The Move to Chicago

1
The Move to Chicago

• Armstrong played a hybrid Dixieland style that
  came from the earlier New Orleans style
• In the 1920s the Chicago style replaced that
  sound with a 2/4 jazz beat
• This 2/4 beat style came from ragtime
• Chicago bands (mostly white) adopted this style,
  eliminated the banjo, added the piano and sax,
  and seasoned it with a ragtime beat
• The Chicago style is a mix of ragtime and
  Dixieland
• The musicians were more concerned with whom they
  would play, not with the style

2
New Orleans V/S Chicago Styles

• New Orleans
• Main Melody
• One or two trumpets
• Higher Melody
• Clarinet
• Lower Melody and Chordal Notes
• trombone

• Chicago
• Main Melody
• Trumpet
• Higher Melody
• Clarinet
• Lower Melody and Chordal Notes
• Trombone (soloistis), tenor sax

3
New Orleans V/S Chicago

• Strongest Rhythm Instrument
• Banjo 4/4 beat drums stay soft
• Fundamental Note of Chord
• Tuba
• Solos
• Short
• Collective Improvisation
• Heavy emphasis

• Strongest Rhythm Instrument
• Drums, using heavy after beat pianists left hand
  plays 2/4 beat
• Fundamental Note of Chord
• String bass, using some walking patterns
• Solos
• Long, sometimes very long
• Collective Improvisation
• Less emphasis more individual solos

4
New Orleans StyleWest End Blues

• West End Blues was recorded by Louis Armstrong
  and His Hot Five in June, 1928
• Armstrongs trumpet solo at the beginning changes
  the course of jazz
• Armstrong is backed up in Dixieland style
• Performers
• Trumpet and vocal - Louis Armstrong
• Trombone - Fred Robinson
• Clarinet - Jimmy Strong
• Piano - Earl Hines
• Banjo - Mancy Cara
• Drums - Zutty Singleton

5
West End Blues SCCJ 1-17

• .00 Double-time intro by trumpet
• .16 Flat-four rhythm section trumpet leads
  texture, clarinet and trombone play slower
  melodies in accompaniment.
• .50 Trombone solo, drummer uses wood blocks,
  banjo continues 4/4 beat, right hand trills in
  piano accompaniment
• 1.25 Call-response between clarinet and voice
  voice improvises double-time melodies like those
  in the intro banjo strums a flat-four beat.
• 1.58 Piano solo, melodic right hand
  (double-time).
• 2.11 Octaves in right hand make melody more
  forceful.
• 2.33 All horns play long notes, banjo and piano
  play a flat-four beat.
• 2.45 Trumpet solo with double-time melodies over
  long notes by clarinet and trombone.
• 2.56 Piano interlude.
• 3.10 Ending.

6
Chicago Style Somebody Stole My Gal

• Performers
• Cornet - Bix Beiderbecke
• Trombone - Bill Rank
• Clarinet - Izzy Friedman
• Bass sax - Min Leibrook
• Piano - Lennie Hayton
• Drums - Harry Gale
• Recorded two months before Armstrong

7
SOMEBODY STOLE MY GAL - 1928 INTRO. TO JAZZ
DISC 1, 6

• .00 Introduction Horns in harmony, tutti rhythm
  (not improvised), orchestra bells in background.
• .06 Chicago-style ensemble collective
  improvisation 2/4 jazz beat all melodies are
  equal to the texture bass sax plays bass line
  and fills.
• .35 Cornet leads and the other horns respond at
  the ends of phrases.
• .54 Clarinet solo, accompanied by long notes
  (possibly not improvised) verse to this song is
  used as a bridge.
• 1.12 Piano solo, ragtime style the right hand
  is more rhythmic than melodic.
• 1.30 Cornet solo accompanied by the rhythm
  section.
• 1.56 The full ensemble plays a very short
  interlude
• 1.58 Trombone solo, rhythm section continues.
• 2.16 Solo break by trombone.
• 2.18 Full ensemble improvising.
• 2.43 Written ending with a return of the
  orchestra bells, tutti rhythm in horns.

