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”

The Move to Stride

JAMES P. JOHNSON

James P. Johnson
1894 - 1955

Composed popular songs and
Broadway scores including
Runnin’ Wild

Accompanied Ethel Waters and
Bessie Smith

Considered the “Father” of stride
1905 - 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.

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)

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)

James P. Johnson

From about 1915 to the early '20s, James P. made many piano rolls for the Aeolian Company

The Aeolian Company was engaged in the manufacturer and sale of pianos, organs, piano rolls, phonographs, and records.

Became the first Negro staff artist for the QRS piano roll firm in 1921

QRS was founded in 1900 by Melville Clark who developed the player piano as we know it today. QRS supplied music rolls to the player piano market, with production peaking in 1927, when QRS Music Company sold 10 million rolls.

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.

In 1910, Europe organized the Clef Club, an organization of Harlem jazz instrumentalists that provided the music for society parties and dances.

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.

FATS WALLER

Stride

Fats Waller
May 21, 1904 - December 15, 1943

Johnson’s 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 )

Fats Waller

Many screen performances

Carolina Shout (SCJP 1-8)
(by James P. Johnson)

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)

Fats Waller

Abducted by Al Capone’s boys for a private recital

Ain’t Misbehavin’ - Hot Chocolates - Louis Armstrong

Carnegie Hall - 1942

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 sites:
http://www.stridepiano.com/

Boogie-Woogie

Identifying elements

Strong LH rhythm pattern made up with 8th notes or chords - OSTINATO

RH = many chords with repeated ideas

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

Jimmy Yancey

Boogie-Woogie

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)

“LUX” LEWIS
&

BOOGIE-WOOGIE

“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)

“Lux” Lewis

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

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

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

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

Willie “The Lion” Smith
1897 - 1973

Harlem Stride

The brand of piano jazz referred to as the Harlem "stride" school, is named after its principal center of development (the black enclave of New York City) and the characteristic "striding," motion of its left-hand split chords.

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

Willie “The Lion” Smith

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

More Stride Pianists

Bobby Henderson, born New York City, March 15, 1910; died December 9, 1969, in Albany, New York

Stephen “The Beatle” Henderson

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

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

More Stride Pianists

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