Excerpt Of Marv Goldberg's Article About Some "Baba Leba" / "Be-Baba-Leba" Songs (Which That Author Considers Separate Songs Than "Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop")

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest revision - May 11, 2023

This pancocojams post presents an excerpt of a 2017 article entitled "Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop" by Marv Goldberg.

I found this article while searching for additional material for the series of posts that I've published on the word "bop" that refer to music and on the word "bop" as part of the title of certain American social dances.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/06/a-timeline-of-sorts-with-information.html, https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/06/book-article-excerpts-about-philly-bop.html, and https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/06/book-article-excerpts-information-about.html for some of the pancocojams posts in these series.

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The content of this post is presented for historical and cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Marv Goldberg and all others who are quoted in this post.

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ARTICLE EXCERPT ABOUT "BE-BABA-LEBA" SONGS AND "HEY!BA-BA-RE-BOP SONGS

Pancocojams Editor's note: The italic font, or bold font, or blockquotes are given as they are found in this article.

From http://www.uncamarvy.com/ReBop/rebop.html Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop" By Marv Goldberg [2017 from Marv Goldberg's R&B Notebook]

"AUTHOR'S NOTE: I didn't think this one would be too difficult although there are a lot of versions. However, it turns out that we're talking about two different songs that most people end up conflating into one. (I have to admit that I never really paid that much attention before starting this article and probably would have agreed that they were variants of the same song.) On top of that, unlike "Open The Door, Richard", little was ever written about the history (real or fanciful) of either song.]

INTRODUCTION
Lionel Hampton's "Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop" was another musical phenomenon, predating "Open The Door, Richard" by a year (with some artists recording both tunes). The discography lists around 70 versions from 1946 through 2014 (and I'm sure there are others).

Just like "Open The Door, Richard", versions could be complex or simple. Many artists just sang "Open The Door, Richard" over and over as a break from the music; many artists just sang "Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop" over and over as a break from the music. Unlike "Open The Door, Richard", those who sang a full set of lyrics tended to use the same set. It was usually spelled the same by everyone, although the placement (or absence) of hyphens varies a lot.

The other song isn't as easy to talk about because each artist gave it a different title, such as "E-Bob-O-Le-Bob", "Be-Baba-Leba", "Ee-Bobaliba", and "Oo-Oo-Ee Bob A Lee Bob". Just to make it easy on myself, I'll refer to all the versions of that tune as "Baba Leba". Nevertheless, they were all essentially the same song, although lyrics were rarely consistent. To confuse things even more, when Helen Humes sang her "Be-Baba-Leba" in a 1947 movie, it was listed as "Hey Baba Leba". There are around a dozen versions through 2013.

Even worse, the two songs overlapped in time to some extent. Helen Humes' "Be-Baba-Leba" was still on the charts when Lionel Hampton released "Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop" in January 1946.

Again, I emphasize that we're talking about two songs that differ both lyrically and musically; they truly are different. However, I have to believe that the title "Be-Baba-Leba" influenced the title "Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop" (although it's possible that both were based on some undocumented song that was performed, but never recorded).

Supposedly, Jazz pianist Jelly Roll Morton called Be-Baba-Leba's refrain "a riff so old it's got whiskers." Nice words, and they might even be true, but there was nothing ever in print prior to 1945 to indicate where the refrain might have come from. (And, I know I'm being picky, but it's probably important for me to point out that Morton died in July 1941, years before the song came out.) So what was he talking about? It turns out that the quote came from "The Fortunes Of Jelly Roll Morton, New Orleans Creole And 'Inventor Of Jazz'", a 1973 book by famed musicologist Alan Lomax. This is the actual late 1930s quote from the book:

His diamond-studded grin lit up the sombre hall as he feathered his barrel-house rhythms out of the concert grand. "You hear that riff" he said. "They call that swing today, but it's just a little thing I made up way back yonder. Yeah, I guess that riff's so old it's got whiskers on it. Whatever those guys play today, they're playing Jelly Roll."

Clearly, Morton is talking about Swing music, not the Baba Reba refrain. The rest of the Baba Reba lyrics, on the other hand, were variations on standard Blues lines and probably did have whiskers.

The terms "be-bop" and "re-bop" appeared as musical nonsense syllables (like "doo wah") as early as the mid-1920s. The earliest example I can find is "Four Or Five Times" by McKinney's Cotton Pickers (Victor, 1928). It contains the lyrics "bih-bop one, bih-bop two, bih-bop three...". Washboard Sam's "Don't 'low" (Bluebird, 1936) has "We don't care what mama don't 'low, we gonna re-bop anyhow". Then, there was "Wham Re Bop Boom Bam", recorded by Glenn Miller (RCA, 1939) and Jimmy Lunceford (Vocalion, 1939), among others. Of course, the term "be-bop" as applied to a kind of jazz music was popularized by Dizzy Gillespie in the 1940s.

"Wham Re Bop Boom Bam" might rate a closer look. It was composed by guitarist Eddie Durham and trumpeter/vocalist Marion Joseph "Taps" Miller, both musicians in Count Basie's Orchestra. This is important because Helen Humes was one of Basie's vocalists at the time the song was written. Tina Dixon joined Lunceford's band a couple of years later and I'm sure they were still performing "Wham" then. Both Helen and Tina recorded the "Baba Leba" song (and each claimed to have written it). Musically, "Wham" has nothing to do with "Baba Leba", but the title is catchy.

I wish I could find out more about the song's origins, but there'll be enough work digging into all the versions. Let's start with "Baba Leba".

BABA LEBA (my catch-all term for all the versions)

E-Bob-O-Le-Bob - Tina Dixon with Jimmie Lunceford - AFRS Jubilee 138 - 7/45

Tina Dixon and Jimmie Lunceford This was recorded in mid-June of 1945. Regardless of what title you may see attached to this, announcer Ernie "Bubbles" Whitman clearly introduces it as "E-Bob-O-Le-Bob". For more on this, see the entry on Tina Dixon, immediately after the one on Helen Humes.

AFRS Jubilee recordings were made by black entertainers and broadcast on the Armed Forces Radio Service; the discs weren't meant for commercial release. It was probably aired in late June or July.

Be-Baba-Leba - Helen Humes, with the Bill Doggett Octet - Philo 106 - 8/45
reissued on Aladdin 106 - ca 3/46

Philo ad Helen Humes Helen Humes was born in Louisville, Kentucky on June 23, 1913. In 1937, she was the vocalist with Prince Albert & His Singin' Sweet Orchestra. After that, it was Vernon Andrades' Band. By July 1938, she'd joined Count Basie's Orchestra, remaining with him until May 1941. Popular throughout the 1940s, her popularity waned considerably in the 1950s. In 1960, she was still being billed as "ex-Basie vocalist". She continued to cut albums and make appearances at jazz concerts throughout the 1970s. Helen died on September 9, 1981 (and her obituaries all mentioned her time with Basie 40 years previously).

Pianist Bill Doggett set up the August 1945 Los Angeles session and specially brought in tenor saxophonist Wild Bill Moore, who wasn't a member of his aggregation. Others on the session were Johnny Brown (alto sax), Ernest Thompson (baritone sax), Ross Butler (trumpet), Alfred Moore (bass), Charles Harris (drums), and Elmer Warner (guitar).

Helen Humes at Jazz At The Philharmonic Helen Humes at the Orpheum Helen Humes - the Be Baba Leba Girl Since Helen's song became a hit, there was a big fight over who actually wrote it. Was it Helen Humes (whose name appears as writer on her record) or Tina Dixon (whose name appears as writer on her record)? While the answer is probably Dixon, it was Helen Humes who had the hit. Billboard (March 30, 1946) reviewed her appearance at the Orpheum in Los Angeles and said: "Her final number, Be-Baba-Leba, brings down the house and nets her a hand slightly short of a showstop."

Helen Humes ad "Be Baba Leba" was a #3 R&B record for Helen Humes. It entered the national charts on December 14, 1945 and remained for 8 weeks. It was the 21st most played R&B juke box record of 1946 (ironically Lionel Hampton's Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop was #1).

These are the lyrics to Helen Humes' "Be-Baba-Leba". (Note that she never once says "be-baba-leba"). Compare these with the Tina Dixon lyrics, below.

Oh well, oh well, I feel so fine today
Oh well, oh well, I feel so fine today
'Cause the man who sends me
Is comin' home to stay

Got a man over there, got a man over here,
But my man over there,
Oo, oo, oo, baba-leba
Oo, oo, baba-leba,
Ah, oo, baba-leba, laba-leba, laba-leba, laba-leba

Well, the man I love is built for speed,
He's got everything his mama needs.
Oo, oo, baba-leba,
Oo, oo, baba-leba,
Ah, oo, baba-leba, laba-leba, laba-leba, laba-leba

Now he thrills me in the mornin', thrills me in the night.
The way he loves me, makes me scream with delight.
Oo, oo, baba-leba,
Oo, oo, baba-leba,
Oo, oo, baba-leba, laba-leba, laba-leba, laba-leba

Comes in like a tiger, goes out like a lamb
Starts a-lovin' me, I holler oo, oo, oo
Oo, oo, baba-leba,
Oo, oo, baba-leba,
Oo, oo, baba-leba, oo baba-leba, baba-leba

It's possible that one reason this song resonated so strongly is because of the first stanza. World War 2 was finally over and men were starting to return home.

