Caught between passion and pay. A closer look at the integration of the jazz music industry from 1935 until 1970

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Caught between passion and pay

A closer look at the integration of the jazz music industry from 1935 until 1970

Chofiet Roemersma 10003221

chofiet@gmail.com

Master American Studies G. Blaustein

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Introduction

This thesis is not a celebratory narrative of integration in the history of the jazz music

industry. It explores how musicians participated in crossing the color barrier in mid-twentieth century American society by integrating jazz and fighting for equal civil rights for both black and white citizens. Even though that appears heroic and celebratory, I will argue that jazz musicians were not the heroes their biographies and documentaries make them out to be. On the contrary, jazz musicians were often caught in a dichotomy between making music and making a living. Starting with Benny Goodman in 1935, jazz musicians found out that integrated bands, being a novelty at the time, was great for publicity.

In this thesis, I will use four case studies to demonstrate how the involvement of jazz musicians in integrating the jazz industry from the 1930s through the 1960s can be placed in the larger narrative of American integration and civil rights history. Did these musicians integrate their bands for publicity? Were they making a sociopolitical point directed at Jim Crow and the white aristocratic society that prevailed in the United States?

Each chapter, or case study, will focus on a jazz musician who worked with integrated bands. The first chapter will zoom in on Benny Goodman, who is seen as a pioneer in integrated jazz history. Chapter two revolves around Louis Armstrong, who spent his entire life caught between black and white. The third chapter’s protagonist is Charles Mingus, who was actually against integration, which he saw as compromising with whites. The final chapter includes the experiences of Asian American Gabe Baltazar, who was one of the very few Asian Americans playing in integrated jazz bands. The timeframe starts in 1935, because in 1935 Goodman first played with Teddy Wilson. 1970 as the final year of the timeframe is more an approximation, but I chose 1970, because the peak of the Civil Rights movement had passed by the late 1960s, with the most positive highlight of that decade being the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the bleakest movement being the assassination of Martin Luther King, jr., in 1968.

I deliberately chose a white, a black, a mixed race, and an Asian American musician, since jazz is not specifically black or white music. It would be misleading to speak about

integration in the jazz industry from only a white or only a black perspective. As Gene Lees, author or Cats of any color: Jazz, black and white wrote: “Any statement that jazz is “black music” and only back music is racist on the face of it. In the first place, the description of jazz

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as something invented in a cultural vacuum solely by blacks is simplistic at least. New Orleans, where jazz emerged, was a complex society of many peoples.”1

At first sight, these four jazz musicians appear to have nothing in common. But, throughout my research, I found out that their stories and involvement in integrated jazz bands are very similar. First, each of them has a certain image, which roots stem from an almost mythical childhood story. How are these myths connected to integration in jazz? Second, Goodman, Armstrong, Mingus and Baltazar each had a lot of multiethnic experiences; from personal friendships to business relations. How colorblind were these partnerships? Third, each of them had a passion for making music professionally, but as with any other job, jazz musicians also needed a paycheck. Was money the only reason jazz got integrated?

So far, jazz musicians in the mid-twentieth century have been described as actively fighting for civil rights. In Ingrid Monson’s book Freedom Sounds: Civil Rights call out to Jazz and Africa she stated that jazz music and the Civil Rights Movement are inseparable, as jazz and the Civil Rights movement itself shared a mutual ideological history.2 Musician and musical historian Ted Gioia also argued in his book The history of jazz that jazz did

incorporated socio-politically awareness.3 Musician and professor of Psychology Mark Gridley argued in his article Misconceptions in linking free jazz with the Civil Rights Movement that the jazz should not be linked to musicians speaking out in favor of the Civil Rights Movement or integration. He argued that jazz musicians did not strive to transfer their personal desire for freedom to their professional sphere.4

Musicologist Mario Dunkel claimed in his work Aesthetics of Resistance: Charles Mingus and the Civil Rights Movement that Charles Mingus’ music and his political ideas are inseparable.5 This would mean that him working together with white musicians was purely an active political statement. Mingus might have been trying to speak his mind, but was that truly the only reason he worked with white people? Monson wrote in Freedom Sounds that Louis Armstrong speaking out on racial matters was an oddity, and that he continued to

1_{G. Lees, Cats of any color. Jazz, Black and White (Da Capo Press; Boston 1995) 198.}

2_{I. Monson, Freedom Sounds: Civil Rights Call Out to Jazz and Africa (Oxford University Press; Oxford and}

New York 2007).

3_{T. Gioia, The history of jazz (Oxford University Press; New York 1997).}

4_{M. Gridley, Misconceptions in Linking Free Jazz with the Civil Rights Movement’, College Music Symposium}

47 (2007) 139–155.

5_{M. Dunkel, Aesthetics of Resistance: Charles Mingus and the Civil Rights Movement (Lit Verlag; London,}

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perform in the segregated South. 6 Does that mean that Armstrong had no thoughts on racial matters?

These are just two examples of how scholars tend to treat jazz musicians as two dimensional characters within the larger narrative of jazz’s integration history. The part jazz musicians played in integrating the industry was not simply either making a deliberate political statement or setting an accidental happenstance in motion, which the four chapters will support.

It must be noted that certain terminology in this thesis might come across as offensive. For example, Monson’s Freedom Sounds raised an important issue concerning the term

colorblind.7_{She clarified that the term colorblindness is actually demeaning to African}

American jazz musicians, since it diminishes their esthetic contributions to the genre, and the cultural exchange that music in general demonstrates. This is important to keep in mind throughout the thesis, since I will use the term colorblind due to lack of a better term, even though I am aware of the weight it carries.

Also, the terms ‘black’ and ‘yellow’ are used throughout the thesis. These can be considered as being derogatory, but since the sources I use, both primary and secondary, also use these terms, I decided to follow their lead. Of course, on the one hand, the terms fit with the time period of the thesis’ topic, but on the other hand, I am aware of the negative

connotations. After all, during the mid-twentieth century race and skin color did still matter. After all, during this time, race still mattered. Racial segregation laws and discrimination against black people, like unequal pay or blacks not being allowed to stay at ‘white’ hotels, were still thriving.8

The sources I will mainly use to research what role jazz musicians played in the larger narrative of the integration of the jazz industry are scholarly biographies, autobiographical works, newspaper articles and the music Goodman, Armstrong, Mingus and Baltazar made. Of course, using biographies can be tricky, as the stories presented in biographical works cannot always be taken as a given. Biographies as well as documentaries and interviews, involve an oral dimension, which relies on memories. Biographers can, deliberately or not, embellish a person’s story, making the truth just a bit more interesting than it really was.

6_{Monson, Freedom Sounds 3.} 7_{Ibidem 315.}

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However, this does not mean that nothing written in a biography is true. After all, if a

biographer would flat out lie about his subject, he could get into legal trouble, for example.9 Autobiographies have the same problems as biographies, but autobiographies have an extra weak spot: the subject itself has written the work. Thus, the reader should look out for stories that are too good to be true, and take into account when the autobiography was written. For example, Gabe Baltazar’s autobiographical work If it swings, it’s music contains stories that happened seventy years ago. We could wonder if, after such a long period, he remembers everything exactly as it happened. When an (auto-) biographical work is quoted in one of the four case studies, the story is not to be taken as a perfect fact, but as a story that is part of a larger narrative – that of the integration of the jazz industry – or as a way to gain a broader perspective of the musicians’ contribution to jazz’s integration.

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Chapter 1 – Benny Goodman

Music and integration prodigy

‘If a guy's got it, let him give it.

