![]() |
Colgate Mandolin Club, 1911. |
Minstrel shows, once the country's most popular form of entertainment, are often credited as a DNA building block of jazz, and BAM presented a few of them. In 1910, the St. Charles Borromeo Holy Name Society hosted a minstrel show and reception featuring such songs as “When the Bell in the Light House Rings Ding Dong” and “Band! Band! Band!”
The most popular rag in its time, Henry Lodge’s “Temptation Rag” was performed at least twice at BAM—once in November 1910 by the Amherst Mandolin Club and again in March 1911 by the Colgate Mandolin Club. (It was clearly also a favorite with mandolin clubs.)

It wasn’t until 1940 that the “dean of American music,” Brooklyn composer Aaron Copland, gave a lecture at BAM entitled “The Influence of Jazz.” The door for jazz cracked open a bit wider. (Listen to Copland on jazz here.)
Jazz selections would sometimes accompany dance performances. In April 1946, African Drums and Modern Rhythms featured Win Thompson (sax) and his Orchestra playing “Hey Baba Rebop” and “Atom Boogie” with the dances in the “Harlem” section of the program.

Next in Jazz at BAM: big names from the heyday of jazz visit BAM.
—Louie Fleck, BAM archivist
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.