospel, movie sound tracks, popular and classics. His charisma and refined public manner elevated the perception of jazz to an artistic level on par with classical genre. In 1999 he received a special award citation from the Pulitzer Price Board. Some of the most well known musicians in jazz were melded into playing with Duke not one of the most well known jazz orchestra units in the history of jazz.

At age seven, he had started taking piano lesson from Marietta Clinkscales. His smother taught him how to be dignified and reinforced manners and to live elegantly. His friend, Edgar McEntree, thought in order for him to be eligible for constant companionship, gave him the title of Duke. In his autobiography, he said he thought he attended less of his piano lesson that he was supposed to , he composed in 10973, "Music is my Mistress", because at that time he had felt that playing piano was not his talent. When he vacationed with is mother during the summer moths, he started listening to, watching and imitating ragtime pianists in Philadelphia, Washington D.C. and Atlantic City. Throughout the guidance of Oliver "Doc" Perry, he was taught in private lessons in harmony, learned to read sheet music, project a professional style and improve his technique. He was also inspired by pianist like P. Johnson and Luckey Roberts. He later took advice from Will Marion Cook, Fats Waller and Sidney Bechet.. He continued to play in clubs around Washington D.C. and his attachment grew very strongly that he tuned down an art scholarship to the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.

He joined with Sonny Greer, his drummer when they were invited to join the Wilber Sweatman Orchestra in New york City. He moved into Harlem and became one of the figures of the Harlem Renaissance.. He joined the African-American theatre when the dance craze, the Charleston, emerged in Harlem. they also played at the rent-house parties for income. he finally returned to D.C. very discouraged. By 1924, Ellington made eight records and received a composing credit on three including "Choo Choo. for a time he played with Sidney Bechet and attracted the biggest names in jazz like Paul Whiteman. Ellington, was thrown into prominence by the arrangement by Mills at Brunswick, Viktor and Columbia labels.

At the Cotton Club, Ellington's band performed all the music for the revues which mixed comedy, dance numbers, vaudeville, burlesque, music, and illegal alcohol. Weekly radio broadcasts from the Club gave Ellington national exposure. He was featured with Ruby Keeler and with the music and lyrics by George Gershwin and Gus Kahn.. In the 1930s he was having gigs at the Roseland Ballroom, Americas most noted ballroom. Things began to improve for Ellington in 1938 when he moved-in with a Cotton Club employed, Beatrice "Evie" Ellis. After splitting with his agent, he signed with the William Morris Agency, and ended up with the end of the 1930 with a successfully European Tour.

Duke Ellington composed some big hits in the 1930s helped greatly by his reputation. These songs include: "Mood Indigo"(1930), "It Don't Mean a Thing(If It Ain't Got That Swing"(1932), "Sophisticated Lady"(1933), "Solitude"(1934), "In a Sentimental Mood"(1935), "Caravan"(1937), "I let A Song Go Out Of My Heart(1938), "Take The A Train", made a hit in 1941 and was composed by Billy Strayhorn. Strayhorn contributed his original lyrics, arranged and polished many of Ellington's , and became Ellington's doppelganger, and always filled-in for Ellington.

His most well known compositions were specifically for a the style and skills of the players, such as "Jeeps Blues" for Johnny Hodges, "Concerto for Cootie", for Cootie Williams, later it became "Do Nothing Till you hear from Me" with Bob Russell's lyrics, and the "Mooche" for Trick Sam Nanton and Bob Miley.. He made hits by recording pieces from his bandsmen such as Juan Tizol's "Caravan and "Perdido" which brought the "Spanish Tinge" to big band jazz. The Due made his appearance in 1956 at the Newport Jazz Festival and this returned him to wider prominence and a new audience. Johnny Hodges had rejoined the Band and this gave a renewed Ellington renewed the impetus which the Newport appearance made possible and help to create.

