The Jazz Repertory Company Blog

The Jazz Repertory Company Blog
The Jazz Repertory Company Blog

Wednesday 11 November 2015

Jail, Gin & Jazz at the London Jazz Festival; Why You Can't Miss The "King Of Jazz" on 22.11.15

18 Reasons You Can't Miss Our EFG London Jazz Festival Concert at Cadogan Hall this 22nd November, Paul Whiteman: King Of Jazz - Bix, Bing & Rhapsody In Blue.  A 1920s Spectacular. 

1. It's BIG! 
  • It's our biggest ever concert, with 29 world class musicians packed on stage.  
  • We'll introduce you to Paul Whiteman, King Of Jazz; the biggest name on the scene in the 1920s when he had 28 well known number one hits.  
  • He worked with (or launched) the biggest stars in the business including Bing Crosby, Bix Beiderbecke, George Gershwin and paid his musicians the biggest salary of any orchestra.  
  • He was also big on integrity, pioneering the support of black musicians a decade before Benny Goodman; he was blocked from featuring them onstage in the 20s by his management so instead he booked them to write band arrangements behind the scenes.  
 Paul Whiteman (right) with Django Rheinhardt

2. Thomas 'Spats' Langham will be singing this song on 22nd November at Cadogan Hall for our EFG London Jazz Festival concert, in the role of Bing Crosby who got his start with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra. Will it be as saucy as the delicious Betty Boop's version?
Helen Kane Betty Boop 
That's My Weakness Now 1928

3. The night also pays homage to bad boy Bix Beiderbacke, notorious for falling asleep during concerts (thanks to the little nips of gin he took from the ice bucket under his chair) bandleader Paul Whiteman came up with an ingenious solution to making sure Bix didn't miss his solos, scribbling on the second trumpeter's score a few beats before Beiderbecke's cue "wake up Bix."
Bix and The Wolverines

4. The internationally acclaimed Guy Barker will be taking on the role of Beiderbecke in the concert - he talks to the Mighty Pitey about being Bix for London Jazz News - read all about it here.
Guy Barker

5.  Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra once meowed Felix The Cat - sadly we couldn't find an arrangement of this for our EFG London Jazz Festival concert but they'll be much to purr about with 29 musicians on stage including industry expert, Keith Nichols as Paul Whiteman.
Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra (with Bix Beiderbecke) 
Felix The Cat - Columbia 1478-D

6. Paul Whiteman was one of the first musicians to star in his own Hollywood full-length talking feature film (and a very early Technicolor production at that).  Named after the film, King Of Jazzour concert on the 22nd November is also scarily big budget, but at least our 29 musicians aren't as demanding as the original movie cast: production costs included 24 cars purchased for members of the Paul Whiteman Orchestra to use while filming in Los Angeles. Each vehicle featured a custom canvas spare tyre cover emblazoned with Paul Whiteman's image. Fortunately Keith Nichols hasn't put this in his rider. 
Still from the movie 
Paul Whiteman: The King Of Jazz

7. Woody Allen at his best with stunning photography featuring Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue.  Imagine your own path through London as you hear the brilliant Nick Dawson take on this tune not once but twice the 22nd November (matinee 3pm, evening show 7pm)
The opening of Manhattan
Woody Allen

8. Bad Boy Bix. Tragically addicted to bootleg liquor, in 1929 (two years before his death aged 28) Bix Beiderbecke had an alcohol induced nervous break down and whilst on tour with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra he smashed up a hotel room, 40 years before the Rolling Stones followed suit. We don't think Guy Barker will break anything when he takes the roll of Bix on the day - but we promise to raise the roof.
Keith Richards throwing a TV from the 
Andaz West Hotel Balcony in Hollywood, 1972

9. There are some things you just have to change so our version of Christmas Night in Harlem will be re-written on politically correct grounds. Here are the lyrics you won't hear at our concert:
Christmas Night in Harlem
Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra

10.  Jail Bird Bing. No stranger to prison from an early age (staying overnight as a child for throwing stolen pies at cars), Bing Crosby found himself once more behind bars in 1929, whilst filming the aforementioned feature-length early "talking picture," (extraordinary for also being filmed in colour) "The King Of Jazz" with the Whiteman Orchestra. Jailed for drink driving on the 2nd November, Bing had to be escorted from the jail to the studio whenever he was scheduled to appear with the Rhythm Boys.  What will Thomas 'Spats" Langham do in homage to this "Johnny Rotten of the 1920s" when he takes on the role?
Bing Crosby

