Indianola - James Reese Europe & the 369th U.S. Infantry Hell Fighters Band (919)
Old Movies and Music
2024-05-21
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"Indianola" is played by James Reese Europe & the 369th U.S. Infantry "Hell Fighters" Band.
Recorded 1919.
This was recorded days before the death of James Reese Europe. He was murdered on May 9, 1919.
Europe's music on Pathé discs is different from that of Europe's Society Orchestra issued on Victor discs five years earlier.
The musicians were different; popular music had changed; instead of making dance records, he now worked in a military band tradition, conducting different instruments than in earlier years. Whereas none of the Victor recordings featured vocals, some Pathés feature singers Noble Sissle and C. Creighton Thompson.
Moreover, different technology was used. It is unfortunate that his final discs are vertical-cut records. In the year the records were issued, hill-and-dale technology was quickly losing favor with record buyers. By 1920 nearly all talking machines were made for lateral-cut discs. Equipment for playing Pathé discs became relatively scarce in subsequent years. Had his records been made with lateral-cut technology, they might have enjoyed more popularity and his name might have been better remembered by subsequent generations.
After four sessions with Europe, the Pathé company issued a special flier announcing new titles: "Eleven records of the world's greatest exponent of syncopation just off the press." In bold type, the flier announced, "Jim Europe's jazz will live forever." Sadly, the music became relatively obscure.
Europe's musicians perform more in a military band tradition than in the new jazz idiom. Nonetheless, Europe is a significant pre-jazz artist or transitional figure, the most important African-American musical leader in the period when ragtime was on the wane but before the reign of King Oliver and Louis Armstrong.
Europe suffered a fatal stabbing two days after his band recorded six titles for Pathe. That recording session took place on May 7, 1919.
There was no clear motive for the stabbing. Accounts differ, but it seems that backstage during a Boston concert Europe reprimanded Herbert Wright for the drummer's unprofessional habit of walking on and off stage while other acts performed.
When Europe ordered Herbert Wright to leave Europe's dressing room, the unstable drummer produced a pen knife and stabbed the bandleader in the neck. Europe was rushed to City Hospital, where he soon died.
Europe could have contributed significantly to popular music in the 1920s and beyond. He was ambitious, talented, energetic. New opportunities presented themselves in 1919, and Jim Europe's best days may have been ahead. We simply cannot know what form that contribution would have taken.
"Indianola" James Reese Europe & the 369th U.S. Infantry "Hell Fighters" Band
Recorded 1919.
This was recorded days before the death of James Reese Europe. He was murdered on May 9, 1919.
Europe's music on Pathé discs is different from that of Europe's Society Orchestra issued on Victor discs five years earlier.
The musicians were different; popular music had changed; instead of making dance records, he now worked in a military band tradition, conducting different instruments than in earlier years. Whereas none of the Victor recordings featured vocals, some Pathés feature singers Noble Sissle and C. Creighton Thompson.
Moreover, different technology was used. It is unfortunate that his final discs are vertical-cut records. In the year the records were issued, hill-and-dale technology was quickly losing favor with record buyers. By 1920 nearly all talking machines were made for lateral-cut discs. Equipment for playing Pathé discs became relatively scarce in subsequent years. Had his records been made with lateral-cut technology, they might have enjoyed more popularity and his name might have been better remembered by subsequent generations.
After four sessions with Europe, the Pathé company issued a special flier announcing new titles: "Eleven records of the world's greatest exponent of syncopation just off the press." In bold type, the flier announced, "Jim Europe's jazz will live forever." Sadly, the music became relatively obscure.
Europe's musicians perform more in a military band tradition than in the new jazz idiom. Nonetheless, Europe is a significant pre-jazz artist or transitional figure, the most important African-American musical leader in the period when ragtime was on the wane but before the reign of King Oliver and Louis Armstrong.
Europe suffered a fatal stabbing two days after his band recorded six titles for Pathe. That recording session took place on May 7, 1919.
There was no clear motive for the stabbing. Accounts differ, but it seems that backstage during a Boston concert Europe reprimanded Herbert Wright for the drummer's unprofessional habit of walking on and off stage while other acts performed.
When Europe ordered Herbert Wright to leave Europe's dressing room, the unstable drummer produced a pen knife and stabbed the bandleader in the neck. Europe was rushed to City Hospital, where he soon died.
Europe could have contributed significantly to popular music in the 1920s and beyond. He was ambitious, talented, energetic. New opportunities presented themselves in 1919, and Jim Europe's best days may have been ahead. We simply cannot know what form that contribution would have taken.
"Indianola" James Reese Europe & the 369th U.S. Infantry "Hell Fighters" Band
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