I'm selling music, not prejudice.’10

Introduction

Any researcher that attempts to narrate the history of integration in jazz must mention the name Benny Goodman. On the one hand, I agree with the scholars who refer to Goodman as the first white band leader to work with an integrated band. In the other hand, I do not agree with making Goodman come across as the saint of jazz integration. Popular works like Lesa Cline-Ransome’s 2014 book Benny Goodman & Teddy Wilson: Taking the Stage as the first Black-and-White Jazz Band in History, Joanne Mattern’s 2013 biography of Benny Goodman or the reflection on Teddy Wilson’s musical legacy that Jon Pareles wrote after Wilson’s death in 1986 paint a too positive, if not celebratory, image of Goodman breaking the color barrier.11

After all, the collaboration between Benny Goodman and pianist Teddy Wilson did not stem from an ideal to fight segregation. Goodman had needed some convincing by his manager and brother-in-law in order to agree to work together with Wilson and to show his integrated, at that time, trio in public.12 Of course, apart from collaborating with Wilson, Goodman had also accompanied black singers, like Ella Fitzgerald in 1937. Unfortunately, their song Goodnight my love was only recorded, and never performed on stage.13

Even though Goodman was hesitant to perform with an integrated band in public, he eventually did go on stage with his mixed race band members, paving the way for other black and white musicians to do the same. Goodman’s orchestra had the honor of being the first band to play jazz at Carnegie Hall in New York in 1938. They played integrated, their audience was integrated and that evening was even recorded.14

10_{H. Galewitz, ed., Music. A book of quotations (Dover Publications; Mineola 2001) 20.}

11_{L. Cline-Ransome and James E. Ransome, Benny Goodman & Teddy Wilson: Taking the Stage as the first}

Black-and-White Jazz Band in History (New York 2013).

J. Mattern, American Jazz. Benny Goodman (Hockessin 2013) 27-28.

J. Pareles, ‘Critic’s Notebook; The Legacy of Teddy Wilson’s Subtle Approach’ in: The New York Times (August 7, 1986).

12_{E. Bush, ‘Benny Goodman & Teddy Wilson: Taking the Stage as the first Black-and-White Jazz Band in}

History by Lesa Cline-Ransome (review)’ in: Bulletin for the Center of Children’s books 8 (2014) 400.

13_{Goodman, B. and E. Fitzgerald, ‘Goodnight, my love’ on: Various Artists, Jazz in the Charts, Vol. 30}

(Membran Records 1937).

14_{B. Klauber, ‘Where’s Benny? The story of the infamous, aborted, Benny Goodman/Louis Armstrong tour of}

1953’ in: Jazz Times (September 1, 2009).

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To understand the rising of later integrated jazz bands during the 1950s and 1960s, the heyday of the Civil Rights era, we must take a step back and explore the first steps taken into this undiscovered country. Whether he was a hero or not, Goodman did undeniably play his part in getting black and white musicians to combine their strengths for the good of music. Thus, in this chapter I will explore how Goodman fits into the narrative of integrated jazz music’s history.

§1.1 Goodman’s myth…

Benny Goodman’s professional colorblind image is rooted in his life story. His rags to riches life story gives the illusion that Goodman never cared about color or politics, but did care about music. Whether or not that is true, does not matter. The story is nonetheless a myth that Goodman and his biographers relied on to give him a certain, noble image and status. The film The Benny Goodman Story, a biopic made in 1956, plays a large part in creating that myth around Goodman, his talent and his image.

The story of how Goodman was introduced to the clarinet seems a little too perfect. In the movie it is shown that Goodman’s father wanted to take his two oldest sons to get music lessons, stating that they need to read good books, listen to good music and get a good education or they would end up like him, working in a factory. Young Benny Goodman begged his father to come along, but once they got to the music teacher, only his big brothers get instruments picked out for them. Again, young Goodman begged his father if he please could get an instrument too. The music teacher gave in and immediately, young Benny Goodman and the clarinet are depicted as a match made in heaven. From that point on,

Goodman excelled as a clarinet player, and already played his first gig at sixteen.15_{. It must be}

noted, that Benny Goodman himself played all of the solos in the movie. Thus, it seems as though teenage Goodman played as well and professionally as 47-year old Goodman could after playing for almost thirty years.

The story the movie depicted would always be retold as how Goodman miraculously started playing clarinet, how he was a natural, and how from the age of ten he dedicated his life to music. Journalist and author James L. Collier published a biography of Goodman in 1989, three years after Goodman passed away. He also used this origin story of Goodman as a brilliant and immediately successful musician.16

15_{V. Davies, The Benny Goodman Story (Universal International Pictures 1956) 3:04 – 3:44 + 7:10 – 7:32.} 16_{J. L. Collier, Benny Goodman and the Swing Era (Oxford University Press; Oxford 1989) 16.}

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Otis Ferguson, film and jazz critic critic for the magazine The New Republic in the 1930s, wrote in 1936 about Benny Goodman as though he were a musical messiah. He praised Goodman for his success as a young boy, and as a grown up man. “The band as a whole gets its lift from the rhythm men and the soloists as they take off; it is built from the ground rather than tailored – thanks to the talent, ideas, and leadership of one man.”17 That one man was of course Goodman.

§1.2… and its relevance

Does it actually matter whether or not Goodman was the mythical prodigy as described in his biopic, his posthumous biography, and a 1936 article, written when Goodman was only 27 years old? Maybe Goodman truly was a unique, talented boy, who could play in bands and get paid for gigs after only a few years of studying the clarinet. What should one read into this myth – or maybe, a stretched truth? It is not the myth itself that is fascinating. The timing of the three sources that mention the myth is what is fascinating. First, the oldest source, the article written by Otis Ferguson, was written in 1936. At this time, Goodman was up and coming, but by no means at the peak of his career.

The 1938 concert at Carnegie Hall put Goodman and his orchestra on the map, as it was the first performance of an integrated band, and later its album became the first recording of an integrated band that was not studio based.18 In 1936, this big break had not yet

happened, making the story of how Goodman was a uniquely talented and successful young player come across like a sharp marketing pitch instead of a review.

Second, the biographical movie The Benny Goodman Story came out in 1956. By the 1950s, Goodman’s swing music had had to make room for bebop music. Goodman’s career suffered from this renovation in the jazz industry. That does not mean he could hardly make rent, but he would never be as popular as during the swing era of the 1930s and 1940s. As jazz reviewer, historian and author Scott Yanow put it in his book Jazz: A Regional

Exploration, Goodman had a ‘flirtation’ with bebop, but bebop and Goodman were not meant for each other like swing and Goodman had been. Until his death in 1986, Goodman would continue to play swing in smaller orchestras than during the 1930s and 1940s.19 He would

17_{O. Ferguson, ‘The Spirit of Jazz’ in: R. Gottlieb, ed., Reading Jazz: A Gathering of Autobiography,}

Reportage, and Criticism from 1919 to now (Vintage Books; New York 1996) 481.

18_{D. R. Connor, Benny Goodman: Listen to His Legacy (Scarecrow Press and the Institute of Jazz Studies,}

Metuchen 1988) 80.

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even go on to record albums of classical music instead of jazz music, playing Mozart, for example. 20

Thus, it is not odd that the movie’s writer and director Valentine Davies and the movie’s producer Aaron Rosenberg chose to portray Goodman as a man with a talent that should not go to waste. The movie works its way towards the 1938 Carnegie Hall concert, which was famous for being the first integrated concert and thus shows the audience once again how important and magnificent Benny Goodman was. Not just as a musician, but also as a fighter for civil rights. At a time when bebop had overtaken Goodman who was firmly holding on to playing swing, and when the Civil Rights movement was growing larger thanks to the Montgomery bus boycott in 1956, the movie comes across as a propaganda feature film for Goodman.