In the 1960s. as Ellington was between recording contracts, this exposed him to record with a variety of artists not previously associated with him. both Ellington's and Count Basie's Orchestras recorded with Coleman Hawkings, Frank Sinatra, Charles Mingus and Max Roach, Lawrence Brown(Trombonist) and Cootie Williams. He also recorded with Bea Benjamin in 1963/1997, the song "A Morning In Paris". Ellington said: "The writing and playing of music is a matter of intent.... You can't just throw a paint brush against the wall and call whatever happens art. My music fits the tonal personality of the player. I think too strongly in terms of altering my music to fit the performer to be impressed by accidental music. You can't take doodling seriously.(H. W. Wilson company)

Ellington married his high school sweetheart Edna Thompson in 1918. The had their first son Mercer Kennedy Ellington, who when grown up played trumpet and led his own band and worked as his father's business manager and took full control of his father's band, and an important archivist of his father's musical life. Ruth(Ellington's sister) later ran Tempo Music, Ellington's music publishing company.

Fats Waller

Fats Waller was born on May 21, 1904 and was the youngest of eleven children born to Edward and Adeline Waller. His father was a lay-preacher at Harlem's Abyssinian Baptist Church. Fats accompanied them on Piano and earned the nickname "Fats" due to his size. Waller's flexibility in his playing and compositional mindset came from his years as a silent film accompanist, having acquired this skill too by being trained by Miss Mazie Mullins and eventually played with films at the Lincoln and Lafayette Theaters in Harlem. Waller's first wife was Edith Hatchett, well-schooled in the Bible. When his mother died, Waller struggled to shoulder adults responsibilities,but his enthusiasm for jazz got him kicked out by his father for playing what he called the 'devil's creation'. And, form playing for silent movies, he developed his ability to compose tunes very quickly, because of his "reflex" ability - fitting the right cord, melodic gesture, or rhythmic scheme to the appropriate visual situation or character.

He became a skilled pianist and master of stride piano. He was one of the most popular performers of his era, and found commercial success in Europe and America, including Africa. He was a prolific composer and many songs he wrote are still popular such as "Honeysuckle Rose", Ain't Misbehaving" and "Squeeze Me". He also composed many novelty swing tunes and sold them for next to nothing. Fats Waller copyrighted over 400 tunes, and many of them co-co-written by his closest collaborator Andy Razaf. Gene Sedric observed that: "Fats was the most relaxed man I ever saw in a studio, and so he made everybody relaxed. After a balance had been taken, we'd just need to make a side, unless it was a kind of difficult number."

He played with from Gene Austin to Erskine Tate to Adelaide Hall, and his greatest success came with his own five or six piece combo. "Fats Waller and his Rhythm".(Waller ,Maurice and Anthony Calabrese) He enjoyed success touring the United Kingdom and Ireland in 1930 and appear in one of the first BBc Television broadcasts. It is told that he was once kidnapped after a show and at gun-point was made to play for Al Capone, and he got paid a thousand dollars for playing for three days for the mob boss. He wrote a Broadway hit "(hat did I Do to Be So) Black and Blue" in 1929 which became a hit for Ethel Waters and Louis Armstrong. Waller influenced Count Basie and Errol Garner and today Dick Hyman, Mike Lipskin, Louis Mazatier and other jazz pianists perform in the Waller idiom. Waller contracted pneumonia and did on a cross country train trip in Kansas City, Missouri on december 15, 1943. He has been inducted into the the songwriters Hall of Fame(1970; Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame(1989); Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award(1993); Jazz at Lincoln Center: Nesuhi Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame(2005) and Gennett Records Walk of Fame in 2008.

Jelly Roll Morton

Jelly Roll Morton, according to his baptismal certificate, he was born on October 20, 1890, and both Morton and his half sister claimed he was born on September 20, 1885; his World War I draft registration listed his birth date as September 13, 1884; his California death certificate listed his birth date as September 20, 1889. He was born to F.P. Lamothe and Louise Monette. His parents were in a common-law marriage and not legally married. He used his step-father's lame, Mouton and changed it to Morton.

