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Louis Thomas Jordan was an American saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and bandleader who was popular from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. Known as "The King of the Jukebox", he earned his highest profile towards the end of the swing era. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as an "early influence" in 1987.
Soundies are three-minute American musical films, produced between 1940 and 1947, each displaying a song, dance, and/or band or orchestral number. Produced professionally on 35 mm black-and-white film, like theatrical motion pictures, they were printed on the more portable and economical 16 mm film.
The origins of rock and roll are complex. Rock and roll emerged as a defined musical style in the United States in the early to mid-1950s. It derived most directly from the rhythm and blues music of the 1940s, which itself developed from earlier blues, the beat-heavy jump blues, boogie woogie, up-tempo jazz, and swing music. It was also influenced by gospel, country and western, and traditional folk music. Rock and roll in turn provided the main basis for the music that, since the mid-1960s, has been generally known simply as rock music.
Whitey's Lindy Hoppers was a professional performing group of exceptional swing dancers that was first organized in the late 1920s by Herbert "Whitey" White in the Savoy Ballroom and disbanded in 1942 after its male members were drafted into World War II. The group took on many different forms and had several different names and sub-groups, including Whitey's Hopping Maniacs, Harlem Congeroo Dancers, and The Hot Chocolates. In addition to touring nationally and internationally, the group appeared in several films and Broadway theatre productions. Dorothy Dandridge and Sammy Davis Jr. were among the group's celebrity regulars.
The International Sweethearts of Rhythm was the first integrated all-women's band in the United States. During the 1940s the band featured some of the best female musicians of the day. They played swing and jazz on a national circuit that included the Apollo Theater in New York City, the Regal Theater in Chicago, and the Howard Theater in Washington, D.C. After a performance in Chicago in 1943, the Chicago Defender announced the band was "one of the hottest stage shows that ever raised the roof of the theater!" They have been labeled "the most prominent and probably best female aggregation of the Big Band era". During feminist movements of the 1960s and 1970s in America, the International Sweethearts of Rhythm became popular with feminist writers and musicologists who made it their goal to change the discourse on the history of jazz to include both men and women musicians. Flutist Antoinette Handy was one scholar who documented the story of these female musicians of color.
"Caldonia" is a jump blues song, first recorded in 1945 by Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five. A version by Erskine Hawkins, also in 1945, was described by Billboard magazine as "right rhythmic rock and roll music".
Cee Pee Johnson was an American jazz composer, bandleader, singer and multi-instrumentalist.
Tympany Five was a successful and influential American rhythm and blues and jazz dance band founded by Louis Jordan in 1938. The group was composed of a horn section of three to five different pieces and also drums, double bass, guitar and piano.
Rhythm in a Riff is a 1947 medium length musical film produced by William D. Alexander and directed by Leonard Anderson. The film stars Billy Eckstine and his band performing as well as Ann Baker, Hortense Allen Jordan, Sarah Harris, and Emmett "Babe" Wallace. The film is extant. The film was.made in New York City. It was released by Astor Pictures. The film was targeted to am African American audience, features and African American cast, and was produced and directed by African Americans. The film is also known as Flicker Up.
William Forest Crouch was an American director and writer of film, mostly shorts. His work includes Reet, Petite, and Gone (1947) made with an all-African-American cast. He was active during the 1940s.
Vannie Smith, known professionally as Vanita Smythe was an American blues and jazz singer and actress. She was professionally active between 1945 and 1950, making eight soundies, two motion pictures and releasing a couple of singles.
George Wiltshire was an American character actor He appeared on stage, film, and television. He was perhaps best known for portraying Ed Smalls, the proprietor of famed Harlem nightclub Smalls Paradise, the 1945 film It Happened in Harlem.
Jean Starr was an actress, dancer, and trumpeter who became a Chicago society figure after marrying Chicago numbers racket tycoon and Jones brothers, McKissack "Mack" McHenry Jones, and becoming Jean Starr Jones.
Sybil Lewis was an actress in the United States. An African American, she appeared in several films including musicals during the 1940s. She appeared in African American films and Hollywood pictures. She had starring roles in several African American films including Lucky Gamblers and Am I Guilty? and portrayed smaller roles including as a maid in Hollywood films. She also had a leading role in Broken Strings (film) in 1940.
Caldonia is a two reel American musical short film directed by William Forest Crouch and released by Astor Pictures in 1945. The film stars jazz musician Louis Jordan and was produced by his manager Berle Adams. The film includes four songs performed by Jordan and his band: "Caldonia", "Honey Child", "Tillie" and "Buzz Me", which were also released individually by the Soundies Distributing Corporation of America.
All-American News was a film production company in the U.S. bringing war propaganda newsreels and entertainment films to African American audiences.
That Man of Mine is an American film released in 1946. Directed by Leonard Anderson, it features an African-American cast.
Alfred N. Sack was an American businessperson, newspaper publisher and the proprietor of film distribution, production, and the theater-owning business Sack Amusements.
Look-Out Sister is a 1949 film featuring Louis Jordan. Directed by Bud Pollard, it is a satirical, Western-themed musical and "horse opera". The film was produced by Astor Pictures. John E. Gordon wrote the story. The film remains in existence and is available online.
Harlem Hotshots is an American short film from 1940 produced by Sack Amusements. The 20 minute film is a musical. One poster for the film includes a skyline of buildings and street sign for Lenox Avenue and 125th Street. The film was reissued in 1986 as part of Jazz Classics, No. 110; Harlem Harmonies Volume 1, 1940–1945.
References
- ↑ Pitts, Michael R. (April 19, 2019). Astor Pictures: A Filmography and History of the Reissue King, 1933-1965. McFarland. ISBN 9781476636283 – via Google Books.
- 1 2 "THE POLLARD JUMP Soundie". Library of Congress.
- ↑ "Weird Wild Realm: Twentieth Clutch of Soundies Reviews". www.weirdwildrealm.com.
- ↑ Scott, Ellen C. (2016). "Black Movement Impolitic: Soundies, Regulation, and Black Pleasure". African American Review. 49 (3): 205–226. doi:10.1353/afa.2016.0034. JSTOR 26444249. S2CID 163275693.
- ↑ "Chicago Stagebill Yearbook". September 8, 1947 – via Google Books.
- ↑ Jones, Chris (October 4, 2013). Bigger, Brighter, Louder: 150 Years of Chicago Theater as Seen by "Chicago Tribune" Critics. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226090719 – via Google Books.
- ↑ "HARLEM AFTER MIDNIGHT (1947)". Library of Congress.