The fact that Collier in his 1989 biography of Goodman also relied on the rags to riches myth, is maybe the least surprising. After all, Goodman had passed away a few years earlier. Until his death, and even to this day, Goodman is known as the King of Swing, so the name ‘Benny Goodman’ has a positive connotation. Also, as the proverb says: don’t speak ill of the dead. In the next paragraph, I will not speak ill of the dead, but I will step back from the story and research Goodman’s real steps of the way to integrated jazz bands.

§1.3 Band troubles

Jazz critic Dan Morgenstern asked himself in his book Living with jazz. A reader ‘is it a coincidence that Jewish-American bandleaders were in the vanguard of the integration of jazz?’.21 This rhetorical question is rather difficult to answer, since Morgenstern gives the illusion that any bandleader during the 1930s integrated deliberately with a sociopolitical agenda. Unfortunately, the integration of the jazz industry is not as black and white as Morgenstern’s question makes it seem. Placing Goodman’s career next to the integration of jazz indicates that it was neither a coincidence nor a plan

It must not be overlooked that the music industry was, and still is, a business world. Musicians have to sell, otherwise they cannot pay rent or other vital needs. Thus, as a

musician one has to prove themselves, since repeating old tricks means fewer fans and lower

20_{B. Goodman and American Art Quartet Mozart Quintet in A major, K. 581 for clarinet and (Columbia}

Masterworks 1952).

Clarinet Quintet Benny Goodman, Charles Munch Boston Symphony Orchestra, and Boston Symphony String Quartet, Mozart: Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra (K.622) (RCA Victor Red Seal 1957).

21_{D. Morgenstern, ‘The Conover Controversy’ in: D. Morgenstern and S. Meyer, ed., Living with Jazz: A reader}

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sells. Goodman witnessed this round 1950, when he was overtaken by bebop, as discussed earlier. However, in the 1930s Goodman had yet to peak, and proving himself meant playing with the best musicians supporting him, whether they were black or white. Thus, Benny Goodman’s band was already integrated in the broadest sense of the word by the mid-1930’s.

In 1933 Benny’s band existed of only white musicians, but they did record a song with the black singer Billie Holiday, Riffin’ The Scotch.22 This song was recorded when Holiday was only 18 years old. She only sang that one song with Goodman's band, but Holiday would later on perform on stage with Artie Shaw and his band, being the first woman to break the color barrier on stage. She became the first black female performer to sing on stage with a white band, something that was still unheard of in the 1930s. But, performing with his white band did come at a price.

For example, Shaw would not let Holiday sit on stage with the band when she did not have to sing a number. Instead, she was taken to the back, cast aside like a prop. She also was forced to use the back entrance, because she was white. All of this were not uncommon practices in the 1930s, and Holiday did not really mind this treatment. However, she did mind that she had to use the freight elevator up and down, like she was nothing more than a piece of singing meat, and Shaw making her stay put in her hotel room with not even as much as a radio in her room. To top it all off, Shaw could not stand Holiday getting a bigger round of applause than he did, even though Holiday only came on once or twice per show!23

Ultimately, Holiday left Shaw’s band. These experiences with Shaw’s

Not just Holiday had difficulties being a black performer with a white band. Goodman had not broken the carrier alone, but he was joined by pianist Teddy Wilson. Wilson later recalled his days as part of Goodman’s first integrated jazz band in a 1959 DownBeat

Magazine interview. In the North and in the South people were still far from used to seeing an integrated band performing live. Being black, Wilson had to stay at different sleeping

accommodations and eat at different parts in hotel restaurants than the white Goodman and Krupa. Furthermore, in 1936 Benny Goodman and his band were participating in a movie, The Big Broadcast of 1937. The producers wanted Wilson to play the piano, but under no means was he to be seen on screen. This infuriated Wilson, causing a disagreement and ultimately his absence in the movie.24

22_{Benny Goodman and his Orchestra and B. Holiday, Riffin’ the Scotch (Columbia Records 1933).}

23_{D. Dexter Jr., ‘ I’ll Never Sing With A Dance Band Again’ in: DownBeat Magazine (November 11, 1939).} 24_{T. Scanlan, ‘The impeccable Teddy Wilson’ in: DownBeat Magazine (January 22, 1959).}

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In an interview from 2009, Al Stewart, who joined Benny Goodman’s orchestra in 1948, spoke to music journalist, historian and author Marc Myers about his time with Goodman. Stewart recalled how their only black musician at the time, Wardell Gray, also suffered from being black. For example, Gray could not stay in the same hotel as the rest of the band, or go through the kitchen to enter a club. Goodman’s orchestra also toured with two black dancers. The three of them caused quite a stir when they played in Columbia, South Carolina: the audience were so distraught that a riot almost broke out.25

Just like Shaw, Goodman, too, sometimes had difficulties accepting that he was not always the most popular. Stewart also spoke about the rift between Benny Goodman and Louis Armstrong in 1953. This tour, with these two great names, was bound to be a hit and maybe even a boost for Goodman’s career.

They had planned a tour together, but before they could go on the road, Goodman quit. Different versions of the story are known. Stewart described it as follows: before the tour, the men got into a fight. Armstrong’s band would join Goodman’s early one morning to rehearse together for the first time. Goodman was very strict towards his band, that had already been practicing quite some time that morning, and he was bashing at his band and rehearsing one specific song endlessly. Armstrong’s band was exhausted, since they had come straight from a late night gig. They just wanted to practice real and then get some sleep. However,

Goodman refused, making them wait until he was finished. Armstrong could not accept that, so he and his band walked away aggravated.26

A few weeks later, the two orchestras had a try out concert in Boston, and Benny Goodman could not handle the fact that Armstrong was more popular with the audience than Goodman. He left the tour, citing health problems, and left drummer Gene Krupa in charge.27 Since Krupa was a more relaxed bandleader than Goodman, since Krupa did not have the same absurd high demands of himself nor of his band that Goodman had.

Another version is that Goodman disliked the vaudeville act Armstrong and his band put up, which happened to upstage Goodman and his band. Goodman, being strict and being used to always being the big star, could not handle someone else getting a bigger round of

25_{M. Myers, ‘Interview: Al Stewart (part 3)’ on: Jazz Wax (September 29, 2009) via:}

http://www.jazzwax.com/2009/09/interview-al-stewart-part-3.html (May 15, 2016).

26_Ibidem.

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applause than he got.28 Goodman’s image as the King of Swing had taken a blow and after an ego clash Goodman stated he had health issues and left the tour.29

§1.4 Color creates cash

As mentioned earlier, Goodman’s career was not as blooming in the early fifties as it was in the 1930s and 1940s. The tour with Louis Armstrong should have taken place in 1953, exactly during that period of thaw in Goodman’s career. Was Goodman’s departure based on racist motives? Did he leave because he could not handle Armstrong, a black musician, being more popular than himself? I think that is a too easy assumption. After all, Goodman had had black musicians in his own bands, and he did agree to do the tour knowing very well that Armstrong himself and many of his band members were black. After all, that was part of the appeal of the tour: two great orchestras playing united and crossing the color barrier since one was predominantly black and the other white. The Armstrong-Goodman tour was the victim of egos, not of racism.

