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Airing Authenticity: The BBC Jam Sessions from New York, 1938/39

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2012

CHRISTINA BAADE
CHRISTINA BAADE*
Affiliation:
baadec@mcmaster.ca
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Abstract

In November 1938 and January 1939, the BBC relayed two American Jam Sessions from New York to Britain. Regarded as historic by critics and producers, the live relays broke from BBC tradition in their presentation of improvised jazz and in their production as “informal parties.” Both broadcasts featured Alistair Cooke as announcer and “a galaxy of swing stars” (including Sidney Bechet, Teddy Wilson, and Tommy Dorsey) assembled by the New York bandleader Joe Marsala; however, British jazz enthusiasts responded to them very differently. Whereas the second session was widely praised, the first session inspired controversy, particularly after a leading critic deemed it a “washout.”

The divergent reception demonstrated the challenges of maintaining the jam session's status as a paragon of authenticity as it underwent three key transitions during the late 1930s: the transformation from in- and inter-group activity to public event; the transmission from New York's jazz and swing cultures to Britain's enthusiast subculture; and the transmutation from live performance to live broadcast. This article examines the context, planning, content, and reception of the 1938/39 BBC jam sessions as a case study in how authenticity in jazz was rearticulated in public, mediated, and transnational spaces.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Society for American Music , Volume 6 , Issue 3 , August 2012 , pp. 271 - 314
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Music 2012