Be Ba Ba Le Ba Boogie Around September 1946, Helen released a follow-up record called "Be Ba Ba Le Ba Boogie" on Black & White. It really has nothing to do with the original song ("Ba ba le ba is the hep cat's way"), but starts with some wonderful piano work by Meade Lux Lewis.

E-Bob-O-Le-Bob - Flennoy Trio (vocal by Tina Dixon) - Excelsior 130 - 9/45

Excelsior ad for the Flennoy Trio Tina Dixon The 1944 Billboard yearbook presented this press-agent-generated biography of Tina Dixon:

Tina Dixon, the 'Bombshell of the Blues,' was born in Detroit and started her singing career at 18. Her first club job was at the Club Ballyhoo, Detroit. Tina played de luxe theaters with Jimmie Lunceford and his ork. Night clubs where she has appeared are: Tic Toc Club, Boston; Zanzibar, New York; Bali, Washington. She is managed by Harold F. Oxley [who also managed Jimmie Lunceford and Mabel Scott]. She is in line for a forthcoming radio commercial. Besides her club and theater work she also appeared before television cameras. Tina Dixon has made color movie shorts for Pathe and has performed at many army and navy camps.

By October 1943, Tina Dixon was singing with Jimmie Lunceford's orchestra. She played the Apollo Theater several times, along with Lunceford (for example, the week of December 29, 1944) and her performances were generally well-received.

[[Actually, Augustine "Tina Dixon" Dickson was born in New Orleans in 1913, although her family had moved to Detroit by 1930.]

Tina's "E-Bob-O-Le-Bob" (with the Flennoy Trio) was issued slightly after Helen Humes' "Be-Baba-Leba". There are no available session dates, but it must have been recorded around the time Tina did the above-mentioned AFRS recording with Lunceford in June.

Humes and Dixon essentially sang the same song, but each woman claimed to have written it. It turns out that Tina's was the version originally recorded, but Helen's was the version that got to disc first. This was the subject of a January 26, 1946 Billboard article, at the time when Helen's version was really taking off. It said, in part:

[Charlie] Barnet [representing the Indigo Publishing Company] closed deal for Be-Baba-Leba with Harold Oxley, the agent, who controlled original copyright of the tune introduced in the first place by Tina Dixon, whom Oxley manages. Dixon also made recording of tune for Excelsior label. Her side, however, came out after the Humes version for Philo. Barnet dickered with Helen Humes on tune for a while until he learned that her recorded version followed Dixon's featuring of the song in night clubs, therefore making Dixon's a prior copyright.

It never seemed to have been brought out anywhere at the time that Tina had originally recorded the song in mid-June 1945 (with Jimmie Lunceford's band) for an AFRS Jubilee disc that was "released" (that is, broadcast over the Armed Forces Radio Service network) in June or July and easily makes her version earlier.

Billy Rowe's column in the February 2, 1946 Pittsburgh Courier said: "The publishing rights for 'Be-Baba-Leba,' the new swing tune which is sweeping the country, went to Charlie Barnet. Brought into popularity by Helen Humes, a Count Basie alumnus [sic], the ditty has many variations and just as many supposed authors. Notwithstanding, Harold Oxley, whose Tina Dixon waxed the number first, holds the initial copyright and made the deal with Barnet. Now the thing to do is just sit back and watch the feathers fly."

Tina Dixon sheet music Note that Tina's sheet music had the title as "E-Bob-O-Lee-Bop", rather than "E-Bob-O-Lee-Bob". I guess spelling doesn't count.

The May 16, 1946 California Eagle wrote about Tina Dixon: "Her popular number 'E-Bob-O-Le-Bob' was first introduced in Brooklyn in 1942. Later, she presented it at Shepp's Playhouse and recorded it with the Flennoy Trio." I can neither confirm nor refute the story about Brooklyn. There's only a single mention of Tina in all of 1942, and that's in Detroit. No performance review prior to the release of the record ever mentioned that she'd sung the song, although they sometimes listed other tunes she'd done at shows.

Except for this song, Tina really was a minor character on the scene; almost nothing was ever written about her. She played the Apollo twice in 1938, but wasn't listed in the Apollo's ad for either show (but she was in 1944, 1946, and 1952). Both she and her husband, dancer Leon Collins (whom she married in 1939), were with Jimmie Lunceford's Orchestra for several years. By the 1970s, Tina was making off-color "party" records.

In subsequent recordings, only Charlie Barnet credited Tina Dixon and only Estelle Edson credited Helen Humes. The Bull Moose Jackson/Annisteen Allen disc gave credit to Walter Brown and none of the others listed a writer at all.

Here are the Tina Dixon lyrics to "E-Bob-O-Le-Bob", so that you can compare them to Helen Humes' (they're identical on Tina's Flennoy Trio and Lunceford recordings):

Oh well, oh well, I feel so good today
Oh well, oh well, I feel so good today
Got a letter from my daddy
He's comin' home to stay

He's a big bad man and he weighs 400 pounds
He's a big bad man and he weighs 400 pounds
I won't see you no more when my big bad man comes around

He's built like a sailor, fights like a marine
He's a big fat private but
Oo oo e-bob-o-le-bob [e-bob-o-le-bob]
E-bob-o-le-bob [e-bob-o-le-bob]
E-bob-o-la-bo de-bob-o-lab-o bob-a-le-bob

I got men over there, men over here,
But my man over there,
Oo oo e-bob-o-le-bob [e-bob-o-le-bob]
E-bob-o-le-bob [e-bob-o-le-bob]
E-bob-o-la-bo de-bob-o-lab-o bob-a-le-bob

He's got a head like a monkey
He looks like a frog
When he starts to lovin' me I holler oo-oo-oo
E-bob-o-le-bob [e-bob-o-le-bob *]
E-bob-o-le-bob [e-bob-o-le-bob *]
E-bob-o-la-bo de-bob-o-labo bob-a-le bob

* Note that this particular echo isn't used in the Lunceford version.

Ee-Bobaliba - Jim Wynn & His Bobalibans (vocal by Claude Trenier) - 4 Star 1026 - 10/45
Also released on Foto 1026
Jim Wynn Born on June 21, 1908 in El Paso, Texas, Jim Wynn was a saxophonist (tenor and baritone), pianist, and bandleader. His family relocated to Los Angeles soon after his birth and he started playing in clubs while still a teenager. On the radio with a dance orchestra in 1931, the following year he had Jim Wynn's Eleven Devils. Wynn became a session musician in the 1950s and died on July 19, 1977 in Los Angeles.

As far as I can tell, "Ee-Bobaliba" was his first recording (Los Angeles, around September 1945). Supposedly, this song was a crowd-pleaser, in which he invited audience participation. He claimed to have written it years before (although there's no writer credit on the label). Wynn insisted that Helen Humes got the "be-baba-leba" refrain from him, but, since he never took her to court, there's no proof of that.

Vocalist Claude Oliver Trenier was born on July 14, 1919 in Mobile, Alabama (along with his identical twin brother, Cliff). Claude joined the Jimmie Lunceford band in 1943 (and Cliff came aboard the following year). Leaving Lunceford in 1945, they did various things on their own before becoming the Trenier Twins in 1946, and later, the incredibly successful Treniers. (Like the Red Caps, the Treniers were a visual act. Sensational in person, they didn't do particularly well on records.) Claude died on November 17, 2003 in Las Vegas.

The Bobalibans were: Jim Wynn (tenor and baritone saxophone), Stanley Casey (trumpet), David Graham (alto saxophone), Freddie Simon (tenor saxophone), Luther "Lord" Luper (piano), Theodore Shirley (bass), and Robert "Snake" Sims (drums).

The December 22, 1945 Billboard said: "Paced by the sax blowing of Jim Wynn and his little jam band of Bobalibans, Claude Oliver Trenier does some earthy blues shouting for the jive-ridden Ee-Bobaliba, newest song craze in Harlem quarters.... The race locations will reap a harvest with these sides [the flip was "I Want A Little Girl", sung by Luther Luper], particularly 'Ee-Bobaliba'."

