I was a child of the '60s and therefore came of age during the golden age of rock and roll. Three currents at once drew me to jazz at the age of eighteen: a school friend with a little collection of jazz recordings; my brother, an aspiring jazz trumpeter; and, in my freshman year at Indiana University, the tutelage of Dr. David N. Baker (later to become director of the Smithsonian Institution's jazz program). It was in David's class I first heard Duke Ellington's "East St. Louis Toodle-oo," and my term paper on jazz bassists inevitably led me to Jimmy Blanton; hence, my first Ellington album was Things Ain't What They Used to Be, a compilation of Ellington small groups led by Johnny Hodges and Rex Stewart in 1940 and 1941.
David Baker
My early jazz education was backwards, in the sense that
my first jazz heroes were contemporary masters of "free jazz": Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, John Coltrane,
and Archie Shepp, among others.
I was fortunate, in 1972-- my senior year at Indiana
University-- to attend a performance on campus of Duke Ellington and His
Orchestra. I didn't really know what I
was hearing: I spent the first half of
the show anxiously checking my wristwatch and left during intermission to make
a political speech. This was, after all,
the impending revolution.
The process by which I arrived at Duke
was a circuitous one, a rather strange and involved one, as it would have to be
for someone my age. In the late 1960s, I began a gradual transition from
rock 'n' roll to the likes of Archie Shepp, Ornette Coleman, and Sun Ra.
From there, it has been a case of looking back ward, where Duke Ellington could
hardly fail to attract my attention. There is a seductive quality in his
work that is hard to resist.
Nevertheless, it was unlikely then that a person of my age would take to
Ellington's music, nor is it likely that it will become any easier for
generations following mine. You might call this the musical miseducation
of youth; in the United States particularly, the laws of economics in the music
business, or just the inevitability of change in styles. The
Ellington Era is now firmly in the past, despite the talents and efforts of
many to preserve it as America's "classical" music.
CHICAGO
The
Chicago chapter of the Duke Ellington Society (dubbed the "Ray Nance
chapter by our unofficial leader, Don Miller). As far as my
listening was concerned, Don was indispensable; he had a sizeable collection of
Ellington records and was happy to make cassette copies for me.
"All
for the love of Duke"
"I
have only two heroes: Duke Ellington and Thomas Jefferson."
lived
alone in the Hyde Park area.
1. getting acquainted; her 12-year old daughter.
2. "If you want to know Ellington, listen to the music; if
you want to know Strayhorn, listen to the words... longing and loss
3. visiting her in hospital (appendectomy?)
4. rehearsing "Lush Life" with her.
5. invited her to speak to my Honors class.
6. She has elected to devote the rest of her life to religion, but
her name still turns up on the Duke-LYM email list with pertinent comments and
announcements (she still keeps a hand in the Ellington game).
CA.
1979, I SPOKE WITH LOUIS BELLSON AT RICK'S CAFE AMERICAINE AT THE LAKE SHORE
HOLIDAY INN. GEORGE DUVIVIER WAS IN HIS TRIO. BELLSON'S
STORY ABOUT PASSING FOR "ALBINO" IN THE DEEP SOUTH.
1981
CHICAGO JAZZ FESTIVAL IN GRANT PARK: Bellson & Clark Terry were
interviewed after their performance (by Neil Tesser?)
**********************************************************************************
RETURN
TO CHICAGO, AUGUST 1982
Joe
Igo, Kenosha
John
Steiner, Kenosha
Tribune
obit: Howard Reich
John
Steiner, 91, widely regarded as the world's foremost authority on early Chicago
jazz, Died Saturday, June 3, 2001...
Mr.
Steiner, who was smitten with the music during the first great blossoming in
Chicago in the 1920s, amassed a unique personal collection of about 35,000
records plus sheet music, newspaper articles and related ephemera. The
collection will be housed in the Jazz Archive of the University of Chicago
Library... Born in Milwaukee and trained as a chemist at the University
of Wisconsin in Madison, Mr. Steiner nourished his emerging passion for jazz by
spending weekends in the nightspots of Chicago's South Side. Early on he
came to know key figures such as pianist Earl Hines and drummer Baby Dodds, and
befriended members of the fabled Austin High Gang (including cornetist Jimmy
McPartland and saxophonist Bud Freeman.
