From Spirituals to Swing
Encyclopedia
From Spirituals to Swing was the title of two concerts presented by John Hammond
in Carnegie Hall
on 23 December 1938 and 24 December 1939. The concerts included performances by Count Basie
, Benny Goodman
, Big Joe Turner
and Pete Johnson
, Helen Humes
, Meade Lux Lewis
, Albert Ammons
, Mitchell's Christian Singers
, the Golden Gate Quartet, James P. Johnson
, Big Bill Broonzy
and Sonny Terry
.
and leading up to big swing bands, involving African American performers. Hammond had difficulty getting sponsorship for the event because it involved African American performers and an integrated audience. However, The New Masses
, the journal of the American Communist Party, agreed to finance it.
According to the liner notes of the boxed set
, "[i]n 1938... conceived a concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City to showcase African-American music from its raw beginnings to the most current jazz. Hammond... was one of the most influential talent scouts and record producers in history, having 'discovered' artists from Billie Holiday and Count Basie to [much later - Varlet] Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. The concert, which would be titled 'From Spirituals To Swing', would depict the common themes that existed in Black music from its origins in Africa, through gospel and blues, dixieland and eventually to swing."
"On December 23, 1938, 'From Spirituals To Swing' was presented to a sold-out house... Its success prompted another concert on Christmas Eve of 1939..."
"The musical significance of the two 'From Spirituals To Swing' concerts is difficult to deny. Equally important, however, were the social and political implications. The racial impact cannot be overlooked as African-American artists were being presented to an integrated audience at Carnegie Hall at a time when such an occurrence was, if not unheard of, extremely rare. The strong ties between the jazz world and the political Left were also obvious in the two sponsors of the programs: The Marxist 'New Masses' and the Theater Arts Committee which was an openly Left-wing organization. John Hammond was an independent iconoclast. In his efforts to foster social justice and integration he found himself at times in step with civil rights groups and Communists (though Hammond himself was never a member of the Communist Party). The impact of the integration of musicians and jazz audiences in the 1930s and 1940s was very influential on the racial history of our country. 'From Spirituals To Swing' was not only a musical milestone in the history of jazz, it was also a socially significant even coming at a time when our nation, as well as the world, was entering a period of inconceivable upheaval and change."
The boogie-woogie
craze of the late 1930s and early 1940s dates from these concerts. Johnson and Turner, along with Lewis and Ammons, continued as an act after the concerts with their appearances at the Cafe Society
night club, as did many of the other performers. The stage moves and musical ecstasy of the gospel performers were new to the white audience, and presaged much that appeared later in rhythm and blues
and rock and roll
.
as a triple CD set in 1999. Inside were two documents: a modern brochure describing the contents of the box set, and a reproduction of the original 1938 program for the show. The program was entitled: "The New Masses Presents An Evening Of African American Negro Music - 'From Spirituals To Swing' [Dedicated to Bessie Smith]." The cover had an image of Bessie Smith
.
John H. Hammond
John Henry Hammond II was an American record producer, musician and music critic from the 1930s to the early 1980s...
in Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
on 23 December 1938 and 24 December 1939. The concerts included performances by Count Basie
Count Basie
William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...
, Benny Goodman
Benny Goodman
Benjamin David “Benny” Goodman was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the "King of Swing".In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America...
, Big Joe Turner
Big Joe Turner
Big Joe Turner was an American blues shouter from Kansas City, Missouri. According to the songwriter Doc Pomus, "Rock and roll would have never happened without him." Although he came to his greatest fame in the 1950s with his pioneering rock and roll recordings, particularly "Shake, Rattle and...
and Pete Johnson
Pete Johnson
Pete Johnson was an American boogie-woogie and jazz pianist.Journalist Tony Russell stated in his book The Blues - From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray, that "Johnson shared with the other members of the 'Boogie Woogie Trio' the technical virtuosity and melodic fertility that can make this the most...
, Helen Humes
Helen Humes
Helen Humes was an American jazz and blues singer.Humes was successively a teenaged blues singer, band vocalist with Count Basie, saucy R&B diva and a mature interpreter of the classy popular song.-Career:...
, Meade Lux Lewis
Meade Lux Lewis
Meade Lux Lewis was a American pianist and composer, noted for his work in the boogie-woogie style. His best known work, "Honky Tonk Train Blues", has been recorded in various contexts, often in a big band arrangement...
, Albert Ammons
Albert Ammons
Albert Ammons was an American pianist. Ammons was a player of boogie-woogie, a bluesy jazz style popular from the late 1930s into the mid 1940s.-Life and career:...
, Mitchell's Christian Singers
Mitchell's Christian Singers
Mitchell's Christian Singers were an American gospel music group who recorded prolifically between 1934 and 1940.-Musical career:Formed in the early 1930s in Kinston, North Carolina, the group initially featured William Brown , Julius Davis , Louis "Panella" David and Lewis Herring , all former...
