The True Welcome

>> FOR OVER A DECADE, GENERAL MOTORS HAS BEEN THE SOLE CORPORATE SPONSOR OF THE FILMS OF KEN BURNS.

WE'RE PROUD OF OUR ASSOCIATION WITH KEN BURNS AND PBS.

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LOUISIANA, HOME OF THE SOUNDS OF ZYDECO, CAJUN, GOSPEL, AND, OF COURSE, JAZZ.

THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES-- EXPANDING OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD.

...A FAMILY FOUNDATION.

...AND BY THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING AND CONTRIBUTIONS TO YOUR PBS STATION FROM VIEWERS LIKE YOU.

CAPTIONING MADE POSSIBLE BY GENERAL MOTORS [CREOLE LOVE CALLPLAYING] Narrator: IN 1929, THE STOCK MARKET CRASHED.

THE GREAT DEPRESSION THAT FOLLOWED WAS THE WORST CRISIS IN AMERICA SINCE THE CIVIL WAR.

Man: SOMEBODY HAD BLUNDERED, AND THE MOST EXPENSIVE ORGY IN HISTORY WAS OVER.

NOW, ONCE MORE, THE BELT IS TIGHT, AND WE SUMMON THE PROPER EXPRESSION OF HORROR AS WE LOOK BACK ON OUR WASTED YOUTH.

SOMETIMES, THOUGH, THERE IS A GHOSTLY RUMBLE AMONG THE DRUMS, AN ASTHMATIC WHISPER IN THE TROMBONES THAT SWINGS ME BACK INTO THE EARLY TWENTIES, WHEN WE DRANK WOOD ALCOHOL, AND EVERY DAY, IN EVERY WAY, GREW BETTER AND BETTER, AND THERE WAS AN ABORTIVE SHORTENING OF THE SKIRTS, AND PEOPLE YOU DIDN'T WANT TO KNOW SAID, "YES, WE HAVE NO BANANAS."

AND IT ALL SEEMS ROSY AND ROMANTIC TO US WHO WERE YOUNG THEN, BECAUSE WE WILL NEVER FEEL QUITE SO INTENSELY ABOUT OUR SURROUNDINGS ANYMORE.

F. SCOTT FITZGERALD Narrator: THE JAZZ AGE WAS OVER.

Bessie Smith: ♪ MISTER RICH MAN, RICH MAN ♪ ♪ OPEN UP YOUR HEART AND MIND ♪ ♪ MISTER RICH MAN, RICH MAN ♪ ♪ OPEN UP YOUR HEART AND MIND ♪ ♪ GIVE THE POOR MAN A CHANCE ♪ ♪ HELP STOP THESE HARD, HARD TIMES ♪ ♪ WHILE YOU'RE LIVING IN YOUR MANSION ♪ ♪ YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT HARD TIME MEANS ♪ Narrator: AS THE 1930s BEGAN, ONE OUT OF EVERY 4 WAGE-EARNERS-- MORE THAN 15 MILLION MEN AND WOMEN--WAS WITHOUT WORK.

IN MISSISSIPPI, ON A SINGLE DAY IN 1932, 1/4 OF THE ENTIRE STATE WAS AUCTIONED OFF.

THOUSANDS OF JOBLESS MEN WANDERED THE LANDSCAPE.

DUST STORMS BORN IN TEXAS AND THE DAKOTAS DARKENED SKIES ALL THE WAY EAST TO WASHINGTON.

PRICES OF WHEAT AND CORN AND COTTON FELL SO LOW, THE CROPS WERE LEFT TO ROT IN THE FIELDS.

IN BOSTON, CHILDREN WITH CARDBOARD SOLES IN THEIR SHOES WALKED TO SCHOOL PAST SILENT SHOE FACTORIES WITH PADLOCKS ON THE DOORS.

IN NEW YORK, A JOBLESS COUPLE MOVED INTO A CAVE IN CENTRAL PARK AND STAYED THERE FOR A YEAR.

THEY COULD FIND NOWHERE ELSE TO LIVE.

THE MUSIC BUSINESS CAME CLOSE TO COLLAPSING.

IN CHICAGO, SHIVERING, JOBLESS MEN BURNED OLD PHONOGRAPH RECORDS TO KEEP WARM.

AMERICAN RECORD COMPANIES, WHICH HAD SOLD MORE THAN 100 MILLION COPIES A YEAR IN THE MID-TWENTIES, WERE SOON SELLING JUST 6 MILLION.

MOST OF THEM WENT OUT OF BUSINESS.

THE VICTOR COMPANY STOPPED MAKING RECORD PLAYERS ALTOGETHER FOR A TIME AND SOLD RADIOS AND RADIO PROGRAMS INSTEAD.

[RADIO STATIC] [STARDUSTPLAYING] BUT THAT MEANT THAT MILLIONS OF PEOPLE ALL OVER AMERICA WOULD NOW BE ABLE TO HEAR MUSIC--ALL KINDS OF MUSIC, PLAYED BY ALL KINDS OF PEOPLE-- FOR FREE.

LOUIS ARMSTRONG, WHO HAD ALREADY REVOLUTIONIZED AMERICAN INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC, WOULD RETURN TO NEW YORK AND TRANSFORM AMERICAN SINGING, AS WELL-- AND, IN THE PROCESS, WIN HIMSELF A WHOLE NEW AUDIENCE.

