Thursday, May 25, 2006
All that Jazz
There is no shortage of books about jazz but on occasion I find and report on one that I find exceptional. Here is one such book. JAZZ
Thursday, May 18, 2006
18th Street Jazz
Of all the books written on the bebop era one of my personal favorites is Blue Monday by Harper Barnes. Blue Monday is a fictional account of a young musician making the rounds in Kansas City in 1935.
At the center of the story is the mysterious death of the great Bennie Moten. According to the story Moten died at the hands of a surgeon. Jazz fans, in stunned disbelief, suspect murder.
What is great about this book is that while the story line is entertaining the real joy is the effectively painted picture of a wide-open Kansas City. Unfettered by local police the jazz clubs, poker parlors, and whore houses are left to their vices, so to speak.
While the depression ragged on across the nation the mid-west dust bowl took whatever was left. Yet, in all of this Kansas City seemed unfazed. Many believe it was a combination of creativity and personal freedom that kept spirits so high that the city missed the depression. Of course that depression was to come later when the Feds decided that the corruption in the city government was too much. The police department was taken over and many of the local politicians were charged and some jailed. The most prominent of these was mayor and Democratic machine boss - Tom Pendergast, or Boss Pendergast as he came to be known during his rise to power.
At the center of the story is the mysterious death of the great Bennie Moten. According to the story Moten died at the hands of a surgeon. Jazz fans, in stunned disbelief, suspect murder.
What is great about this book is that while the story line is entertaining the real joy is the effectively painted picture of a wide-open Kansas City. Unfettered by local police the jazz clubs, poker parlors, and whore houses are left to their vices, so to speak.
While the depression ragged on across the nation the mid-west dust bowl took whatever was left. Yet, in all of this Kansas City seemed unfazed. Many believe it was a combination of creativity and personal freedom that kept spirits so high that the city missed the depression. Of course that depression was to come later when the Feds decided that the corruption in the city government was too much. The police department was taken over and many of the local politicians were charged and some jailed. The most prominent of these was mayor and Democratic machine boss - Tom Pendergast, or Boss Pendergast as he came to be known during his rise to power.
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
18th and Vine
No, it's not 12th Street and Vine it's 18th and Vine. The real center of Kansas City jazz, that is. 18th Street is the home of the Hey Hey Club, Club Royal and not less than a dozen other hot hot hot bebop joints. Those great clubs disappeared with the advent of federal control of the KC Police force and the conviction of Boss Pendergast, the Democratic politico who ran the city mid 20th century. Pendergast operated with the idea that if he was rewarded properly that no behavior was out of bounds. If you don't consider drug use, gambling and prostitution to be crimes then Kansas City was virtually crime free. Wide-open is the tern that is often used and it fits well. Did this anything goes environment contribute to the creation of bebop jazz? Who knows. It should however be noted that when the town was shuttered by the feds the jazz moved on.