Wynn's version is mostly based on Tina Dixon's, but Claude's girl only weighs 300 pounds. Here's most of what Claude is saying:

Baba-leba, ee-baba-lee
Baba-leba, ee-baba-lee
Baba-leba, ee-baba-lee
Baba-leba, ee-baba-lee
Baba-leba, ee-baba-lee
Baba leba, baba leba

Oh well, oh well, I feel so good today
Oh well, oh well, I feel so good today
Got a letter from my baby
And she's comin' home to stay

Now she's a fly little chick and she weighs 300 pounds
Yes, she's a fly little chick and she weighs 300 pounds
She says 'be there baby' when she comes back to town

Now, she's got a head like a rooster
She's shaped like a frog
When she starts lovin' me oo-oo-oo
Ee-baba-leba [ee-baba-leba]
Ee-baba-leba [ee-baba-leba]
Ee-baba-leba ee-baba-leba baba-lee-ba

Now, I've got women over here, women over there,
But my woman down here,
Oo oo oo ee-baba-leba [ee-baba-leba]
Ee-baba-leba [ee-baba-leba]
Ee-baba-leba ee-baba-leba baba-lee-ba

[indistinct] don't you wanna take a ride
[indistinct] baby
Oo oo oo ee-baba-leba [ee-baba-leba]
Ee-baba-leba [ee-baba-leba]
Ee-baba-leba ee-baba-leba baba-lee-ba

Oo-Oo-Ee Bob A Lee Bob - Bull Moose Jackson and his Orchestra (vocal by Annisteen Allen) - Queen 4107 - 12/45
With the discontinuation of Queen, it was reissued on King 4107 - 47

Singer/saxophonist/bandleader Benjamin "Bull Moose" Jackson was born in Cleveland on April 22, 1919. Originally a violinist, he switched to the saxophone when he started the Harlem Hotshots while in high school. In 1943, he joined Lucky Millinder's band. Millinder encouraged him to form his own band and, in 1946, he released "I Know Who Threw The Whiskey In The Well", an answer to Millinder's "Who Threw The Whiskey In The Well". He followed that with "I Love You, Yes I Do", which went to #1. Through it all, he remained with Millinder, at least through 1948. He later turned to more suggestive material, such as "Big Ten Inch Record", which couldn't get any airplay, but was quite popular at live shows. Bull Moose died, from lung cancer, in Cleveland on July 31, 1989.

Ernestine "Annisteen" Allen was born on November 11, 1920 in Champaign, Illinois. She was also a member of Lucky Millinder's aggregation and it looks like Millinder loaned her to Bull Moose for recordings, since she, too, remained with Millinder for several more years. Annisteen died August 19, 1992 in Harlem.

Recorded on December 19, 1945, it was released by the end of the month. Although it was pretty much Helen Humes' version, the composer credit went to Walter Brown, a singer in Jackson's band. Here are Annisteen's lyrics:

Oh well, oh well, I feel so fine today
Oh well, oh well, I feel so fine today
'Cause the man I love
Is comin' home to stay

Got a man over there, got a man over here,
But the man over there,
Oo oo oo oo-bob-a-lee-bob
Oo-oo-bob-a-lee-bob
Oo-oo-bob-a-lee, bob-a-lee, bob-a-lee, bob-a-lee-bob

Well, the man I love is built for speed
He's got everything his mama needs
Oo-oo-bob-a-lee-bob
Oo-oo-bob-a-lee-bob
Oo-oo-bob-a-lee, bob-a-lee, bob-a-lee, bob-a-lee-bob

He loves me in the morning, loves me in the night
The way he loves me is really all right
Ree-ee-bob-a-lee-bob
Ree-ee-bob-a-lee-bob
Ree-ree-bob-a-lee-bob, ree-bob-a-lee, bob-a-lee-bob

Oo oo oo [ee-bob-a-le-bob]
Oo oo oo [ee-bob-a-le-bob]
Oo oo oo [ee-bob-a-le-bob]
Oo oo oo [ee-bob-a-le-bob]
Oo oo oo [ee-bob-a-le-bob]
Oo oo oo [ee-bob-a-le-bob, ee-bob-a-le-bob]

Goes in like a tiger, goes out like a lamb
When he starts to lovin' me, I holler ee, ee, ee
Ee-ee-bob-a-le-bob
Ree-ee-bob-a-le-bob
Ree-ree-bob-a-lee-bob, ree-bob-a-lee, bob-a-lee-bob

Ree-bob-a-lee-bob

In the following year, Annisteen Allen and Her Home Town Boys (along with Bull Moose Jackson) would release "She Lost Her Re-Bop" (Queen, 7/46). Walking a fine line, they sing "hey baba lee bop", "ee baba lee bop", "hey baba leba", and "ee baba leba"."...

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This excerpt gives this link to Marv Goldberg's R&B Notebook's article on the song "Open The Door, Richard": http://www.uncamarvy.com/Richard/richard.html.

This Marv Goldberg article continues with additional examples of "Baba Leba" recordings as well as information about and lyrics for some recordings of the song "Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop".

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/04/hey-ba-ba-re-bop-selected-videos.html for a 2012 pancocojams post entitled "Hey Ba Ba Re Bop - Selected Videos (with some lyrics)"

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Online Article Excerpt: "Jazz- A People's Music?" by Charlie Hore And Excerpts From The Wikipedia Article About Bebop Jazz

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post presents a long excerpt from an online article entitled "Jazz- A People's Music" by Charlie Hore, with special focus on the Bebop school of Jazz.

The Addendum to this post presents excerpts from the Wikipedia article about Bebop Jazz.

The content of this post is presented for historical and socio-cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Charlie Hore for this writing this article about American Jazz and thanks to the authors of the featured Wikipedia article.

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EXCERPT FROM ARTICLE "JAZZ- A PEOPLE'S MUSIC"
From http://pubs.socialistreviewindex.org.uk/isj61/hore.htm
Issue 61 of INTERNATIONAL SOCIALISM JOURNAL Published Winter 1993 Copyright © International Socialism

Jazz--a people's music?
by CHARLIE HORE
"Introduction
Jazz music has become one of the 20th century's most important and enduring art forms. Yet it survives today in a paradoxical state. On the one hand, the audience for jazz is now larger and more diverse, both socially and geographically, than ever before. Millions of people who don't see themselves as jazz fans regularly listen to live jazz, and most people who regularly buy records or CDs own some jazz. Pubs and bars which feature live music will often have jazz one night, rock the next, and folk the night after; and much the same audience will turn up to hear all three.

On the other hand, jazz as a constantly innovative and evolving artform is in decline, and has been for the last 20 years. Throughout the 1970s and the 1980s, there were no fundamental developments in the music on the scale of bebop or 1960s 'new jazz'. During that period not one new musician emerged who even remotely approached the stature of figures like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis or John Coltrane.1 This is in no way intended to denigrate the many fine artists playing today; it is rather to state the simple fact that jazz has lost its position at the leading edge of musical development to other musical forms.

The point of this article is to attempt an explanation of this decline by looking at the ways in which jazz and other forms of black music grew out of the black American experience,2 and how these musical forms have changed as a result of changes in black lives and experiences.
Trotsky argued, in Literature and Revolution, that:

... art should, in the first place, be judged by its own law, that is, by the law of art. But Marxism alone can explain why and how a given tendency in art has originated in a given period of history; in other words, who it was made a demand for such an artistic form and not for another, and why... New artistic needs or demands for new literary and artistic points of view are stimulated by economics, through the development of a new class... Artistic creation is always a complicated turning inside out of old forms, under the influence of stimuli which originate outside of art.3

I want to argue that this method can be extended to the formation of black American culture, in the very specific circumstances of slavery and post-emancipation institutionalised racism. In and of America, yet shut out from American society proper, blacks created a culture (in the widest sense of a way of life) which drew both from African cultures and the European ways of life forced on them. As Leroi Jones put it, in his seminal Blues People,

... the ugly fact that the Africans were forced into an alien world where none of the references or cultural shapes of any familiar human attitudes were available is the determinant of the kind of existence they had to eke out here: not only slavery itself but the particular circumstance in which it existed. The African cultures, the retention of some parts of these cultures in America, and the weight of the stepculture produced the American Negro... the development of African music to American Negro music (a new music) represents to me this whole process in microcosm.4

Just as black religions took the forms of Christianity and evolved into something neither European nor African, but rather a black American synthesis of the two, so black music developed as a synthesis of the many musical forms and traditions available. This gave black musical traditions from their earliest days both a dynamism and an ability to absorb new influences, which helps to explain why black American music has been among the most creative and the most influential musical forms of this century.

From this it follows that jazz cannot be understood in isolation from other forms of American black music. The lines drawn between jazz, blues, gospel, rhythm and blues and other forms are largely ones imposed by white critics.5 The only real distinction recognised by musicians and their audiences for much of this century was that between sacred and secular music. Even here the number of artists who have moved between one and the other suggests that this was a highly permeable boundary.6

New Orleans and beyond
The rise of jazz, as a distinct branch of black music, reflected profound changes in black life at the turn of the century. It was an urban music, centred on New Orleans, New York and Kansas City, not the Mississippi Delta or the Alabama cottonfields. It was played by musicians who aimed to make a living from it (unlike the vast majority of blues or gospel singers). And it was a music made for the poor, derided as not respectable by the vast majority of the black middle classes. It arose, in other words, out of a new black working class with money to spend on entertainment who wanted (or were ready to listen to) something different to the music of the countryside they had left behind.

It's in that sense that the term 'a people's music' fitted jazz in its earliest years. It changed and developed as black workers' lives changed, because it was a music rooted in the black working class ghettos, drawing its inspirations from everyday black life.

[...]

