From Broadway To 52nd Street
St. Louis Woman opened on March 30, 1946 on the stage of the Martin Beck Theatre and ran for 113 performances. Harold Arlen composed the music and Johnny Mercer wrote the lyrics for the musical with one tune standing the test of time to become a jazz standard – Come Rain Or Come Shine. The original cast included Robert Pope, Harold Nicholas, Fayard Nicholas, June Hawkins, Pearl Bailey, Ruby Hill, Rex Ingram and Milton J. Williams.
The Story: Set in St. Louis in 1898, Little Augie, a jockey who is on a winning streak, is enamored with Della Green, the belle of St Louis. Della, however, is the girlfriend of abusive Bigelow Brown, the proprietor of the local bar. Decides to leave him, Brown’s previous mistress, Lila, is still around which produces complications.
It’s cakewalking time and Augie attracts the attention and admiration of Della with his virtuoso performance of the cakewalk. Things go so well between them that they agree to set up home together and prepare plans to marry. While Augie is off at the racetrack, Della gets an unwelcome visit from Biglow Brown who beats. Lila enters, begs for a reconciliation, Augie returns, shot is fired, curse is casted on Augie for the shot that in fact was fired by Lila.
At Brown’s funeral suspected Augie is exonerated by Lila’s confession but the curse seems to be working. His horses no longer win and Della blames herself for the troubles. Della leaves feigning no love for Augie but her new friend tells him her true feelings. Believing the curse to be so much mumbo-jumbo, he’ll win his next race and he and Della get back together again.
Jazz History: Charlie Parker began rising in prominence in the early 1940s, and he played frequently with bands led by Jay McShann, Earl Hines, and Billy Eckstine. In 1945, a young Miles Davis Miles Davis moved to New York and became intrigued with Parker and the emerging bebop style. He studied at Juilliard, but had trouble earning respect among jazz musicians because of his unrefined sound. Soon he would work his way into Parker’s quintet. In 1945, the term ‘moldy fig’ was coined to refer to swing musicians who were reluctant to accept that bebop was the new path of jazz development.
In the mid 1940s Charlie Parker began to deteriorate from drug use. He was admitted to Camarillo State Hospital after a breakdown in 1946. His stay there inspired the song “Relaxin’ at Camarillo”.
In 1947, tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon achieved fame for recordings of “duels” with saxophonist Wardell Gray. Gordon’s virtuosity and aggressive tone attracted the attention of young alto saxophonist John Coltrane, who would shortly thereafter switch to tenor saxophone.
In 1948, Miles Davis and drummer Max Roach, fed up with Charlie Parker’s reckless lifestyle, left his band. Davis formed his own nonet. In 1949 recorded the unconventional ensemble. Some of the arrangements were by a young Gil Evans, and the restrained style of the music came to be known as cool jazz. The record, released almost a decade later, in 1957, was called Birth of the Cool.
By the end of the 1940s, bebop was the ideal among young jazz musicians. Unlike swing, bebop was untethered to popular demands. Its primary concern was musical advancement.
Sponsored By
www.whatissuitetabu.com