0 00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:04,000 Downloaded From www.AllSubs.org 1 00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:26,518 In 1937 the Great Depression, that seemed to begin to give way, 2 00:00:27,120 --> 00:00:28,473 suddenly got worse. 3 00:00:31,560 --> 00:00:33,073 The stock market collapsed again. 4 00:00:35,280 --> 00:00:40,479 In six months there were 4 million of new unemployed. 5 00:00:43,960 --> 00:00:46,758 It was called the Roosevelt Recession. 6 00:00:47,440 --> 00:00:50,637 The worst economic fall in the history of the country. 7 00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:57,365 Black Americans They suffered more than anyone... 8 00:00:57,400 --> 00:01:03,040 and the whites of the south had such political power that Roosevelt... 9 00:01:03,075 --> 00:01:08,910 he did not get support for his law against lynchings. 10 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:15,272 And there were more worries. 11 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:20,672 A new war in Europe It seemed like a matter of time. 12 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:25,356 and America I wasn't prepared. 13 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:37,220 He traveled with Harry Reeser and his "Cliquot Club Eskimos" in 1936... 14 00:01:37,255 --> 00:01:42,160 through the midwest giving concerts at night and traveling... 15 00:01:42,195 --> 00:01:43,434 during the day all summer. 16 00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:47,271 The heat was exhausting, It was terrible. 17 00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:52,031 And the people were poor, they had no money for the Depression. 18 00:01:53,280 --> 00:01:54,235 One day he asked Harry: 19 00:01:55,200 --> 00:02:01,150 Where do they get money for come see us? Because we were full. 20 00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:07,880 Jerry, he told me, save pennies to pay whatever... 21 00:02:07,915 --> 00:02:10,685 for a beer and power go to a dance... 22 00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:15,077 with their wives or their girlfriends, be able to forget your problems. 23 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:20,349 And the next day, again start saving money. 24 00:02:57,280 --> 00:03:00,636 At the end of the thirties, Swing was big business. 25 00:03:03,760 --> 00:03:07,435 A national madness that, despite of the Depression, it grew. 26 00:03:10,960 --> 00:03:13,520 America seemed to have a insatiable hunger for more... 27 00:03:13,555 --> 00:03:17,035 disks, more orchestras, more music. 28 00:03:42,200 --> 00:03:46,485 The saxophone emerged as a voice central in Jazz and although... 29 00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:51,000 some worried that art of Jazz became extinct, the Swing of... 30 00:03:51,035 --> 00:03:55,200 orchestras represented almost the 70% of the profits of the... 31 00:03:55,235 --> 00:03:57,236 music industry. 32 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:02,554 Some gang leaders earned more than 15 thousand dollars per week. 33 00:04:10,040 --> 00:04:14,079 At the end of the thirties, Swing It was big business. 34 00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:19,029 But the commercial It was what prevailed. 35 00:04:19,960 --> 00:04:23,080 Individual expression, which was the heart of Jazz, sometimes... 36 00:04:23,115 --> 00:04:25,799 was hidden. 37 00:04:27,480 --> 00:04:32,278 The musicians got tired of play the same thing every night, 38 00:04:32,313 --> 00:04:37,077 annoyed by not being able to count their own stories. 39 00:04:42,560 --> 00:04:46,240 But in the center of the country, in dance halls and black houses... 40 00:04:46,275 --> 00:04:50,995 from Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri, 41 00:04:51,760 --> 00:04:53,955 a new type of music was born. 42 00:04:57,800 --> 00:05:01,960 Pulsing, vibrant, full of Blues and played by men and... 43 00:05:01,995 --> 00:05:06,120 women who had sharpened his skills in competitions... 44 00:05:06,155 --> 00:05:08,554 which sometimes lasted all night. 45 00:05:16,840 --> 00:05:20,820 The man who would represent this new sound and would take it... 46 00:05:20,855 --> 00:05:24,800 to the rest of the country; the man that he would return to Swing to his... 47 00:05:24,835 --> 00:05:27,394 roots, it was Count Basie. 48 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:32,794 What I heard in the middle West was called Stomp. 49 00:05:34,280 --> 00:05:39,479 This is how the people of Kansas played, Oklahoma and Texas the Blues. 50 00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:44,199 It was a fast Blues and the lyrics It was sung like a scream. 51 00:05:45,960 --> 00:05:48,040 Kansas definitely existed City four by four and the... 52 00:05:48,075 --> 00:05:51,396 celebration speed. That's Basie's music. 53 00:06:02,360 --> 00:06:07,036 Swing is a participation style and fashion volunteer. 54 00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:12,988 If you don't want to participate, it doesn't happen. nothing. They won't force you. 55 00:06:13,760 --> 00:06:20,480 If you think it's noise, fine. but If you listen to it, it attracts you. 56 00:06:20,515 --> 00:06:23,017 And if you listen to what the musicians say, 57 00:06:23,052 --> 00:06:25,520 I will invite you in. It doesn't tell you: stay away. 58 00:06:25,555 --> 00:06:27,078 He always tells you: come in. 59 00:07:01,800 --> 00:07:06,239 This is an improvised concert. Often these great artists... 