EEK! The Big Geez is knocking Glenn Miller? No, I love him and his music. As a teenager, sitting in my pal Louie’s basement while spinning records and reinforcing my newly-discovered fondness for Swing music, I realized he was one of my favorite bandleaders. But although the average listener is familiar with him, Goodman, and Dorsey, a lot of other bandleaders are overlooked and even forgotten. That’s about to change — that is, you know, if you’re reading this.
I grew up in the Midwest but I know that native New Yorkers have always been
fiercely proud of their city, and it must have been exciting to be there in the thirties, when popular music was evolving. Although other cities have strong claims too, New York was really where it was happening for musicians of the day, and Harlem was at its center…and to get even more specific, the Savoy Ballroom was the “cat’s pajamas” for “hot” music fans. It was a place where it didn’t matter if you were rich or poor, black or white, sophisticated or just fell off the turnip truck, all differences were put aside for the evening. Although it would be naive to just try to explain it away as being a simpler time, that’s how it was.
The Savoy was regularly mobbed with huge crowds, not only for dancing but also for the occasional “battle of the bands,” and that’s where a driving group led by William Henry “Chick” Webb reigned supreme.
Chick Webb was a drummer who didn’t read music, but he also had to overcome tremendous physical difficulties. Barely five feet tall and afflicted with congenital tuberculosis of the spine, he had to play his custom-made drums and cymbals on a specially constructed platform, but he performed with a skill and complexity that his peers envied and tried to emulate, usually without success.
Article comments
1 - Gordon Hauptfleisch
Indeed--it is about more than Glenn Miller. Thanks for bringing attention to one of the relative unknowns. Evocative article, and I wasn't even alive back then for anything to be evoked.
2 - Clavos
I wasn't alive then either, but my parents were (and were from New York), I grew up listening to their records and their anecdotes about their dates at places like the Savoy and the Glen Island Cas ino. My father, in particular, loved all the music of the era, and I learned a love of it from him.
A nifty article; thanks very much. I especially enjoyed listening to the samples, particularly The Dipsy Doodle--hard to believe Ella was only in her teens.
3 - Big Geez
Thanks for your kind comments. I enjoyed writing the article. And I'm not old enough to have been there either...I guess there are probably still some folks around who were there, but it's not likely they're reading this!