After all, Goodman had owed a lot of his success to his integrated band. In 1934 John Hammond, Benny’s manager and brother-in-law, worked his hardest to integrate black and white in commercial music by trying to persuade Goodman to lead a mixed big band. Goodman refused at first, fearing it would break his career.30 That same year, John

Hammond, Benny Goodman and Teddy Wilson coincidentally attended the same party, where Hammond enjoyed Wilson and Goodman playing together impromptu. He liked what he heard and saw a record in the making. All he needed was a drummer, and with Gene Krupa on drums the original and integrated Benny Goodman Trio was born. In 1936 Wilson even joined Goodman on stage, marking the first integrated jazz band’s performance in public, and not just on a record.31

John Hammond foresaw that this trio, and later quartet, would be good for Goodman’s career. Thanks to the 1936 live performance and a lot of widespread publicity of the event indeed led to Goodman becoming a household name and a pioneer in integrating the jazz industry.32 The creation and integration of the Benny Goodman Trio may have been a creation

28_Ibidem.

29_{J.L. Collier, Louis Armstrong: An American Genius (Oxford University Press, New York 1983) 317.} 30_{P. D. Lopes, The Rise of a Jazz Art World (Cambridge University Press; Cambridge 2002) 130.}

31_{T. Wilson, A. Lighthart and H. Van Loo,}_{Teddy Wilson Talks Jazz: The Autobiography of Teddy Wilson}

(Continuum; New York and London 2001) 39-40.

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of his manager, John Hammond, but Goodman did go along with his marketing scheme. After all, for Hammond, this Trio was a way to make money for himself and his client (Goodman).

Is it odd that a white, male musical prodigy agrees to integrate his band? Not when that white man was Benny Goodman. Goodman may have been known for his strict attitude, but he was not discriminatory towards people of color. For Goodman, making his music was all that mattered, as: “…he didn’t talk much about racism. His whole concentration was on music, but it galled him that something as petty as race prejudice could mess up the music he wanted to hear and play.”33 Going through interviews with Goodman himself or members of his band, it struck me that they never mention race, unless they are asked specifically about it. For example, the way Goodman spoke about his guitarist Charlie Christian.

Forty years after Christian’s death, Goodman spoke about him in an interview. In 1939, guitarist Charlie Christian had joined the Goodman orchestra, a year after the legendary concert at Carnegie Hall that put Goodman’s integrated band on the worldwide map. Christian did not stay with the band for very long, since he died in 1942. Even though he had only played with Goodman for a few years, the extremely strict Goodman was surprisingly positive about his former black guitarist.

First, Goodman said Christian was an immediate success. When he hired Christian, it was not important to Benny that Charlie was or maybe was not a schooled musician or that he could or could not read music. Second, Goodman was immediately sure that he wanted Christian to join his orchestra. Not just Benny, but al the band members were delighted with him. In Benny’s opinion, Charlie had everything musically speaking. Third, when the interviewer asked Goodman what Charlie contributed to jazz, Goodman answered: “A great deal. A lot of people influenced by him, including me.”34 Goodman may have been a a hard driving perfectionist, but he also did his last name justice, being a good man who was indifferent to race and who just wanted to play with the finest musicians.35

Al Stewart was also asked about racial issues in the band. He never experienced any racial struggles among the black and white band members. They were musicians, not

politicians. They did not think anything of color barriers. For example, if Wardell Gray had to sleep in another hotel, that was simply what happened. Stewart said:

33_{L. Hampton, ‘Lionel Hampton’ in: R. Gottlieb, ed., Reading Jazz: A Gathering of Autobiography, Reportage,}

and Criticism from 1919 to now (Vintage Books; New York 1996) 129.

34_{J. Obrecht, ‘Benny Goodman: The Complete 1982 Interview About Charlie Christian’ originally published in:}

Guitar Player Magazine Special Tribute to Charlie Christian (March 1982).

35_{J. Edmondson, ed., Music in American Life. An Encyclopedia of the Songs, Styles, Stars, and Stories That}

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“As musicians, we didn’t think anything of race. Nor did Benny. Musicians always played together no matter what color. Benny had broken the barrier before and just assumed the race thing wouldn't exist. But these were still tough times down South. I can’t imagine Wardell felt too good about that. Doug Mettome used to stay with Wardell

sometimes in the rooming houses so he didn’t feel completely like an outcast.”36

Not just the white Goodman or Stewart spoke about their colleagues in this fashion. Also Teddy Wilson, who was black, spoke this way about his fellow musicians. He had a great respect for Goodman, who was the main reason the band had such a good sound, and kept up with the contemporary dance traditions.37

All of these musicians referred to their colleagues as artists rather than as colors. Even though musicians knew of and faced segregation laws, there were two kinds of normal in those days. On the one hand, it was seen as perfectly normal that the black members of the band had to sleep in different hotels than the whites, or that the black musicians had to go through different entrances. On the other hand, all of them saw each other as colleagues, coming together to make the best jazz they could and enjoy the time they spent together.

Conclusion

Apart from the one incident with Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman barely had any conflict with black musicians. He played with them, he toured with them and he was simply

indifferent to them. However, he did not decide to play with a mixed band or perform with black singers like Ella Fitzgerald or Billie Holiday to become a heroic pioneer of integration. As a matter of fact, it was not even his own idea to join forces with Teddy Wilson in 1935. Goodman’s manager John Hammond came up with that idea and Goodman went along with it. After all, Goodman, who is seen as a child prodigy, was used to being the best, and being the best required the best musicians, who sometimes happened to be black.

Goodman’s desire to aim for the best comes across as noble and heroic, but that does not mean that Goodman was truly, actively fighting for racial equality. In this chapter I showed a more realistic side to Goodman’s integrated band and its coming together: Goodman’s status, ego and making money in the process were the foundation for his

M. Myers, ‘Interview: Al Stewart (part 1)’ on: Jazz Wax (September 29, 2009) via: http://www.jazzwax.com/2009/09/interview-al-stewart-part-1.html (May 15, 2016).

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integrated band. One could say that Goodman’s band was an accidentally integrated band, since neither Goodman, nor his manager John Hammond, nor any of his band members actively planned to become an integrated band. Everyone of them simply had one ideal: to play jazz, to gain publicity and to earn some money. So, maybe we should stop referring to Goodman’s orchestra as the first integrated band. Maybe, we should refer to it as the musicians themselves saw the band: as a jazz orchestra.

On the one hand, the King of Swing may have fallen off his pedestal, because he did not actively care about integrated his band. On the other hand, Goodman could be very well seen as the King of Swing and Integration, because by valuing music and quality above color, he still became one of the first white musicians to not discriminate against color. Does the knowledge that Goodman did not actively fight for civil rights diminish the fact that he did help integration in the music industry? Probably not, because at the end of the day Benny Goodman got what he wanted, the title King of Swing and a legendary story of how he started the integration of jazz music, and both Goodman and his audience got what they desired, great Benny Goodman songs. Like the quote at the beginning of this chapter indicates, Goodman wanted to sell good music, not focus on racial matters.

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Chapter 2 - Louis Armstrong

Uncle Tom did have something to say

“Louis, forget all the goddam critics,

the musicians. Play for the public. Sing and play and smile.

Smile, goddamit, smile. Give it to them.”38

Introduction

The terms ‘integrated jazz bands’ or ‘civil rights’ might not immediately trigger an image of Louis Armstrong. Armstrong barely ever spoke about politics in public, and most of his songs did not have any political statements embedded in their lyrics. When he was not singing or playing the trumpet, Louis Armstrong was always smiling, like he did not have a care in the world.