60 00:07:06,274 --> 00:07:10,678 they get together to play ad libitum. It's like a midnight symphony. 61 00:07:49,480 --> 00:07:54,270 The appeal of the saxophone, the Jazz instrument in the 30s, 62 00:07:55,360 --> 00:07:59,956 is that it is, like the cello, in the range of the male voice. 63 00:08:01,600 --> 00:08:04,114 And it is an instrument Incredibly expressive. 64 00:08:07,320 --> 00:08:11,365 The saxophone existed since approximately 1840... 65 00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:15,598 and for more than half a century it was basic in military bands. 66 00:08:16,880 --> 00:08:20,480 But in the hands of the Jazz musicians, their sound is... 67 00:08:20,515 --> 00:08:25,156 it transformed and became cheerful and seductive. 68 00:08:31,320 --> 00:08:35,154 The transformation was due to Coleman Hawkins. 69 00:08:46,480 --> 00:08:49,472 It had the most virile sound in the tenor saxophone that I have heard. 70 00:08:52,920 --> 00:08:56,674 He was great without being boastful, without too much air or too much vibrato. 71 00:09:03,520 --> 00:09:07,957 The eight bars of his solo They slid perfectly. 72 00:09:10,480 --> 00:09:14,189 But when he got the saxophone It was a vaudeville instrument... 73 00:09:15,800 --> 00:09:19,759 and there was no serious music for him. Ravel and others had tickets. 74 00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:23,598 But Hawkins made art with the tenor saxophone. 75 00:09:25,280 --> 00:09:28,965 Born in San Jose, Missouri, Hawkins toured the country... 76 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:33,480 playing in tents until Fletcher Henderson heard it... 77 00:09:33,515 --> 00:09:39,669 in 1923 and hired him in the act. He was 18 years old. 78 00:09:41,360 --> 00:09:45,560 I would play with Henderson more than a decade and inspired by what... 79 00:09:45,595 --> 00:09:48,960 What did Armstrong do with the trumpet, established the... 80 00:09:48,995 --> 00:09:51,554 tenor saxophone as soloist. 81 00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:02,551 No one plays like me and I don't I play like no one else, Hawkins said. 82 00:10:04,800 --> 00:10:09,316 And he would demonstrate it in competitions throughout the country. 83 00:10:15,680 --> 00:10:20,315 One of his nicknames was "Habicuela", by the apparently... 84 00:10:20,350 --> 00:10:24,950 Endless flow of ideas musicals coming out of his brain. 85 00:10:28,960 --> 00:10:33,000 He was always ready to compete. He left his card in the clubs... 86 00:10:33,035 --> 00:10:36,993 saying: if anyone believes that makes music, call me. 87 00:10:37,680 --> 00:10:39,989 I will make it happen by the Bean test. 88 00:10:46,960 --> 00:10:51,272 A young and passionate musician arrived in Oklahoma City. 89 00:10:52,920 --> 00:10:57,320 With his white sweater, his blue cap and the movement... 90 00:10:57,355 --> 00:10:59,709 up and down his silver saxophone. 91 00:11:01,160 --> 00:11:05,319 Impressed all the musicians of reed instruments... 92 00:11:05,354 --> 00:11:09,478 with the original and wild flights of your imagination. 93 00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:12,912 Lester Young, 94 00:11:14,480 --> 00:11:19,076 with his battered saxophone, It upset the entire black community. 95 00:11:20,280 --> 00:11:21,633 Ralph Ellison 96 00:11:24,720 --> 00:11:28,269 Coleman's biggest rival Hawkins was Lester Young. 97 00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:36,805 Born in Mississippi and raised in New Orleans, he played the... 98 00:11:36,840 --> 00:11:41,285 saxophone in the family band, that ran through the south and the middle... 99 00:11:41,320 --> 00:11:47,100 west. I had always been shy and sensitive and at 18 years old, fed up... 100 00:11:47,135 --> 00:11:51,964 of his father's beatings and without wanting to go on tour afterwards... 101 00:11:51,999 --> 00:11:56,793 of getting into a fight white, he fled his home. 102 00:12:00,440 --> 00:12:04,735 Lester Young entered the "Original Blue Devils", one of the... 103 00:12:04,770 --> 00:12:09,030 many bands that toured the Midwest area, in 1932. 104 00:12:10,880 --> 00:12:13,920 Like Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young earned fame... 105 00:12:13,955 --> 00:12:18,869 to compete against whom wherever, wherever. 106 00:12:20,120 --> 00:12:22,960 Fed with pork and canned beans, accompanied... 107 00:12:22,995 --> 00:12:25,394 orange soda, I could play for hours. 108 00:12:30,920 --> 00:12:34,565 Young modeled his style after to Frankie Trumbauer, 109 00:12:34,600 --> 00:12:38,479 a white saxophonist of whom He always carried his records. 110 00:12:41,200 --> 00:12:43,960 He liked the style of Trumbauer of counting small... 111 00:12:43,995 --> 00:12:48,158 stories and admired its light sound. 112 00:12:50,760 --> 00:12:56,596 The result was that its sound It was the opposite of Hawkins. 113 00:13:04,800 --> 00:13:08,920 It was so different. First place, its sound was different... 114 00:13:08,955 --> 00:13:12,708 of the normally accepted in Jazz saxophonists. 115 00:13:17,720 --> 00:13:22,714 Out of nowhere a guy appeared with a round, almost hollow sound. 