Currently I am reading this cool book by David Wondrich Called "Stomp and Swerve" about the evolution of American music from slave days up to the jazz era.There is also a CD compilation that I must get. In this book David traces the history and development of what was called "coon" music and demonstrates that the first Rock and Roll songs evolved in the late 19th century!
Download samples From the Archeophone website:
http://www.archeophone.com/product_info.php?products_id=38
Wondrich's essay is a provocative look into America's richly layered musical traditions, in which the underground conversations by outsiders like blacks and hillbillies were gradually assimilated into the mix. The result was what Wondrich calls "hot": the marriage of the stomping, driving rhythmic phrases of mainstream, Euro-Celtic tradition with the swerving, break-the-rules slurring, smearing, and squawking that would be the impulse behind jazz. But the recording industry was always a little behind the times, and we have dug hard to find examples of those moments in the often staid recordings of the early years when something wonderfully unpredictable happens.
On future Hangover shows I will try to play some of these rare recordings.
No comments:
Post a Comment