The Move to STRIDE

1
The Move to STRIDE

• the ATTRACTION
• creative pianists added notes
• Jelly Roll Morton Maple Leaf Rag
• Jelly Roll was the father of solo jazz piano
• virtuoso ragtime pianists
• James P. Johnson
• Willie The Lion Smith
• Fats Waller
• Art Tatum
• Harlem Stride
• The elaboration of pre-existing rags
• fast pieces were called shout piano

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James P. Johnson1894 - 1955

• Composed popular songs andBroadway scores
  includingRunnin Wild
• Accompanied Ethel Waters andBessie Smith
• Considered the Father of stride1905 - 1910
• Composed the Charleston in 1923. This work became
  the basis for a dance rage
• Master and inventor of the stride style
• Interested in classical music and composed many
  works, including Yamecraw a Negro Rhapsody which
  premiered in Carnegie Hall in 1928.

3
James P. Johnson

• Stride piano is a development of ragtime.
  Johnson used a two-beat left- hand rhythm to
  accompany right-hand melodies which featured
  great interpretive variety
• Carolina Shout (SCCJ 1-12) and The Mule
  Walk (SCJP 1-4)

4
James P. Johnson

• Born in 1894, February 1, New Brunswick, NJ
  (James Price Johnson)
• Classically trained, studied piano with Bruto
  Giannini and Eubie Blake
• 1908 - NYC - Harlem music scene
• Combined ragtime with the blues and brought
  stride into being
• Composed and directed several shows, scored the
  Bessie Smith film St. Louis Blues, wrote an opera
  De Organizer, solo concerts, recordings, remained
  active until 1951 (died in New York on November
  17, 1955)

5
James P. Johnson

• From about 1915 to the early '20s, James P. made
  many piano rolls for the Aeolian Company
• Became the first Negro staff artist for the QRS
  piano roll firm in 1921
• Met and became friendly with George Gershwin, and
  helped him write the music for several shows.
• He played for some time with the famed James
  Reese Europe's Hell Fighters at the Clef Club in
  Harlem.

6
James P. Johnson

• Johnson's piano style had a major impact on
  pupil/friend Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Count
  Basie, Art Tatum and Teddy Wilson, as well as on
  more modern players like Erroll Garner, Jaki
  Byard and Thelonious Monk.

7
Fats WallerMay 21, 1904 - December 15, 1943

• Johnsons most famous pupil was Fats Waller
• Son of Harlem preacher
• Nickname (over 200 lbs at 15)
• 1st recordings in 1922
• Composed several all-black Broadway shows(Hot
  Chocolates )

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Fats Waller

• Many screen performances
• Carolina Shout (SCJP 1-8) (by James P. Johnson)

9
Fats Waller

• interest in piano at age 6
• violin and bass but liked the organ best (he was
  first to demonstrate that the organ could be used
  in jazz)
• Waller studied with Leopold Godowsky and attended
  Juilliard
• Fatts used piano rolls by James P. Johnson to
  learn the stride style
• shout circuit (parties at private homes)

10
Fats Waller

• Abducted by Al Capones boys for a private
  recital
• Aint Misbehavin - Hot Chocolates - Louis
  Armstrong
• Carnegie Hall - 1942

11
Fats Waller

• Waller was the first important jazz organist
• His unhealthy lifestyle and the stress of legal
  difficulties over alimony battles resulted in him
  succumbing to pneumonia on a train taking him
  back to New York. 38 years old, Waller died in
  Kansas City, Mo., on Dec. 15, 1943.
• heritage
• 22 piano rolls
• 162 published songs
• 163 unpublished songs
• 515 recordings
• Honeysuckle Rose (SCCJ 1-6)
• Stride Piano web siteshttp//www.stridepiano.com
  /

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Boogie-Woogie

• Identifying elements
• Strong LH rhythm pattern made up with 8th notes
  or chords - OSTINATO
• RH many chords with repeated ideas

13
Boogie-Woogie

• Grew from guitar-accompanied blues performed at
  black social gatherings
• Pianists began imitating the guitar format (2
  guitars, the second playing accompanying chords)
• The transition to piano first took place in the
  lumber and turpentine camps of Texas and
  Louisiana
• Leadbelly said he heard piano boogie-woogie
  played in Caddo County, Texas, in 1899. It was
  called fast western or fast blues. Became
  known as boogie-woogie when it moved to Chicago
  after WW I

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Jimmy Yancey 1894-1951

• Most influential in promoting boogie-woogie style
• Born in Chicago in 1894
• Vaudeville dancer
• Self-taught pianist
• Followers included
• Albert Ammons
• Lux Lewis
• Pine Top Smith
• Crippled Clarence Lofton
• State Street Special(SCJP 1-16)

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Lux Lewis

• Mid-late 1930s boogie-woogie became popular
• Solo piano music based on 8 and 12 bar blues
  progressions
• Driven by the left hand
• The use by second-class talents caused its
  downfall
• Still played today in altered forms (rock and
  roll)

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Lux Lewis

• Born in Chicago in 1905
• An uncle named him the Duke of Luxembourg
  because he liked to dress up
• Began his study of music on the violin in 1921
• Owes his fame to Honky-Tonk Train Blues,
  recorded several times between 1927-1944
• Quit music in 1929
• Worked for the WPA and drove a taxi
• Met Albert Ammons (another taxi driver)
• They had a piano installed at the taxi depot
  where they practiced

17
Lux Lewis

• 1935 John Hammond found him playing for tips in a
  Chicago saloon
• Recorded extensively for the next 8-10 years
• 1938 played in a Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert
• 1964 died in a car crash

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Albert Ammons and Lux Lewis

• Honky Tonk Train Blues(SCJP 1-17)
• The most famous of all Boogie-Woogie pieces
• Traditional boogie using the 1st pattern
• Each chorus contains 3-phrases typical of 12-bar
  blues
• Highly ornamented RH

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Willie the Lion Smith

• William Henry Joseph Berthol Bonaparte Berthloff
  Smith was born in Brooklyn in1897
• Called the Lion because of his bravery during
  World War I
• Typical career for a black jazz pianist
• Began playing professionally at age 17
• Worked at various spots in Atlantic City
• Served in the 350th Infantry in Europe in 1917

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Willie The Lion Smith1897 - 1973

• Harlem Stride
• A structure that is march-like and similar to
  Ragtime
• Willie could stride with the best of them but,
• His compositions did not stride
• Echoes of Spring (SCJP 1-5)
• does not stride
• parlor piano

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More Stride Pianists

• Charles Luckeyeth Luckey Roberts, born
  Philadelphia, August 7, 1887, died New York,
  February 5, 1968
• Donald Lambert (the Lamb), born in Princeton NJ,
  1904 died in Newark, May 8, 1962

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More Stride Pianists

• Bobby Henderson, born New York City, March 15,
  1910 died December 9, 1969, in Albany, New
  York
• Stephen The Beatle Henderson

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More Stride Pianists

• Claude (Driskett) Hopkins, born in Alexandria,
  VA, August 24, 1903 died in New York, February
  14 1984
• Joe Turner, born in Baltimore, November 3, 1907
  died in Montreuil, France, July 21, 1990

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More Stride Pianists

• Pat Flowers - born died October 6
• Hank (Henry James) Duncan, born in Bowling Green,
  KY, October 26, 1896 died in Long Island, New
  York, June 7, 1968

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More Stride Pianists

• Cliff Jackson, born July 19, 1902, in Culpepper,
  Virginia died May 24, 1970