116 00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:28,039 But it was beautiful. 117 00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:37,512 I learned all the solos Young. That's how I learned to play. 118 00:13:39,360 --> 00:13:44,229 That's how I grew up and if there wasn't fact, I don't know what I would have done. 119 00:13:45,880 --> 00:13:48,314 Lester Young was an angel. 120 00:13:50,080 --> 00:13:53,152 It was sweet, delicate, gentle. 121 00:13:54,600 --> 00:13:56,795 And his music reflects that. 122 00:13:59,280 --> 00:14:02,033 He played the tenor saxophone as if it were an alto saxophone. 123 00:14:03,360 --> 00:14:08,309 I turned it so that the body of the instrument came to the front... 124 00:14:08,880 --> 00:14:10,313 and he stopped him like that. 125 00:14:11,480 --> 00:14:14,074 And I had to bend my neck to settle in and... 126 00:14:14,360 --> 00:14:18,512 the nozzle rotated. He got like that and played like that. 127 00:14:21,280 --> 00:14:25,273 But the beauty of its sound It is unmatched. 128 00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:07,311 And it wasn't just his music that drew attention. 129 00:15:09,400 --> 00:15:12,915 He had a strange walk and He wore distinctive clothing. 130 00:15:13,640 --> 00:15:15,995 A long black trench coat and a flat hat. 131 00:15:17,320 --> 00:15:19,515 And he had a special language. 132 00:15:21,760 --> 00:15:25,514 He called other musicians "Mrs. this" or "Mrs. that." 133 00:15:27,400 --> 00:15:30,039 To fail was "to be hurt." 134 00:15:31,840 --> 00:15:35,435 "Does your lady burn?" meant Does your wife know how to cook? 135 00:15:37,680 --> 00:15:39,750 He called white people "grays." 136 00:15:43,280 --> 00:15:47,319 And if he saw a fan nearby, He said "I smell a smell." 137 00:15:49,560 --> 00:15:53,160 After two successful tours in the Midwest, the "Blue Devils"... 138 00:15:53,195 --> 00:15:54,559 they decided to go east. 139 00:15:57,200 --> 00:16:00,600 But in the poor towns miners from Kentucky and Virginia... 140 00:16:00,635 --> 00:16:02,636 from the West they had problems. 141 00:16:04,560 --> 00:16:08,473 The band was hurt, very hurt, Young remembers, 142 00:16:09,280 --> 00:16:11,032 playing for three people. 143 00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:13,998 No one could afford buy the ticket. 144 00:16:15,960 --> 00:16:17,234 The band dissolved. 145 00:16:22,600 --> 00:16:25,751 The vagabonds taught him to take the train without a ticket. 146 00:16:27,840 --> 00:16:30,308 I decided to go where I would find work. 147 00:16:31,600 --> 00:16:35,960 Where musicians were worth its individual sound, where there was... 148 00:16:35,995 --> 00:16:42,433 something new in Jazz. Lester Young went to Kansas. 149 00:16:46,680 --> 00:16:49,956 KANSAS CITY 150 00:17:00,200 --> 00:17:04,525 Imagine it: you are a black musician in the decade of the 30s... 151 00:17:04,560 --> 00:17:10,795 and you have talent. There is a new music they call Swing. 152 00:17:12,800 --> 00:17:19,194 You know that you could touch against the best in the world in Kansas. 153 00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:25,116 Anyone would want to go there. You must be there. 154 00:17:27,360 --> 00:17:30,720 It was like the sacred place. In the 30s, everyone... 155 00:17:30,755 --> 00:17:33,280 emigrated there, They called it "the territory." 156 00:17:34,600 --> 00:17:41,039 This is the drama of the great west American for African Americans. 157 00:17:44,240 --> 00:17:47,835 Like New Orleans at the beginning century and Chicago in the 20s, 158 00:17:49,160 --> 00:17:52,205 Kansas, Missouri, was an open city... 159 00:17:52,240 --> 00:17:56,677 that flourished even in the depths of the Depression. 160 00:18:09,200 --> 00:18:12,829 The chief of Kansas, the one who made everything possible, 161 00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:15,477 It was Tom Pendergast. 162 00:18:16,320 --> 00:18:21,005 Family man who was going to mass every morning and after... 163 00:18:21,040 --> 00:18:26,160 he spent the day directing the most corrupt and reprehensible... 164 00:18:26,195 --> 00:18:28,833 political machinery of the country. 165 00:18:31,680 --> 00:18:35,360 The clubs opened and the people He went out at night to drink or... 166 00:18:35,395 --> 00:18:39,174 satisfy any vice and We know that where there is vice... 167 00:18:39,209 --> 00:18:42,953 you will find all kinds of People, everyone likes that. 168 00:18:46,120 --> 00:18:48,965 It was like a pressure cooker. Many things were happening and in... 169 00:18:49,000 --> 00:18:52,151 in the middle there are the musicians who are clean and come to swing. 170 00:19:07,760 --> 00:19:11,309 Kansas Jazz had a irresistibly cheerful tempo. 171 00:19:13,400 --> 00:19:15,805 Syncopated talks between the tab sections and... 172 00:19:15,840 --> 00:19:21,095 basses that remembered the old ones calls and responses from... 173 00:19:21,130 --> 00:19:26,351 the Church Sanctifies and a great love for the saxophone. 174 00:19:42,360 --> 00:19:45,640 Unlike Swing commercial, Kansas Jazz... 175 00:19:45,675 --> 00:19:47,949 was based on invented arrangements... 176 00:19:48,520 --> 00:19:51,751 or musical ideas that They were rarely written. 177 00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:58,711 But they were the basis of the musicians from Kansas to improvise. 