, the Golden Gate Quartet, James P. Johnson
James P. Johnson
James P. Johnson was an American pianist and composer...
, Big Bill Broonzy
Big Bill Broonzy
Big Bill Broonzy was a prolific American blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s when he played country blues to mostly black audiences. Through the ‘30s and ‘40s he successfully navigated a transition in style to a more urban blues sound popular with white audiences...
and Sonny Terry
Sonny Terry
Saunders Terrell, better known as Sonny Terry was a blind American Piedmont blues musician. He was widely known for his energetic blues harmonica style, which frequently included vocal whoops and hollers, and imitations of trains and fox hunts.-Career:Terry was born in Greensboro, Georgia...
.
Concert
The idea was a history, starting with spiritualsGospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
and leading up to big swing bands, involving African American performers. Hammond had difficulty getting sponsorship for the event because it involved African American performers and an integrated audience. However, The New Masses
The New Masses
The "New Masses" was a prominent American Marxist publication edited by Walt Carmon, briefly by Whittaker Chambers, and primarily by Michael Gold, Granville Hicks, and Joseph Freeman....
, the journal of the American Communist Party, agreed to finance it.
According to the liner notes of the boxed set
Boxed set
A box set is a compilation of various musical recordings, films, television programs, or other collection of related items that are contained in a box.-Music box sets:...
, "[i]n 1938... conceived a concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City to showcase African-American music from its raw beginnings to the most current jazz. Hammond... was one of the most influential talent scouts and record producers in history, having 'discovered' artists from Billie Holiday and Count Basie to [much later - Varlet] Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. The concert, which would be titled 'From Spirituals To Swing', would depict the common themes that existed in Black music from its origins in Africa, through gospel and blues, dixieland and eventually to swing."
"On December 23, 1938, 'From Spirituals To Swing' was presented to a sold-out house... Its success prompted another concert on Christmas Eve of 1939..."
"The musical significance of the two 'From Spirituals To Swing' concerts is difficult to deny. Equally important, however, were the social and political implications. The racial impact cannot be overlooked as African-American artists were being presented to an integrated audience at Carnegie Hall at a time when such an occurrence was, if not unheard of, extremely rare. The strong ties between the jazz world and the political Left were also obvious in the two sponsors of the programs: The Marxist 'New Masses' and the Theater Arts Committee which was an openly Left-wing organization. John Hammond was an independent iconoclast. In his efforts to foster social justice and integration he found himself at times in step with civil rights groups and Communists (though Hammond himself was never a member of the Communist Party). The impact of the integration of musicians and jazz audiences in the 1930s and 1940s was very influential on the racial history of our country. 'From Spirituals To Swing' was not only a musical milestone in the history of jazz, it was also a socially significant even coming at a time when our nation, as well as the world, was entering a period of inconceivable upheaval and change."
The boogie-woogie
Boogie-woogie
Boogie-woogie has the following meanings:*Boogie-woogie, a piano-based music style*Boogie-woogie , a swing dance or a dance that imitates the rock-n-roll dance of the 1950s*"Boogie Woogie" , a song by EuroGroove and Dannii Minogue...
craze of the late 1930s and early 1940s dates from these concerts. Johnson and Turner, along with Lewis and Ammons, continued as an act after the concerts with their appearances at the Cafe Society
Café Society
Café society was the collective description for the so-called "Beautiful People" and "Bright Young Things" who gathered in fashionable cafes and restaurants in New York, Paris, and London beginning in the late 19th century...
night club, as did many of the other performers. The stage moves and musical ecstasy of the gospel performers were new to the white audience, and presaged much that appeared later in rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
and rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
.
December 23, 1938
- The Count BasieCount BasieWilliam "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...
Orchestra
-
- Ed LewisEd Lewis (musician)Ed Lewis was an American jazz trumpeter.Lewis played early in his career in Kansas City with Jerry Westbrook as a baritone hornist, then switched to trumpet in 1925...
, Harry Edison, Buck ClaytonBuck ClaytonBuck Clayton was an American jazz trumpet player who was a leading member of Count Basie’s "Old Testament" orchestra and a leader of mainstream-oriented jam session recordings in the 1950s. His principal influence was Louis Armstrong...
, Shad CollinsShad CollinsLester Rallingston "Shad" Collins was an American jazz trumpet player, composer and arranger, who played in several leading bands between the 1930s and 1950s, including those led by Chick Webb, Benny Carter, Count Basie, Lester Young, Cab Calloway and Sam "The Man" Taylor.-Life and career:Born in...
(trumpets); Dicky WellsDicky WellsWilliam Wells, , more famous under the name of Dicky Wells , was an American jazz trombonist....