"He
would take the train down from Milwaukee or Madison and make it a weekend
in
Chicago,
absorb as much of the club scene as he could, then sleep in the train station,
recalled Richard Wang, professor of music at the University of Illinois at
Chicago.
"It
was through his contacts with so many musicians he was able to begin to build
his collection, and he was doing it in the 1930s, when most people were not
interested in this music and its history in Chicago," added Wang.
"Without
his research and appetite for Chicago music, we would be bereft information
upon which future histories of this music will be based. He was the
seminal figure in documenting the history of Chicago jazz."
Though
Mr. Steiner worked full time as a research chemist and, in the 1960s and '70s,
taught at UIC, he used his off-hours to document music in Chicago. In
1946, he dragged a portable recording machine to the Civic Opera House, climbed
the catwalk above the stage, dangled a microphone below and captured the DE
Orchestra on recordings that would not have existed without such efforts.
As
self-styled oral historian, he taped hundreds of hours of interviews, but the
exact contents of this will not be known for years, since U. of C. archivists
will have to catalog two truckloads of material.
"It's
a treasure-trove, said curator Gillespie, "but it's also a preservation
nightmare."
In the
1940s, Mr. Steiner promoted concerts featuring McPartland and Freeman, among
others, and with Hugh Davis started S&D Records to issue Chicago jazz
recordings. By leasing and, in 1949, purchasing the catalogue of the old
Paramount record label, Mr. Steiner was able to reissue historic recordings of
Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver, Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, and Blind Lemon
Jefferson, among others.
Descriptive
summary of John Steiner Collection
471
boxes
contains
sheet music, articles, photographs, scrapbooks, correspondence, interviews,
ephemera, and publications
Steiner:
7/21/1908, Milwaukee - 6/3/2001, Milwaukee
at the
age of 12 he became the hat-check person at his father's music lodge in
Milwaukee
took
piano lessons at home and while at UWIS; also attended Axel Christianson's
music school
as a
teenager fixed his friends' radios and would hear a variety of music
his
aunt Juliana, who worked qat a music store, would bring home chipped
phonographs for him to listen
the
ODJB made an impression on Steiner early on
Steiner
was present at one of our Ellington Society gatherings when he gave me a
copy of Duke's "Jig Walk on an ancient-looking 78 rpm record; he held the
rights to that transcription of a piano roll from the 1920s. I recall
Dick Buckley being there, too, along with Henry Quarles, all the way from
Pewaukee, Wisconsin. Henry handed me a copy of an Index
to Music Is My Mistress, an eighty-two page
pamphlet by H. F. Huon, which was packed with useful information. I
wish it were still in print.
David Baker
I was fortunate in 1972, my final year at Indiana University, to attend a performance on campus of Duke Ellington and His Orchestra. I didn't really know what I was hearing, however: I spent the first half of the show anxiously checking my wristwatch and left during intermission to make a political speech. The revolution could not wait, and besides the important music was being created by Miles, Trane, Ornette, and their cohorts.
CHICAGO
The Chicago
chapter of the Duke Ellington Society (dubbed the "Ray Nance chapter by
our unofficial leader, Don Miller). As far as my listening
was concerned, Don was indispensable; he had a sizeable collection of Ellington
records and was happy to make cassette copies for me.
"All for
the love of Duke"
"I have
only two heroes: Duke Ellington and Thomas Jefferson."
lived
alone in the Hyde Park area.
1. getting acquainted; her 12-year old daughter.
2. "If you want to know Ellington, listen to the music; if you want
to know Strayhorn, listen to the words... longing and loss
3. visiting her in hospital (appendectomy?)
4. rehearsing "Lush Life" with her.
5. invited her to speak to my Honors class.
6. She has elected to devote the rest of her life to religion, but her
name still turns up on the Duke-LYM email list with pertinent comments and
announcements (she still keeps a hand in the Ellington game).