However, Armstrong had been caught between two worlds throughout his life. Just like Benny Goodman, Charles Mingus and Gabe Baltazar, Louis Armstrong’s success is rooted in a childhood story that taken on the form of a myth, or a heavily stretched truth, throughout the years. In Armstrong’s case, this myth helps explain how he had conflicting loyalties. Since he stood between African Americans and white people, blacks distrusted him and whites saw him as a nice and friendly Uncle Tom-like persona. But, how did Armstrong’s career attribute to integration within the jazz industry?

In this chapter, I will delve into the myth that is the foundation of Armstrong’s racially ambiguous career. Furthermore, Armstrong’s relationship with both blacks and whites will be researched. Of course, Armstrong was not a two dimensional character that was completely pro-white or anti-black or vice versa, so I will refrain from using the terms ‘pro’ and ‘anti’ in combination with skin color.

§2.1 Myth

When Louis Armstrong was at the end of his life and career, he was in the hospital where he wrote the long essay Louis Armstrong + the Jewish family in New Orleans, LA., the year of 1907.In this essay, he wrote about his own experiences living with a Jewish family in New Orleans as a young boy. They took great care of him, nurtured him and he saw what a normal, loving family was like. He worked on writing it in 1969, when he was lying in a

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hospital bed. Even though the chronology in this essay is not always consistent with

Armstrong’s earlier written autobiographies, his time with the Karnofsky family did have a large impact on him and his ideas on racial hostility towards minorities.39 Louis was very bitter towards blacks, or at least Southern blacks. He wrote: “Many kids suffered with hunger because their Fathers could have done some honest work for a change.” In this quote, he was referring to all those black children who grew up without a father, such as himself.

Armstrong was often referred to as an Uncle Tom due to his big smile, his always apparent white kerchief, his low education, the fact that he often worked with whites, and because he frequently toured through the segregated and racist South. To many blacks during the 1950s and 1960s, it felt as though Armstrong did not care about segregation or civil rights. The merrier Armstrong appeared, the more he annoyed African Americans who were trying to fight for equality. In the 1950s, young African Americans were so disgusted by Armstrong’s vaudeville act, that they actually burned his records.40

Unbeknownst to his critics, Armstrong was more than a smiling fool. He certainly did keep track of politics and also of the changes modern music made. For instance, Pops liked the Beatles. He tried to keep up with the younger generation and its music, bought their albums and put them on tape at home.41

From 1967 until 1971, the white Joe Morani was the regular clarinetist in the Armstrong band. He described Armstrong as a ‘comforting’ person. According to Morani, that comforting nature was what turned many blacks against him during the Civil Rights Era. Not the older black people, but actually the younger generation saw him as a traitor to his people.42

Thus, Armstrong suffered from a negative image among his fellow African Americans due to two myths. The first myth being the Karnofsky story, in which the young Armstrong was saved by nice white people, making Armstrong realize at an early age that blacks and whites can coexist. The second is Armstrong’s mythical Uncle Tom persona. I call this mythhical, since it is not necessarily true that every black person looked down on Armstrong

39_{L., Armstrong, ‘Louis Armstrong + the Jewish family in New Orleans, LA., the year of 1907’ in: L.}

Armstrong and T. Brothers, Louis Armstrong, in his own words. Selected writings. (Oxford University Press; New York 1999).

40_{T. Brothers, Louis Armstrong, Master of Modernism (W. W. Norton and Company; New York and London}

2014) 28.

41_{L. Tomkins, ‘Meeting Louis’ (1965) for: Jazz Professional via:}

http://www.nationaljazzarchive.co.uk/stories?id=38 (May 25 2016).

42_{Chideya, F., ‘Revisiting Louis Armstrong in the Context of Civil Rights’ for: National Public Radio}

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for pleasing white audiences, and not every white person liked Louis Armstrong for his vaudeville act on stage. But, was Armstrong truly pleasing his white audiences?

§2.2 Integration sells

In the 1950s and 1960s, white audiences loved Armstrong. Throughout his career, he had multiple white band members, and his integrated band often played with other white musicians. The most successful of those collaborations was the song Hello Dolly, which the band recorded for the Barbra Streisand movie by the same name.43 The song was such a big hit, that in 1964, Armstrong actually managed to take over the Beatles’ number 1 spot in the Top 100 music chart. From February 1st until May 9th 1964, The Beatles had three

consecutive number 1 hits in the United States. On May 9th, Louis Armstrong’s Hello Dolly took over that coveted number 1 spot.44

Armstrong and his band were also given small cameo appearances in ‘white’ Hollywood movies, such as High Society and Hello Dolly. These parts were often true to life, with Armstrong and his band playing, simply, themselves.45 Working together with white people in these films, did not make Armstrong popular among young black critics, like Amiri Baraka, who said: “Overt segregation. And we thought that Louis was submitting to that. You know, Louis’ expression was musical and artistic and transcended that.”

Baraka referred to an interview Armstrong gave in the 1960s, during which he explained his success as follows: “See, you got to find yourself some white man and make yourself that white man’s nigger.”46 For Armstrong, that white man was his manager Joe Glaser. In his 2009 book Digging: The Afro-American Soul of American Classical Music, Baraka corrected his younger self, as he only focused on Armstrong’s contribution to American, twentieth century music history, calling him was the greatest instrumental influence for the genre.47

43_{L. Armstrong, Hello Dolly (Kapp Records 1964) track A1.}

44_{R. Paul, ‘Louis Armstrong Knocks Out The Beatles’ for: Voice of America (May 09, 2014). Available online}

via: http://www.voanews.com/content/louis-armstrong-knocks-out-the-beatles/1911617 (May 8th 2016).

45_{D. H. Oswald and New York Times New Service, ‘Louis Armstrong was black hero, too’ in: The Deseret}

News (August 6, 1991).

46_Ibidem.

47_{A. Baraka,}_{Digging: The Afro-American Soul of American Classical Music (University of California Press;}

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As he got older, Armstrong resented that his audience was white, not because the people were white, but because they were not black. “The Negroes always wanted pity.”48 In his’ point of view, negroes should have stuck together like the Jews, who did enjoy success unlike the Negroes. If Negroes would have stuck together and stood up for each other, they would not have dragged each other down to the level of poverty like Armstrong and many other black children grew up in. And, according to Armstrong, if a Negro did try to become successful, other Negroes would be jealous.49

Thus, Armstrong was disillusioned by his own people, and he knew he could not rely on other blacks to gain success; he needed white representation and approval. The man who helped him with that was his manager, Joe Glaser. Without him he would have missed out on a lot of gigs, because record companies, studios and TV companies were all owned by white people. Louis wrote in a letter to jazz journalist and author Max Jones the advice he got before he moved to the North: “When you go up north, Dipper, be sure and get yourself a white man that will put his hand on your shoulder and say ‘This is my nigger’.”50 By that, Armstrong meant that he knew very well that he depended on Glaser to get around and get paid. But, was that smart business or was Louis Armstrong truly against working African Americans?

§2.3 Staying true to his ethnic background

Of course, Louis Armstrong was not against working with African Americans. It would appear he was merely pleasing white people, but in reality, Armstrong never stopped caring about his fellow African Americans. The rant in his 1969 memoirs was probably just a wakeup call for the younger generation; stick together like the Jews did, or you will be diminished. Armstrong was politically opinionated off stage, and he did take the arts, politics and life in general seriously, unlike his Uncle Tom act. Armstrong may not have been an active fighter for equal rights, but as trumpet player Lester Bowie told Armstrong’s biographer, author and the maker of the Satchmo documentary Gary Giddins:

48_{L., Armstrong, ‘Louis Armstrong + the Jewish family in New Orleans, LA., the year of 1907’ in: L.}

Armstrong and T. Brothers, Louis Armstrong, in his own words. Selected writings. (Oxford University Press; New York 1999) 9.

