[78-L] Birth of Rock 'n' Roll

[Steven C. Barr]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cary Ginell" <soundthink at live.com>
>> When I mention "The Big Band Era," I am referring to when big bands were 
>> the most popular genre of music favored by the general public. By the 
>> 1950s, that had gone bye-bye. Namby-pamby vocals by the Perry Comos of 
>> the industry ruled in the early 1950s, giving way to rock 'n' roll by the 
>> mid-50s. But big bands were long considered passe by the public by then 
>> and bands didn't monopolize the best-selling charts in the 1950s. I think 
>> the only big band hit of the 1950s was "So Rare" by Jimmy Dorsey. Of 
>> course there were great big bands in the '50s - I loved the Basie band 
>> that featured Neal Hefti compositions and arrangements. Terry Gibbs' 
>> Dream Band was probably the most exciting kick-ass band of them all, 
>> starting in 1959. And Quincy Jones continued with some great big band 
>> charts in the 1960s. But big band music had become niche programming by 
>> this time.
>>
Popular music sunk into its nadir around 1946-47, and stayed there until 
younger
folks, tired of the waltzes and "pseudo-ethnic" records of that miserable 
(musically,
anyway?!) period! Little did they know that there was much better music to 
be
found among "race records...at least until Freed and a few other deejays 
started
airing it...?!

The music had been there all along, but it was so rigidly segregated that 
young
white folks VERY rarely heard it...!

Steven C. Barr