Many influences went into the making of jazz, including many elements of European classical and folk music, the former brought by middle class blacks denied entry into the world of concert music. But it was rooted above all in the blues. Blues was a loose and flexible folk form that became codified into the 'traditional' 12 bar blues in the early years of this century. More than other black musical forms it kept crucial elements from African music, in particular the 'blue notes'--pitches which lie between the notes of the classical European scale. While other influences have come and gone, blues has been the seminal influence on jazz since its inception.

Contrary to various claims, no one 'invented' jazz. It emerged at around the same time in a number of different places. But from the early years of this century New Orleans was its crucial seed bed, as the largest and fastest growing city in the south with innumerable opportunities for working musicians--bars, brothels and marching bands among others.

The music quickly spread far and wide as the conditions that had produced jazz came into being in other, northern, cities. Hobsbawm estimated that on the eve of the Depression there were some 60,000 jazz bands and almost 200,000 professional musicians.9 Its spread followed the first great black migration from the south, which began around 1916 (as jobs opened up due to the war) and continued without interruption until the Depression.

The newborn recording industry greatly facilitated jazz's expansion. Record sales leapt from 27 million in 1914 to 100 million in 1921,10 and continued to rise throughout the 1920s. Although most of the music which fuelled the 'Jazz Age' was made by whites watering down the music to the point where a white audience would find it palatable, by the mid-1920s the record companies had discovered a substantial black audience. 'Race' labels were founded, advertised only in black papers and sold only in black areas, which sold massive numbers both of blues and jazz records.

And as the music spread, it developed and changed greatly. Listening to Louis Armstrong playing with King Oliver in 1923, and his Hot Fives and Hot Sevens in Chicago in 1927, is almost to listen to two different people. The later music is crisper, faster, more complex and inventive, and clearly represents a challenging of boundaries, a search for different things to do both with the instrument and with other musicians. The distinctive 'New Orleans' style died away quite quickly, although it underwent innumerable revivals, usually by whites reacting against newer developments in jazz.

One of the crucial defining characteristics of jazz is its search for the new. As a music of individual and collective self expression, which stresses each player working out a personal voice and style, it has always striven to deepen its language and move beyond previous boundaries. That development has always been collective, musicians learning with and from each other. A constant tension has thus run through the history of jazz between its function as dance music and its drive to innovate, which has led different schools to go both away from and back to mass audiences.

That drive for self expression and exploration makes jazz pre-eminently a music that voices both emotions and ideas. There's no space here to address the question of how music does this (and I'm far from qualified to attempt a definitive answer), but one point is important. Although early jazz grew up as entertainment, as a music to relax to and escape from the frustrations of everyday life, it necessarily reflected in its tone, language and emotions what it was that its audience wanted to escape from. It became both an expression of alienation and of attempts to overcome it.

Jazz history is conventionally written about as a series of schools--New Orleans, big band, swing, bebop and so on. As a rough template, this does capture the sense of progression in jazz, but it should be noted that this is a very imperfect way of describing jazz's diverse history. All the 'schools' were named by white critics, not the musicians themselves, and they never simply followed a linear progression--as one came into being, the previous one died. Rather, different schools survived side by side. And many of the most important musicians--Art Tatum, Miles Davis and Sonny Rollins, for example--cannot easily be fitted into that framework.

Kansas City to bebop
The Depression of the late 1920s dealt jazz a mortal blow, as unemployment and poverty hit black workers even harder than whites. Dance halls closed down, records stopped selling and promotors stopped booking tours. Black music didn't disappear (sales of Bessie Smith's records kept the giant Columbia Records solvent through the late 1920s)11 but there wasn't enough work for even a small fraction of the musicians who had been playing in jazz's heyday. There were exceptions, and the major one was Kansas City, which was to produce an enormous number of the most influential musicians of the 1930s and 1940s, among them Lester Young, Ben Webster, Count Basie and Charlie Parker.

The reasons for this were very largely economic. Kansas City had long been the dominant business and entertainment centre for a massive area of the south west. As such it had been a major jazz centre, second only to New Orleans, since the First World War. It also had the dubious distinction of being run by one of the most corrupt political machines ever, that of Boss Prendergast, who ran Kansas City as though Prohibition simply didn't exist. One of the side effects of Prohibition was that in many cities the mob effectively ran the town hall; in Kansas City the town hall was the mob. This produced a massive entertainment district full of opportunities for musicians, and one which, as the depression deepened, pulled in musicians from all the surrounding states.12

The Kansas City musicians developed a particular big band style (swing) which emphasised both strongly rhythmical ensemble playing, and a fast and fluent solo expertise. Their crucial technical innovation was that the drummers laid down the underlying beat on the hi-hat, rather than the bass drum as previously, thus making for a looser, suppler and more 'swinging' (that indefinable but essential quality) form of music. 'Cutting sessions' in which musicians tried to outplay and outlast one another, while others looked on and learnt, were regular events in the clubs late at night, and immensely important training sessions. In effect, they worked as a hothouse of musical development and innovation.13

Swing was popularised through eastern tours, in particular by the Count Basie band, from the mid-1930s onwards, and it became the popular music of the day with astonishing rapidity. By 1939 fully 85 percent of all records sold were of swing bands.14 The music's explosive popularity was due above all to the American economy's recovery from the Depression, creating once again a mass audience with the money to pay for popular entertainment, but it was fuelled by two developments which enormously increased the potential audience: radio and the jukebox.

Although radio networks had been expanding since the mid-1920s, it was only after the depression that radios became cheap enough for most workers to buy (in 1926 a mere 5 million homes had radios).15 The jukebox similarly caught on in the same period--by 1937 there were some 150,000 jukeboxes across the USA.16

Although swing had been entirely a black development, it quickly attracted a host of white imitators. Some--Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, and Tommy Dorsey for example--were genuinely excited by what they saw as a new, vibrant music, and their playing demonstrated a real ability to learn from black innovations (though Goodman was the only white band leader who actually employed black musicians). The majority were simply jumping on a bandwagon. Good or bad, it was the white bands who made the real money out of the swing boom. It wasn't the first time that a black music had been popularised by whites (ragtime), or the first time that white imitators had taken over and sanitised jazz. But it was the first time that big money had been involved.

Revulsion against this white takeover was one of the key factors behind the rise of bebop, the most political form of jazz up to this point. The young musicians who pioneered bebop--Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk, Kenny Clarke and Charlie Christian--had ended up in New York after going through various of the big bands. They wanted, as one of them put it, to 'play something that they can't steal.17

Bebop was marked by two crucial technical innovations. One was rhythmic--taking the underlying beat from the hi-hat to the cymbals, allowing them to play in a faster and more rhythmically diverse style than the previous generation. The other was Charlie Parker's discovery of a completely new set of harmonies to play on conventional chord changes. The combination of the two made bebop the most profound revolution in jazz since Armstrong in the 1920s, and arguably a more important one. It also marked a definitive break with all previous jazz schools--practically no one from any of the older schools ever learned to play bebop.

Bebop's ranks were filled by refugees from the big bands, as America's entry into the Second World War tore many of them apart. Many bands lost key players to the armed forces, while blackouts, petrol rationing and the draft similarly closed many of the biggest dance halls. The smaller bebop bands were cheaper to book and to record (particularly as they played original material, whose copyright could be bought cheaply in the studio). The big bands' decline helped to create a niche for bebop to flourish in.

The politics of bebop
Bebop both prefigured and was shaped by radical changes in black lives during the war. The exodus from the south began again, in even bigger numbers, as jobs opened up in the defence industries of the north, the midwest and California, and almost a million blacks were drafted into the armed forces. For the American ruling class, the Second World War was an all-out war, and they had to fully utilise spare black and female labour, both in defence industries and the armed forces. Leroi Jones noted, for instance, that 'while the number of Negroes [in the armed forces] more than doubled, the number of commissioned officers increased almost eight times.18

The contradiction between the rhetoric of a 'war for democracy' and blacks' centrality to the war effort, and the racism they found in the defence plants and the armed forces produced both a burning resentment against racism, and a confidence and determination that it could be fought. The war years saw the massive March on Washington movement, mass black and white union demonstrations against racism in industry, and innumerable confrontations between black soldiers and racists. This pressure from below forced Roosevelt in 1941 to formally ban segregation throughout the armed forces and industry. Though never fully implemented, it was a symbolic victory of immense importance.19

Most importantly of all, as the Chicago and New York race riots of 1943-44 dramatically showed, blacks were willing to fight back. Bebop was powered by, and spoke to, that new spirit of defiance. When Charlie Parker titled one of his most famous recordings Now's The Time, it was taken to mean just that: now's the time to end racism, '...so I have been assured by every black musician with whom I have ever discussed the question', Frank Kofsky asserted (though Parker himself never said as much).20

Both as a music and in the stances taken by the individual musicians, it reflected that new confidence and self assertiveness: more than any previous form, it stressed the individual soloist, his ideas and his feelings. And in going back to the blues as the roots of jazz, it stressed that this was a black music. As Ross Russell put it:

For urban black people of his generation, Charlie [Parker] was a genuine culture hero. The revolutionary nature of his music was explicit. He had rephrased Negro music without altering its essential truth and purity. Implicit in his lifestyle was defiance of the white establishment... every episode in the cumulative legend of the Bird, however ineffectual and childish, was seen as a blow struck against the forces of oppression. In the mid-1940s there was no Martin Luther King Jr., no Malcolm X... In a sense Charlie was a fore-runner of those militant figures of the political arena. He was completely non-political, in fact never in his lifetime so much as cast a ballot... Charlie Parker was the first angry black man in music.21

Leaving aside the hyperbole, and the equation of 'political' with voting, this is a useful summary of the strengths and weaknesses of bebop as revolt. For while it's true that bebop articulated both the anger and the confidence of many urban blacks, for the musicians their opposition was expressed in purely personal ways: not acting by the rules, putting on the squares. (When Charlie Parker met Jean-Paul Sartre in a Paris nightclub in 1949, his opening line was, 'I'm very glad to have met you, Mr. Sartre. I like your playing very much.' Sartre's reply is not recorded.)22

That stance limited bebop's audience. Bebop was very much a musicians' music, one which made no concessions to the audience: those who were hip would dig, the squares would not. And their definition of 'squares' extended beyond most of the white world to include those blacks (including most older jazz musicians) who found bebop too challenging or too difficult. Louis Armstrong, for instance, famously dismissed it as 'Chinese music'.