49_{Ibidem 5.}

50_{This line has been quoted many times, for instance:}

Collier, Louis Armstrong. An American genius 220.

R. Riccardi, What a wonderful world. The magic of Louis Armstrong’s later years (New York 2011) 12. D. Stein, Music is my life. Louis Armstrong, Autobiography, and American Jazz (Michigan 2012) 145.

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“The true revolutionary is one that’s not apparent. The revolutionary that’s waving a gun out in the streets is never effective. The police just arrest him. But the police don’t ever know about the guy that smiles and drops a little poison in their coffee. Louis… was that sort of revolutionary.”51

Then, in the mid-1950s, Armstrong did take a public stand. First, in 1956 the city New Orleans, Satchmo’s place of birth, banned integrated band. This ban would last until 1964. Armstrong, who travelled with both black and white musicians, was infuriated. Thus, taking a stand against this injustice, he publically boycotted his home town.52 It was not until

October 31, 1965 that Louis gave a performance in New Orleans since the boycott was banned.53

Second, in 1957 Armstrong could not bite his tongue any longer. On February 18, 1957, his integrated band was playing in the Knoxville, Tennessee for a segregated audience, when somebody threw a stick of dynamite into the auditorium. Fortunately, the attack did not cause too much damage, and the show could go on, but off stage, Armstrong was infuriated.54 What had he done to deserve that? In his eyes, he was just a simple Southern boy from New Orleans, who just wanted to play his music.55.

A few months later, the now infamous events in Little Rock took place. The way governor Faubus and the city of Little Rock treated the black school children, was

unacceptable in Armstrong’s eyes. For the first and last time in his career, he spoke out on a political matter by writing a telegram to the president.56 Armstrong was furious, calling Eisenhower “two-faced” and saying the president had no guts. He also canceled his tour to the Soviet Union, where he would have gone to as an ambassador for jazz music.57

Armstrong was shocked how offended people were by him speaking up about a political matter. On the one hand, they were not used to him speaking up about matters of civil rights.58 On the other hand, blacks did not like that Armstrong tried to step up for the

51_{G. Giddins, Satchmo: Louis Armstrong (Toby Byron/Multiprises and CBS Records Inc. 1989) 28:28.}

52_{D. Dachs, ‘Daddy, how the country has changed. Satchmo notes vast improvement of U.S. Negro musicians’}

lot during his career’ in: Ebony 5 (1961) 84.

53_{B. Schwartz, ‘What Louis Armstrong really thinks’ for: New York Times (February 25, 2014) available online}

via: http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/what-louis-armstrong-really-thinks (May 8, 2016).

54_{Giddins, Satchmo: Louis Armstrong (Toby Byron/Multiprises and CBS Records Inc. 1989) 49:44.} 55_{B. Schwartz, ‘What Louis Armstrong really thinks’.}

56_{D. H. Oswald, ‘Louis Armstrong was black hero, too’.}

57_{‘Satchmo Tells Off Ike, US! Armstrong blasts bias in America’ in: Pittsburgh Courier (September 28, 1957)}

3.

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black children in Little Rock, when he, in their opinion, had always tried appeasing the whites. He was even told by a boy who had read what he had said about Eisenhower: “Nigger—you better stop talking about them White People like you did."59

§2.4 Jazz music as a bridge between black and white

In the two previous paragraphs Armstrong’s ambiguous relationship with black and white came to light. I showed that Armstrong was working for and with white people, but also that he had his fellow African American’s best interest at heart. He was not ‘anti’ or ‘pro’ a certain skin color. After all, he was African American himself and he had always worked with musicians of color, but also with white musicians, because integrated jazz bands made money, and also Louis Armstrong needed money to live.

In unique footage that resurfaced on April 20, 2016, Armstrong and his clearly integrated band can be seen in a recording studio in 1959. They were most likely recording the 1959 album Satchmo plays King Oliver.60 Armstrong’s clarinetist at the time was Peanuts Hucko, who was from Czech/Slovak descent and his bass player was Mort Herbert, who was Caucasian as well. His drummer, Danny Barcelona, was Filipino, but born and raised in Hawaii, and Armstrong’s trombonist was James ‘Trummy’ Young, who played with the band until 1964 when he moved to Hawaii, where Danny Barcelona coincidentally grew up.

This footage shows how Armstrong stood amidst all colors of the rainbow, making music, and hopefully some money once the record would be on sale.

Armstrong stood in between whites and blacks. In the words of Charles Hersch, author of Subversive Sounds: Race and the Birth of Jazz in New Orleans: “ (…) his concerts created utopian moments that united black and white listeners in the enjoyment of music.61

Conclusion

In this chapter’s introduction, I asked the question how Armstrong contributed to the integration of the jazz industry. The short answer is that he functioned as a bridge between black and white. The long answer is a bit more nuanced, as was Armstrong. After all, he did

59_{L., Armstrong, ‘Louis Armstrong + the Jewish family 9.}

60_{S. Frey, Satchmo Plays King Oliver (Audio Fidelity Records, New York 1959) partial footage made available}

online via: Louis Armstrong House Museum, ‘Newly Discovered Footage of Louis Armstrong Recording "I Ain't Got Nobody" in 1959!’ on: https://youtu.be/RuiC3yaaDuk (April 30, 2016) (accessed May 8, 2016).

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not gather integrated bands, because he was a political activist, but because he wanted to do one thing: play good music for his audience, whether they were black, white, yellow or red.

Louis Armstrong had a rough start in life, leading to a lot of resentment towards other negroes, who did not help him. However, one family did help him, but they were the Jewish Karnofsky family, where he learned about homely love and about music. Later on, his manager Joe Glaser was also white. He helped him and his band get filled dance halls and thus, a decent paycheck. These elements formed the foundation of Armstrong’s conflicting loyalties. He needed white people, but he was still black. Yes, he was disappointed that his fellow negroes did not follow the example of the Jews and stuck together. In my opinion, when Armstrong wrote that in the hospital in 1969, that was more of a cautious warning from an old man, than a hateful rant against black people.

Was it impossible to work together with whites, but be true to his heritage? I think not. Mostly, because Armstrong just wanted one thing: to entertain people with his music. He often worked with Caucasian musicians, he often worked with African American musicians, and he even worked with Asian American musicians: if they loved playing jazz and had a real talent for it, they were welcome in Louis Armstrong’s band. Of course, making music and entertaining an audience sounds altruistic, but musicians need to eat and pay rent just like anybody else. So, working together with a white manager, playing in white Hollywood movies, or singing with white stars like Bing Crosby or Barbra Streisand was part

entertaining, part marketing. The quote at the beginning of this chapter indicates exactly what Armstrong did: smile, perform and sell. It is a cliché, but it is called show business for a reason.

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Chapter 3 - Charles Mingus

Visions of a colorless island

'You know, on the pure side,

your music is what is is: it's pure.

And on the other hand, you have to fight...

You have to, unfortunately, pat of you has to be a businessman.’62

Introduction

The angry man of jazz, a man with a big mouth, someone who was always fighting, the underdog, just to name a few descriptions that come to mind when bassist and composer Charles Mingus is mentioned. I am not going to try to convince anyone that Mingus was not volatile, outspoken and aggressive, nor will I celebrate his temper.