178 00:20:21,880 --> 00:20:24,845 In Kansas they started playing background music using things... 179 00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:27,553 like the muffled hat, they move the hat back and forth, it's something like this: 180 00:20:46,720 --> 00:20:48,676 You listen to a group of men playing rhythms like: 181 00:21:02,680 --> 00:21:05,069 Musicians from Kansas arrived from everywhere. 182 00:21:06,920 --> 00:21:09,275 Lester Young came of Mississippi. 183 00:21:10,760 --> 00:21:12,910 Hot Lips Page, from Dallas. 184 00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:16,954 Sweet Edison, from Columbus Ohio. 185 00:21:19,400 --> 00:21:21,516 Jo Jones, from Illinois. 186 00:21:23,280 --> 00:21:25,669 Mary Lou Williams, from Georgia. 187 00:21:27,280 --> 00:21:29,794 Jay McShann was from Muskogie, Oklahoma. 188 00:21:31,600 --> 00:21:35,434 And Williams James Basie, from Red Bank, New Jersey. 189 00:21:36,920 --> 00:21:39,798 What they had in common It was the Blues. 190 00:21:43,440 --> 00:21:45,874 Kansas became the Mecca of the Midwest. 191 00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:51,954 They were musicians with different past, living in Kansas. 192 00:21:52,400 --> 00:21:57,400 How to speak the same language? There was a common language, 193 00:21:57,435 --> 00:21:59,789 what was the blues of twelve measures. 194 00:22:04,440 --> 00:22:08,520 Having a tempo and a tonality, everyone can play... 195 00:22:08,555 --> 00:22:10,909 within that framework. 196 00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:16,831 And they found infinite ways to make it exciting and original. 197 00:22:17,240 --> 00:22:21,438 Not just night after night, but number after number, for hours. 198 00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:31,640 And of all the bands Kansas, none was better than... 199 00:22:31,675 --> 00:22:34,712 Count Basie and its "Rhythm Barons." 200 00:22:40,600 --> 00:22:42,238 Count Basie was the bubble. 201 00:22:44,240 --> 00:22:47,038 The bubble in the champagne, that was him. 202 00:22:49,360 --> 00:22:55,390 He expressed so much joy in his music, energy and taste. 203 00:22:56,600 --> 00:23:01,674 And also it was childishly playful in what he did. 204 00:23:04,080 --> 00:23:06,880 It had that element of Jazz that expresses what happens when... 205 00:23:06,915 --> 00:23:08,996 a group of children meets, 206 00:23:09,360 --> 00:23:14,195 they invent a game and have fun like crazy without knowing why. 207 00:23:15,400 --> 00:23:21,920 That was Count Basie; a musician exquisite, although it tasted... 208 00:23:21,955 --> 00:23:25,037 how to make your blood would boil. 209 00:23:27,000 --> 00:23:34,031 William James Basie was born in 1904 in New Jersey, son of a chauffeur. 210 00:23:35,560 --> 00:23:39,835 His mother washed other people's clothes to pay for his piano lessons... 211 00:23:39,870 --> 00:23:44,110 and Basie always knew that I wanted to get into the show. 212 00:23:46,200 --> 00:23:50,318 He left school and in 1924 I traveled to Manhattan, 213 00:23:51,080 --> 00:23:54,709 where did he learn as much as he could about the masters of the Harlem Stride. 214 00:23:57,880 --> 00:24:02,758 James P. Johnson, Willie El Leon Smith and his contemporary, 215 00:24:02,793 --> 00:24:07,636 Fats Waller, who gave him organ lessons in Harlem. 216 00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:17,628 In the following years, Basie He played all kinds of music. 217 00:24:18,440 --> 00:24:21,565 Accompanies silent films, He played in vaudeville... 218 00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:25,685 and comedy theaters with a band, but he stayed... 219 00:24:25,720 --> 00:24:29,315 without money when arriving at the new capital of Jazz, Kansas. 220 00:24:31,800 --> 00:24:36,032 Basie remembers not having paying attention to the Blues, 221 00:24:37,080 --> 00:24:41,437 but in Kansas I heard it coming out of all the windows. 222 00:24:43,680 --> 00:24:46,956 I immediately knew it was for me, he said later. 223 00:24:54,600 --> 00:25:00,835 In 1935, Basie was playing in bars like the Cherry Blossom and the Reno Club. 224 00:25:02,760 --> 00:25:05,672 Slowly he gathered a band of nine people, 225 00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:10,508 including Lester Young and other rising stars. 226 00:25:13,360 --> 00:25:17,114 Basie knew how he wanted it his "Rhythm Barons" will sound. 227 00:25:22,160 --> 00:25:26,400 Count Basie became popular more through the notes than... 228 00:25:26,435 --> 00:25:29,198 it didn't touch that for the that it did touch. 229 00:25:31,840 --> 00:25:35,628 And developed a great social life in Kansas. 230 00:25:39,520 --> 00:25:44,400 The Cherry Blossom where they played it was a small place, 231 00:25:44,435 --> 00:25:46,925 the size of this room, full of tables, 232 00:25:46,960 --> 00:25:52,557 many tables and all sitting very close to each other. 233 00:25:53,720 --> 00:25:56,560 So much so that Basie's piano I was next to the tables... 234 00:25:56,595 --> 00:26:01,429 and invited people and everyone There were his friends. 235 00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:05,713 I had a glass nearby, the drums playing, 236 00:26:06,440 --> 00:26:13,391 Jo Jones on guitar. And if someone called him, 237 00:26:15,120 --> 00:26:17,873 He turned around and said: Hey friend, good to see you. 238 00:26:18,720 --> 00:26:19,789 And he had a drink. 