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References

References

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———. Letter to Melody Maker, 4 February 1939, 8.Google Scholar
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“Haggart and Dorsey Lead All-Stars.” Metronome, January 1939, 11, 14.Google Scholar
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Artists: Edgar Jackson, file 1 (1935–62)Google Scholar
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R47/416/1: Relays/Jam Sessions from America (1938–63)Google Scholar
R47/3/1–5: “Relays ‘America Dances,”’ files 1–5 (1938–63)Google Scholar
R47/417/1: Jam Session from America/Relays to EuropeGoogle Scholar
BBC Programmes as BroadcastGoogle Scholar
National Programme, 20 January 1939Google Scholar
Alan Dell CollectionGoogle Scholar
James, Harry and his Orchestra. America Dances, 19 July 1939, Roseland Ballroom. Shelf mark C923/345Google Scholar
BBC Sound ArchivesGoogle Scholar
Cooke, Alistair et al. . BBC Jam Session, 5 November 1938, St. Regis Hotel, New York (transmitted to BBC via short wave). Shelf mark C651/79Google Scholar
Dorsey, Tommy and his Orchestra. America Dances, 28 May 1940. Shelf mark NZ 4, M/14595–7Google Scholar
Oral History of Jazz in BritainGoogle Scholar
Mairants, Ivor. Interview by Andy Simons, 23 July 1996. Shelf mark C122/292–294Google Scholar
Miller, Jimmy. Undated interview. Shelf mark C122/1–3.Google Scholar
Powell, Peter. Interview by Les Back, 28 January 1999. Shelf mark C122/341–44Google Scholar
Ake, David. Jazz Cultures. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
“Another Bix?—Successor May Be on His Way.” Metronome, November 1938, 19.Google Scholar
Asai, Rika. “The Josef Bonime Collection of Radio Music: Music and Advertising in the Golden Age of Radio.” Ph.D. dissertation, Indiana University, 2011.Google Scholar
Auslander, Philip. Liveness: Performance in a Mediatized Culture, 2nd ed.New York: Routledge, 2008.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baade, Christina L.Victory Through Harmony: The BBC and Popular Music in World War II. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.Google Scholar
“Bandboys’ Teaparty.” Stage: The Magazine of After Dark, 15 March 1939, 52.Google Scholar
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Burke, Patrick. Come In and Hear the Truth: Jazz and Race on 52nd Street. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008.Google Scholar
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Condon, Eddie. We Called It Music: A Generation of Jazz. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1970.Google Scholar
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———. “Recent Radio Reported: Home-Made ‘Jam’ from ‘Ally Pally.’” Melody Maker, 1 October 1938, 4.Google Scholar
———. “Recent Radio Reported: Marsala Jam Session Grand.” Melody Maker, 28 January 1939, 6.Google Scholar
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———. “Recent Radio: Joe Marsala Hits the Top.” Melody Maker, 3 September 1938, 5.Google Scholar
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Dunning, John. “Eddie Condon's Jazz Concerts.” In The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, 225–26. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.Google Scholar
Evans, Ken. “The Best Swing Men in England.” Metronome, October 1938, 18.Google Scholar
Feather, Leonard. “Ambrose Orchestra Disbands.” Metronome, December 1938, 35.Google Scholar
———. “Crisis Hits Musicians in London.” Metronome, November 1938, 38.Google Scholar
———. “Feather Forecast and News.” Melody Maker, 1 October 1938, 16.Google Scholar
———. “Signature Tune.” Radio Times, 28 October 1938, 15.Google Scholar
Fisher, H. B. Letter to Melody Maker, 19 November 1938, 8.Google Scholar
———. Letter to Melody Maker, 4 February 1939, 8.Google Scholar
Flanagan, David and Kernfeld, Barry. “Mastren, Carmen (Nicholas) [Mastandrea, Carmine Niccolo].” In The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 2nd ed., ed. Barry Kernfeld. Oxford Music Online, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.Google Scholar
“Four Former Goodman Guys Begin Bands.” Metronome, February 1939, 1.Google Scholar
Friedwald, Will. “Cult of the White Goddess” (1990). In Reading Jazz: A Gathering of Autobiography, Reportage, and Criticism from 1919 to Now, ed. Gottlieb, Robert, 960–76. New York: Pantheon Books, 1996.Google Scholar
Frith, Simon. “The Pleasures of the Hearth—The Making of BBC Light Entertainment.” In Music for Pleasure: Essays in the Sociology of Pop, 24–42. New York: Routledge, 1988.Google Scholar
Gabler, Milt. Interviewed by Dan Morgenstern (with Michael Cuscuna and Charlie Lourie) for Mosaic Record reissue. In Reading Jazz: A Gathering of Autobiography, Reportage, and Criticism from 1919 to Now, ed. Gottlieb, Robert, 214–42. New York: Pantheon Books, 1996.Google Scholar
Gendron, Bernard. “‘Moldy Figs’ and Modernists: Jazz at War (1942–1946),” ed. Krin Gabbard. In Jazz Among the Discourses, 31–56. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1995.Google Scholar
Godbolt, Jim. A History of Jazz in Britain, 1919–50. London: Quartet Books Ltd., 1984.Google Scholar
Goffman, Erving. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Garden City, NY: Anchor Books, 1959.Google Scholar
“Goodman Fires Tough, Freeman; Bands Shift Men.” Metronome, December 1938, 14.Google Scholar
“Haggart and Dorsey Lead All-Stars.” Metronome, January 1939, 11, 14.Google Scholar