DUKE ELLINGTON WAS FLOURISHING, TOO, AND HIS SOPHISTICATED MUSIC AND ELEGANT PERSONAL STYLE WOULD HELP CHANGE THE PERCEPTIONS-- AND EXPECTATIONS-- OF AN ENTIRE RACE.

MEANWHILE, A NEW BIG-BAND SOUND CALLED "SWING" WAS INCUBATING IN THE DANCE HALLS OF HARLEM.

BUT IT WOULD TAKE AN OUTSIDER, A JEWISH IMMIGRANT'S SON FROM CHICAGO, TO BRING IT TO THE REST OF THE NATION... AND JAZZ, WHICH HAD ALWAYS THRIVED IN ADVERSITY AND COME TO SYMBOLIZE A CERTAIN KIND OF AMERICAN FREEDOM, WOULD BE CALLED UPON TO LIFT THE SPIRITS AND RAISE THE MORALE OF A FRIGHTENED COUNTRY.

AND IN THE PROCESS, IT WOULD BEGIN TO BREAK DOWN THE BARRIERS THAT HAD SEPARATED AMERICANS FROM EACH OTHER FOR CENTURIES.

Man: WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT JAZZ AND FREEDOM, SEE, EVERYBODY IN THE UNITED STATES WAS LOOKING FOR THAT.

THE IDEA OF FINDING A PLACE WHERE YOU CAN BE YOURSELF AND WHERE YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE IN WHATEVER THE COMMUNITY IS, THAT YOU THINK THAT YOUR FAMILY IS SAFE, THAT YOU THINK THAT YOUR DREAMS MAY HAVE SOME POSSIBILITY OF BEING REALIZED... THAT'S THE AMERICAN STORY, REGARDLESS OF WHAT THE COLOR OF A PERSON IS.

SO ALL WE GET, REALLY, FROM THE NEGRO, IS JUST AN INTENSIFICATION OF THE CENTRAL ETHOS OF THE SOCIETY.

HOW MANY STORIES HAVE WE SEEN WITH NO BLACK PEOPLE IN IT WHERE THE WHITE BOY'S TALKING TO THE WHITE GIRL, AND SHE SAYS, "WELL, BOB, WHAT'S WRONG?"

HE SAYS, "I JUST DON'T FEEL RIGHT HERE, CLARA.

"I JUST DON'T FEEL RIGHT.

I CAN'T BE MYSELF.

"I HAVE TO GO SOMEWHERE.

I HAVE TO GET MY OWN PLACE.

"I WANT TO DO THINGS.

I WANT TO GET UP IN THE MORNING.

I WANT TO BE ABLE TO LOOK OUT-- IT'S NOT HERE."

AND SHE SAYS, "BOB, WHEREVER YOU WANT TO GO, I'LL GO WITH YOU."

SO THERE YOU HAVE THE PIONEER COUPLE.

WHEN BOB AND CLARA HEAR LOUIS ARMSTRONG PLAY STARDUST, THEY HEAR HIM DO WITH STARDUST WHAT BOB WANTS TO DO WHEN HE WANTS TO GET OUT AND GO SOMEPLACE AND FIND A PLACE FOR HIMSELF WHERE HE CAN BE HIMSELF.

[ECHOES OF HARLEMPLAYING] Narrator: HARD TIMES HIT BLACK AMERICA HARDEST, AND THE OPTIMISM AND ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT THAT HAD BEEN AT THE HEART OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE COLLAPSED ALMOST COMPLETELY.

BUT THE PEOPLE OF HARLEM ENDURED.

IN THE COLD WINTER OF 1929, ZALAMA MILLER, A WIDOW FROM BARBADOS, AND HER TWO DAUGHTERS, NORMA AND DOT, WERE FORCED TO MOVE OUT OF THEIR APARTMENT ACROSS THE STREET FROM THE COTTON CLUB.

AS A SMALL GIRL, NORMA HAD DANCED TO THE MUSIC OF DUKE ELLINGTON AS IT SPILLED OUT THROUGH THE DOOR...

THE CHARLESTON AND BLACK BOTTOM, THE SHIMMY AND THE SHIM SHAM.

BUT NOW, HER MOTHER COULDN'T COME UP WITH THE RENT.

[ROCK & RYEPLAYING] THEIR NEW HOME WAS A SMALLER, THIRD-FLOOR FLAT ON 140th STREET, JUST BEHIND HARLEM'S BIGGEST AND MOST BEAUTIFUL DANCE HALL, THE SAVOY BALLROOM.

THE SAVOY COVERED A WHOLE CITY BLOCK ON LENOX AVENUE BETWEEN 140th AND 141st STREETS, EMPLOYED TWO BANDS AT ONCE SO THAT THE MUSIC NEED NEVER STOP, AND WAS SO POPULAR WITH DANCERS THAT ITS MAPLE-AND-MAHOGANY FLOOR HAD TO BE REPLACED EVERY 3 YEARS.

JUST 50 CENTS ON WEEKNIGHTS, 75 CENTS ON SUNDAYS, THE SAVOY WAS CALLED "THE HOME OF HAPPY FEET" AND OFFERED DEPRESSION-RAVAGED HARLEM A RESPITE FROM ITS TROUBLES.