239 00:26:20,440 --> 00:26:22,635 And while the drummer played, He kept talking. 240 00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:26,552 Yes, I talked to him about that. 241 00:26:29,760 --> 00:26:35,760 So your social life contributed to its economy, 242 00:26:35,795 --> 00:26:37,805 contributed to his style, 243 00:26:37,840 --> 00:26:39,751 to his poor dedication to the keyboard. 244 00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:46,360 Whatever the reason, always We say that Basie taught us... 245 00:26:46,395 --> 00:26:50,680 to all, beginners and experienced alike, 246 00:26:50,715 --> 00:26:54,229 a very important lesson. 247 00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:59,670 The importance of using space and time in Jazz. 248 00:27:04,320 --> 00:27:07,357 The heart of the band Basie would be his rhythm section, 249 00:27:08,440 --> 00:27:11,557 the best there has been in the history of Jazz. 250 00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:16,711 Jo Jones on drums. 251 00:27:18,120 --> 00:27:22,000 By transferring the drum rhythm to the dishes he brought... 252 00:27:22,035 --> 00:27:26,118 a new vigor and energy to music. 253 00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:29,918 Walter Page played bass. 254 00:27:31,560 --> 00:27:35,314 The rest of the band knew him as "The Big Guy". 255 00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:38,872 Freddie Green on guitar. 256 00:27:40,200 --> 00:27:43,875 He would continue with Basie for 46 years without wasting any time, 257 00:27:44,640 --> 00:27:46,437 or play a solo. 258 00:27:48,160 --> 00:27:50,674 And Basie was on the piano. 259 00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:56,629 A band swings when It blends in well, he believed. 260 00:27:57,600 --> 00:28:00,319 When they are united as melted butter. 261 00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:05,474 Even a note, said Count Basie, you can have Swing. 262 00:28:09,920 --> 00:28:14,474 Several times a week, once radio station broadcast... 263 00:28:14,509 --> 00:28:19,029 from the Reno Club and the sign It reached Chicago. 264 00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:28,591 One night, just before finish the program, 265 00:28:29,400 --> 00:28:33,234 the announcer asked Basie for the name of your next number. 266 00:28:34,440 --> 00:28:39,150 It was just an idea in his head and the name they had given him... 267 00:28:39,720 --> 00:28:41,756 his men, "Blue Balls", You couldn't say it on the air. 268 00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:47,473 Basie looked at his watch and said: It's the "One O'clock Jump." 269 00:28:49,080 --> 00:28:53,995 It would become his signature and touched her the rest of her life. 270 00:28:56,080 --> 00:28:58,389 We didn't have music, It was all in our heads. 271 00:29:00,280 --> 00:29:04,273 The songs "Every Tub"; "John's Idea"; "Out the Window"; 272 00:29:05,240 --> 00:29:08,994 "One O'clock Jump", were inventions, they were not written. 273 00:29:11,560 --> 00:29:15,200 Jimmy Lunceford, Ellington, Dorsey, Goodman, Chick Webb, 274 00:29:15,235 --> 00:29:16,997 everyone had arrangements. 275 00:29:17,520 --> 00:29:22,397 If you played a choir, you had a score to read, but with Basie... 276 00:29:22,432 --> 00:29:27,274 you could play 5, 6, 7 choruses, the whatever you wanted, as long as they had Swing. 277 00:29:36,280 --> 00:29:38,685 When promoter John Hammond heard the sound... 278 00:29:38,720 --> 00:29:43,280 electrifying Basie in his car, drove from Chicago to... 279 00:29:43,315 --> 00:29:46,352 Kansas to talk to him. 280 00:29:47,400 --> 00:29:50,710 Hammond had promoted the Goodman and Holiday races... 281 00:29:51,880 --> 00:29:56,556 and he was determined to make Count Basie a star. 282 00:30:00,760 --> 00:30:04,639 MUSICAL AFFINITY 283 00:30:15,080 --> 00:30:18,356 In 1937, seeking to improve his band even more, 284 00:30:19,640 --> 00:30:21,915 Count Basie hired to Billie Holiday. 285 00:30:24,880 --> 00:30:26,996 It was the opportunity what she expected. 286 00:30:28,280 --> 00:30:30,510 She called him Daddy Basie. 287 00:30:31,680 --> 00:30:37,789 �He called her William and she understood� his talent and his temperament. 288 00:30:40,480 --> 00:30:45,860 When they went on tour, he drank and I bet on the bus like... 289 00:30:45,895 --> 00:30:51,205 if I were one of the men and He earned so much that he had to... 290 00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:56,439 lend money to losers for Christmas gifts. 291 00:30:58,960 --> 00:31:01,554 He was like a man, but feminine, said Sweet Edison. 292 00:31:13,800 --> 00:31:17,017 She had an affair with him guitarist Freddie Green... 293 00:31:17,052 --> 00:31:20,235 and he said he was the only man the one he had loved. 294 00:31:22,240 --> 00:31:26,711 But on tour and at home, I was closer to Lester Young. 295 00:31:28,280 --> 00:31:31,556 They would be friends all their lives, but never lovers. 296 00:31:33,760 --> 00:31:38,080 They met in Harlem and She was attracted to his sensitivity, 297 00:31:38,115 --> 00:31:43,414 the attention he paid to the lyrics the same as the melody... 