Material reasons also limited bebop's audience. The American Federation of Musicians imposed a recording ban in 1942, to get musicians paid proper royalties for radio and jukebox plays. The 'strike' (in reality imposed entirely from above) ended in partial victory in 1944, when the last big record labels signed new contracts. Yet despite the ban, the value of record sales leapt from $50 million in 1941 to $109 million in 1945,23 as the companies reissued their backlist to stay afloat. As a result, two key years in bebop's evolution went unheard by the vast majority of blacks.

Yet the recording ban wasn't the primary reason why bebop remained a minority black taste, probably having as large a white audience as black. Far more important were two new strands of black music that arose during the war, aimed specifically at the new black working class: Chicago rhythm and blues, and the 'jump' music of bandleaders such as Cab Calloway, Wyonie Harris and Louis Jordan. (The 'jump' bands had been around since the late 1930s, but achieved their greatest popularity during the 1940s.) Although they were among the most popular jazz based bands ever, they are rarely given the importance they deserve in jazz histories.24

Both forms stressed showmanship and entertainment, and were played explicitly as dance music, which bebop was not. And both were assiduously promoted by the independent black record labels and radio stations which mushroomed in the immediate post-war years. Both were also seminal to the later rise of rock'n'roll, but that's another story.

Neither rhythm and blues nor jump music were ever explicitly political, in the sense of expressing opposition in their lyrics, but their brash and confident styles gave expression to the new moods, attitudes and expectations which had grown among blacks during the war years, and did so in a far more accessible manner than bebop. There was no necessary opposition between the two: many people happily listened both to Charlie Parker and to Muddy Waters, but the point matters because we can't understand developments in jazz without understanding what else was happening in black music at the time. Jazz was a form of black musical expression, but not always the most important or the most popular one.

It has often been argued that jazz never had a mass black audience, blues and rhythm and blues being always far more popular. There is no way of proving or disproving this for the 1920s and 1930s, when live performances and later radio were the main ways in which music was heard, but in any case it misses the point that for much of this period there was no great distinction between the two. The argument also confuses 'mass' and 'majority'--the jazz audience was probably never a majority of urban blacks, but that doesn't mean that it didn't have a substantial audience. From the later 1940s onwards, however, there was a real divergence among musicians: practically none of the Chicago bluesmen had any jazz background, and very few jazz musicians ever played with them. Although that same divergence began to appear among audiences, it remained the case that jazz retained a large black audience, even if smaller than that for rhythm and blues, until the mid-1960s.”….
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This article continues with comments about "hard bop", "cool jazz", "new jazz", "soul and popular music" and more.
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Here are a few notes from this article:
"This article grew out of a talk given at Marxism 92. Particular thanks are due to Teresa O'Donnell and Martin Smith for their help in clarifying my ideas, to Mike Hobart for his thought provoking comments on my arguments, and to everyone who participated in the discussion at the meeting.

1. A similar argument is advanced in Nelson George's controversial The Death of Rhythm and Blues (London, 1989) although his book focuses almost entirely on soul and rythm and blues. His basic argument (crudely, that black artists sold their souls to adapt to the tastes of a more lucrative white audience) is questionable, but the book is one of the most interesting critical evaluations of black music in recent years.

2. I'm only going to discuss jazz in America, both for reasons of space, and also because I'd argue that almost all other 'national' jazz traditions are essentially derived from American jazz (the important exception being South Africa, which requires a separate article to do it justice).



4. L Jones, Blues People (New York, 1963) pp7-8 (emphases in original). This is the book to read on the social roots of black music, particularly important for his insistence on the diversity of African cultures, a valuable antidote to the essentialist arguments of more recent 'Africanist' writers. For more detailed descriptions of how this black American culture was created, see E Genovese, Roll, Jordan, Roll (New York, 1976) and L Levine, Black Culture and Black Consciousness (New York, 1977).

5. Think of the music of Cab Calloway, for instance. Is it blues, or jazz, or rhythm and blues? Putting the question like that shows the artificiality of the boundaries.

6. Although there's no space here to develop the argument, it is important to stress that gospel music has had a far greater influence on the development of black American music generally acknowledged in most of the histories."...

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ADDENDUM- EXCERPT FROM WIKIPEDIA ARTICLE ABOUT BEBOP
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bebop
"Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early to mid-1940s in the United States, which features songs characterized by a fast tempo, complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerous changes of key, instrumental virtuosity, and improvisation based on a combination of harmonic structure, the use of scales and occasional references to the melody.

Bebop developed as the younger generation of jazz musicians expanded the creative possibilities of jazz beyond the popular, dance-oriented swing style with a new "musician's music" that was not as danceable and demanded close listening.[1] As bebop was not intended for dancing, it enabled the musicians to play at faster tempos. Bebop musicians explored advanced harmonies, complex syncopation, altered chords, extended chords, chord substitutions, asymmetrical phrasing, and intricate melodies. Bebop groups used rhythm sections in a way that expanded their role. Whereas the key ensemble of the swing era was the big band of up to fourteen pieces playing in an ensemble-based style, the classic bebop group was a small combo that consisted of saxophone (alto or tenor), trumpet, piano, double bass, and drums playing music in which the ensemble played a supportive role for soloists. Rather than play heavily arranged music, bebop musicians typically played the melody of a song (called the "head") with the accompaniment of the rhythm section, followed by a section in which each of the performers improvised a solo, then returned to the melody at the end of the song.

Some of the most influential bebop artists, who were typically composer-performers, are: tenor sax players Dexter Gordon, Sonny Rollins, and James Moody; alto sax player Charlie Parker; trumpeters Fats Navarro, Clifford Brown, and Dizzy Gillespie; pianists Bud Powell, Mary Lou Williams, and Thelonious Monk; electric guitarist Charlie Christian, and drummers Kenny Clarke, Max Roach, and Art Blakey.

Etymology

"In spite of the explanations of the origins of these words, players actually did sing the words "bebop" and "rebop" to an early bop phrase as shown in the following example."[2] About this sound Play (help·info)
The term "bebop" is derived from nonsense syllables (vocables) used in scat singing; the first known example of "bebop" being used was in McKinney's Cotton Pickers' "Four or Five Times", recorded in 1928.[3] It appears again in a 1936 recording of "I'se a Muggin'" by Jack Teagarden.[3] A variation, "rebop", appears in several 1939 recordings.[3] The first, known print appearance also occurred in 1939, but the term was little-used subsequently until applied to the music now associated with it in the mid-1940s.[3]

Some researchers speculate that it was a term used by Charlie Christian because it sounded like something he hummed along with his playing.[4] Dizzy Gillespie stated that the audiences coined the name after hearing him scat the then-nameless tunes to his players and the press ultimately picked it up, using it as an official term: "People, when they'd wanna ask for those numbers and didn't know the name, would ask for bebop."[5] Another theory is that it derives from the cry of "Arriba! Arriba!" used by Latin American bandleaders of the period to encourage their bands.[6] At times, the terms "bebop" and "rebop" were used interchangeably. By 1945, the use of "bebop"/"rebop" as nonsense syllables was widespread in R&B music, for instance Lionel Hampton's "Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop"..[citation needed]

History
Bebop grew out of the culmination of trends that had been occurring within swing music since the mid-1930s: less explicit timekeeping by the drummer, with the primary rhythmic pulse moving from the bass drum to the high hat cymbal; a changing role for the piano away from rhythmic density towards accents and fills; less ornate horn section arrangements, trending towards riffs and more support for the underlying rhythm; more emphasis on and freedom for soloists; and increasing harmonic sophistication in arrangements used by some bands. The path towards rhythmically streamlined, solo-oriented swing was blazed by the territory bands of the southwest with Kansas City as their musical capital; their music was based on blues and other simple chord changes, riff-based in its approach to melodic lines and solo accompaniment, and expressing an approach adding melody and harmony to swing rather than the other way around. Ability to play sustained, high energy, and creative solos was highly valued for this newer style and the basis of intense competition. Swing-era jam sessions and "cutting contests" in Kansas City became legendary. The Kansas City approach to swing was epitomized by the Count Basie Orchestra, which came to national prominence in 1937.