CA. 1979, I
SPOKE WITH LOUIS BELLSON AT RICK'S CAFE AMERICAINE AT THE LAKE SHORE HOLIDAY
INN. GEORGE DUVIVIER WAS IN HIS TRIO.
BELLSON'S STORY ABOUT PASSING FOR "ALBINO" IN THE DEEP SOUTH.
1981 CHICAGO
JAZZ FESTIVAL IN GRANT PARK: Bellson & Clark Terry were interviewed
after their performance (by Neil Tesser?)
**********************************************************************************
RETURN TO
CHICAGO, AUGUST 1982
Joe Igo,
Kenosha
John Steiner,
Kenosha
Tribune obit:
Howard Reich
John Steiner,
91, widely regarded as the world's foremost authority on early Chicago jazz,
Died Saturday, June 3, 2001...
Mr. Steiner,
who was smitten with the music during the first great blossoming in Chicago in
the 1920s, amassed a unique personal collection of about 35,000 records plus
sheet music, newspaper articles and related ephemera. The collection will
be housed in the Jazz Archive of the University of Chicago Library...
Born in Milwaukee and trained as a chemist at the University of Wisconsin
in Madison, Mr. Steiner nourished his emerging passion for jazz by spending
weekends in the nightspots of Chicago's South Side. Early on he came to
know key figures such as pianist Earl Hines and drummer Baby Dodds, and
befriended members of the fabled Austin High Gang (including cornetist Jimmy
McPartland and saxophonist Bud Freeman.
"He
would take the train down from Milwaukee or Madison and make it a weekend
in
Chicago,
absorb as much of the club scene as he could, then sleep in the train station,
recalled Richard Wang, professor of music at the University of Illinois at
Chicago.
"It was
through his contacts with so many musicians he was able to begin to build his
collection, and he was doing it in the 1930s, when most people were not
interested in this music and its history in Chicago," added Wang.
"Without
his research and appetite for Chicago music, we would be bereft information
upon which future histories of this music will be based. He was the
seminal figure in documenting the history of Chicago jazz."
Though Mr.
Steiner worked full time as a research chemist and, in the 1960s and '70s,
taught at UIC, he used his off-hours to document music in Chicago. In
1946, he dragged a portable recording machine to the Civic Opera House, climbed
the catwalk above the stage, dangled a microphone below and captured the DE
Orchestra on recordings that would not have existed without such efforts.
As
self-styled oral historian, he taped hundreds of hours of interviews, but the
exact contents of this will not be known for years, since U. of C. archivists
will have to catalog two truckloads of material.
"It's a
treasure-trove, said curator Gillespie, "but it's also a preservation
nightmare."
In the 1940s,
Mr. Steiner promoted concerts featuring McPartland and Freeman, among others,
and with Hugh Davis started S&D Records to issue Chicago jazz recordings.
By leasing and, in 1949, purchasing the catalogue of the old Paramount
record label, Mr. Steiner was able to reissue historic recordings of Jelly Roll
Morton, King Oliver, Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, and Blind Lemon Jefferson, among
others.
Descriptive
summary of John Steiner Collection
471 boxes
contains
sheet music, articles, photographs, scrapbooks, correspondence, interviews,
ephemera, and publications
Steiner:
7/21/1908, Milwaukee - 6/3/2001, Milwaukee
at the age of
12 he became the hat-check person at his father's music lodge in Milwaukee
took piano
lessons at home and while at UWIS; also attended Axel Christianson's music
school
as a teenager
fixed his friends' radios and would hear a variety of music
his aunt
Juliana, who worked qat a music store, would bring home chipped phonographs for
him to listen
the ODJB made
an impression on Steiner early on
Steiner was
present at one of our Ellington Society gatherings when he gave me a copy
of Duke's "Jig Walk on an ancient-looking 78 rpm record; he held the
rights to that transcription of a piano roll from the 1920s. I recall
Dick Buckley being there, too, along with Henry Quarles, all the way from
Pewaukee, Wisconsin. Henry handed me a copy of an Index
to Music Is My Mistress, an eighty-two page
pamphlet by H. F. Huon, which was packed with useful information. I
wish it were still in print.
No comments:
Post a Comment