11. In 1924 Whiteman presented An Experiment in Modern Music where Rhapsody In Blue was premiered. He started his show with a performance of The Livery Stable Blues – the first ever jazz record from 1917. He chose it to show how primitive jazz was seven years previously and how sophisticated it had now become. Only it somewhat backfired when the performance brought the house down and was a huge hit.
Original Dixieland Jass Band 
Livery Stable Blues (1917)

12. Paul Whiteman, sausages, dogs.  What's not to like?  Our concert tribute to the King Of Jazz, stars Keith Nichols, who in 1974, appeared at Carnegie Hall with the New Paul Whiteman Orchestra.  Dog unconfirmed.
Paul Whiteman

13. Emotional stuff, 84 pianists play Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Opening Ceremony "an Anthem for America," fatherland of jazz. If your eyes aren't moist by 4 minutes 15 seconds...then Nick Dawson will see if he can get you going when he performs this as the centre piece to our 1920s spectacular.
Los Angeles 1984 Olympic Opening Ceremony
84 pianos play Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue

14.  Strange thing with singers in the 20s, they often didn’t bother to change the gender in love songs, so here is the rather odd version of There Ain’t No Sweet Man Worth The Salt Of My Tears sung by Bing Crosby and the Rhythm Boys.  As featured on November 22nd...
Bix Beiderbecke and Bing Crosby - 
There Ain't No Sweet Man Worth The Salt Of My Tears 1929

15. Whiteman might have been ahead of the curve on race relations, but we're doing it for the sisters: our meet the boys moment sees the wonderful Emma Fisk take the role of jazz legend Joe Venuti on fiddle. Here's a flavour of what she'll be recreating in this great clip from Paul Whiteman’s 1930 movie “The King of Jazz” where the bandleader shows off the great talent he had in his orchestra. 
Meet The Boys - from "King Of Jazz"
Paul Whiteman's Orchestra

16. Bad Boy Bix. Having lost a tooth falling off stage at the end of a gig one evening, Bix Beiderbecke had a false one fitted to enable him to continue to play the cornet. Occasionally this tooth flew off during a performance, leaving Bix crawling through the orchestra looking for it. One evening the audience watched dumbstruck as Bix's tooth hunt spread to include half the orchestra in the search, with the remaining musicians gamely continuing until the crisis passed. Our Bix, Guy Barker, has promised us a full set of securely attached teeth when he performs on the night.
Bix Beiderbecke

17. Bad Boy Bing. Bluebirds and Blackbrids performed by jail bird Bing Crosby (escorted between set and prison by guards) during the filming of Paul Whiteman, King Of Jazz in 1930. Co-starring Harry Barris and Al Rinker as The Rhythm Boys. In our concert the song will feature our very own Rhythm Boys - Keith Nichols, Alistair Allan and Martin Wheatley.
The Rhythm Boys - Bluebirds & Blackbirds 
(from King of Jazz, 1930)

18. And finally, just because they wrote the best lyrics. Thanks (Ira) Gershwin...

I’ve written you a song,
A beautiful routine. 
(I hope you like it.)
My technique can’t be wrong:
learned it from the screen.
(I hope you like it.)
I studied all the lines that all the lovers sing;
Then just for you I wrote this little thing:
(Refrain)
Blah, blah, blah, blah, moon.
Blah, blah, blah, above;
Blah, blah, blah, blah, croon,
Blah, blah, blah, blah, love.
Tra la la la, tra la la la la merry month of May;
Tra la la la, tra la la la la ‘neath the
clouds of gray...
Book tickets to Paul Whiteman: King Of Jazz - Bix, Bing & Rhapsody In Blue.  A 1920s Spectacular for the EFG London Jazz Festival at Cadogan Hall, 22nd November, 2015.  Something to make a noise about.

The Jazz Repertory Company 
Concert Show Reel

Tuesday 3 November 2015

Guy Baker On The Emotional Power Of Bix Beiderbecke - Ahead Of The EFG London Jazz Festival

As we look forward to our 2015 EFG London Jazz Festival Cadogan Hall concert on November 22nd we spoke to the highly acclaimed trumpet player Guy Barker who is appearing for us in the role of Bix Beiderbecke. 