One young admirer of the Basie orchestra in Kansas City was a teenage alto saxophone player named Charlie Parker. He was especially enthralled by their tenor saxophone player Lester Young, who played long flowing melodic lines that wove in and out of the chordal structure of the tune but somehow always made musical sense. Young was equally daring with his rhythm and phrasing as with his approach to harmonic structures in his solos. He would frequently repeat simple two or three note figures, with shifting rhythmic accents expressed by volume, articulation, or tone. His phrasing was far removed from the two or four bar phrases that horn players had used until then. They would often be extended to an odd number of measures, overlapping the musical stanzas suggested by the harmonic structure. He would take a breath in the middle of a phrase, using the pause, or "free space," as a creative device. The overall effect was that his solos were something floating above the rest of the music, rather than something springing from it at intervals suggested by the ensemble sound. When the Basie orchestra burst onto the national scene with its 1937 recordings and nationally broadcast New York engagements, it gained a national following, with legions of saxophone players striving to imitate Young, drummers striving to imitate Jo Jones, piano players striving to imitate Basie, and trumpet players striving to imitate Buck Clayton. Parker played along with the new Basie recordings on a Victrola until he could play Young's solos note for note.[7]

In the late 1930s the Duke Ellington Orchestra and the Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra were exposing the music world to harmonically sophisticated musical arrangements by Billy Strayhorn and Sy Oliver, respectively, which implied chords as much as they spelled them out. That understatement of harmonically sophisticated chords would soon be used by young musicians exploring the new musical language of bebop.[citation needed]

The brilliant technique and harmonic sophistication of pianist Art Tatum would inspire young musicians including Charlie Parker and Bud Powell. In his early days in New York, Parker held a job washing dishes at an establishment where Tatum had a regular gig.[8]"...

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The Jazz Dance "Truckin" (Information & Video Examples)

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest revision - October 4, 2024

This pancocojams post presents information about and film clips of the Jazz dance step known as "truckin".

The content of this post is presented for historical, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

INFORMATION ABOUT "TRUCKIN" (DANCE)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Apple_(dance)#Moves
"Truckin: Truckin is a shuffle step variation popularized after the vaudeville era. The right hand is held up (as in a right turn signal) with the index finger extended and wagging. In Harlem Truckin the shoulder is set back. Feet are parallel at all times. With both feet together and facing slight left the right foot scoopes down and brushes the floor, the left foot is then gathered at the right ankle and the right heel twists (this should cause forward movement as the foot scoopes past the other foot). The action is repeated creating a "hearts in the snow" effect from the overlapping steps. At the same time the left hand is placed over the stomach (like a waiter holding a towel) and never really moves. The stomach twistes with the feet therefore, the "stomach rubs the hand". If truckin is being done around a circle the outside hand is always up."
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From http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3truck.htm
“Truckin is considered a Harlem dance originating around 1927...It signifies the Strutting Walk done when one is happy or joyful...It’s mainly used in Lindy Hop today after separating from your partner to return later back together again. Truckin can be done as a couple or as a solo...

Truckin is the shoulders which fall and rise as the dancers move toward each other while the fore finger points up and wiggles back and forth like a windshield wiper.”
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From http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/truckin_or_truck_on_down_1935/
"The Big Apple: Truckin
Entry from February 19, 2006
“Truckin‘“ or “Truck on Down” (1935)
The dance "Truckin" or "Truck on Down" was popularized in Harlem in 1935. Various Harlem spots and entertainers took credit for popularizing it."...
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http://artsites.ucsc.edu/GDead/agdl/truckin.html
"According to The Golden Road, published Winter 1984.
"'Truckin'' was a popular dance step, and the word is immortalized in a number of '20s and '30s songs, including the blues "Keep on Truckin'" and Blind Boy Fuller's "Truckin' My Blues Away." ...
-snip-
Blind Boy Fuller's Blues song ""Truckin' My Blues Away" was written and performed by that musician/singer in 1936.

[From that same site but credited to the Oxford English Dictionary]
"trucking 2. The action of dancing the truck. slang. 1944 C. CALLOWAY Hepster's Dictionary in Of Minnie the Moocher (1976)
260 Trucking, a dance introduced at the Cotton Club in 1933."

The OED also recognizes the phrase "Keep on trucking":
"to persevere: a phrase of encouragement. 1972. Sat. Rev. (U.S.) 28 Oct. 12 One poster...shows the famous R. Crumb cartoon characters and bears the caption: 'Let's Keep on Truckin'."

The New Grove Dictionary of American Music describes "Truckin'" as a dance step which was incorporated into the "lively and strenuous circle dance", the Big Apple. It describes the "truckin'" step, "with its shuffle step and waving index finger."....
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http://www.skippyblair.com/dance_dictionary.htm
"...TRUCKIN'' was easy to do in the 1940s because the dancers were already familiar with the movement. It was the same movement as the "subtle bounce" in the Jitterbug & Balboa. Truckin' was part of the "Big Apple" in the 1940's..."

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FEATURED VIDEOS
Example #1: Whitey's Lindy Hoppers Radio City Revels 1938



Olivier Cotton, Uploaded on Jun 3, 2010
-snip-
An example of "Truckin" occurs in this film clip at .04-.05
(a woman in the back dances across scene)

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Example #2: Whitey's Lindy Hoppers performing the Big Apple (1939)



Tanoa Stewart, Uploaded on Jan 25, 2007

Whitey's Lindy Hoppers performing the Big Apple followed by some crazy Lindy Hoppin'. From the movie Keep Punching, 1939 - Brought to you by the San Francisco Jitterbugs, www.jitterbugs.info
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I believe that one example of "Truckin" is found at .48-59.

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Example #3: A Day at the Races [The swing]



mind stripper, Uploaded on Sep 1, 2007
The whole beautiful, inspiring dancing scene of Whitey's Lindy Hoppers.
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Black dancers perform "Truckin" -.43-.50

Two Marx brothers perform "Truckin" - 6:56-6:59

Three Marx brothers perform "Truckin" - 7:27
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Editorial comment about this film clip:
Notwithstanding the skill & creativity of the Black dancers & singers who performed in this film clip, I believe that this scene is full of stereotypical depictions of Black people, including Black people’s interaction with the White lead character who plays the pipes & is referred to as (the angel) “Gabriel”. I also believe that the scene in at the end of this clip is racist. In that scene (7:08-7:36), the Marx brothers apply black axle grease to their skin so that they can merge in the crowd with the Black dancers, thus avoiding being captured by those persons chasing them. This is an example of "blackface".

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Example #4:Truckin - Jumbo70



Mrgreymattr, Uploaded on Oct 12, 2010

Inspired by a popular dance step in the 20's & 30's, Truckin was written and recorded by late 60's rock band Jumbo. Watch legends doing some of the coolest moves on the planet. Visit www.jumbo.com
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I’m not sure if any of these clips are of the “truckin” dance
step.]

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Example #5: Alphabetical Jazz Steps 2 (Bigger & Longer)

LindyandBlues, Uploaded on Feb 16, 2012
Vocabulary of 84 American vernacular jazz solo movements

A hyyperlinked list of the dances that are ddemonstrated in this video is found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbteWH-3QlY, including Truckin [around 9:40]

A shorter version of this video is found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEWxdPTCubI

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Example #6: Truckin' Routine at the Swing Brother Swing Festival, Bologna Italy 2011



Sharon Davis, Uploaded on May 11, 2011

Instructors at the 2011 Swing Brother Swing Festival in Italy perform the Truckin' routine, choreographed by Sharon Davis.

Song: Truckin' by Willie Bryant

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BONUS VIDEO
Here's a Soul Train television show clip of Eddie Kendricks performing his 1973 R&B song "Keep On Truckin". I don't know if the dances that are being performed are an updated version of "truckin". As a reminder, the African American colloquial saying "Keep on truckin'" is said to encourage people to keep on going, inspite of difficulties. Another way of saying this is "Keep on keepin on".

EDDIE KENDRICKS - KEEP ON TRUCKING.70S SOUL DANCERS



Raresoulfilms, Uploaded on Jun 6, 2011

WHAT A GROOVE

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RELATED LINK
http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/02/ina-ray-hutton-and-her-melodears-doin.html
Ina Ray Hutton and Her Melodears - "Truckin" & "Doin' The Suzy Q"

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to the Whitey's Lindy Hoppers and the other dancers in these featured dancers for their dance legacy. My thanks also to the musicians & vocalists who are featured in these videos. Thanks also to the producers of these film clips, the the uploaders of these videos and the authors of the information that is quoted in this post.

Thank you for visiting pancocojams.

Viewer comments are welcome.