298 00:31:43,449 --> 00:31:48,714 and its light, relaxed sound, that complemented his. 299 00:31:58,320 --> 00:32:01,471 Billie Holiday and Lester Young They had musical affinity. 300 00:32:03,600 --> 00:32:06,717 He called her "Lady of the day" and she "The President", 301 00:32:07,360 --> 00:32:10,925 which they reduced to "Prez". And hearing them together in... 302 00:32:10,960 --> 00:32:15,476 a recording, you feel that They were in the same orbit. 303 00:32:33,600 --> 00:32:39,760 Billie Holiday was my girl. Yes It could be someone else, it would be... 304 00:32:39,795 --> 00:32:43,355 a saxophonist in the 30s to be able to play with her. 305 00:32:45,040 --> 00:32:49,158 There would be nothing better; She was the best singer of all. 306 00:32:50,840 --> 00:32:54,480 She encompasses everything that is Jazz. I didn't have a great voice, 307 00:32:54,515 --> 00:33:00,237 but he still stood out. It caught your attention. 308 00:33:02,280 --> 00:33:04,748 And that is something very special. It is a very special gift. 309 00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:34,580 Hammond united Billie and Lester in the studio for a... 310 00:33:34,615 --> 00:33:38,225 series of recordings in groups small instruments... 311 00:33:38,260 --> 00:33:41,835 which would be among the most memorable in history. 312 00:34:17,520 --> 00:34:21,513 When you play music, It's hard to put it into words, 313 00:34:22,240 --> 00:34:26,520 but when you touch you enter another world. It's very abstract... 314 00:34:26,555 --> 00:34:34,165 and your sense of hearing is what becomes alert. 315 00:34:34,200 --> 00:34:36,725 And when listening to another person, you try to absorb it all, 316 00:34:36,760 --> 00:34:40,070 their conscience, what they talk to you about, how they feel, where they are going. 317 00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:47,040 And it's rare that people connect. Many believe that like the... 318 00:34:47,075 --> 00:34:50,240 Jazz is about communication and connection, you will have that. But... 319 00:34:50,275 --> 00:34:56,365 Not much is given, not like Billie Holiday and Lester Young... 320 00:34:56,400 --> 00:35:00,757 because they had the same type of pain, the same kind of joy. 321 00:35:01,320 --> 00:35:04,676 And they expressed it with Swing. 322 00:35:52,400 --> 00:35:58,475 On Sunday, January 16, 1938, made Jazz history in New York. 323 00:36:00,320 --> 00:36:01,833 And it was done twice. 324 00:36:03,480 --> 00:36:06,200 Benny Goodman was invited to play with his Swing band... 325 00:36:06,235 --> 00:36:09,033 at Carnegie Hall, for a black-tie concert. 326 00:36:11,520 --> 00:36:13,988 The tickets were sold out. 327 00:36:15,400 --> 00:36:20,840 Classical musicians attended, critics and fans with clothes... 328 00:36:20,875 --> 00:36:23,957 gala, bow ties and evening dresses. 329 00:36:26,080 --> 00:36:29,080 In those days, wear a band from Swing to Carnegie Hall... 330 00:36:29,115 --> 00:36:30,274 It was a scandalous idea. 331 00:36:30,760 --> 00:36:36,630 The musicians were nervous, They felt out of place. 332 00:36:37,640 --> 00:36:42,555 Harry James looked out of the curtain and when he saw the audience he said: 333 00:36:43,320 --> 00:36:44,912 I feel like one slut in the church. 334 00:36:50,200 --> 00:36:52,191 Things didn't start well. 335 00:36:54,240 --> 00:36:58,320 The first issue "Don't Be That Way' of January 16, 38... 336 00:36:58,355 --> 00:37:01,392 at Carnegie Hall, it sounds stiff. 337 00:37:04,040 --> 00:37:05,598 And they are scared. 338 00:37:06,440 --> 00:37:10,558 And what Gene Krupa did for Goodman, it must not be forgotten, he thought: 339 00:37:11,120 --> 00:37:16,877 the band sounds bad, come on to fail, we have problems. 340 00:37:20,880 --> 00:37:23,917 And I knew I had to do something. It wasn't for the public, 341 00:37:24,360 --> 00:37:28,956 I wanted to wake up the band. Relax them or scare them. 342 00:37:30,160 --> 00:37:32,720 And when you get to your alone in the arrangement... 343 00:37:33,640 --> 00:37:38,640 He played all his drums so strong as he could, how many... 344 00:37:38,675 --> 00:37:42,235 times he could and that is almost cacophonous. 345 00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:47,999 It only makes sense in the field emotional; to wake up the band. 346 00:37:48,034 --> 00:37:52,999 Come on, I'll show you what It is Swing, because you have forgotten it. 347 00:38:14,360 --> 00:38:17,033 Finishing that first piece, remember a trumpeter, 348 00:38:18,280 --> 00:38:19,872 we were back home. 349 00:38:34,840 --> 00:38:38,280 During that historic concert other Jazz musicians, 350 00:38:38,315 --> 00:38:41,272 including Count Basie and part of his band, 351 00:38:41,720 --> 00:38:43,711 they participated in an improvisation. 352 00:38:45,440 --> 00:38:49,911 The ending was the most famous piece Goodman's "Sing, Sing, Sing." 353 00:38:51,200 --> 00:38:52,792 The highlight of the night. 354 00:38:57,200 --> 00:39:01,280 The entire public, young and old people, they got up to dance... 355 00:39:01,315 --> 00:39:03,714 in the hallways. 356 00:39:22,120 --> 00:39:24,680 The Carnegie Hall Band, Goodman said, 357 00:39:25,320 --> 00:39:27,311 it was the best one I ever had. 358 00:39:53,160 --> 00:39:57,117 In the last year, this column has issued comments on... 359 00:39:57,152 --> 00:40:01,075 several strangers. It will be the number one of next year: 360 00:40:01,800 --> 00:40:03,279 She Fitzgerald. 