, Dan MinorDan MinorDan "Slamfoot" Minor was an American jazz trombonist who featured in the bands of Count Basie, Cab Calloway and many others from the 1920s to the 1940s.-Life and career:...
, Benny MortonBenny MortonBenny Morton , born in New York City, was a jazz trombonist most associated with the swing genre. He was praised by fellow trombonist Bill Watrous among others. One of his first jobs was working with Clarence Holiday, and he appeared with Clarence's daughter Billie Holiday towards the end of her...
(trombones); Earle WarrenEarle WarrenEarle Warren was an alto saxophonist and occasional singer with Count Basie.He was born in Springfield, Ohio....
(alto sax); Herschel EvansHerschel EvansHerschel "Tex" Evans , was a tenor saxophonist who worked in the Count Basie Orchestra. He had also worked with Lionel Hampton and Buck Clayton...
, Lester YoungLester YoungLester Willis Young , nicknamed "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and clarinetist. He also played trumpet, violin, and drums....
(tenor sax, clarinet); Jack WashingtonJack WashingtonRonald "Jack" Washington was an American jazz saxophonist, who was best known for his time in the Count Basie orchestra in the 1930s and 1940s.-Life and career:...
(baritone sax, alto sax); Count Basie (piano); Freddie GreenFreddie GreenFrederick William "Freddie" Green was an American swing jazz guitarist. He was especially noted for his sophisticated rhythm guitar in big band settings, particularly for the Count Basie orchestra, where he was part of the "All-American Rhythm Section" with Basie on piano, Jo Jones on drums, and...
(guitar); Walter PageWalter PageWalter Sylvester Page , nicknamed "Hoss," was an African American jazz bassist and leader of the Oklahoma City Blue Devils jazz orchestra from 1925–1931...
(bass); Jo JonesJo JonesJo Jones was an American jazz drummer.Known as Papa Jo Jones in his later years, he was sometimes confused with another influential jazz drummer, Philly Joe Jones...
(drums)- Oran "Hot Lips" Page with the Count Basie Orchestra
- Meade Lux LewisMeade Lux LewisMeade Lux Lewis was a American pianist and composer, noted for his work in the boogie-woogie style. His best known work, "Honky Tonk Train Blues", has been recorded in various contexts, often in a big band arrangement...
- Albert AmmonsAlbert AmmonsAlbert Ammons was an American pianist. Ammons was a player of boogie-woogie, a bluesy jazz style popular from the late 1930s into the mid 1940s.-Life and career:...
- Pete JohnsonPete JohnsonPete Johnson was an American boogie-woogie and jazz pianist.Journalist Tony Russell stated in his book The Blues - From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray, that "Johnson shared with the other members of the 'Boogie Woogie Trio' the technical virtuosity and melodic fertility that can make this the most...
- Joe TurnerBig Joe TurnerBig Joe Turner was an American blues shouter from Kansas City, Missouri. According to the songwriter Doc Pomus, "Rock and roll would have never happened without him." Although he came to his greatest fame in the 1950s with his pioneering rock and roll recordings, particularly "Shake, Rattle and...
with Pete Johnson - Sister Rosetta TharpeSister Rosetta TharpeSister Rosetta Tharpe was an Amercian pioneering gospel singer, songwriter and recording artist who attained great popularity in the 1930s and 1940s with a unique mixture of spiritual lyrics and early rock and roll accompaniment...
with Albert Ammons - Mitchell's Christian SingersMitchell's Christian SingersMitchell's Christian Singers were an American gospel music group who recorded prolifically between 1934 and 1940.-Musical career:Formed in the early 1930s in Kinston, North Carolina, the group initially featured William Brown , Julius Davis , Louis "Panella" David and Lewis Herring , all former...
- William Brown (1st tenor), Julius Davis (2nd tenor), Louis David (baritone), Sam Bryant (bass)
- Big Bill BroonzyBig Bill BroonzyBig Bill Broonzy was a prolific American blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s when he played country blues to mostly black audiences. Through the ‘30s and ‘40s he successfully navigated a transition in style to a more urban blues sound popular with white audiences...
with Albert Ammons - Sonny TerrySonny TerrySaunders Terrell, better known as Sonny Terry was a blind American Piedmont blues musician. He was widely known for his energetic blues harmonica style, which frequently included vocal whoops and hollers, and imitations of trains and fox hunts.-Career:Terry was born in Greensboro, Georgia...
- James P. JohnsonJames P. JohnsonJames P. Johnson was an American pianist and composer...
