Since I Donated Money to PBS, I get to Watch ANY SHOW AT ANY TIME! a Wonderful Benefit to My Life!
Interactive: Roots of Jazz
Music 101
A Basic Primer to Key Musical Concepts...
Before I saw this show I actually knew very little about jazz... I grew up on the Beatles And The Grateful Dead... My parents listened to Jazz but my total knowledge was a 10 record set put out by The Reader's Digest... So now... Not only have I heard the names of all the famous people but I've also heard their actual music...
And many stories about their personal lives and how it influenced the music... For example: Dave Brubeck traveled to the country of Turkey and heard the local people playing in 9/8 time... And he said to himself... "I want to do that!" And that was the reason he got into odd time signatures... Including his biggest hit "Take Five" ... In 5/4 time...
I must admit that the entire era called Bebop was really horrible. Pointless random honking... And it all sounds the same... Really annoying... One record had a Jackson Pollock painting on the cover... That's very appropriate... Because both art forms are a massive case of "SO WHAT?"- At that time the rest of the world was listening to Folk Music, Country & Western, Elvis Presley and the Beatles... And not surprisingly, Jazz musicians found it difficult to find work because nobody wanted to hear them! All the kids were going to rock concerts and the old people were staying at home and watching TV.
Here Are A Dozen of the Best Jazz Music Videos:
Louis Armstrong - What A Wonderful World
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqhCQZaH4Vs Chattanooga choo choo - Glenn Miller (1941)
The Pennsylvania Station is downstairs from Madison Square Garden in New York City. I went to a Grateful Dead concert there and after the show thousands of people went down to the station where they have restaurants and souvenir shops and it's open 24 hours a day... After hanging out for an hour or two I got on the train... Humming this song...
I've Got a Gal in Kalamazoo - Glenn Miller
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQQfK8Bqkw0
Rhapsody in Blue - George Gershwin. It appears that the Bebop era influenced the Grateful Dead in their one song called drums/space... There's a lot of Banging on Drums and Random Noises from the guitars... It's quite amazing when you're really high on LSD... But after that is over... They play some standard rock and roll songs so that the kids can dance and shake their bones...
Andrews Sisters - Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8of3uhG1tCI
The Andrews Sisters - Rum and Coca Cola
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGxL2uNr7bk
Duke Ellington - Take The A Train
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6mFGy4g_n8
Weather Report - Birdland
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqashW66D7o
Hoagy Carmichael - The Darktown Strutter's Ball
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4lrdawmUg8
Fats Waller - You're A Viper
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm-L9uMxzQA
Cab Calloway - Minnie the Moocher
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WtSLYrTKrEw
Charlie Brown Christmas Dance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1LUXQWzCno
WHITE CHRISTMAS:
Seventy - Six Trombones – André Rieu
The Pink Panther Theme - Henry Mancini
Bridge on the River Kwai Theme
Glenn Miller Orchestra In the Mood