King of Jazz (1 Viewer)

[Robin9]

For a movie called "The King of Jazz", there sure isn't a lot of jazz in it.

There wasn't a lot of jazz in Paul Whiteman either!

 

[TJPC]

The Whiteman band played a type of music called concert Jazz. He had the idea of merging the concert and the popular music world. He was basically replaced when music went another direction.

 

[bigshot]

The Whiteman band played a type of music called concert Jazz. He had the idea of merging the concert and the popular music world. He was basically replaced when music went another direction.

He wasn't "replaced". His music paved the way for Big Band music in the 1940s. Paul Whiteman is one of the most misunderstood figures in American music. He was a big reason why popular jazz swept across the whole country, changing movie music, records and radio forever. Purists argue that he isn't "real jazz" the same way they try to play down the influence of tin pan alley in the development of jazz. This usually comes down to revisionist history guided by reverse racialism. In the 20s there were two types of Jazz... "Hot" and "Sweet". Today we have redefined Jazz to be just hot and we have forgotten the importance of sweet. That's because sweet Jazz became so ubiquitous in popular culture we don't see it as a unique style any more.

Compare music before Whiteman to music after Whiteman and you'll see the difference. Although he may not fit the narrow definition of Jazz popular today, he personified the massive change in popular music in his day.

But that isn't to say that Whiteman didn't have a hand in the development of what we now know as Jazz... Scat singing was originally called "effing" and it was pioneered by Cliff Edwards and his friend Bing Crosby, one of Whiteman's Rhythm Boys. And Bix Beiderbecke played cornet for Whiteman and got his start playing on Mississippi riverboats. He's now seen as one of the greatest Jazz soloists of all time, and many of his best performances are on Paul Whiteman records.

 

[RichMurphy]

Perhaps Universal could team up with Turner Classic Movies to get THE KING OF JAZZ issued to the home video market. It worked for another film classic, FEMALE ON THE BEACH.

 

[RichMurphy]

Apparently KING OF JAZZ is still touring the festival circuit. It reappears at the American Film Institute outside of DC in July.

http://silver.afi.com/Browsing/Movies/Details/m-0100001125

 

[cadavra]

Possibly on cinephile sites. I'd be careful about using terms like "two-strip Technicolor" in public.

People have been locked up for sedition for less.

In fairness, "two-color Technicolor" is linguistically unwieldy. "Two-strip" should be judged as a colloquialism, not as a statement of absolute fact.

Mike S.

 

[BarryM]

....and I believe the only film of Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang playing together solo. It's short, but thrilling.

 

[t1g3r5fan]

A phantom page for the film's director has turned up on Criterion's website, so I assume that Criterion will be releasing this - probably next year...

 

[Casey62]

KING OF JAZZ is at the top of my list of movies I would most like to see released on Blu-ray. I imagine Cohen Media would be best in line to undertake such a venture. I was able to track down a surprisingly decent DVD-R off e-bay that is the same cut of the film as the MCA VHS release, but of better quality.

 

[JesseRhiel]

We got news, people! You can pre order now!! https://www.criterion.com/films/29389-king-of-jazz

 

[Rob_Ray]

This looks to be the release of the year for me!

 

[Matt Hough]

I'm SO excited to get this! How I wish the other studio revues of the era could also come Criterion's way.

 

[Brent Reid]

About time. Saw the spectacular restoration in Bologna last year and have been dying to revisit it. Of course, the supreme irony of this film is though it purports to celebrate jazz, an African American-originated art form, it doesn't feature a single black person in it. Indeed, even "The King of Jazz" himself is a white man... named Paul Whiteman. You couldn't make it up!

 

[bujaki]

I had tickets to see the restoration in L.A., but my wife had an accident, so we missed it. Therefore, this is a godsend. My previous viewing of the film was at MoMA in an original, somewhat battered, nitrate 35mm print. 'Twas good, but I'd rather see this restoration.

 

[battlebeast]

Based on absolutely nothing but intuition, I'm expecting to see this via Criterion in the next year, as it would really lend itself to the kind of special features that Criterion is so good at.

Boy were you right on the money!

 

[battlebeast]

KING OF JAZZ is at the top of my list of movies I would most like to see released on Blu-ray. I imagine Cohen Media would be best in line to undertake such a venture. I was able to track down a surprisingly decent DVD-R off e-bay that is the same cut of the film as the MCA VHS release, but of better quality.

NOPE!

 

[bigshot]

About time. Saw the spectacular restoration in Bologna last year and have been dying to revisit it. Of course, the supreme irony of this film is though it purports to celebrate jazz, an African American-originated art form, it doesn't feature a single black person in it. Indeed, even "The King of Jazz" himself is a white man... named Paul Whiteman. You couldn't make it up!