8
Comparing the Styles

• New Orleans Style
• Relaxed playing
• Virtuoso cornet playing
• Great improvisation
• Piano styles very different

• Chicago Style
• Precise playing
• Virtuoso cornet playing
• Great improvisation
• Piano styles very different

9
Bix Beiderbecke

• 1903-1931

10
Bix Beiderbecke

• Leon Bismarck Beiderbecke
• Absolute pitch and tonal memory
• Casa Loma Orchestra
• Davenport, Iowa
• Paddle-wheelers
• 1919 - ODJB

11
Bix Beiderbecke

• Louis Armstrong said they were working on the
  same thing
• Self-taught on the cornet
• Unique sound from the instrument due to valve
  combinations
• 1919-1923
• Lake Forrest Military Academy
• Prohibition and drinking
• Harmonic extensions and intervallic leaps

12
Bix Beiderbecke

• 1923 formed a band called the Wolverines
• Gained most popularity in the Northeast and
  Midwest
• 1924 recorded 16 sides for Gennett Studios
• Recorded Hoagy Carmichaels Riverboat Shuffle
  (they met at Indiana University)
• Alcoholism
• Rose to the position of the most exciting white
  jazz soloist

13
Bix Beiderbecke

• The color line
• Louis Armstrongs mark in jazz was far reaching
• Bix Beiderbeckes mark established a following
• 1927 joined Paul Whiteman
• 3 trumpets, 1 cornet, 4 trombones
• 8 reeds
• 6 violins, a banjo, a tuba, a string bass

14
Bix Beiderbecke

• Paul Whitemans orchestra, cont
• 2 pianos, drums, 2 vocal trios, 4 arrangers, a
  librarian
• Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Bing Crosby, Ferde Grofe
• Bixs attitude toward the orchestra
• Played until 1929 (85 recording sessions and many
  radio broadcasts)
• Often featured at the piano

15
Bix Beiderbecke

• Moved to NYC in 1931 and played with the
  soon-to-be greats
• The Dorseys, Benny Goodman, Gene Krupa, Glenn
  Miller, etc.
• August 6, 1931 suffered a seizure
• Buried in Davenport on August 11, 1931

16
Bix plays!

• Frankie Trumbauer and His Orchestra
• Singin the Blues SCCJ 1-21
• Bix Beiderbecke cornet Frankie Trumbauer
  C-melody sax Bill Rank trombone Jimmy Dorsey
  clarinet and alto sax Paul Mertz piano Eddie
  Lang guitar Chauncey Morehouse drums
• Riverboat Shuffle SCCJ 1-22
• Bix Beiderbecke cornet Bill Rank trombone Don
  Murray clarinet and baritone sax Frankie
  Trumbauer C-melody sax Doc Ryker alto sax Itzy
  Riskin piano Eddie Lang guitar Chauncey
  Morehouse drums
• Bix is called The first white jazz musician
  whose work can be taken seriously.

17
Louis Armstrong

• 1901-1971

18
Louis Armstrong (1901-1971)

• Possibly the greatest of all jazz innovators
• He changed the course of jazz between 1925 - 1929

19
Louis Armstrong

• Born Daniel Louis Armstrong on August 4, 1901 (he
  claimed July 4, 1900)
• Arrested when he was 12 and put in the Colored
  Waifs Home for 1-1/2 years
• While there, a teacher gave him a cornet and a
  bugle along with lessons
• Became the bandleader
• Released, sold papers and worked in a dairy

20
Louis Armstrong

• discovered by King Oliver
• 1917 - Storyville closed, King Oliver left for
  Chicago, Armstrong replaced him in Kid Orys Band
• 1922 Armstrong joined King Olivers Creole Band
  in Chicago
• Lil Hardin, pianist with King Oliver, pushed
  Louis into formal music study
• 1924 Armstrong and Hardin were married
• Lil Harden was the most prominent woman jazz
  musician at the time. She played piano, composed,
  and arranged for most of the important Hot Bands
  in New Orleans at the time. She composed
  Struttin with Some Barbecue

21
Louis and Lil

• Struttin with Some Barbecue Louis Armstrong
  and His Hot Five
• Music by Lillian Hardin Armstrong
• Recorded 12/9/27 in Chicago
• Louis Armstrong cornet Edward Kid Ory
  tromboneJohnny Dodds clarinet Lil Armstrong
  piano Johnny St. Cyr banjo

22
Louis Armstrong

• 1925-1929 made the historically significant Hot
  Five and Hot Seven recordings
• Armstrong dismissed that period in his
  autobiography Swing That Music

23
Louis ArmstrongThe Swing Period

• Did Louis Armstrong contribute to the jazz scene
  after 1930?
• From 1931 on
• Traveled to England and Europe
• Movie Pennies from Heaven in 1936
• Until 1947 led the traditional swing band
• Piano, bass, drums, guitar, 4 trumpets, 3
  trombones, 4-5 saxes
• Commercial, but exciting

24
Louis Armstrong - the Post-Swing Period

• 1947 - returned to Chicago Dixieland format
• Theme songs
• Hello Dolly and Sleepy Time Down South
• Remained before the public
• Known as a Musical Ambassador
• Apolitical
• 1957 turned down a State Department tour