Ina Ray Hutton and Her Melodears - "Truckin" & "Doin' The Suzy Q"

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post presents information about Jazz band leader, singer, and dancer Ina Ray Hutton. Two videos of Ina Ray Hutton and her all female band (Melodears) are showcases in this post. Both of these videos refer to very popular Jazz (Swing) dances of the 1930s.

Information about Ina Ray Hutton's sister, singer June Hutton, is also included in this post for supplemental purposes.

The content of this post is presented for historical, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

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INFORMATION ABOUT INA RAY HUTTON
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ina_Ray_Hutton
"Ina Ray Hutton (March 13, 1916 – February 19, 1984) was an American female leader during the Big band era, and sister to June Hutton.

Hutton was born as Odessa Cowan in Chicago, Illinois of African American descent.[1] She began dancing and singing in stage revues at the age of eight. Cowan's mother Marvel Ray was a local pianist and entertainer in Chicago. She attended Hyde Park High School on the South Side of Chicago. In the 1930s she appeared on Broadway in George White's Scandals and The Ziegfeld Follies.
In 1934 she was asked by vaudeville agent Alex Hyde to lead an all-girl orchestra, the Melodears, which featured musicians including trumpet player Frances Klein, pianist Ruth Lowe Sandler, guitarist Marian Gange, trumpeter Mardell "Owen" Winstead and trombonist Alyse Wells during its existence.[2][3] Hutton and her Melodears were one of the first all-girl bands to be filmed for Paramount shorts...

The group disbanded in 1939. In 1940 she led an all-male orchestra that was featured in the film Even Since Venus (1944); it was disbanded in 1946. During the 1950s, she returned to the all-girl format for variety television programs including the Ina Ray Hutton Show for a local station on the West Coast"...
-snip-
From http://www.blackpast.org/?q=aah/hutton-ina-ray-nee-odessa-cowan-1916-1984
"Hutton, Ina Ray, née Odessa Cowan (1916–1984)
Ina Ray Hutton led the Melodears, one of the first all-female swing bands to be recorded and filmed. She passed as white throughout her musical career, as the leader of several bands from the 1930s through the 1960s. But when Hutton was a child, United States Census records called her and her family “negro,” and “mulatto,” when the Bureau used that term. Her family occasionally appeared in the society pages of a black newspaper"...
-snip-
Here is a brief clip from the Wikipedia page for Ina Ray Hutton's sister June Hutton:
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_Hutton
"June Hutton (August 11, 1920 – May 2, 1973[1]) was an American popular singer.

Born June Cowan in Chicago she and her older sister, Ina Ray Hutton, a band leader in the 1930s and 40s, passed as white throughout their musical careers. United States Census records identified her family as “negro,” and “mulatto,” when the Bureau used that term.[2] Though their family occasionally appeared in the society pages of a black newspaper, both sisters had light complexions and by the late 1930s, dyed their hair blonde. Ina Ray Hutton changed her last name to "Hutton" (inspired by heiress Barbara Hutton), and in 1941, her younger sister June joined the band of her older sister, first singing under the name of Elaine Merritt, eventually changing her last name to "Hutton' as well"...

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FEATURED VIDEOS
Video #1: Ina Ray Hutton and Her Melodears - Truckin'



Jan Klompstra, Uploaded on Aug 14, 2006
All-female dance band of the 30s.
Leader and singer: sexy Ina Ray Hutton
-snip-
Click http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3truck.htm for information about the Jazz dance "Truckin". That website indicates that this dance first originated in Harlem in 1927.

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Video #2: Ina Ray Hutton and Her Melodears - Doin' The Suzy Q



Jan Klompstra, Uploaded on Aug 13, 2006
All-female dance band with sexy leader-singer Ina

A commenter on that video's http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FvJvcZMn3U indicated that this song & film clip are from 1936.
-snip-
Click http://www.streetswing.com/histmain/z3suzyq1.htmfor information about the Jazz dance the "Suzy Q". That website indicates that this dance first originated in 1935.

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RELATED LINK
Click http://www.jambalayah.com/node/1146 for a post on my Jambalayah website that includes videos of a number of African American originated jazz dances (from the 1920 through the 1940s), including the Suzy Q and Truckin. A video demonstrating the Susie Q is clearly labeled. Brief demonstrations of the Susie Q step, the Truckin step, and 82 other Jazz dance steps are found in the video that is entitled "Alphabetical Jazz Steps 2 (Bigger & Longer)"

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to Ina Ray Hutton and Her Melodears for their musical legacy. Thanks to the composers of these songs, and thanks to the uploaders of these videos.

Thank you for visiting pancocojams.

Viewer comments are welcome.

Whitey's Lindy Hoppers (information & film clips)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post presents information about and film clips of Whitey's Lindy Hoppers, a very influential Jazz (Swing) American dance group in the late 1930s and early 1940s. A bonus video tribute to Frankie Manning, a core member & choreographer of that group, is also included in this post.

The content of this post is presented for historical, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

INFORMATION ABOUT WHITEY'S LINDY HOPPERS
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitey's_Lindy_Hoppers
"Whitey's Lindy Hoppers was a professional performing group of Savoy Ballroom swing dancers, started in 1935 by Herbert "Whitey" White. The group took on many different forms, with up to 12 different groups performing under this name or one of a number of different names used for the group over the years, including Whitey's Hopping Maniacs, Harlem Congaroo Dancers, and The Hot Chocolates. In addition to touring both nationally and internationally, the group appeared in a number of feature films and Broadway productions and counted Dorothy Dandridge and Sammy Davis Jr. among their celebrity regulars. By the summer of 1943, with most of its best male dancers got drafted, the Whitey's Lindy Hoppers had pretty much disbanded. The Savoy Ballroom closed in 1958."...
-snip-
From http://www.savoystyle.com/whiteys_lindy_hoppers.html
Archives of Early Lindy Hop -Biographies of Early Swing Dancers

"It is almost 70 years since Herbert "Whitey" White started a professional performing group of Savoy Ballroom swing dancers in 1935. Yet the film clips of Whitey's Lindy Hoppers continue to delight and astonish audiences and inspire new generations of swing dancers...

Whitey's Lindy Hoppers was the brainchild of Herbert "Whitey" White. An African-American man known as "Whitey" because of the streak of white in his hair, he was a former boxer who became a bouncer at the Savoy Ballroom. At one time, more than 70 swing dancers were employed by Whitey. He had a good eye for talent and, like a good coach, he knew how to nurture it. He gave many future entertainers their start in show business...

No matter how far their professional careers went, Whitey's dancers were always, first and foremost, social dancers and true jazz dance improvisors, even after they had a number of choreographed routines under their belts. In this they paralleled the musicians of the great Big Bands, who could perform tight arrangements and still blow completely original jazz improvisations night after night.

The interaction between the improvisations of the great dancers and the great musicians made for fireworks! The dancers transposed the rhythms and riffs into movement and the musicians, watching, responded to what they saw with a frenzy of jazz innovation"...

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FEATURED VIDEOS
Example #1: whitey's lindyhoppers -- history



7roach, Uploaded on Oct 15, 2007

whitey's lindyhoppers
featuring clips from Hot Chocolates and A Day at the Races

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Example #2: Whitey's Lindy Hoppers Radio City Revels 1938


Olivier Cotton. Uploaded on Jun 3, 2010

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Example #3: Whitey's Lindy Hoppers performing the Big Apple (1939)



Tanoa Stewart, Uploaded on Jan 25, 2007

Whitey's Lindy Hoppers performing the Big Apple followed by some crazy Lindy Hoppin'. From the movie Keep Punching, 1939 - Brought to you by the San Francisco Jitterbugs, www.jitterbugs.info

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Example #4: Whitey's Lindy Hoppers - Hot Chocolate - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra - 1941



Juan Villafane, Published on Aug 8, 2013

"Cottontail" Hot Chocolate

Whitey's Lindy Hoppers:

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Example #5: Whiteys Lindy Hoppers .. Helzapoppin



Uploaded by docludi2 on Sep 7, 2010

Probably the greatest Lindy hop sequence ever filmed. Whitey's Lindy Hoppers from the film Helzapoppin… [1941]



Juan Villafane, Published on Aug 8, 2013

"Cottontail" Hot Chocolate

Whitey's Lindy Hoppers

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BONUS VIDEO
Frankie Manning Tribute Video



swingbud,Uploaded on Aug 25, 2010

We're pleased to present the new video tribute to Frankie Manning, produced by Swing Bud Films, "Frankie Manning: Ambassador of Swing." Whether you are a longtime Swing dancer, or new to the dance floor, we hope you will enjoy and be inspired by this introduction to one of America's great dancer / choreographers.

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RELATED LINKS
Click http://www.savoystyle.com/hellzapoppin.html for information about the "Hellzapoppin" dance scene and a listing of other early lindy hop dance scenes.

Also, for a largely non-dance related critique of this film clip and a non-dance related critique of neo-Swing in general, click http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2011/07/05/race-appropriation-lindy-hop-how-to-honor-our-heroes/ Race, Appropriation, & Lindy Hop: How to Honor our Heroes.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to Whitey's Lindy Hoppers for their dance legacy. My thanks also to the musicians and producers of these film clips. Thanks also to the uploaders of these videos and the authors of the information that is quoted in this post.

