Yeah, it sure did. It didn’t even compare. It neither rocked nor rolled. Big Joe all the way.
Or maybe even earlier. He had been recording in that style since the early 30s, but (mostly) only black people heard it.
What about Louis Jordan? He dominated the charts in the 40s and 50s, and his songs were definitely Rock N Roll. Listen to “Ain’t It Just Like A Woman” (with Carl Hogan’s guitar intro) , then listen to “Johnny B Goode” from nine years down the road. Any similarities?
That was the first version (meaning she was reading the lyrics off a napkin when she recorded it) and the definitive version. I’ve heard comparable versions, but Elvis’ is not among them. Yet Elvis’ is the one people know
“Hound Dog”, of course, was Leiber and Stoller, who contributed tremendously to the genre.
That even surprised him. He wanted to play blues, but he also played what was then called Hillbilly* music, and his Hillbilly stuff became more popular.
*It wasn’t real Hillbilly music. That was Bill Monroe. This genre was more redneck music.
He did have Otis Spann backing him on piano (and Willie Dixon on bass)… because he was actually a blues guy. He brought that influence even when he wasn’t playing blues music.
His biggest hit, and only number one? My Ding A Ling. What the actual fuck?
Jelly Roll Morton rather famously carried around business cards that had “Inventor of Jazz” printed on them. This, of course, is hyperbole, but he was likely present at the creation, playing piano in the brothels and bars that served as the crucible. It is sad that important transitional figures such as the legendary Buddy Bolden never had a chance to record, so now we can only speculate what their music sounded like.
We’re really lucky here in the DC area to have a great radio program every week, Hot Jazz Saturday Night, from WAMU. There’s inexplicably no podcast version of the show, but you can listen to the most recent week’s program online.
(And if that gets your retro juices flowing, there’s The Big Broadcast every Sunday night. A couple hours of old time radio, again with the same deal – only the most recent show is available for 7 days.)
Actually, “Livery Stable Blues” was recorded by Victor at their studio in Camden - Victor Building #15, Floor 6, Studio 2, not 38th Street as many people claim.
Buddy Bolden was paranoid about other people stealing his music, so he refused to be recorded. For this reason, he played trumpet with his hands covered. He was later institutionalized.
The king of the klezmer clarinet, Naftule Brandwein, would often play with his back to the audience, for fear other musicians would steal his tricks. Funny that this is also the legend of Keppard passing up the chance to beat the ODJB to the studio. Guess that was how IP was protected in those days!
Also, when the ODJB toured and arrived in New York with their “jass”, the press had a field day, calling it “satan’s music” and all the usual stuff people would say about some new popular music, esp. one that was closely associated with black musicians.
There were probably a lot of people who thought that way. If jazz music had never been recorded and distributed before, it would have been hard to see the impact it would have and easy to be skeptical of it.
In my day we reserved that term for (mostly) white musicians who played heavy metal. There were plenty of choice words for black musicians too, but they didn’t get called satanic this time around.
I loved that though. From the point of view of parents who read Readers’ Digest, the controversy was real and Satanic Panic was certainly one of the greatest moral crises of the late 20th century and totally not bullshit at all. From the musicians’ point of view, it was an excellent opportunity to troll these busybodies. From my point of view, it was all good fun and hilarious to watch.