Morton was regarded as one of the greatest pianists in Storyville district in the early 20th century. He started playing piano, at the age of 14 working as a piano player in a brothel(sporting house) and had convinced his church-going grandmother that he worked in a barrel factory. The New Orleans had many brothels in the early twentieth century that were white/Black and Creole divides, and were the famous melting pots of musical influences inherent therein. Morton made a claim that he single-handedly invented Jazz in the early part of the century. Looking at his musical recordings and composition, this may not have been further from the truth. When his grandmother found out that he had been playing in brothels, she kicked him out of the house.. His major influence was Tony Jackson and according to Morton, Jackson was the only pianist better than him; he was also a pianist at whorehouses, as well as an accomplished guitar player..

In 1904 he started working in the American South with minstrel shows, gambling and composing. His works, "Jelly roll Blues," "New Orleans Blues," Frog-I-More Rag," "Animule Dance," and "King Porter Stomp" were composed in the 1900s. In 1910 he was in Chicago and 1911 in New York where Willie "The Lion" Smith saw his act. . He toured with girlfriend, Rosa Brown in 1912-1914 as a vaudeville act, three years before the blues were played in the north. He started writing his composition in 1914 and in 1915 his "Jelly Roll Blues" was the first jazz composition ever published, recording as sheet music the New Orleans traditions that had been jealously guarded by musicians.

In Chicago in 1923 arrived there to claim authorship of his recently-published rag, "The Wolverines", which had become as hit as the "Wolverine blues. Here in Chicago he released his first of the commercial recordings, first as piano rolls, then on record, both as a piano soloist and with various jazz bands. In 1926 he got a contract with Viktor records. This gave him a chance to play his arrangements, with his band Jelly Roll Morton and his Red Hot Peppers and these tunes are regarded as the classics of 1920s jazz. In New York City he married showgirl Mabel Bertrand in Gary Indiana, and moved to New York His band recordings suffered, compared to Chicago where he could get man New Orleans musicians. He was able to record with such great artists like clarinetists Omer Simeon, george Baquet, Albert Nicholas, Wilton Crawley, Barney Bigard, Lorenzo Tie and Artie Shaw; trumpeters like Bubber Miley, Johnny Dunn and Harry "Red" Allen; saxophonists Sidney Bechet, , Paul Barnes and Bud Freeman; bassist Pop Foster; and drummers Paul Barbarin, Cozy Cole ad Zutty Singleton. Whilst in New York, he had a brief stint in a radio show, and continued paying less prosperously , he toured in a band of burlesque act and his compositions were recorded by Fletcher Henderson, Benny goodman and others, and he never received any royalties from these recordings.

He then became a manager and piano player at a dive which at various times was called the "Music Box", Blue Moon Inn" and "Jungle Inn". He was master of ceremonies and bouncer in this African American neighborhood. The club was owned by a woman named Cornelia, who let her friends come in and drink freely which impeded business success. One of these people, disgruntled friend stabbed Morton in the head and chest, and his wife demanded they leave DC, and it is speculated that it may be these wounds that caused his early demise. Worsening Asthma affliction sent him to a New YOrk Hospital for three months,and he was carrying a series of manuscripts and new tunes and arrangements and was thinking of starting a new band to restart his career when the ailment got the better of him. He died on July 10, 1941 at age 51 or 56 after an eleventh day stay in Los Angeles County Hospital. Morton often played the melody of a tune with his right thumb, while sounding a harmony above these notes with other fingers of his right hand. This added a rustic or "out-of-tune" sound(due to the playing of a diminished 5th above the melody). He also walked in major and minor sixths in the bass, instead of tenths or octaves. He played basic swing rhythms in both left and right hand.

Some of his songs were: "Gig Foot Ham," "Black Bottom Stomp," "The Crave," "Creepy Feeling," "Doctor Jazz Stomp," "The Dirty dozen," "Fickle Fay Creep," "Freakish," "Genjam," "Good Old New York," "Jungle Blues," "London Blues," "Mint Julep," "New Orleans Bump," "Southern Town," "The Pearls," "Pep," "Pontchartrain," "Sidewalk Blues," "Sweet Substitute," and Wolverine Blues."