Woman: THE WINDOWS WAS WIDE OPEN, AND SO THE MUSIC CAN COME OUT, BLAST RIGHT INTO OUR LIVING ROOM.

EVERY NIGHT, WE HEARD THIS MARVELOUS MUSIC.

AND IN THOSE DAYS, IN THE SUMMER, THE FIRE ESCAPE WAS WHERE YOU SAT TO BE COOL.

THERE WAS NO AIR CONDITIONING, NOWHERE.

SO BY SITTING ON A FIRE ESCAPE, AND OUR FIRE ESCAPE FACED THE BACK WINDOWS OF THE SAVOY BALLROOM.

AND YOU EVER SEE SHADOWS WHEN PEOPLE DANCE PAST THE WINDOWS?

YOU CAN SEE FIGURES DANCING TO THAT MUSIC.

AND MY SISTER AND I WOULD RESPOND TO WHAT WE SAW IN THE WINDOWS OF THE SAVOY, AND WE WOULD GET INTO THE LIVING ROOM AND DANCE TO SOME OF THE BEST BANDS IN THE WORLD.

Narrator: FOR YEARS, NORMA LISTENED TO THE MUSIC AND DREAMED OF GOING INSIDE.

IN THE SPRING OF 1931, SHE GOT HER CHANCE.

Miller: PRECISELY, IT WAS EASTER SUNDAY... 12 YEARS OLD... AND, YOU KNOW, IN THOSE DAYS, YOU ALWAYS HAD A LITTLE NEW OUTFIT TO GO OUT TO CHURCH.

[WHAT A SHUFFLEPLAYING] 4:00, THERE'S A MATINEE GOING TO BE AT THE SAVOY BALLROOM, AND AFTER CHURCH I DASH UP TO LENOX AVENUE.

AND THE PEOPLE THAT WENT INTO THE SAVOY WERE SHARP.

AND WE USED TO JUST STAND OUTSIDE TO WATCH THEM, AND THAT'S WHAT I WAS DOING.

WE STARTED DANCING OUTSIDE THE SAVOY BALLROOM, AND I HEARD SOMEBODY SAY TO ME, "HEY, KID!"

AND I TURNED AROUND, AND HE SAY, "YOU, YOU."

'CAUSE--AND THEN I TURNED AROUND AND I RECOGNIZED IMMEDIATELY WHO IT WAS.

IT WAS THE GREAT TWISTMOUTH GEORGE IN A WHITE HAT, WHITE SUIT, WHITE EVERYTHING, ASKING ME TO COME UP TO THE BALLROOM TO DANCE WITH HIM.

AND HE SAID, "WOULD YOU COME AND DANCE?"

I SAY, "WOULDI?"

HE GRABBED ME, WE DASHED UP THE STAIRS.

AND I DON'T KNOW WHETHER I HIT EACH STEP, 'CAUSE HE HAD SUCH LONG LEGS.

AND I REMEMBER JUST FLYING UP THOSE STAIRS WITH HIM, AND YOU GO THROUGH THESE DOORS... AND I THINK IT WAS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACE I'D EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE-- THE REDS AND THE GREENS AND THE BLUES.

AND THAT WAS THE FIRST TIME I EVER SAW A BAND ON A BANDSTAND.

I MEAN, I'D BEEN SEEING THE SHADOWS.

AND HE--I'M SO EXCITED-- HE TOOK ME OVER THERE IN THE CORNER AND SAT ME DOWN AND BROUGHT ME A COKE AND SAID, "YOU SIT HERE, AND I'LL COME AND GET YOU."

AND FINALLY, IT WAS HIS TURN, FOR TWISTMOUTH GEORGE TO COME.

AND HE CAME AND GOT ME, AND HE SAID, "LET'S GO."

WHEN THEY HIT THAT MUSIC... ALL I KNOW IS, I DID EVERYTHING-- HE JUST THREW ME OUT, AND MY FEET NEVER TOUCHED THE GROUND.

THE PEOPLE WERE SCREAMING AND HE PUT ME ON TOP OF HIS SHOULDERS, WALKED ME AROUND THE BALLROOM, AND THE PEOPLE IS CLAPPING AND TALKING ABOUT TWISTMOUTH, AND HE TOOK ME RIGHT AROUND TO THE FRONT, RIGHT OUTSIDE, AND PUT ME BACK OUTSIDE.

[LAUGHS] GREATEST MOMENT IN MY LIFE, AND I'M EXCITED, EXCITED, AND I'M GOING TO GO HOME AND TELL MY MOTHER AND MY SISTER, AND THEN I SAID, "NO, I BETTER NOT SAY NOTHIN'."

Louis Armstrong: LET'S GO!

[CHINATOWN, MY CHINATOWNPLAYING] Man: SO THEY'RE PLAYING FAST, IT SOUNDS LIKE THEY'RE NERVOUS, IT SOUNDS LIKE THEY'RE HAVING A HARD TIME COPING WITH THIS FAST TEMPO, THE HECTIC NATURE OF THE MODERN WORLD.

IT'S CHANGE, AND...

THEY'RE AFTER HIM.

