A survey and analysis of films taking jazz as a topic, from early talkies through the birth and development of the swing era. Such films include two innovative 1929 shorts by director Dudley Murphy, one featuring Bessie Smith and the other featuring Duke Ellington. Smith and Ellington play fictionalized versions of themselves. Paul Whiteman and Artie Shaw play their not-quite selves in feature films. Controversy over jazz in the African American community is explored in Broken Strings. Musicians “swing the classics” there and in another film. The 1937 feature Champagne Waltz includes an early instance of a stock jazz-film ending—a big New York concert that reconciles people and/or musical styles in conflict. That ending is tweaked by placing it at Carnegie Hall in 1938’s Alexander’s Ragtime Band. Other films are also discussed.
Throughout his career Nat Cole was always eager to try new things; even when he had perfected the King Cole Trio into one of the greatest jazz ensembles of all time, he was never content to let anything become formulaic. He got an indication of where his future would lie with his enormous unprecedented success with two new ballads, “For Sentimental Reasons” and “The Christmas Song.” He also made his formal concert hall debut at this time, in theaters and also classical music venues, including Carnegie Hall. By the end of 1947, changes in both his professional and personal lives meant that his first wife, Nadine Robinson, and his musical partner, Oscar Moore, were out of his life.
Getting to Carnegie Hall: Novel Timed Homework Practice to Develop Basic Circuit Analysis Skills