Jazz didn't have a race. Academics with an agenda may have defined it to have a race, but in really it was a blend of ragtime and tin pan alley with arrangements derived from military bands. All of those things were elements of general American popular music at the time. When King of Jazz was made, there were several kinds of Jazz being made. The big ones were Dixieland, Dance Band, Kansas City Blues based Jazz and Chicago/Harlem Swing, which was just starting out with Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington and other bands of that type.

King of Jazz represents the Dance Band style, which in the 1920s was hugely popular. George Gershwin, Bing Crosby and Paul Whiteman were all influential figures in the history of Jazz. Gershwin for creating purely American concert hall music and opera rooted in Jazz, Crosby for being one of the first scat singers and being a pioneer in breaking the race barrier in music, and Whiteman for incorporating truly great Jazz musicians like Bix Beiderbecke and Frankie Trumbauer in his band. (There were other associated musicians like Joe Venuti and Eddie Lang that deserve mention as well.)

Whiteman's big city Dance Band style evolved through a progression of development in the teens and 20s that was just as rich and interesting as any other form of Jazz, from the Mound City Blue Blowers and the Wolverines to Jean Goldkette's band. During that time, the Dance Band style went from scrappy small bands with clear roots in dixieland, blues and folk music to sophisticated big band music with both written and head arrangements and room for improvised solos. That progression was exactly the same as Count Basie's band- and it was doing it at the exact same time. Duke Ellington followed Whiteman and Gershwin's lead to take Jazz into the concert hall. It was all happening at the same time, and each style was making the same sort of progression. If you don't think that The King of Jazz is "real Jazz" because it isn't black, you don't know what real Jazz is.

In the teens and 20s, Dance Band Jazz was huge. Its history hasn't been documented and much of the music is unavailable today. But it's the kind of Jazz that was responsible for sweeping the nation and made Jazz a part of everyday life for all Americans, and soon the entire world. It was the style of Jazz you would hear in nightclubs, on the radio and in movies. Perhaps its popularity and success at the time is what makes it derided. Maybe it's an attempt to apply a racial theory to something that didn't have its roots in race, and in fact was one of the principle social movements that broke down racial barriers. I don't know how academics think sometimes. But Paul Whitman was definitely responsible for raking a regional art form and making it popular worldwide. For a time in the mid to late 20s, he definitely *was* the King of Jazz.

 

[bigshot]

A few examples...

Frankie Trumbauer, Joe Venuti and Bix Beiderbecke in 1927.


Bing Crosby scat singing. (He called scat singing "Effing")


Red Nichols and his Five Pennies with Eddie Condon in a rare Vitaphone short (In particular check out the red hot version of "China Boy" at 5'22'')


Miff Mole "Darktown Strutters Ball"


One other thing I didn't mention... just as the black bands had slow blues contrasted with uptempo numbers, the dance bands had sweet and hot jazz. Sweet bands have fallen out of favor with today's generation, but they were very influential at the time. There's no question that musicians like King Oliver, Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton weren't important, but in the early days especially, Jazz was the music of all Americans and everyone had their own way of performing it. Jazz was bigger than just race. It was about the whole American mindset at the time.

 

[Brent Reid]

Jazz didn't have a race. Academics with an agenda may have defined it to have a race, but in really it was a blend of ragtime and tin pan alley with arrangements derived from military bands. All of those things were elements of general American popular music at the time. When King of Jazz was made, there were several kinds of Jazz being made. The big ones were Dixieland, Dance Band, Kansas City Blues based Jazz and Chicago/Harlem Swing, which was just starting out with Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington and other bands of that type... etc.

What a lot of unnecessary effort to wilfully disregard then misinterpret the meaning of my post. I thoroughly love this film but the fact that it completely whitewashes the story of jazz can't be denied or explained away by any amount of high-handed waffle. Besides which, even going by what you say, it's not called The King of Dance Band Jazz, is it? And if even if it was, you implying that dance band jazz was somehow exclusively white, thus making the film accurate after all, is complete horsefeathers – to use the vernacular of the era. Fail.

 

[bigshot]

I'd suggest that you go listen to music. A lot of it. Listen to things outside of your comfort zone. You'll figure it out. That's what I did.

In any case, I'm sure others in this thread found the info I posted useful. If anyone wants to read a fascinating book on the history of jazz with a broader frame of reference than most, I recommend "That Devilin' Tune" by Allen Lowe. I think the book is out of print, but you might find it at abebooks. There's a series of 36 CDs that go with the book too. It's an incredible collection. You can order them on his website. http://allenlowe.com