THE TEMPORAL NATURE OF THE MODERN WORLD, BUT HE'S READY, AND NOW THERE'S GOING TO BE NO TIME WHEN HE COMES IN SUDDENLY, JUST ONE NOTE.

[CHINATOWN, MY CHINATOWNPLAYING] FREE...

COMPLETELY RELAXED...

FLOATING ABOVE THIS.

♪ DA DA DA DA DA DA... ♪ IT SOUNDS LIKE AN ARIA.

SO THIS IS A NEW WAY TO EXPERIENCE THE MODERN WORLD IN ALL OF ITS HECTIC MOVEMENT.

IT'S LIKE THE PLATONIC WORLD HAS ENTERED FOR A MOMENT INTO THE MODERN WORLD.

JUST RELAXATION AND FREEDOM, AND JAZZ HAS BEEN DEALING WITH THIS CONCEPT SINCE LOUIS MADE THIS RECORD.

I MEAN, IT'S STILL, TO THIS DAY-- NOW DRUMMERS AND BASS PLAYERS AND EVERYONE CAN GET INTO THAT GROOVE.

IN THOSE DAYS, HE WAS THE ONLY GUY TO HAVE THIS IDEA.

Narrator: IN 1929, LOUIS ARMSTRONG WAS PLAYING FOR MOSTLY BLACK AUDIENCES ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF CHICAGO.

HIS HOT FIVE AND HOT SEVEN RECORDS, INCLUDING HIS MASTERPIECE WEST END BLUES, HAD SOLD WELL IN BLACK NEIGHBORHOODS, BUT HE WAS STILL LARGELY UNKNOWN AMONG WHITES.

THAT WAS ALL ABOUT TO CHANGE.

HE HAD SIGNED A CONTRACT WITH A TOUGH-TALKING BOOKING AGENT WITH MOB CONNECTIONS NAMED TOMMY ROCKWELL, WHO PROMISED TO MAKE HIM AN EVEN BIGGER STAR BY INTRODUCING HIM TO WHITE AUDIENCES--IF HE CAME BACK TO NEW YORK AS A SOLO PERFORMER.

ARMSTRONG WAS WILLING TO GO, BUT, AGAINST ROCKWELL'S WISHES, HE BROUGHT THE MEMBERS OF HIS OWN BAND WITH HIM.

HE JUST COULDN'T BEAR TO LEAVE THEM BEHIND, HE SAID.

THEY WOULD TRAVEL BY CAR, STOPPING FOR THE NIGHT IN BLACK COMMUNITIES ALONG THE WAY.

Man: SO LOUIS AND THE BAND GOT INTO THIS OLD HUPMOBILE THAT LOUIS HAD, AND THEY HEADED EAST.

AND THIS, OF COURSE, WAS THE DAYS BEFORE SUPERHIGHWAYS, AND YOU HAD TO GO THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF ALL THESE LITTLE TOWNS TO GO ALL THE WAY FROM CHICAGO TO NEW YORK.

AND EVERY PLACE THEY WENT, THEY'D GET INTO THIS LITTLE TOWN AND HERE WOULD BE LOUIS' RECORDS COMING OUT OF THE FRONT OF SOME STORE ON A LOUDSPEAKER, FROM A RECORD STORE OR WHATEVER.

AND THESE GUYS WERE JUST AMAZED.

THEY HAD NO IDEA HOW POPULAR LOUIS WAS, AND NEITHER HAD LOUIS HIMSELF.

BUT IT WAS AT THAT POINT THAT LOUIS, I THINK, BEGAN TO HAVE A SENSE-- "HEY, WAIT A MINUTE.

I CAN MAYBE MAKE SOMETHING MORE OUT OF THIS THAN I HAVE."

Narrator: AT FIRST, ROCKWELL COULD ONLY BOOK ARMSTRONG INTO BLACK VENUES IN HARLEM-- THE LAFAYETTE, THE AUDUBON, AS WELL AS THE SAVOY.

EVENTUALLY, HE LANDED HIM A LENGTHY ENGAGEMENT AT A CLUB CALLED CONNIE'S INN ON 7th AVENUE AND WEST 131st STREET, WHERE ARMSTRONG'S MOST DEVOTED ADMIRER WAS THE CLUB'S PART-OWNER, THE MURDEROUS KING OF THE NEW YORK NUMBERS RACKET-- DUTCH SCHULTZ.

[AIN'T MISBEHAVIN'PLAYING] A FEW WEEKS LATER, ARMSTRONG GOT THE BREAK HE'D BEEN WAITING FOR-- PLAYING FOR WHITE AUDIENCES DOWNTOWN...ON BROADWAY.

THE SHOW WAS AN ALL-BLACK REVUE CALLED HOT CHOCOLATES.

THE SONGS WERE WRITTEN BY ANDY RAZAF AND A HARLEM STRIDE PIANO MASTER NAMED FATS WALLER.

ARMSTRONG'S RENDITION OF THE SHOW'S BIGGEST HIT, AIN'T MISBEHAVIN', WAS SO SPECTACULAR THAT IT BROUGHT DOWN THE HOUSE EVERY NIGHT, AND AUDIENCES BEGAN DEMANDING THAT HE LEAVE THE ORCHESTRA PIT AND PERFORM IT FROM THE STAGE.

Man: "NO SHABBY PRETENSE ABOUT THIS BOY.

