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INCONGRUITY AND PREDICTABILITY IN BRITISH DANCE BAND MUSIC OF THE 1920S AND 1930S

Derek B. Scott

in FROM THE EROTIC TO THE DEMONIC: On Critical Musicology

This chapter is concerned with the ideology of “high” and “low“ art, and how this impacts upon both musical style and reception. Defenses of the popular that relate its value to its historical ... More

This chapter is concerned with the ideology of “high” and “low“ art, and how this impacts upon both musical style and reception. Defenses of the popular that relate its value to its historical context often provoke the question: how is it to be valued once its historic moment has passed? The purpose of this chapter is to show how a “popular musicology” might tackle the problem of discussing music once loved but now regarded by many as valueless. To this end, it explores qualitative issues in British dance band music. A critique of musical style needs to take account of incongruity between styles. The argument in Chapter 1 was that modes of representation needed to be related to different styles; here it is argued that the same goes for qualitative values. For instance, what is admired as good singing in one style may not be so perceived in another.Less

From the “Make Believe Ballroom” to the Meadowbrook Inn: Charlie Barnet and the Promise of the Road

in Lonesome Roads and Streets of Dreams: Place, Mobility, and Race in Jazz of the 1930s and ’40s

This chapter investigates Charlie Barnet, who developed for his orchestra an explicitly black musical style, and also addresses his songs “Pompton Turnpike,” and “Drop Me Off in Harlem.” These songs ... More

This chapter investigates Charlie Barnet, who developed for his orchestra an explicitly black musical style, and also addresses his songs “Pompton Turnpike,” and “Drop Me Off in Harlem.” These songs represented well the band's approach to dance band music, but they also exhibited how this aesthetic was covered in questions of place and mobility. The musical-spatial characteristics of “Pompton Turnpike” were closely linked to Barnet's understanding of certain black musical practices and what they offered his band. “Drop Me Off in Harlem” was about as hot as the Barnet band played. “Pompton Turnpike” and “Drop Me Off in Harlem” would turn out to be key moments in the band's history. The music of Charlie Barnet and His Orchestra represented a powerful aesthetic and intellectual coming to terms with the new social relationships permitted by a rapidly modernizing nation.Less

Introduction

in Lonesome Roads and Streets of Dreams: Place, Mobility, and Race in Jazz of the 1930s and ’40s

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