I'm enjoying viewing these history lessons from the great Norma Miller. Thanks for posting the various parts!! Now, in regard to Mr. Stark's remark about her comments on modern jazz being ridiculous............more history lessons served up: First of all, music as performed in this country by people of African decent-has ALWAYS been about the dance! From the early juke joints down south to the various clubs in Harlem that Ms. Miller is visually painting pictures for us-of the same time period.
of music had an effect on a generation of dancers-something the music has never really recovered from despite the "Back to the Groove" movement of the mid-1950s by Horace Silver, Art Blakey, JImmy Smith & that great small-band of Ray Charles. Its important that around the time of bebop, a former sax player in Chick Webb's band formed a small group and stated simply that he "wanted to PLAY for the people"-that musician name was Louis Jordan and in the process created early R & B(Rock & Roll).
A final note........the great musician Phil Cohran(who played with Jay McShann AND Sun Ra) affirmed everything Ms. Miller stated when he said that when the music lost the dancers, it lost the people & that the two big culprits were Bird & Diz-because when he would take his girl to see Bird or Miles, the people stopped dancing and started watching the musicians on stage instead as the music stopped grooving for them. I'm certain that this great lady of dance could strut to Bird's "Now's The Time"
The first so-called Bebop band was indeed a big band-Billy Eckstine's great band which had Dizzy, Bird, Dexter, Sassy, Jug, Bennie Green, Miles, Art Blakey, etc......and Mr. Eckstine said when that band of future greats would play the various dancehalls, the people would stop dancing and stare at the new music being on display. While I personally could & still do listen to bop hours on end, the overall effect of the musicians getting more creative & playing more of an "insider's only" type
I'm sorry, but while I realize Norma is still bitter that her career was ruined by the inevitable evolution of music, Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane were not "like sheep." They were trailblazing pioneers who were brave enough to do their own thing, changing music forever.
@@waltdude Millions of jazz lovers would beg to differ. Jazz extends far beyond swing, but if swing is all you care about, it's far from dead. There's a very vibrant swing scene all over the world today.
No one questions the complex structure and virtuosity of Bop. My point is that when you lose the audience you had you lose the very foundation of being a musician. Who wants to listen to something they don’t understand. Norma and her partner were incredible performers and bought such joy to the dance hall.
I'm enjoying viewing these history lessons from the great Norma Miller. Thanks for posting the various parts!! Now, in regard to Mr. Stark's remark about her comments on modern jazz being ridiculous............more history lessons served up: First of all, music as performed in this country by people of African decent-has ALWAYS been about the dance! From the early juke joints down south to the various clubs in Harlem that Ms. Miller is visually painting pictures for us-of the same time period.
of music had an effect on a generation of dancers-something the music has never really recovered from despite the "Back to the Groove" movement of the mid-1950s by Horace Silver, Art Blakey, JImmy Smith & that great small-band of Ray Charles. Its important that around the time of bebop, a former sax player in Chick Webb's band formed a small group and stated simply that he "wanted to PLAY for the people"-that musician name was Louis Jordan and in the process created early R & B(Rock & Roll).
A final note........the great musician Phil Cohran(who played with Jay McShann AND Sun Ra) affirmed everything Ms. Miller stated when he said that when the music lost the dancers, it lost the people & that the two big culprits were Bird & Diz-because when he would take his girl to see Bird or Miles, the people stopped dancing and started watching the musicians on stage instead as the music stopped grooving for them. I'm certain that this great lady of dance could strut to Bird's "Now's The Time"
The first so-called Bebop band was indeed a big band-Billy Eckstine's great band which had Dizzy, Bird, Dexter, Sassy, Jug, Bennie Green, Miles, Art Blakey, etc......and Mr. Eckstine said when that band of future greats would play the various dancehalls, the people would stop dancing and stare at the new music being on display. While I personally could & still do listen to bop hours on end, the overall effect of the musicians getting more creative & playing more of an "insider's only" type
Charlie Parker the music for The Beat generation
awesome info: Thanks Norma!!
Right on Norma! These guys played for themselves and lost their audience in the process
I'm sorry, but while I realize Norma is still bitter that her career was ruined by the inevitable evolution of music, Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane were not "like sheep." They were trailblazing pioneers who were brave enough to do their own thing, changing music forever.
And in the process killed Jazz.
@@waltdude Millions of jazz lovers would beg to differ. Jazz extends far beyond swing, but if swing is all you care about, it's far from dead. There's a very vibrant swing scene all over the world today.
No one questions the complex structure and virtuosity of Bop. My point is that when you lose the audience you had you lose the very foundation of being a musician. Who wants to listen to something they don’t understand. Norma and her partner were incredible performers and bought such joy to the dance hall.
Hahahahaha oh my god, she said she wanted to shoot Charlie Parker