In this chapter, I will take a closer look at Mingus integrated career and try to look further than the average Mingus biography. Most Mingus biographies, like Gene Santoro’s 2001 Myself when I am real. The life and music of Charles Mingus or Brian Priestley’s 1982 Mingus, a Critical Biography simply give an overview of Mingus fascinating life and career. How Mingus can or cannot be placed in the broader narrative of jazz history, specifically the integration of jazz in history, gets neglected.

Nonetheless, those biographies and his autobiography Beneath the Underdog have served as a starting point for my own Mingus research. I will also sporadically use interviews. Not just interviews with Mingus himself, but also with people who were close to him.

Fortunately, his last wife Sue continues to spread Mingus’ music and story, by giving interviews and publishing a memoir about her life with Mingus in 2002, Tonight at Noon: a love story. Of course, these biographies and interviews should be read with caution, as I also mentioned in the Louis Armstrong chapter. Mingus was a very honest man, but he was also known to liven up a story. Also, oral histories should be taken with a grain of salt, because the interviewee might remember things differently years after the fact.

Why is Mingus worthwhile? Mingus’ relationship with white people was paradoxical. On the one hand, he had white forefathers, and he needed white people for his music. On the other hand, he was seen as of lesser value than whites, because of his dark skin. His

multiethnic family background caused Mingus to be conflicted and misunderstood. His

solution was simple: at a young age he decided he simply had no color.63 Mingus did not truly

62_{M. Laver, Jazz Sells: Music, Marketing, and Meaning (Routledge; New York 2015). 79. Quote by Sue}

Mingus.

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belong in any other ethnic group in his neighborhood. He was seen as too light to be black, but too dark to pass as white: Mingus tried to fit in, but he ultimately failed. As a teenager, he tried to straighten his hair, in an attempt to be considered Mexican or a ‘white’ black; those who’s skins were light enough to pass as white. At a certain point in his youth, he thought to himself ‘what am I’ and subsequently decided he did not care any longer about inside and out. He no longer cared about race, color or sex and he hoped he could one day “find refuge on some ‘colorless island’“.64 This ideal of a colorless island is a recurring theme throughout his life and career, and will be referred to throughout this chapter.

§3.1 Mingus’ Myths

His ambivalence towards color developed at an early age. As a young boy, he had already come into contact with other ethnicities than his own. He was teased a lot, but he was never able to fight back. Just like Louis Armstrong was taken in by the Karnofskys, Mingus, too, had a special bond with another family growing up: the Japanese family of his friend Noba, who taught him how to defend himself against bullies and attackers, and who’s mother often invited young Mingus to supper.65_{Mingus had taken a liking to the warm, family atmosphere}

at his friend Noba’s house, something he lacked at home.

Another myth revolving Mingus is his connection with Louis Armstrong. In a 1961 interview with the producer of Atlantic Records Nesuhi Ertegun, Mingus told the story of how he got his first big job with Armstrong’s band. Armstrong had come by to see a performance of some friends, and a young Mingus happened to play with them, and

Armstrong liked Mingus’ playing. Quickly, he asked the young bassist to join his orchestra. However, as soon as the band was going to play in the South, Mingus left the band. The band members had warned him about life with Jim Crow, and Mingus understood that he could get killed for his loud mouth and outspokenness.66

64_{Mingus, Beneath the Underdog 50-51.}

Schatz, A.., ‘An Argument with Instruments: On Charles Mingus. How a jazz artist’s relationship to black identity gave his music its stormy weather’ for: The Nation (September 17, 2013) available online via: http://www.thenation.com/article/argument-instruments-charles-mingus/ (May 25, 2016).

65_{M. Reiff, ‘Unexpected Activism: A Study of Louis Armstrong and Charles Mingus as Activists Using James}

Scott’s theory of Public Versus Hidden Transcripts’ in: Summer Research 55 (2010) 13 + 27.

66_{N. Ertegun and C. Mingus, ‘Charles Mingus interviewed by Nesuhi Ertegun (previously unreleased) (CD}

bonus track)’ on: Passions of a Man. The complete Atlantic recordings (1944-1961) (Rhino Entertainment, 1997) 12:58 – 14:22. The part of the interview where Mingus spoke about his time with Louis Armstrong can also be heard online via: Charles Mingus Interviewd by Nesuhi Ertegun (2 of 9) via:

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This story gives the illusion that Mingus was a very lucky young man, who out of principles refused to play in the segregated South, but the story is most likely nothing more than a myth. The timeline Mingus gave, does not match with other accounts of the same story. Ertegun asked Mingus when his first big job was, to which Mingus answered that that was in in 1939, with Louis Armstrong, when he was playing with Lee Young.67 The exact dates are unknown, but Mingus presumably stayed in the band and went on tour until somewhere in 1943. Gene Santoro, music critic and author of Myself when I am real. The life and music of Charles Mingus, states that Louis Armstrong came to Los Angeles to film the movie Cabin in the

Sky when he hired Mingus. By late 1943, Mingus would have started playing bass in his friend Lee

Young’s sextet.68_{This indicates that Mingus would have joined Armstrong’s band in late 1942}

until somewhere in 1943. That means Mingus would have stayed with Armstrong for

approximately a year. That does not match with Mingus’ own account of him joining the band in 1939, and touring in 1943.

The mystery of when Mingus would have played with Louis Armstrong’s band does not end with these two colliding stories. On the one hand we have Mingus himself, who claimed Armstrong saw him in 1939, when he was playing with Lee Young, and on the other hand we have Santoro’s 1942-1943 timeframe. The Belgian discographer Jos Willems wrote in his book All of me. The complete discography of Louis Armstrong that Mingus indeed did not play with Armstrong until Armstrong came to LA to film the movie Cabin in the Sky, and that Mingus did not play with him for very long. Mingus, according to Willems, only stayed with Armstrong’s band for a few months in late 1942. That is even a shorter period of time than Santoro claimed.69 Unfortunately, there are no records, no pictures, no set lists of concerts or anything else to prove that Mingus really played with Armstrong’s band.

Thus, these two stories, and the many variations that exist concerning the second, show us how Mingus’ relied on myths to prove how exceptional and colorblind he was. This way, an image is created of Mingus as the special black boy with a Japanese friend and surrogate family. He was the young musician who had an amazing opportunity- to play with Louis Armstrong on tour- but who quit when he found out they were heading to Jim Crow South; which was the opposite of his ideal colorless island.

67_{Ibidem 12:58.}

68_{G. Santoro, Myself when I am real. The life and music of Charles Mingus (Oxford University Press; Oxford}

2001).

69_{J. Willems, All of me. The complete discography of Louis Armstrong (The Scarecrow Press; Lanham 2006)}

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However, Mingus’ story of his Japanese family and decision to leave Armstrong’s band cannot be as heroic as Mingus himself, Santoro or Willems or any other biographer claims it to be. The fact that the timeline retelling the Armstrong story does not add up, could be due to Mingus’ memory playing tricks on him. But, in combination with the lack of evidence that he ever played with Armstrong’s band in the first place, makes the story of his noble departure void. The story of his Japanese surrogate family feels like a story from a movie. When young Mingus’ just so happened to be in trouble with the bigger neighborhood children, he was saved by his Japanese friend who also happened to be very good at martial arts.