Count Basie

William James Basie was born to Harvey Lee Basie, and Lillian Ann Childs and lived on Mechanic Street in Red Bank, New Jersey on August 21, 1904 - April 2, 1984. He was an American jazz pianist, organist. composer and bandleader for 50 years. He was given his first piano, and for doing baked cakes and did laundry, she was paid 25c which she used to pay for his piano lessons. Many musicians came to be well known and musicians in their own right under his direction, and some of these are Lester Young(Tenor saxophonist), Herschel Evans(Trumpeter) Buck Clayton(Trumpeter), Harry "Sweets" Edison(Trumpeter) Jimmy Rushing(Singer) and Joe Williams(Singer).Basie was not much of a scholar but preferred to dream of traveling life, and was inspired by carnivals whenever they came into his town. He hung-out at the Palace Theater in Red Bank and did chores for the manager and this got him free admission In the Theater he learned how operate spotlights for the vaudeville shows. One day he took the place of a piano player who did not arrive by show time, and Basie played by the ear and quickly learnt to improvise music for silent movies. In the end he played in the end because of encouragement from Sonny Greer, who later became Duke Ellington's drummer from 1919-1951. Both he and Greer then began playing with pick up groups for dances, resorts and amateur shows like the Harry Richardson's Kings of Syncopation.(Count Basie 1985)

Around 1924, Basie went to Harlem where Jazz was very popular, and he bumped into Greer, by then Dukes drummer, and he met with some jazz cats like Willie "The Lion" Smith and James P. Johnson. He toured with several band act between 1925 and 1927 including Katie Krippen and Her Kiddies, and on Keith, the Columbia Barlesque and the Theater Owners Bookers Association(T.O.B.A. vaudeville circuits. He was at one time an accompanist and soloist for Katie Krippen and Gonzelle White. Basie toured Kansas Cit, St. Louis, New Orleans and Chicago and he met many great musicians including Louis Armstrong. In 1925 Harlem, most musicians winged their way through without sheet music(Using "head arrangements". He met-up wt Fats Waller who taught him how to play the piano and later Basie got to playing the organ. Willie "The Lion Smith introduced him to survive when the time were hard financially for Basie by arranging gigs at house-rent parties, and introducing him to some great musicians, and taught him some piano techniques In 1928, he was invited to Tulsa by Walter Page and His Famous Blue Devils which featured Jimmy Rushing, among one of the first Big Bands and played mostly in Texas and was at this time that he began to be known as "Count" Basie.

In 1929 he became a pianist for Bennie Moten's band based in Kansas. As a piano player he became a co-arranger with Eddie Durham. During his stint with Moten, he met with Ben Webster who was added to the band. Moten died in 1935 and Basie began to form a band using Moten's players, added Lester Young and their playing at the Reno Club was broadcast live on local radio. They began to improvise on the tune now known as the "One O'Clock Jump". His band set up the D-Flat but went on playing the song in F and this became his signature tune.(Basie) His band became well-known for its rhythm section and was now billed as Count Basie and his Barons of Rhythm, moved to Chicago. Lester Young helped him improve on two tenor saxophones whom he split apart and put each on different sides and had them involved in "duels", and may bands eventually adopted the 'split tenor' arrangements(Basie)

Basie's Decca recording session, which was Lester Young's earlier recordings, in 1937 were "Shoe Shine Boy," "Evening," "Boogie Woogie," and "Oh, Lady Be Good." Basie's sound had by now came to be characterized as his march, "jumping" beat and contrapuntal sounds and accents of his piano. By 1937, his personnel included Lester Young and Herschel Evans(Tenor Sax), Freddie Green(Guitar), Jo Jones(Drums), Walter Page(Bass, Earle Warren(Alto sax), Buck Clayton and Harry Edison(Trumpet) Benny Morton and Dickie Wells(Trombone). Basie also liked the blues and had notable blues singers like Billie Holiday, Jimmy Rushing, Big Joe Turner, Helen Humes and Joe Williams. He also worked with arrangers like Eddie Durham and Jimmy Mundy.