361 00:40:13,920 --> 00:40:17,356 Without fanfare and almost unknown, yes, but what a future. 362 00:40:19,200 --> 00:40:22,476 And there is no reason why not be the best over time. 363 00:40:23,880 --> 00:40:25,916 George T. Simon. Metronome Magazine. 364 00:40:30,560 --> 00:40:35,918 As Billie Holiday, Ella Jane Fitzgerald had a difficult childhood. 365 00:40:37,400 --> 00:40:38,753 His parents never married. 366 00:40:40,040 --> 00:40:41,632 Her stepfather abused her. 367 00:40:42,800 --> 00:40:45,075 His mother died when I was 14 years old. 368 00:40:46,960 --> 00:40:51,280 I left school and boarding school youth to which they sent her... 369 00:40:51,315 --> 00:40:52,554 for minor crimes. 370 00:40:55,080 --> 00:41:00,720 For two years he lived on the streets from New York, dancing and... 371 00:41:00,755 --> 00:41:02,756 singing for tips, 372 00:41:02,960 --> 00:41:07,590 selling illegal lottery and tending a brothel. 373 00:41:10,320 --> 00:41:15,440 In November 1934, he entered an amateur contest in... 374 00:41:15,475 --> 00:41:17,317 the Apollo Theater in Harlem. 375 00:41:20,800 --> 00:41:23,712 I sang in second-hand clothes man's hand and boots. 376 00:41:26,320 --> 00:41:30,160 She felt uncomfortable and nervous. I knew that the Apollo audience... 377 00:41:30,195 --> 00:41:31,991 could be brutal. 378 00:41:48,560 --> 00:41:53,873 But when he started to sing, He cast a spell on them and won the contest. 379 00:41:58,640 --> 00:42:01,965 The prize was a week of I work in the theater... 380 00:42:02,000 --> 00:42:06,949 but the administrator did not I thought I was pretty enough. 381 00:42:11,720 --> 00:42:15,760 He returned to the streets and the amateur contests, 382 00:42:15,795 --> 00:42:18,399 singing for free with local bands. 383 00:42:22,120 --> 00:42:25,999 Meanwhile, Chick Webb I was looking for a singing beauty, 384 00:42:26,880 --> 00:42:31,715 someone who gave him fame in the world beyond the Savoy. 385 00:42:35,240 --> 00:42:38,596 He sent his vocalist, Charles Linton, to tour the city. 386 00:42:40,880 --> 00:42:43,599 And Linton returned with Ella Fitzgerald. 387 00:42:47,600 --> 00:42:51,837 Webb was scandalized. You will not go up that to my scenario, he said, but... 388 00:42:51,872 --> 00:42:56,075 Linton threatened to resign if they didn't give him the opportunity. 389 00:42:57,520 --> 00:42:59,192 Webb finally relented. 390 00:43:02,600 --> 00:43:04,477 It was the best decision I made. 391 00:43:09,400 --> 00:43:12,119 Soon your orchestra, with Ella Fitzgerald, 392 00:43:12,720 --> 00:43:18,440 appeared on the radio and in concerts throughout the country, 393 00:43:18,475 --> 00:43:21,000 with success after success on the stations. 394 00:43:50,000 --> 00:43:52,992 His perfect tuning amazed to other musicians. 395 00:43:54,040 --> 00:43:58,397 And his fierce sense of Swing and youthful voice enchanted the public. 396 00:44:01,600 --> 00:44:05,420 In 1937 he won the vote Best Jazz Vocalist... 397 00:44:05,455 --> 00:44:09,782 Feminine in magazines most famous jazz bands in the country, 398 00:44:09,817 --> 00:44:14,109 Metronome and Downbeat, defeating Billie Holiday. 399 00:44:29,280 --> 00:44:34,434 At 19 years old, Ella Fitzgerald She was called the Queen of Swing. 400 00:44:41,240 --> 00:44:46,160 In the spring of 1938, Webb and Fitzgerald recorded a... 401 00:44:46,195 --> 00:44:49,550 old nursery rhyme with Swing rhythm. 402 00:45:09,640 --> 00:45:11,949 It was number one for 17 weeks. 403 00:45:18,160 --> 00:45:23,075 In the fall they had three songs more on the lists, all at once. 404 00:45:46,880 --> 00:45:50,156 But when Webb reached the fame you always dreamed of, 405 00:45:51,600 --> 00:45:53,830 his physical fragility worsened. 406 00:45:55,440 --> 00:45:58,960 His kidneys became weak, complicating his fight with... 407 00:45:58,995 --> 00:46:02,509 spinal tuberculosis that It has plagued him since he was a child. 408 00:46:04,200 --> 00:46:08,955 Finally he had an attack and had to be interned in Baltimore. 409 00:46:12,840 --> 00:46:16,116 If something happens to me, he told him to a friend, take care of Ella. 410 00:46:18,040 --> 00:46:20,600 Chick Webb, the first King of Swing, 411 00:46:21,800 --> 00:46:25,076 he died on June 16, 1939. 412 00:46:26,760 --> 00:46:28,671 He was barely 30 years old. 413 00:46:49,200 --> 00:46:53,720 Webb's band changed name: "Ella Fitzgerald and Her... 414 00:46:53,755 --> 00:46:57,679 Famous Orchestra". She didn't need to be taken care of. 415 00:47:00,560 --> 00:47:03,552 I would record a happy song and new one after another. 416 00:47:06,040 --> 00:47:10,120 "My Wubba Dolly"; "Chew, Chew, Chew"; "Deedle-de-Dum" and... 417 00:47:10,155 --> 00:47:12,111 "I Found my Yellow Basket." 418 00:47:25,160 --> 00:47:31,190 She looks at the country and despite the poverty, pain, segregation, 419 00:47:31,960 --> 00:47:36,351 the statistics of lynchings, She sings. 420 00:47:37,520 --> 00:47:40,318 And his soul is full of joy, 421 00:47:41,480 --> 00:47:45,457 and you can't help but share the joy... 422 00:47:45,492 --> 00:47:49,435 and the emotion that led to everything he sang. 423 00:48:04,200 --> 00:48:06,998 A REASON TO LIVE 424 00:48:18,120 --> 00:48:21,510 One Sunday afternoon spring 1938, 425 00:48:22,160 --> 00:48:26,233 the ninth year of the cruel Depression, 24,000 people, 426 00:48:26,960 --> 00:48:30,240 Black and white, they paid 50 cents to attend... 