The Jazz Age: Popular Music in the 1920s

361 Pages·1989·15.41 MB·English

by  Arnold Shaw

THE JAZZ AGE
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A R N O LD SHAW
THE
JAZZ AGE
Popular Music in the
1920's
Oxford University Press
New York Oxford
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
Oxford New York Toronto
Delhi Bombay Calcutta Madras Karachi
Petaling Jaya Singapore Hong Kong Tokyo
Nairobi Dar es Salaam Cape Town
Melbourne Auckland
and associated companies in
Berlin Ibadan
Copyright © 1987 by Ghita Milgrom Shaw
First published in 1987 by Oxford University Press, Inc.,
200 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016
First issued as an Oxford University Press paperback, 1989
Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of Oxford University Press, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Shaw, Arnold.
The Jazz Age.
Bibliography: p. Includes index.
1. Music, Popular (Songs, etc.)—United States—History and criticism.
2. Jazz music—United States. 3. Musical revue, comedy, etc.—
United States. 4. United States—History—1919-1933. I. Title.
ML3477.S475 1987 780'.42'0973 86-33234
ISBN 0-19-503891-6
ISBN 0-19-506082-2 (pbk.)
Lyrics from "Night and Day" by Cole Porter © 1921 Warner Bros. Inc.
(Renewed). All Rights Reserved. Used by permission.
"I've Come to Wive it Wealthily in Padua" by Cole Porter,
Copyright © 1948 by Cole Porter. Copyright Renewed & Assigned to
John F. Wharton, as Trustee of the Cole Porter Musical & Literary
Property Trusts. Chappell & Co., Inc., owner of publication and
allied rights throughout the world. International Copyright Secured.
All Rights Reserved. Used by permission.
24681097531
Printed in the United States of America
To my beloved wife
Ghita
with love and admiration
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Preface
The 1920s have been the subject of a considerable number of sur-
veys, beginning with the brilliantly analytical and anecdotal Only
Yesterday by Frederick Lewis Allen. But these studies, including
Allen's panoramic view, paid scant attention to the popular music
of the time, perhaps because that music was escapist, avoiding seri-
ous issues and controversial subjects.
But the twenties were a crucial period in the history of popular
music, as significant musically as the fifties were with the advent
of the "rock revolution." It was in the Roaring Twenties that a
group of new tonalities entered the mainstream, fixing the sound
and the forms of our popular music for the next thirty years. Jazz,
hot and hybrid, came booming out of the South to prompt the crea-
tion of a new-styled dance music and new dances. The blues, also
originating with blacks and for a long time transmitted orally, first
made their way onto disk and paper, and influenced the songs being
written in Tin Pan Alley. Black pianists of the Harlem scene trans-
formed ragtime into stride piano, motivating the creation of bravura
pieces known as "piano novelties." The Broadway theater was flooded
with revues that were contemporary in theme and, inspired by the
heightened tempi and rhythms of jazz, severed its European ties and
moved toward the Golden Era of the thirties and forties.
In sum, the twenties were a period when elements of black and
white music first achieved a rich and permanent fusion. This book
viii PREFACE
is an attempt to delineate these vast changes, to view them in the
climate of the era, and to acquaint the reader with the men and
women responsible for them.
Las Vegas, Nevada Arnold Shaw
September 20,1986
P.S. It is perhaps not inappropriate to mention here the sheer, last-
ing appeal of some of the decade's hit songs. If any evidence is re-
quired to demonstrate this, Bob Fosse's musical Big Deal, which
opened on Broadway in April 1986, provides eloquent testimony.
After considering a number of eminent show composers, Fosse set-
tled on a group of tunes that were first heard in the twenties: "I'm
Just Wild About Harry," "Ain't She Sweet," "Button Up Your
Overcoat," and "Happy Days Are Here Again."
"These tunes had been in my head for years," Fosse explained.
"So I ended using old songs that I loved and grew up with. . . ."*
* New York Times (April 6, 1986), "Arts & Leisure," 1.
Contents
I THE JAZZ AGE
1 "Flappers Are We" 3
2 King Oliver, Jelly Roll, and Satchmo 14
3 Bix, Austin High, and Chicago Style 31
4 Pops and Smack 41
II THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE
5 Duke, Ethel, and the Harlem Scene 57
6 "The Birth of the Blues" 67
7 "Kitten on the Keys" 80
8 Shuffle Along 88
III TIN PAN ALLEY
9 "Dardanella" 95
10 "The Sheik of Araby" 111
11 "Three O'Clock in the Morning" 120
12 "Yes! We Have No Bananas"/"Charleston" 132
13 "Rhapsody and Romance in Blue" 142
14 "Tea for Two" 157