The Count swung hard in New York City, and were booked at the Roseland Ballroom for christmas show. his band lacked the polished look and presentation, to which, through hammond, they came up with some adjustments including softer playing, more solos, more standards and saving their hottest songs for later on in the show and give the audience a chance to warm up. He officially recorded "Pennies From Heaven" and "Honeysuckle". He got introduced to Billie Holiday and Jimmy Rushing was their hot performer by., and they replayed repeatedly numbers they had worked on in rehearsal and as a group they were able to repeat a song they found that they liked too, using their band collective memory. In 1938 they played at the Savoy which was also known for its 'Jitterbugging' and Roseland was know for then for 'Fox Trots' and congas. They gained wider public acceptance and support after their band battled with such aggression, and Basie maintained his tantalizing arpeggios which teased Chic to more forceful drum beating, which had audience u, dancing and trying to catch their breadths and steps and it was here where he encountered Ella Fritzgerald. Benny Goodman eventually recorded "One O'Clock Jump" afterwards.(Basie)

Billie Holiday left for Artie Shaw's band and was replaced by Helen Humes. During the war years the band was fully booked, and made little money. Basie quit MCA and signed up with the Million Morris Agency who got them better paying gigs. The war years saw a drop in hall bookings, and swing began to fade-out. The Bebop era had just started and the era of pop singer was about to get started. In 1946 Basie disbanded the the band, and for a while performed in combos at times into orchestras. After headlining in the Universal-International and 'Sugarchile' Robinson, Billie Holiday, Count Basie and his Sextet, Billie Holiday, in 1952 he re-formed his group as a 16 piece orchestra. Norman Grantz helped him get stints into Birdland club and big band recording companies like Mercury, Clef and Verve Labels. This was at the time of the beginning to the Juke box era, and Basie shared the limelight with Rock 'n 'roll and Rhythm and Blues artists.. He grew the group into an ensemble, with fewer solos, and relying on "head" and more written arrangements.

He added some Bebop he thought made sense and had feeling. He was sharing headliners at Birdland with Charlie Parer, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis. He kept a strict rhythm pulse and let soloist and others do their thing. He started touring and his band also included Paul Campbell, tommy Turrentine, Johnny Letman, Idris Suleiman, Joe Newman(Trumpet); Jimmy Wilkins, Benny Powell, Matthew Gee(Trombone); Paul Quinichette and Floyd Johnson(Tenor Sax); Marshall Royal and Ernie Wilkins(alto sax); and Charlie Fowkes(baritone sax). He was able to capture the audience that listened to these bands in the 1938 era. in 1945 he toured France, The Netherlands and Germany. He backed every recognized artist up to that time. . The Birdland of 1955 toured with artists like Sarah Vaughan, Errol Garner, Lester Young, George Shearing and Stan Getz. In 1957 he released a live album "At Newport.' He made two tours in the British Isles and put up a splendid performance for Queen Elizabeth II, along with Judy Garland, Vera Lynn and Mario Lanza. He also worked with Frank Foster and Quincy Jones, both as arrangers. He also performed at one of the five J.F Kennedy Inaugural balls. Count and Duke combined their forces and recorded First Time! The Count Meets the Duke, and each provided numbers from their play books.

During the balance of the 1960s the band toured, recorded, made television appearances,played in Festivals, performed in Las Vegas Shows and traveled abroad. Somewhere around 1964 he began wearing his trademark yachting cap(Basie). He ket on changing personnel right into the 1970s. He made a few more movie appearances with Jerry Lewis, Mel Brooks and played his arrangement of "April in Paris". Count Basie died of pancreatic cancer in Hollywood, Florida on April 26, 1984.

Count Basie got the following awards: Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame, Inducted 1958; late 1970s Honoree at 6508 Hollywood Blvd.., Hollywood Wall of Fame Category; Kennedy Center Honors, Honoree 1981; Grammy Trustees Award, winner 1981; NEA Jazz Masters, Winner 1983; Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, Winner 2002; Nesuhi Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame, Inducted 2005; Long Island Music Hall of fame, inducted 2007. There so much more about Count, we need to move on and dig some more artists and Great Jazz Masters.