427 00:48:30,275 --> 00:48:32,674 First Jazz Festival outdoors. 428 00:48:33,800 --> 00:48:36,030 In the stadium, in the stadium Randalls Island in New York. 429 00:48:39,800 --> 00:48:42,314 He was baptized as the Swing Carnival. 430 00:48:50,440 --> 00:48:53,520 As if it were a medicine, the Americans bought... 431 00:48:53,555 --> 00:48:55,636 700,000 Swing records per month. 432 00:48:56,360 --> 00:48:58,476 And there were 24 orchestras. 433 00:49:00,720 --> 00:49:04,285 But none had more impact or better represented the... 434 00:49:04,320 --> 00:49:09,599 speed of celebration that the best Swing represented, 435 00:49:10,080 --> 00:49:11,877 than Count Basie and his orchestra. 436 00:49:14,560 --> 00:49:18,348 For months they had had success after success. 437 00:49:19,560 --> 00:49:23,997 "Jumpin' at the Woodside"; "Swingin' at the Daisy Chain"; 438 00:49:25,000 --> 00:49:29,994 "Lady Be Good"; "Out the Window" and "Doggin' Around." 439 00:49:44,400 --> 00:49:49,952 His band appeared in 1936 and in 1937 it was already a success. 440 00:49:52,360 --> 00:49:54,874 His impact on Jazz became universal. 441 00:49:59,880 --> 00:50:03,668 Because it brought to him a rhythmic precision... 442 00:50:06,360 --> 00:50:11,673 and a pulse that was almost definitive. 443 00:50:16,800 --> 00:50:20,834 Count Basie proved that Swing orchestra could be popular... 444 00:50:20,869 --> 00:50:24,869 without sacrificing spontaneity, which is the heart of Jazz. 445 00:51:08,120 --> 00:51:09,792 In March 1939, 446 00:51:10,720 --> 00:51:15,271 Duke Ellington and his orchestra They set sail for Europe on a tour. 447 00:51:18,200 --> 00:51:21,590 Not even he could foresee the impact it would have. 448 00:51:29,640 --> 00:51:34,218 In America, Ellington was frequently overshadowed by... 449 00:51:34,253 --> 00:51:38,797 more commercial bands, but in Europe he would be the king. 450 00:51:41,960 --> 00:51:45,125 They welcomed us in Le Havre with such adoration and pleasure... 451 00:51:45,160 --> 00:51:50,680 genuine, a trumpeter would say, that for the first time I felt... 452 00:51:50,715 --> 00:51:56,391 accepted as an artist, gentleman and human being. 453 00:52:00,040 --> 00:52:05,500 Thousands came out in Brussels, Antwerp, The Hague, Utrecht, 454 00:52:05,535 --> 00:52:10,925 Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Stockholm, where admirers... 455 00:52:10,960 --> 00:52:14,873 Ellington's filled his room flower hotel for its 40th anniversary. 456 00:52:22,200 --> 00:52:28,340 A critic in Paris said that his music revealed the secret of... 457 00:52:28,375 --> 00:52:33,387 cosmos, and the French poet Blaise Cendrars said that his music... 458 00:52:33,422 --> 00:52:38,400 it was not just a new form of art, but a new reason... 459 00:52:38,435 --> 00:52:40,118 to live. 460 00:52:45,280 --> 00:52:48,440 But in that same spring, while his train was stopped... 461 00:52:48,475 --> 00:52:54,085 in Hamburg, soldiers uniformed officers patrolled the... 462 00:52:54,120 --> 00:52:58,398 platform and they couldn't get off even stretch your legs. 463 00:53:00,120 --> 00:53:04,159 The Nazis had banned the black foreigners and Jazz, 464 00:53:05,160 --> 00:53:07,549 which they called music black-jewish. 465 00:53:10,760 --> 00:53:13,911 When crossing Holland, remembers a clarinetist, 466 00:53:15,000 --> 00:53:18,240 we could see out the window that they put machine guns in... 467 00:53:18,275 --> 00:53:20,959 stacks of hay and in the ditches. 468 00:53:23,960 --> 00:53:28,636 And in Paris, they played in a new underground theater... 469 00:53:29,000 --> 00:53:31,400 built to withstand the German bombs that... 470 00:53:31,435 --> 00:53:33,834 France knew, They were about to fall. 471 00:53:35,720 --> 00:53:38,553 Ellington and his gang returned to America in May. 472 00:53:40,760 --> 00:53:44,070 Europe was months away of war. 473 00:53:57,520 --> 00:54:01,165 In October 1939, a month after the invasion of... 474 00:54:01,200 --> 00:54:06,320 Poland, Coleman Hawkins, the man who played the saxophone... 475 00:54:06,355 --> 00:54:09,676 tenor a jazz instrument, I entered the studio. 476 00:54:11,400 --> 00:54:16,997 I recorded four songs that day, including the popular "Body and Soul." 477 00:54:18,560 --> 00:54:21,358 It had never been recorded something like that. 478 00:54:22,720 --> 00:54:26,554 "Body and Soul" is one of the Jazz masterpieces. 479 00:54:28,280 --> 00:54:33,120 Hawkins records two choruses in that, with the exception of... 480 00:54:33,155 --> 00:54:36,078 first two bars, It doesn't play any of the melody. 481 00:54:37,120 --> 00:54:38,792 This is wonderful. 482 00:54:39,800 --> 00:54:41,518 It was also confusing for the people. Get started: 483 00:54:43,880 --> 00:54:46,189 Then its variations melodic 484 00:54:46,960 --> 00:54:50,125 And sustains and continues the variation for two choirs, 485 00:54:50,160 --> 00:54:54,358 touching a brilliant idea melodic after another until the end. 486 00:57:04,800 --> 00:57:08,554 "Body and Soul" was a success among Americans of all colors. 487 00:57:11,160 --> 00:57:13,958 And it would inspire a generation of young musicians... 488 00:57:14,320 --> 00:57:17,437 to bring Jazz into a new address. 489 00:57:18,437 --> 00:57:28,437 Downloaded From www.AllSubs.org