The show, A TributeTo Paul Whiteman – Bix, Bing and Rhapsody In Blue, is directed by vintage jazz maestro Keith Nichols who worked with Guy back in the late 80’s on their collaboration  “The Bix Beiderbecke Project”.   

Bix was one of the first big stars of jazz but he died tragically young at 28.  He joined Paul Whiteman in 1927 and stayed for a little under two years until ill health caused by bootleg liquor got the better of him.  

His soloing with the WhitemanOrchestra alongside such stars as Bing Crosby and Frankie Trumbauer are amongst some of the greatest moments in early jazz.

(RP: Richard Pite. GB: Guy Barker):

RP:  Guy, we’ve seen you in previous years at the London Jazz Festival in the role of conductor, composer and arranger – is this concert a rare chance to see you playing again?

GB:  Yes, at one time trumpet playing was my whole life but over the last few years the writing has taken over.   I’ve been playing quite a bit more lately and when the opportunity to do this concert came along it gave me the chance to dust down the old 1927 Conn Victor cornet.
  

RP:  Ah, now this is the same model instrument as played by Bix?  I believe that this instrument has a quite distinctive sound and is mellower than the trumpet.

GB: Yes, when I told the great classical trumpet player John Wilbraham that I was involved in a Bix project many years ago he kindly gave me his Conn Victor.   Mainly it’s the musician and not the instrument that makes the sound but having the same instrument as Bix certainly helps me to get closer to the spirit of his playing. 

The Paul Whiteman Orchestra ft. Bix Beiderbecke
From Monday On

RP:  Tell me about hearing Bix for the first time and what you thought of him.

GB:  Well, I first heard recordings of him when I was a teenager.  The first trumpet players I heard that made me feel that this was the kind of music I wanted to play were Louis Armstrong and Rex Stewart.  I came to Bix’s recordings a little after this.

The Keith Nichols Paul Whiteman Orchestra
Singin' The Blues

RP:  Oh, I’d assumed that you’d started with the more modern players and worked backwards.

GB:  No, I pretty much listened to the great jazz trumpeters in almost chronological order but when I was fourteen I was playing in the Crouch End All Stars and got sacked for being too modern.  Later I heard that they wanted someone to play more like Bix so that inspired me to get hold of an album of his playing and when I listened to that sound I got pretty hooked on it.

Music Director Keith Nichols

RP:  Guy, your association with the Whiteman show’s musical director Keith Nichols goes back a long way doesn’t it?

GB:  In the late eighties I got a call from Keith asking if I’d be interested in being involved with his Bix Beiderbecke project.  I told him I was surprised that he had asked me but he said he didn’t want to use a vintage jazz specialist as they would already have their own voice – whereas he could mould me from scratch or, in other words, sit there and do as I was told!   So I bought every Bix record I could find and paid regular visits to Keith who worked with me on getting the correct phrasing and nuances of the Bix style.  I remember him telling me that Bix was the first cool trumpet player and the forerunner of players such as Bobby Hackett and Chet Baker. 
Chet Baker

RP:  Do you have any favourite Bix recordings?

There are certain things of his that have a really emotional effect on me – his playing on I’m Coming Virginia in particular and the solo on From Monday On is very beautiful.  Sometimes there is a kind of nostalgia which I find very touching.  I also love Bix’s piano piece In A Mist which I recoded as a duet with bassist Alec Dankworth.

Bix Beiderbecke
"I'm Coming Virginia"

RP:  As an experienced arranger what do you make of the sound of the huge Whiteman orchestra that Bix was a part of?

I think it’s a glorious sound.  Very intelligent and entertaining and full of beautiful, subtle moments, particularly in his use of strings. 


RP:  Thanks Guy.  I very much look forward to sharing the stage with you on the 22nd November to recreate this glorious music.

A Tribute to Paul Whiteman – Bix, Bing and Rhapsody In Blue is at the Cadogan Hall SW1 (one minute from Sloane Square tube) at 3pm and 7pm on Sunday November 22nd.  Tickets are available here

The Jazz Repertory Company Concert Showreel