- Jimmy RushingJimmy RushingJames Andrew Rushing , known as Jimmy Rushing, was an American blues shouter and swing jazz singer from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, best known as the featured vocalist of Count Basie's Orchestra from 1935 to 1948.Rushing was known as "Mr...
with the Count Basie Orchestra - The Kansas City Six:
- Big Bill Broonzy
- Buck Clayton, Lester Young, Leonard WareLeonard WareLeonard Ware was an American jazz guitar player and composer, who was one of the early electric guitarists in jazz....
(electric guitar), Freddie Green, Walter Page, Jo Jones- The Golden Gate QuartetThe Golden Gate QuartetThe Golden Gate Quartet is an American vocal group. It was formed in 1934 and, with changes in membership, remains active. It is the most successful of all of the African-American gospel music groups who sang in the jubilee quartet style...
- The Golden Gate Quartet
- Willie Johnson (1st bass), Henry Owens (1st tenor), William Langford (2nd tenor), Orlandus WilsonOrlandus WilsonOrlandus Wilson was one of the longest standing members of the Golden Gate Quartet and the group's bass singer.Wilson was born in Chesapeake, Virginia.He died in Paris.-External links:...
(2nd bass)
- Ed Lewis
December 24, 1939
- The Benny GoodmanBenny GoodmanBenjamin David “Benny” Goodman was an American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the "King of Swing".In the mid-1930s, Benny Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in America...
Sextet
-
- Benny Goodman (clarinet), Charlie ChristianCharlie ChristianCharles Henry "Charlie" Christian was an American swing and jazz guitarist.Christian was an important early performer on the electric guitar, and is cited as a key figure in the development of bebop and cool jazz. He gained national exposure as a member of the Benny Goodman Sextet and Orchestra...
(electric guitar), Lionel HamptonLionel HamptonLionel Leo Hampton was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, bandleader and actor. Like Red Norvo, he was one of the first jazz vibraphone players. Hampton ranks among the great names in jazz history, having worked with a who's who of jazz musicians, from Benny Goodman and Buddy...
(vibes), Fletcher HendersonFletcher HendersonJames Fletcher Hamilton Henderson, Jr. was an American pianist, bandleader, arranger and composer, important in the development of big band jazz and swing music. His was one of the most prolific black orchestras and his influence was vast...
(piano), Arthur BernsteinArtie BernsteinArthur "Artie" Bernstein was an American jazz bassist.Born in Brooklyn, New York, he started his musical career playing cello on board cruise ships to South America, and also studied law at New York University. However, by 1929 he had started playing bass, and began performing in clubs around New...
(bass), Nick FatoolNick FatoolNick Fatool was an American jazz drummer.Fatool first played professionally in Providence, Rhode Island, which he followed with time in Joe Haymes's band in 1937 and Don Beston's in Dallas soon after. In 1939 he played with Bobby Hackett briefly, and then became a member of the Benny Goodman...
(drums)- James P. Johnson
- Ida CoxIda CoxIda Cox was an African American singer and vaudeville performer, best known for her blues performances and recordings...
with Shad Collins, Dicky Wells, Buddy Tate (tenor sax), James P. Johnson, Freddie Green, Walter Page, Jo Jones - Big Bill Broonzy with Albert Ammons
- Sonny Terry with Bull City RedBull City RedBull City Red was an American, Piedmont blues guitarist, singer, and predominately washboard player, most associated with Blind Boy Fuller and the Reverend Gary Davis...
- The Kansas City Six:
- Buck Clayton, Lester Young, Charlie Christian, Freddie Green, Walter Page, Jo Jones
- Helen HumesHelen HumesHelen Humes was an American jazz and blues singer.Humes was successively a teenaged blues singer, band vocalist with Count Basie, saucy R&B diva and a mature interpreter of the classy popular song.-Career:...
with James P. Johnson and the Count Basie Orchestra
- Helen Humes
- Ed Lewis, Harry Edison, Buck Clayton, Shad Collins, Dicky Wells, Dan Minor, Benny Morton, Earle Warren, Lester Young, Buddy Tate, Jack Washington, Count Basie, Freddie Green, Walter Page, Jo Jones
- Benny Goodman (clarinet), Charlie Christian
Recordings
The recordings of the concerts commissioned by Hammond were acetate sound checks, and only transferred to tape in 1953 and released in 1959, with faked announcements recorded by Hammond the previous year. The album was reissued by Vanguard RecordsVanguard Records
Vanguard Records is a record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York. It started as a classical label, but is perhaps best known for its catalogue of recordings by a number of pivotal folk and blues artists from the 1960s; the Bach Guild was a subsidiary...
as a triple CD set in 1999. Inside were two documents: a modern brochure describing the contents of the box set, and a reproduction of the original 1938 program for the show. The program was entitled: "The New Masses Presents An Evening Of African American Negro Music - 'From Spirituals To Swing' [Dedicated to Bessie Smith]." The cover had an image of Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith was an American blues singer.Sometimes referred to as The Empress of the Blues, Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s...
.