Hairston, Monica. “Gender, Jazz, and the Popular Front.” In Big Ears: Listening for Gender in Jazz Studies, ed.Rustin, Nichole T. and Tucker, Sherrie, 64–89. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2008.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hammond, John with Townsend, Irving. John Hammond on Record: An Autobiography. New York: Penguin Books, 1981.Google Scholar
Hammond, John. “An Experience in Jazz History” (1970). In Keeping Time: Readings in Jazz History, ed.Walser, Robert, 86–96. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.Google Scholar
Harker, Brian. “Louis Armstrong and the Clarinet.” American Music 21/2 (2003): 137–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hilbert, Robert. Pee Wee Russell: The Life of a Jazzman. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.Google Scholar
Hilmes, Michele. Network Nations: A Transnational History of British and American Broadcasting. New York: Routledge, 2011.Google Scholar
Hobson, Wilder. American Jazz Music. 1939. Reprint, New York: Da Capo Press, 1976.Google Scholar
Jackson, Edgar “Swing Music.” Gramophone, November 1938, 25–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jenkins, Chadwick. “A Question of Containment: Duke Ellington and Early Radio.” American Music 26/4 (2008): 415–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaminsky, Max. Jazz Band: My Life in Jazz. New York: Da Capo Press, 1984.Google Scholar
KenneyWilliam Howland, III William Howland, III. “Jazz and the Concert Halls: The Eddie Condon Concerts, 1942–48.” American Music 1/2 (1983): 60–72.Google Scholar
———. Chicago Jazz: A Cultural History, 1904–1930. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.Google Scholar
Kernfeld, Barry. “Tough, Dave [Dav(e)y; David Jaffray].” In The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 2nd ed., ed. Barry Kernfeld. Oxford Music Online, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.Google Scholar
Letter to Melody Maker, 10 December 1938, 10.Google Scholar
“Letters to the Editor: Readers Slam ‘Detector’ for Slamming US Jam Relay.” Melody Maker, 26 November 1938, 8.Google Scholar
Levinson, Peter. Trumpet Blues: The Life of Harry James. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.Google Scholar
McCarthy, Albert. The Dance Band Era: The Dancing Decades from Ragtime to Swing: 1910–1950. London: Studio Vista, 1971.Google Scholar
Mezzrow, Mezz and Wolfe, Benard. Really the Blues. 1946. Reprint, Garden City, NY: Anchor Books, 1972.Google Scholar
Miall, Leonard. “Obituary: Cecilia Gillie [neé Reeves],” The Independent, 24 April 1996.Google Scholar
Moore, Gerry. “English Top Men Equal US.” Metronome, March 1939, 24.Google Scholar
“Music for the Jitters,” Metronome, November 1938, 11.Google Scholar
“New York Jam Spread Thick.” Metronome, December 1938, 16.Google Scholar
“Off-Duty Off-Beat: Park Lane's Jam Session for Society of American Musicians.” Variety, 15 February 1939, 41.Google Scholar
Panassié, Hugues. Hot Jazz: The Guide to Swing Music, trans. Lyle, and Dowling, Eleanor. 1936. Reprint, Westport, CT: Negro Universities Press, 1970.Google Scholar
———. The Real Jazz, trans. Williams, Anne Sorelle, adapted for U.S. publication Charles Edward Smith. New York: Smith and Durrell, Inc., 1942.Google Scholar
“Panassie's All-Star Band Not So Bad.” Metronome, December 1938, 16, 21.Google Scholar
Parsonage, Catherine. The Evolution of Jazz in Britain, 1880–1935. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2005.Google Scholar
Peerless, Brian. “Lawson, Yank [John Rhea].” In Grove Music Online, ed.Macy, Laura. http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.Google Scholar
Phelan, Peggy. Unmarked: The Politics of Performance. London: Routledge, 1998.Google Scholar
Pointon, Mike. Liner notes to Alistair Cooke's Jazz Letter From America. Avid Entertainment Compact Disc AMSC 855, 2006.Google Scholar
Pousarby, William. Letter to Melody Maker, 9 December 1939, 6.Google Scholar
Programme Listings. Radio Times, 13 January 1939.Google Scholar
Programme Listings. Radio Times, 28 April 1939.Google Scholar
Programme Listings. Radio Times, 28 October 1938.Google Scholar
“Radio's American Dates in Outline.” Melody Maker, 10 September 1938, 3.Google Scholar
Robinson, J. Bradford and Kernfeld, Barry. “Singleton, Zutty [Arthur James].” In The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, 2nd ed., ed. Barry Kernfeld. Oxford Music Online, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com.Google Scholar
“Rophone.” “Hot Records Reviewed.” Melody Maker, 1 October 1938, 7.Google Scholar
———. “Swing Records Too Dear!” Melody Maker, 17 September 1938, 9.Google Scholar
Rust, Brian. Jazz Records, 1897–1942. 4th ed.New Rochelle, NY: Arlington House Publishers, 1978.Google Scholar
———. My Kind of Jazz. London: Elm Tree Books, 1990.Google Scholar
Scannell, Paddy and Cardiff, David. A Social History of British Broadcasting. Vol. 1, Serving the Nation. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, Ltd., 1991.Google Scholar
Shaw, Arnold. 52nd Street, the Street of Jazz. New York: Da Capo Press, 1977.Google Scholar
Stowe, David W.Swing Changes: Big-Band Jazz in New Deal America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1994.Google Scholar
Sudhalter, Richard M.Lost Chords: White Musicians and Their Contribution to Jazz, 1915–1945. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
“Swing: The Hottest and Best Kind of Jazz Reaches Its Golden Age.” Life, 8 August 1938, 51–60.Google Scholar
Tucker, Sherrie. Swing Shift: “All-Girl” Bands of the 1940s. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2000.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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