DC MUSIC HISTORY
BYGONE TIMES
JOHN PHILIP SOUSA AL JOLSON AL HOPKINS
TED KOEHLER ANDY RAZAF BERNARD ADDISON
DUKE ELLINGTON DON RAYE MERCER ELLINGTON
TED KOEHLER ANDY RAZAF BERNARD ADDISON
DUKE ELLINGTON DON RAYE MERCER ELLINGTON
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John Philip Sousa - aka "The March" King" - was one of DC's earliest recording artists. He was born November 6, 1854 on G Street SW, in Washington DC. Sousa joined the marines in 1868 as an apprentice musician. From 1880-1892 he was a Sergeant Major, and head of the Marine Band. By 1917 Souza had been promoted to Lieutenant Commander. He was well known for writing many American military and patriotic marches - he has written 136 of them. He has also written many operettas, three novels and an autobiography.
JOHN PHILIP SOUSA BIOGRAPHY
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THE THUNDERER MARCH
1890 Souza recording |
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Al Jolson was once called "The World's Greatest Entertainer". Jolson was born in Russia, and he moved to the U.S. when he was a child. He grew up in a Southwest Waterfront neighborhood in Washington DC. After his mother died, Jolson and his brother would sing on downtown street corners for coins - often paying admittance to the National Theatre with their earnings. In 1927, Jolson starred in The Jazz Singer - the first "soundie" - a film with synchronized dialogue. He enjoyed performing in "blackface", and is largely credited with introducing black music to white audiences. He also was know for fighting against black discrimination on Broadway as early as 1911.
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AL JOLSON - Toot Toot Tootsie!
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AL JOLSON in THE JAZZ SINGER
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AL JOLSON - Mammy from THE JAZZ SINGER
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AL HOPKINS - West Virginia Girls
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AL HOPKINS - Down To The Club
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Al Hopkins was born in North Carolina in 1889, and he moved to Washington DC when he was five years old. In 1910, Hopkins music career started at Washington's Majestic Theatre. He went on to become an important pioneer of country music, and he is credited with coming up with the genres earlier name - "hillbilly music".
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Ted Koehler was born in Washington DC in 1894. He started his career as a theatre pianist for silent films, and went on to become a very successful writer for vaudeville and Broadway theatre. Koehler wrote many hits between 1920-1940, including Get Happy, Let's Fall In Love and Stormy Weather. In the 1930's he was a well-known writer at Harlem's notorious Cotton Club.
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GET HAPPY
performed by Frankie Trumbauer & His Orchestra |
STORMY WEATHER
performed by Ethel Waters |
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AIN'T MISBEHAVIN' - performed by Fats Waller
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Andy Razaf was the son of Henri Razafinkareto, a member of the royal family in Madagascar. His father was killed in the French invasion, and his 15-year old mother escaped the country pregnant with him. He was born in Washington DC in 1895. He moved to Harlem when he was a child, and at sixteen he was working as an elevator operator in a Tin Pan Alley building. Within a year, Razaf had written his first song, and he was soon collaborating with many big names. He is best known for the many songs he has written with Fats Waller, such as Ain't Misbehavin', This Joint Is Jumping and Honeysuckle Rose.
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Bernard Addison was born in Annapolis, Maryland in 1905. He became interested in music after moving to Washington DC as a child. He originally played the banjo, but in 1930 he switched to guitar to fill in for Louis Armstrong's guitarist. He later became well known for playing guitar with the Mills Brothers and with Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers. This 1930 recording of Morton's Gambling Jack features Addison on Guitar.
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JELLY ROLL MORTON'S RED HOT PEPPERS - Gambling Jack
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BUNDLE OF BLUES - Duke Ellington
BLACK & TAN FANTASY - Duke Ellington
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Duke Ellington was born in Washington DC in 1899. Ellington grew up in Washington's West End neighborhood, and he began taking piano lessons at seven. He attended Armstrong Technical High School. Ellington's first job was selling peanuts at Washington Senators baseball games, later taking a job as a soda jerk. When he was twenty, Ellington formed a band, and played gigs throughout DC at embassies and private parties. In 1927, Ellington left DC after being asked by Harlem's Cotton Club to be leader of the house band.
Mercer Ellington, the son of Duke Ellington, was born in Washington DC in 1919. By the time he was eighteen years old, Mercer had written a song that his father recorded.
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DUKE ELLINGTON LIVE
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ROCKIN' IN RHYTHM & ROLL CALL
Duke Ellington & Cotton Club Dancers (1933) |
A MINUTE WITH DUKE ELLINGTON & HIS BAND
at the Cotton Club (1933) |
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I'VE GOT TO BE A RUGCUTTER - Duke Ellington
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RAISING THE TEMPO
A Duke Ellington Documentary |
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Don Raye was born in Washington DC in 1909. In his early dancing years he won the Virginia State Dancing Championship, later he become a well-known song-and-dance act in vaudeville. He found great success as a writer, penning numerous hits for The Andrews Sisters such as Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy Of Company Two and Beat Me Daddy, Eight To The Bar. He also wrote numerous film scores for musicals and comedies by Abbott and Costello and others.
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THE ANDREWS SISTERS - Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy Of Company B
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