Description
TitleWe were surrounded by giants
Date Created2013
Other Date2013-05 (degree)
Extentxxvii, 772 p. : ill.
DescriptionThe purpose of this research is to chronicle the vastly under-documented independent jazz environment that existed within the borough of Brooklyn, the manner in which it developed, and to a lesser extent examine the related social and socio-economic conditions that brought about its development, and those which also came to be as a result of its continuation throughout the years described. This has been done by drawing upon several sources of information, including examination of historical newspapers, published books on jazz and related topics, interviews with primary figures from the Brooklyn jazz scene, and to a lesser extent the author’s own personal recollections from living and playing jazz in the borough. A common misconception when considering the Brooklyn jazz scene is that it was miniscule when compared to that of Manhattan during the years of the music’s most popular, most creative, and most commercially viable period. This research has found that not only was this not the case, but that it is possible that for a number of years the overall scene in Brooklyn was as active as that in Manhattan, and in the case of a particular neighborhood, Bedford-Stuyvesant, the number of jazz venues present there may have even eclipsed that of its Manhattan counterpart, Harlem, and possibly that of the entire island. During the course of this research several items of newly discovered information have been presented, and in other instances the content of previously known information has been expanded upon and collected in this singular location for the first time. Among these are items such as the whereabouts and activity of pioneering early jazz trumpeter Freddie Keppard during the summers of 1919 and 1920, an extensive documentation of the jazz activity and programming tendencies of Brooklyn’s downtown theaters during their most active periods, the Brooklyn origins of the inspiration to Ella Fitzgerald’s hit recording “A Tisket, A Tasket”, the whereabouts and musical activities of many of the important sidemen which contributed to the early Bebop and Rhythm and Blues periods, and a detailed picture of the history and activity of many important Brooklyn jazz clubs, such as Tony’s Grandean, The Continental, The Putnam Central, and Soldier Meyer’s.
NoteM.A.
NoteIncludes bibliographical references
Noteby Vincent Ramal Gardner
Genretheses, ETD graduate
Languageeng
CollectionGraduate School - Newark Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RightsThe author owns the copyright to this work.