HE KNOWS WHAT HIS AUDIENCE WILL TAKE TO THEIR HEARTS, AND HE GIVES IT TO THEM."

"HIS TRUMPET VIRTUOSITY IS ENDLESS, "ALL EXECUTED WITH IMPECCABLE STYLE AND FINISH-- EXPLOITS THAT MAKE HIS CONTEMPORARIES SOUND LIKE SO MANY SALVATION ARMY CORNETISTS."

"IT'S MAD, IT'S MEANINGLESS, IT'S HOKUM OF THE FIRST ORDER, BUT THE EFFECT IS ELECTRIFYING."

NEW YORK SUN Armstrong: ♪ NO ONE TO TALK WITH ♪ ♪ ALL BY MYSELF ♪ Narrator: IT WAS NOT ARMSTRONG'S TRUMPET PLAYING ALONE THAT WON HIM CHEERS.

HE WAS SINGING NOW, AS WELL.

Armstrong: ♪ I SAID I LOVE YOU, REALLY SAID I LOVE YOU ♪ ♪ I KNOW FOR CERTAIN ♪ ♪ THE ONE I LOVE ♪ ♪ I'M THROUGH WITH FLIRTIN' ♪ ♪ YOU THAT I'M THINKIN' OF ♪ ♪ AIN'T MISBEHAVIN' ♪ ♪ I'M SAVIN' MY LOVE ♪ ♪ OH, BABY, MY LOVE FOR YOU ♪ Narrator: HE PROVED TO BE A BORN SHOWMAN, DELIGHTING IN APPLAUSE, WHO BELIEVED IT HIS DUTY TO DO ALMOST ANYTHING TO WIN IT.

Armstrong: ♪ ALL YOUR KISSES ♪ ♪ WORTH WAITING FOR ME ♪ Narrator: "THE MINUTE I WALK ON THE BANDSTAND," HE SAID, "THEY KNOW THEY'RE GOING TO SEE SOMETHING GOOD.

I SEE TO THAT."

SATCH WAS AN ENTERTAINER.

HE WOULD COME OUT AND SAY, "GOOD EVENING, EVERYBODY!"

AND YOU'D SAY, "YEAH!"

[LAUGHS] RIGHT AWAY, HE HAD YOU FEELING VERY, VERY HAPPY AND RECEPTIVE TO WHAT HE WAS GOING TO DO.

THAT'S SHOW BUSINESS.

GOOD EVENING, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN.

I'M MR. ARMSTRONG, AND WE'RE GONNA SWING ONE OF THE GOOD OLD GOOD ONES FOR YOU.

YES, SIR.

DINAH.

DINAH.

ARE YOU READY?

1, 2, 3-- [PLAYING DINAH] [SINGING SCAT] ♪ OH, DINAH ♪ ♪ IS THERE ANYONE FINER ♪ ♪ IN THE STATE OF CAROLINA?

♪ ♪ IF THERE IS AND YOU KNOW ♪ ♪ SHOW HER TO ME ♪ ♪ DINAH ♪ ♪ WITH HER DIXIE EYES BLAZIN' ♪ ♪ HOW I LOVE TO SIT AND GAZE IN ♪ ♪ TO THE EYES OF DINAH LEE ♪ ♪ BABY, EVERY NIGHT WHILE I SHAKE WITH FRIGHT ♪ ♪ 'CAUSE MY DINAH MIGHT CHANGE HER MIND ♪ [SINGS SCAT] ♪ IF YOU EVER WANDERED TO CHINA, BABE ♪ ♪ I WOULD HOP AN OCEAN LINER, OH, BABE ♪ ♪ OH, DINAH ♪ ♪ DINAH ♪ ♪ OH, DINAH, OH, BABE, DINAH LEE ♪ ♪ DINAH, DINAH, DINAH ♪ [SINGING SCAT] ♪ IF YOU EVER WANDERED TO CHINA, BABE ♪ ♪ I'D HOP AN OCEAN LINER, YEAH ♪ Narrator: IN ALL THE HISTORY OF MUSIC, NO ONE HAD EVER SUNG LIKE THAT BEFORE.

SEE, BECAUSE BEFORE HIM, PEOPLE SANG LIKE: ♪ I LOVE YOU AND YOU LOVE ME ♪ ♪ AND I'M GOING TO BE WITH YOU, BABY ♪ YOU KNOW, THAT'S THE WAY PEOPLE SANG THEN, YOU KNOW, AND WHEN THAT--THEN AFTER LOUIS ARMSTRONG, WHEN HE WOULD, YOU KNOW, WHEN HE WOULD PLAY, WHEN HE COULD JUST SAY, LIKE, ♪ BOO BAY DOO DAY DOO DE DOO DEE DAH... ♪ YOU KNOW, ♪ BOO BE DOO DEE, BOO BEE BOO WEE DEE BOP BOO BEE BAH... ♪ WHEN HE COULD SING LIKE THAT-- HEY, YOU'RE NOT GOING TO SING, ♪ I WANT YOU AND YOU WANT ME ♪ AFTER YOU HEAR THAT.

YOU KNOW, THAT'S THE BAD CHOICE.

I MEAN, ANYBODY GOING TO GO BACK TO THAT, THEY NEED TO BE DEPORTED, TO SOMEWHERE.

