Word: band
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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...other night at a Count Basic dance, a rather merry young lady in black skunk furs, proceeded to climb onto the band stand, push tenor man Bud Tate out of his chair, sit down and clap her hands while cooing benevolently upon the audience. Aside from the fact that the look on Bud's face was funny as hell, a very serious question was brought up. Just what is the average leader going to do about the jitterbug? Benny Goodman recently wrote a long article proving that the jitterbugs caused his band to play as loudly as it does because...
...allure of a "name" band; a week end of frolic with the one girl, enticed from afar by the promise of Jimmy Dorsey or Benny Goodman; the opportunity for a party of such proportions that even "Life" might come--this is the picture often painted of a single, monumental class prom. Now that the House Committees are considering abandonment of the costly but not quite sensational $800 band--abandonment of the attempt partially to satiate the jitterbug enthusiasm of Harvard name-band devotees--and acceptance of the smaller, restricted House dances, the prom has again become an issue...
...Goodman imitates Count Basic; but at least he has the courtesy to put Basic's name down as the author of the music he is playing. Clinton does (and badly) Pine Top Smith's "Boogie Woogie Blues," and on the credit line in resplendent dignity is Larry Clinton. The band seems to reflect all this in its playing. It plays without any life, any dig. The soloists are all uniformly uninspired with the exception of the tenor man who occasionally works passably...
...main objection to this band is that it plays a stereotyped style of music, very often not original. By clever buildup and publicity the public has been led to believe that this is the real thing in swing. Shallow stuff like this will lead the listening audience to become very tired of something they have been told was swing, and therefore to condemn it. "Swing is a verb, not a noun." You can play things in swing, but there is no such thing as a swing tune. Without good, sincere swing men in the band, unhampered by stiff, copied arrangements...
Notes between the notes: Magic Key program Sunday went sadistic, putting on a swell new swing band, and saying. "That's all, kiddies. We'll tell you the name of the outfit in a few weeks" . . . Ha! Kemp's record of "Blue Moonlight" (Victor), a concert jazz extract like "Deep Purple," is one of the best the band has done in a long while . . . Contrary to general reports, Jack Harlow's ('41) imitation of Bix Beiderbecke at the Sanders Theater Tuesday evening was very well done. Considering the handicaps under which the band was working, the evening was a success...