Charlie Parker

Charles Parker, Jr. was born in August 29, 1920 and passed away March 12th, 1955 was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He was born in kansas City, Missouri,and was the only child of charles and Addie Parker. His father was an alcoholic and little Parker attended Lincoln High School. He enrolled in September 1934 and withdrew in December 1935, and at that time he registered with the local Musicians Union. Charlie jr.., was influenced as a musician by his father, who played piano, and was a dancer and singer on the T.O.B.A. circuit. His mother worked at the local Western Union.

Parker started playing the saxophone when he was 11 years old and at age 14 he joined his house school band using rented school instrument. Because he did not have formal playing, he was thrown out of the band. Parker had several set backs with his playing over the yeas, and in 1936 Parker participated in a 'cutting contest that included Jo Jones on drums. Parker worked very hard and practiced, learning the blues, "cherokee and rhythm changes" in all twelve keys. During this learning experience, he improved and mastered improvisation and developed some ides of be-bop. It has been said that he played for three to four years practicing 15 hours a day. He often played in an unconventional concert pitch key signatures, like E (which transposes to C# for alto sax. He was influence by groups led by Count Basie and Bennie Moten.. He continued to play in local clubs and his technique was hone by Buster Smith, who had dynamic transitions to double and triple time, really influenced Parker's style. He payed to his peak whist on this band and showed his virtuosity without implying a lack of musicality. When he was a teenager, he developed a morphine addiction after being hospitalized in a car accident, and in the end ended up being addicted to heroin.

In New York City he worked as a dishwater at Jimmie's Chicken Shack, and Art Tatum performed there. Charlie's style echoed Art Tatum with dazzling, high speed arpeggios and sophisticated use of harmony. In 1942 he played with Earl HInes for a year. He played too in the band of Dizzy Gillespie. Due to the strike in 1942 and 1943 by the American Federation of Musicians, Parker kept on playing by joining other musicians in after-hours clubs in Harlem, such as Clark Monroe Monroe's Uptown House. It is said that Monk said that they wanted to pay music that white bandleaders would not play because they had taken over swing and profited from it. Bebop is a method the musician developed his solo that enabled him to play by building on the chords' extended intervals, such as ninths, elevenths and thirteenths. Whilst still with the McShann's orchestra, Parker had by this time that the twelve tones of the chromatic scale can each be quickly led melodically to any key, breaking some of the confines of simpler jazz soloing. Amongst the criticism about this new genre of jazz, Coleman Hawkings and Benny goodman were more positive about its development, and participated in jam sessions and recording dates in the new approach with its adherents. When the 2 year strike and the recording ban was lifted that Parker was able to collaborate with Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Bud Powell and many others that they began to have a serious impact on the world of Jazz. It was around this time that Parker had a serious bout with heroin that eventually had him confined ad committed to Camarillo State Hospital of six months.

Charlie Parker's style of composition involved interpolation of original melodies over pre-existing forms and standards, which is still the common practice in jazz today. Parker also contributed to a vast rhythmic vocabulary to modern jazz, one in which triplets and pick-up notes were used in (then) orthodox ways to lead into chord tones. He was well noted for his unique style of phrasing and innovative use of rhythm. today students use and transcribe his concepts and ideas and unique 'riffs' and 'licks' as part of their basic jazz vocabulary.

When I started this article, I noted above that this was "SIDE A" of Jazz appreciation and understanding of history of the artist and his music and awards. Side A has been dealing with a few selected artist of the earlier jazz era. In my next upcoming articles, I will be dealing with "SIDE B", as in vinyl of the most modern Jazz artists. The effort here is to lay ground for the historical synopsis of Jazz and more or less the path it has followed over the years and some of the few key players that affected and effected this form of music we call Jazz. This is still an ongoing riff on the Old Cats and the next will be the licks of the Young Lions up to today.