NOT ON THE EARTH-- MAYBE PLUTO.

HE INVENTED AMERICAN SINGING.

I MEAN, ALL OF THE SINGERS FROM FRANK SINATRA, BING CROSBY, MILDRED BAILEY, JON HENDRICKS-- YOU CAN GO IN ANY STYLE.

SARAH VAUGHAN, BILLIE HOLIDAY, THEY ALL WOULD SAY, "POPS."

[LAZY RIVERPLAYING] Narrator: ARMSTRONG NOW BEGAN RECORDING TIN PAN ALLEY TUNES-- I'M CONFESSIN' THAT I LOVE YOU, STARDUST, I CAN'T GIVE YOU ANYTHING BUT LOVE, AND UP A LAZY RIVER.

HE MADE EACH SONG HIS OWN.

Glaser: SO THE SAXOPHONES COME IN PLAYING THE MELODY, REALLY CORNY.

AND HE'S, LIKE, CODDLING THEM, CONDESCENDING, "UH-HUH, YEAH."

[LAZY RIVERPLAYING] Armstrong: UH-HUH.

"SURE."

LIKE YOU WOULD SAY TO AN INSANE PERSON OR SOMETHING.

THEY'RE PLAYING THE MELODY IN A VERY STIFF, OLD-FASHIONED KIND OF WAY.

AND THEN LOUIS COMES IN TO SHOW THEM A NEW WAY TO PLAY A MELODY.

Armstrong: ♪ UP A LAZY RIVER ♪ ♪ WHERE THE OLD MILL RUNS ♪ ARTICULATED, COMPLETELY FREE RHYTHMICALLY, BOILED DOWN TO ONE NOTE... ABSTRACTED.

Armstrong: ♪ THROW AWAY YOUR TROUBLE, DREAM A DREAM OF ME ♪ Glaser: FREE, NO TIME.

Armstrong: ♪ UP A LAZY RIVER, WHERE THE ROBINS HUM ♪ Glaser: ALL ONE NOTE-- HE'S BOILED DOWN THIS COMPLEX MELODY TO ITS ESSENTIAL IMPULSE.

Armstrong: ♪ BLUE SKIES UP ABOVE ♪ ♪ EVERYONE IN LOVE ♪ Glaser: EVERYTHING'S BOILED DOWN.

Armstrong: ♪ HOW HAPPY WE WILL BE ♪ Glaser: THEN HE DECIDES TO GO IMPROVISE... [ARMSTRONG SINGING SCAT] A PHRASE THAT WOULD BE APPROPRIATED BY THE BEBOPPERS.

[ARMSTRONG SINGING SCAT] YOU CAN TELL HE'S SWINGING, YOU KNOW, LIKE HE WOULD SAY.

Armstrong: BOY, AM I RIFFING THIS EVENING, I HOPE.

"BOY, AM I RIFFING THIS EVENING, I HOPE."

Man: I THINK LOUIS ARMSTRONG IS THESINGLE MOST INFLUENTIAL SINGER AMERICAN MUSIC HAS EVER PRODUCED.

AND HE HAD AN ABILITY, WHICH WAS QUITE SPECTACULAR, OF IMPROVISING THE VOCAL ALMOST AS FREELY AS IF HE WERE PLAYING AN INSTRUMENT, AND MORE THAN THAT-- HE HAD A WAY OF SINGING THE MELODY PHRASE AND THEN SINGING HIS OWN OBLIGATO TO IT.

SO HE MIGHT GO SOMETHING LIKE, YOU KNOW, ♪ ALL OF ME ♪ AND THEN HE'S GO, ♪ OPEN ♪ YOU KNOW, AND IT MIGHT BE JUST KIND OF A GUTTURAL THING, LIKE "HMMG" OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT.

BUT YOU COULD ALMOST TRANSPOSE THAT TO A SAXOPHONE OBLIGATO OR TO ANOTHER INSTRUMENT.

AND SO, WHEN YOU HEAR HIS GREAT VOCALS, IT ALMOST SOUNDS LIKE THERE ARE 2 OR 3 PEOPLE PRODUCING ALL OF THESE PHRASES.

AND HE HAD SO MUCH ENERGY, AND HE TOOK SO MUCH LIBERTY WITH THE SONG.

EVEN GREAT SONGS-- STARDUST-- I MEAN, HE VIRTUALLY RECOMPOSES STARDUSTAND BODY AND SOUL-- THAT I DON'T THINK ANY SINGER IN THAT PERIOD COULD HAVE LISTENED TO HIM AND NOT BEEN INFLUENCED.

AND, OF COURSE, THEY ALL WERE, EVEN THE SINGERS WHO HAD BEEN AROUND LONG BEFORE HIM.

Narrator: THE MUSICIANS WITH WHOM HE SURROUNDED HIMSELF MATTERED LESS NOW.

LOUIS ARMSTRONG WAS THE STAR.

Man: LOUIS ARMSTRONG WAS GREAT.

WHAT WE WOULD DO IS, YOU'D STICK YOUR HEAD OUT AND GO OUT IN THE RAIN SO YOU COULD GET HOARSE SO YOU COULD SOUND LIKE LOUIS ARMSTRONG.

[HOARSELY] YEAH!