§3.2 Activism by provocation

By the time the Civil Rights movement was taking flight and Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat, Charles Mingus had had his fair share of multiracial experiences and famous names. Apart from his short period of time with Louis Armstrong’s band, he got to play in the band of his biggest hero, Duke Ellington, only to be let go after a fight with Puerto Rican Juan Tizol.70_{He also performed with Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Dizzy Gillespie and Max}

Roach.71

In 1952, Mingus set up his own record label, Debut Records. He wanted to be free in what music he made, and place making music above making money.72 Clayborne Carson, a professor of History at Stanford University, explained in an interview alongside Sue Mingus how integration was not the way to beat Jim Crow according to Mingus and others: “(…) the way in which the movement for integration was coming to the point that people were saying ‘are we sure we wanna be integrated into that?’ And there were people who were expressing those kind of doubts.”73 Carson referred to Mingus, whose record label became like his soapbox, a platform that allowed him to preach his ideal of a colorless island. Mingus did not want blacks integrated into white society, because that would mean that blacks gave into whites.

70_{C. Mingus, Beneath the Underdog 36.} 71_{Santoro, Myself when I am real 104.} 72_{Dunkel, Aesthetics of Resistance11.}

73_{Mingus, S., C. Carson with M. Gonnerman, Mingus, Music and the Struggle for Civil Rights (Stanford}

University; February 1, 2011) via: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3_4ScPrP6s (April 1, 2011) 19:00 – 20:30. 20:39 (May 24 2016).

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Mingus’ intentions setting up his own label were noble. Mingus became an

independent musician, who could now be as active and verbal concerning his view on civil rights as he wanted to. Unfortunately, the record label did not last very long. Was it truly impossible for Mingus to vent his opinion in his recorded music? After all, Mingus did record several provocative songs under different labels. Eclipse, under Mercury Records, and Fables of Faubus, under Columbia Records, stand out the most.

Mingus was not known for his catchy lyrics, since he barely ever wrote any, and that makes Eclipse and Fables of Faubus so interesting. His 1959 song Fables of Faubus was a provocative response to the events in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957. The ‘Faubus’ in the title is a direct reference to Orval E. Faubus, the segregationist Arkansas governor in Little Rock in 1957, who did not want nine black children integrating in local white schools. Mingus mockingly named him a great American hero; what hero would refuse children schooling? The provocative lyrics are:

“Oh, Lord, don't let 'em shoot us! Oh, Lord, don't let 'em stab us!

Oh, Lord, don't let 'em tar and feather us! Oh, Lord, no more swastikas!

Oh, Lord, no more Ku Klux Klan!

Name me someone who's ridiculous, Dannie. Governor Faubus!

Why is he so sick and ridiculous? He won't permit integrated schools.

Then he's a fool! Boo! Nazi Fascist supremists!

Boo! Ku Klux Klan (with your Jim Crow plan)

Name me a handful that's ridiculous, Dannie Richmond. Faubus, Rockefeller, Eisenhower.

Why are they so sick and ridiculous?

Two, four, six, eight:

They brainwash and teach you hate. H-E-L-L-O, Hello.”74

The lyrics do not leave anything to the imagination of the listener. Mingus referred to the abuse black people had had to endure during slavery and under Jim Crow laws: shooting, stabbing, tar and feathering, Ku Klux Klan, and Jim Crow himself. It is interesting to notice that he not just referred to white supremacy towards blacks in the United States, but also to the holocaust by mentioning ‘swastikas’ and ‘nazi fascist supremists’. This allusion to the

74_{Mingus, C., ‘Original Faubus Fables’ on: C. Mingus, Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus (Candid}

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holocaust amplifies Mingus’ colorless utopia: he raised his voice for blacks, but also for another, often attacked minority, the Jews. By doing so, he looked beyond skin color. What mattered to him, was that people should treat each other decently no matter race, skin color or religion.

But, was Mingus truly this provocative, loud mouthed civil rights activist? These lyrics certainly portray Mingus as a hero, and as someone who was not afraid to take a stand against white politicians, and even the president. However, the origin of the song changes that heroic image. First of all, the song was written in 1959 and recorded on the album Mingus Ah Um, two years after the events in Little Rock took place. By then, it was old news. Second, Mingus originally recorded it without any lyrics. The story goes that Mingus was not allowed to record the lyrics by Columbia. Whether this is true is to be debated. Gene Santoro, a

biographer of Charles Mingus, and Ingrid Monson, author of the 2007 book Freedom Sounds: Civil Rights Call Out to Jazz and Africa, agree that Columbia forbade Mingus from recording the bold lyrics, attacking the president.75

Brian Priestley, jazz writer and Mingus biographer, wrote the liner notes for the 1998 reissue of the album Mingus Ah Um, in which he stated that the story that Columbia refused to produce the song with its lyrics is false. According to Priestley, the song was originally

written without lyrics, and it was not until Mingus got a chance to record it a second time in 1960 under the label of Nat Hentoff, Candid Records, that he added the lyrics.76 The name of the song also changed, from Fables of Faubus to Original Faubus Fables. Since he named the second version ‘original’, and since the most recent sources hold on to the first version, it is most likely that Mingus indeed was forbidden to record the original lyrics in 1959. This does not explain why he did get to record the Original Faubus Fables; this is due to Mingus’ friendship with Hentoff.

Nat Hentoff, jazz critic and historian, was a good friend of Mingus. He is also a white man, coming from a Jewish family. Mingus may have been against integration and pro a colorless island, but also to him race and skin color mattered. After all, if he would not have been friends with Hentoff, he would not have been able to record his Original Faubus Fables. On the surface this might look as integration: white and black working together. Taking a closer look, Mingus did not do what he preached. He had to give in to white people’s demands, and use another white man to get his political message across.

75_{Santoro, Myself when I am real 154.}

Monson, Freedom 183.

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§3.3 An other side of Mingus

It is easy to point fingers and to say that Mingus was nothing more than a fraud who claimed race did not matter, but who did collaborate with whites to get protest song recorded. Mingus was not a flat character in a novel, so he was not black and white. Apart from Fables of Faubus, Mingus recorded another song in 1960 that contained lyrics. Eclipse is another example of lyrical song, expressing his view on racial integration.

“Eclipse, when the moon meets the sun, Eclipse, these bodies become as one. People go around,

Eyes look up and frown,

For it’s a sight they seldom see.”77

Eclipse was written years earlier than Fables of Faubus, and the lyrics are obviously far less aggressive. However, that does not mean that the message was not controversial. In this song, the sun and the moon are used to symbolize interracial love and the public resistance such relationships still experienced during the 1950s and 1960s. The moon and the sun mean black and white, ‘these bodies become as one’ means black and white are involved with each other in a romantic way, and ‘eyes look up and frown/for it’s a sight they seldom see’ clearly refers to the taboo that was an interracial relationship.

The message of Eclipse was very personal for Mingus, considering he himself had had personal experiences with interracial relationships. After all, his father was the product of an interracial affair, his mother had been half black and half Chinese, and thus Mingus himself was white, black and yellow. Also, Mingus had been married on several occasion to two white women: Celia and Sue Mingus both were a white women with good educations, and both women were actively involved in producing his music, setting up his own record companies and so on.78

Apart from Eclipse, another Mingus song that has a sociopolitical statement was Haitian Fight Song. However, Haitian Fight Song does not have any lyrics, unlike Fables of Faubus and Eclipse. Nat Hentoff, Mingus’ good friend, had the honor of writing the liner notes for Mingus’ 1957 album The Clown, which featured the Haitian Fight Song. In the liner notes, Hentoff mentioned that Mingus had told him half jokingly that the title could easily

77_{Mingus, C., ‘Eclipse’ on: C. Mingus, Pre-Bird (Mercury / Universal Music 1960)} 78_{Dunkel, Aesthetics of Resistance 11.}

Caught between passion and pay. A closer look at the integration of the jazz music industry from 1935 until 1970