Also, thank you for visiting pancocojams.

Viewer comments are welcome.

Jimmie Lunceford - Rhythm Is Our Business (Jazz)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post presents a sound file of the Jimmie Lunceford And His Orchestra performing "Rhythm Is Our Business". Information about Jimmie Lunceford and the lyrics for this song are also included in this post.

The content of this post is presented for historical, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

INFORMATION ABOUT JIMMIE LUNCEFORD
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmie_Lunceford
"James Melvin "Jimmie" Lunceford (June 6, 1902 – July 12, 1947) was an American jazz alto saxophonist and bandleader in the swing era...

In 1927, while an athletic instructor at Manassas High School in Memphis, Tennessee, he organized a student band, the Chickasaw Syncopators, whose name was changed to the Jimmie Lunceford Orchestra. Under the new name, the band started its professional career in 1929, and made its first recordings in 1930...

Lunceford's orchestra, with their tight musicianship and the often outrageous humor in their music and lyrics, made an ideal band for the club, and Lunceford's reputation began to steadily grow.[7] Jimmie Luncefords band differed from other great bands of the time because their work was better known for its ensemble than its solo work. Additionally, he was known for using a two-beat rhythm, called the Lunceford two-beat, as opposed to the standard four-beat rhythm. This distinctive "Lunceford style" was largely the result of the imaginative arrangements by trumpeter Sy Oliver, which set high standards for dance-band arrangers of the time.[9]

Though not well known as a musician, Jimmie Lunceford was trained on several instruments and was even featured on flute in "Liza".[10]

Comedy and vaudeville played a distinct part in Lunceford's presentation. Songs such as "Rhythm Is Our Business", "I'm Nuts about Screwy Music", "I Want the Waiter (With the Water)", and "Four or Five Times" displayed a playful sense of swing, often through clever arrangements by trumpeter Sy Oliver and bizarre lyrics. Lunceford's stage shows often included costumes, skits, and obvious jabs at mainstream white jazz bands, such as Paul Whiteman's and Guy Lombardo's.

Despite the band's comic veneer, Lunceford always maintained professionalism in the music befitting a former teacher; this professionalism paid off and during the apex of swing in the 1930s, the Orchestra was considered the equal of Duke Ellington's, Earl Hines' or Count Basie's"...

FEATURED VIDEO - Rhythm Is Our Business



saxdad59, Uploaded on Aug 16, 2008
-snip-
Here's a comment from this video's comment thread identifying key band members http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Tgef-Xhqn0
Grouchy2day, 2012
"The drummer was James Crawford. Joe Thomas on tenor sax, Paul Webster on trumpet, Moses Allen on bass and the vocalist was Willie Smith (who also plays alto sax).
-snip-
This clip is also given at 2:00 to 3:34 in the 6:33 video entitled JImmie Lunceford And His Orchestra http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNfUtfdwTes

SONG LYRICS: RHYTHM IS OUR BUSINESS
(Sammy Cahn / Saul Chaplin / Jimmie Lunceford)

Rhythm is our business, rhythm is what we sell,
Rhythm is our business, business sure is swell,
Now, if you blue, rhythm's what you need
If you got rhythm you're sure to succeed,
Rhythm is our business, business sure is swell.

He's the drummer man, in the band
Crosby's on the drums, in the band
Oh, when he does tricks with the sticks
The boys in the band all play hot licks

He plays saxophone in the band
Joe plays the saxophone in the band
Oh, when he goes up that scale
(One line of scat singing followed by saxophone break)

Mose plays on the bass in the band
Mose plays on that bass in the band
Now when he picks on those strings
Happiness to you he brings
(Short bass break)

He blows on the trumpet in the band
Steve blows on that trumpet in the band
Oh, he's the guy, hits `em high
Makes you think he's in the sky
(Trumpet Break)

Oh rhythm is our business!

(Transcribed from the Jimmie Lunceford
recording by Bill Huntley - November 2005)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmie_Lunceford

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
Thanks to Jimmie Lunceford and His Orchestra for their musical legacy. My thanks also to the author of the article, the transcriber of this song, and the uploader of this featured sound file.

Also, thank you for visiting pancocojams.

Viewer comments are welcome.

Two Archival Lindy Hop (Swing) Dance Videos

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post provides information about The Lindy Hop (Swing) and showcases two archival Lindy Hop (Swing) dance videos.

My thanks to Whitey's Lindy Hoppers, the choreographers, dancers, musicians, and producers of these film clips. Thanks also to the uploaders of these videos and the authors of the information that is quoted.

PART I: BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE LINDY HOP

The Lindy Hop is an American dance that evolved in Harlem, New York City in the 1920s and 1930s and originally evolved with the jazz music of that time. Lindy was a fusion of many dances that preceded it or were popular during its development but is mainly based on jazz, tap, breakaway and Charleston. It is frequently described as a jazz dance and is a member of the swing dance family.

In its development, the Lindy Hop combined elements of both partnered and solo dancing by using the movements and improvisation of black dances along with the formal eight-count structure of European partner dances...

Revived in the 1980s by American, Swedish, and British dancers, the Lindy Hop is now represented by dancers and loosely affiliated grass roots organizations in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania

Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindy_Hop

-snip-
The name "Lindy Hop" is said to have been coined by Savoy dancer "Shorty" George Snowden as a referent to aviator Charles Lindberg, although the Hop dance was performed years before Lindberg's trans-Atlantic flight. Read about the history of the Lindy dance (Swing)on that Wikipedia page given above, including this quote from African American writer Langston Hughes:

As white people began going to Harlem to watch black dancers, according to Langston Hughes: "The lindy-hoppers at the Savoy even began to practice acrobatic routines, and to do absurd things for the entertainment of the whites, that probably never would have entered their heads to attempt for their own effortless amusement. Some of the lindy-hoppers had cards printed with their names on them and became dance professors teaching the tourists. Then Harlem nights became show nights for the Nordics.

Source: Langston Hughes (1940). The Big Sea. New York: Hill and Wang. - cited in Lynne Fauley Emery (1972). Black Dance in the United States from 1916 to 1970. National Press Books. ISBN 0874842034.

SELECTED VIDEOS

Video #1: Hellzapoppin' (1941) - Whitey's Lindy Hoppers w/ Dancers' Names - Harlem Congaroos



SwingcatVB, Published on Aug 10, 2012
Lindy Hop / Swing Dance scene from the movie - Hellzapoppin' - One of the top lindy hop swing dance scenes complete with aerials ever in the movies. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033704/
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Film Clip Description:
This scene depicts various Black employees spontaneously interrupting their work to play musical instruments & dance. When the Black men & women realize that they are being viewed by their White employees, they stop dancing & playing music, and return to their assigned work.

Were it not for racism, these dancers & musicians would have been the stars of the planned show instead of backstage laborers & other support people.

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Video #2: Day At The Races Movie [swing dance scene]



Uploaded by themindstripper on Sep 1, 2007

The whole beautiful, inspiring dancing scene of Whitey's Lindy Hoppers.

-snip-
Film Clip Description:
The scene begins with a White pied piper figure [one of the Marx brothers who were stars of that movie] playing his flute for a White couple who ignore him. He then moves on to the barnyard where he interrupts Black girls jumping rope, and other Black children at play [The longest focus is of boys engaged in the lower class pastime of shooting dice. ]The children ask "Who dat man?" and answer "It's Gabriel!' (meaning the Biblical archangel) singing a Gospel tinged song.

Unlike the White couple who brush the pied piper off, the Black children and adults quickly drop what they are doing, form a circle and dance for the pied piper, and supposedly for themselves.

In my opinion, the set up for this dancing, and some of the antics found in the dancing displays and reinforces a prevailing White view at that time of Black people as coons, meaning immature, happy, care-free, non-threatening, and superstitous people who love to dance.

Click http://cocojams.com/content/comments-about-racism-movie-day-races to read a compilation of YouTube comments about whether the Whitey's Lindy Hoppers dance scene in the "Day At The Races" film is racist or not.

Also, for a largely non-dance related critique of this film clip and a non-dance related critique of neo-Swing in general, click http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2011/07/05/race-appropriation-lindy-hop-how-to-honor-our-heroes/ Race, Appropriation, & Lindy Hop: How to Honor our Heroes.

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OTHER RELATED LINKS
http://www.jambalayah.com/node/1146 African American Jazz Dances

This compilation post features videos of Jazz Dances such as The Big Apple, The Black Bottom, The Charleston, and more.

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http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=knW1hGwmEXQ Gap Commercial - Khaki Swing

This 1998 commercial for The Gap stores feature White "Swing" dancers. Contrary to the uploader's comments, several viewers indicated that this commercial helped to occurred toward the end of the Swing dance trend (in the USA), and may have even helped to usher in the end of that trend (although there are still some people in the USA & elsewhere who are avid Swing dancers).

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Thank you for visiting pancocojams.

Viewer comments are welcome.