[BLACK AND BLUEPLAYING] Narrator: IN HARLEM, YOUNG MEN TOOK TO CARRYING BIG WHITE HANDKERCHIEFS BECAUSE HE FLOURISHED THEM ON-STAGE TO MOP HIS BROW.

FANS AND FELLOW MUSICIANS ALIKE BEGAN TO COPY HIS DISTINCTIVE VOCABULARY.

HE WAS THE FIRST TO REFER TO A MUSICIAN'S SKILLS AS HIS "CHOPS," THE FIRST TO CALL PEOPLE "CATS."

WHEN HE COULDN'T REMEMBER SOMEONE'S NAME, HE'D CALL THEM "GATE" OR "POPS."

"POPS" WOULD BECOME THE FOND NICKNAME HIS FRIENDS AROUND THE WORLD CALLED HIM UNTIL THE DAY HE DIED.

AMONG THE BROADWAY TUNES HE RECORDED THAT YEAR WAS FATS WALLER'S BLACK AND BLUE, ORIGINALLY WRITTEN FOR HOT CHOCOLATES AS A COMPLAINT BY A DARK-SKINNED WOMAN ABOUT HER MAN'S PREFERENCE FOR LIGHTER-SKINNED RIVALS.

ARMSTRONG TRANSFORMED IT, WITHOUT A HINT OF SELF-PITY, INTO A SONG ABOUT BEING BLACK IN A WORLD RUN BY WHITES.

Armstrong: ♪ COLD, EMPTY BED ♪ ♪ SPRINGS HARD AS LEAD ♪ ♪ FEELS LIKE OLD NED ♪ ♪ WISH I WAS DEAD ♪ ♪ ALL MY LIFE THROUGH ♪ ♪ I BEEN SO BLACK AND BLUE ♪ ♪ MMM, EVEN THE MOUSE ♪ ♪ RAN FROM MY HOUSE ♪ ♪ THEY LAUGH AT YOU ♪ ♪ AND SCORN YOU, TOO ♪ ♪ WHAT DID I DO ♪ ♪ TO BE SO BLACK AND BLUE?

♪ ♪ OH, I'M WHITE INSIDE ♪ ♪ BUT THAT DON'T HELP MY CASE ♪ ♪ 'CAUSE I CAN'T HIDE ♪ ♪ WHAT IS IN MY FACE ♪ [SINGING SCAT] ♪ HOW WILL IT END?

♪ ♪ AIN'T GOT A FRIEND ♪ ♪ MY ONLY SIN ♪ ♪ IS IN MY SKIN ♪ ♪ WHAT DID I DO ♪ ♪ TO BE SO BLACK AND BLUE?

♪ IN THOSE DAYS, IF ONE BLACK MAN CALLED ANOTHER MAN "BLACK," YOU KNOW, THAT WAS FIGHTING WORDS, YOU KNOW?

BUT LOUIS, HE WAS THE FIRST MAN I HEARD TO SAY, "YOU'RE BLACK, BE PROUD OF IT.

"YOU'RE BLACK--YOU'RE NOT WHITE, YOU'RE NOT YELLOW, YOU'RE BLACK.

BE PROUD OF IT."

HE WAS SAYING THAT WHEN IT WAS SO VERY UNPOPULAR, YOU KNOW?

Narrator: ON THE EVENING OF OCTOBER 12, 1931, LOUIS ARMSTRONG OPENED A 3-DAY RUN AT THE HOTEL DRISKILL IN AUSTIN, TEXAS.

AMONG THOSE WHO PAID 75 CENTS TO GET IN THAT NIGHT WAS A FRESHMAN AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS NAMED CHARLIE BLACK.

HE KNEW NOTHING OF JAZZ, HAD NEVER EVEN HEARD OF ARMSTRONG.

HE JUST KNEW THERE WERE LIKELY TO BE LOTS OF GIRLS TO DANCE WITH.

THEN ARMSTRONG BEGAN TO PLAY.

[STARDUSTPLAYING] Man: HE PLAYED MOSTLY WITH HIS EYES CLOSED, LETTING FLOW FROM THAT INNER SPACE OF MUSIC THINGS THAT HAD NEVER BEFORE EXISTED.

HE WAS THE FIRST GENIUS I HAD EVER SEEN.

IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO OVERSTATE THE SIGNIFICANCE OF A 16-YEAR-OLD SOUTHERN BOY SEEING GENIUS FOR THE FIRST TIME IN A BLACK PERSON.

WE LITERALLY NEVER SAW A BLACK, THEN, IN ANY BUT A SERVANT'S CAPACITY.

LOUIS OPENED MY EYES WIDE AND PUT TO ME A CHOICE.

BLACKS, THE SAYING WENT, WERE "ALL RIGHT IN THEIR PLACE."

BUT WHAT WAS THE PLACE OF SUCH A MAN AND OF THE PEOPLE FROM WHICH HE SPRUNG?

CHARLIE BLACK Narrator: CHARLIE BLACK WENT ON TO BECOME PROFESSOR CHARLES L. BLACK, A DISTINGUISHED TEACHER OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW AT YALE.

IN 1954, HE HELPED PROVIDE THE ANSWER TO THE QUESTION LOUIS ARMSTRONG'S MUSIC HAD FIRST POSED FOR HIM.

