- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226044941
- eISBN:
- 9780226044965
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226044965.003.0005
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This chapter analyzes the electric guitarist Charlie Christian, a key swing-era jazz soloist who was deeply influential to a generation of musicians. The development of Christian's musical style was ...
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This chapter analyzes the electric guitarist Charlie Christian, a key swing-era jazz soloist who was deeply influential to a generation of musicians. The development of Christian's musical style was the result of a real physical journey from the Southwest to the nationn, and he was most celebrated by jazz historians for the central role he played in the development of “modern jazz.” “Flying Home” was one of the earliest recordings of Christian as a new member of Benny Goodman's organization. With its evocation of great distance and speed, this song depicted Christian's new life far from Oklahoma City. His solos on “Flying Home” were musical experiences of different types of movement. Moreover, Christian's musical development was intertwined with a real physical journey from the Southwest to the nation. His music was also an omen of wartime mobility and migration.Less
This chapter analyzes the electric guitarist Charlie Christian, a key swing-era jazz soloist who was deeply influential to a generation of musicians. The development of Christian's musical style was the result of a real physical journey from the Southwest to the nationn, and he was most celebrated by jazz historians for the central role he played in the development of “modern jazz.” “Flying Home” was one of the earliest recordings of Christian as a new member of Benny Goodman's organization. With its evocation of great distance and speed, this song depicted Christian's new life far from Oklahoma City. His solos on “Flying Home” were musical experiences of different types of movement. Moreover, Christian's musical development was intertwined with a real physical journey from the Southwest to the nation. His music was also an omen of wartime mobility and migration.
Andrew S. Berish
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226044941
- eISBN:
- 9780226044965
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226044965.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
Any listener knows the power of music to define a place, but few can describe the how or why of this phenomenon. This book showcases how American jazz defined a culture particularly preoccupied with ...
More
Any listener knows the power of music to define a place, but few can describe the how or why of this phenomenon. This book showcases how American jazz defined a culture particularly preoccupied with place. By analyzing both the performances and cultural context of leading jazz figures, including the many famous venues where they played, the author bridges two dominant scholarly approaches to the genre, offering a framework for musical analysis that examines how the geographical realities of daily life can be transformed into musical sound. Focusing on white bandleader Jan Garber, black bandleader Duke Ellington, white saxophonist Charlie Barnet, and black guitarist Charlie Christian, as well as traveling from Catalina Island to Manhattan to Oklahoma, the book depicts not only a geography of race but how this geography was disrupted, how these musicians crossed physical and racial boundaries—from black to white, South to North, and rural to urban—and how they found expression for these movements in the insistent music they were creating.Less
Any listener knows the power of music to define a place, but few can describe the how or why of this phenomenon. This book showcases how American jazz defined a culture particularly preoccupied with place. By analyzing both the performances and cultural context of leading jazz figures, including the many famous venues where they played, the author bridges two dominant scholarly approaches to the genre, offering a framework for musical analysis that examines how the geographical realities of daily life can be transformed into musical sound. Focusing on white bandleader Jan Garber, black bandleader Duke Ellington, white saxophonist Charlie Barnet, and black guitarist Charlie Christian, as well as traveling from Catalina Island to Manhattan to Oklahoma, the book depicts not only a geography of race but how this geography was disrupted, how these musicians crossed physical and racial boundaries—from black to white, South to North, and rural to urban—and how they found expression for these movements in the insistent music they were creating.
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226044941
- eISBN:
- 9780226044965
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226044965.003.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This book argues that 1930s and '40s dance band music provided listeners new ways to make sense of the changing spaces and places of American life. The popular music of the era significantly acted in ...
More
This book argues that 1930s and '40s dance band music provided listeners new ways to make sense of the changing spaces and places of American life. The popular music of the era significantly acted in a larger cultural conversation regarding the radical demographic and geographic changes due to economic depression and global war. Americans were caught between “The Lonesome Road” and the “Street of Dreams.” Dance band jazz united Americans around a cohesive national musical style even as it transported sounds and experiences of distant places. This book also utilizes the music of Jan Garber, Duke Ellington, Charlie Christian, and Charlie Barnet. Music's intimate connection with the human body and its movements was possibly the most basic spatial component of musical experience. This Introduction provides an overview of the chapters that follow.Less
This book argues that 1930s and '40s dance band music provided listeners new ways to make sense of the changing spaces and places of American life. The popular music of the era significantly acted in a larger cultural conversation regarding the radical demographic and geographic changes due to economic depression and global war. Americans were caught between “The Lonesome Road” and the “Street of Dreams.” Dance band jazz united Americans around a cohesive national musical style even as it transported sounds and experiences of distant places. This book also utilizes the music of Jan Garber, Duke Ellington, Charlie Christian, and Charlie Barnet. Music's intimate connection with the human body and its movements was possibly the most basic spatial component of musical experience. This Introduction provides an overview of the chapters that follow.