HE VOLUNTEERED FOR THE TEAM OF LAWYERS, BLACK AND WHITE, WHO FINALLY PERSUADED THE SUPREME COURT, IN THE CASE OF BROWN VS. BOARD OF EDUCATION, THAT SEGREGATING SCHOOLCHILDREN ON THE BASIS OF RACE AND COLOR WAS UNCONSTITUTIONAL.

[CRICKETS CHIRPING] Man: YOU WILL FIND MY SUBJECT IN THE FIRST CHAPTER OF JOHN.

People: AMEN.

Man:"MARVEL NOT," I SAY UNTO THEE.

♪ YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN ♪ ♪ THERE WAS A MAN OF THE PHARISEES ♪ ♪ NAMED NICODEMUS ♪ ♪ CAME TO CHRIST BY NIGHT ♪ Second man: I WAS BORN IN JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA, AND WE USED TO LIVE ACROSS THE RIVER FROM ONE OF THESE BAPTIST CHURCHES.

Man: ♪ HOW CAN A MAN BE BORN... ♪ WE USED TO SIT ON OUR PORCH, LIKE ON SUNDAYS, AND WE'D HEAR THE PREACHER ACROSS THE RIVER PREACHING, AND WE COULD HEAR THE SISTERS AND THE BROTHERS SHOUTING AND CARRYING ON.

AND WE, AS KIDS, WE WOULD GET OUT IN THE YARD-- IN THE FRONT YARD--AND PRETEND THAT WE WERE IN CHURCH AND DOING THAT SAME SHOUTING AND GOING ON.

AND I THINK THAT KIND OF RHYTHM KIND OF STUCK WITH ME FROM THEN ON.

Man: ♪ HE MUST BE BORN AGAIN ♪ Narrator: IN 1917, A SINGLE MOTHER NAMED LUCILLE MANNING, HOPING TO MAKE A BETTER LIFE, LEFT HER YOUNG SON FRANKIE IN JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA, AND MOVED TO HARLEM IN SEARCH OF WORK.

AS SOON AS LUCILLE GOT A JOB-- WORKING IN A LAUNDRY ON THE EAST SIDE-- SHE SENT FOR HER SON.

[ORCHESTRA PLAYING STOMPIN' AT THE SAVOY] Narrator: LIKE NORMA MILLER, FRANKIE MANNING GREW UP LONGING TO GET INTO THE SAVOY BALLROOM AND JOIN IN A NEW DANCE CRAZE THAT WAS JUST TAKING HOLD IN HARLEM.

NAMED AFTER THE GREATEST HERO OF THE DAY-- THE AVIATOR CHARLES LINDBERGH-- IT WAS CALLED THE "LINDY HOP."

Manning: NOW, LINDY HOP ITSELF IS DONE TO SWING MUSIC, AND IF YOU KNOW WHAT A SWING IS, IT'S VERY SMOOTH AND IT FLOWS.

BEFORE THAT, YOU WERE DOING, LIKE, THE CHARLESTON.

YOU KNOW, THAT-- ♪ DONG DONG DONG DONG ♪ AND, YOU KNOW, MUSIC WAS BEING PLAYED THAT WAY, SO, WHEN THEY STARTED PLAYING SWING MUSIC, IT WAS LIKE... ♪ YUM BUM, YUM BUM ♪ YOU KNOW?

SO IT JUST SWUNG.

SO YOU JUST STARTED TO-- THE DANCE JUST STARTED TO EVOLVE WITH THAT SWING MUSIC.

SO THERE YOU HAVE THE LINDY HOP.

Narrator: AT THE SAVOY, THE MUSIC NEVER STOPPED.

AS ONE BAND WOUND UP A SET, THE SECOND BAND TOOK UP THE SAME TUNE.

THE DANCERS NEVER NEEDED TO LEAVE THE FLOOR.

THE LARGER OF THE SAVOY'S TWO BANDSTANDS WAS THE HOME OF THE DRUMMER CHICK WEBB, AND IT TOOK A BRAVE BANDLEADER TO DARE LAY CLAIM TO THE OTHER ONE WHEN HE WAS IN RESIDENCE.

WEBB WAS SMALL-- JUST OVER 4 FEET TALL-- AND FRAIL.

HE SUFFERED FROM TUBERCULOSIS OF THE SPINE.

BUT ONCE "THE LITTLE GIANT," AS HE WAS CALLED, WAS SEATED BEHIND HIS DRUMS, URGING HIS MEN THROUGH A DRIVING ARRANGEMENT LIKE STOMPING AT THE SAVOY, FEW COULD MATCH HIS COMPETITIVE FURY.

ANYBODY WHO WAS ANYBODY IN HARLEM WANTED TO GO TO THE SAVOY-- TO HEAR CHICK WEBB, TO TRY TO FORGET THE DEPRESSION, TO DANCE TO THE BRAND-NEW SOUND.

Manning: AND OUR ONE AMBITION WAS TO GO TO THE SAVOY BALLROOM.

AND I REMEMBER IT WAS 6 OF US, AND WE'RE WALKING UP THESE STEPS, AND AS WE WERE CLIMBING UP THE STEPS, I COULD HEAR THIS MUSIC COMING DOWN THE STAIRWAY.

WE WERE WALKING UP THERE, AND WE STARTED, "OH, MAN!

YOU HEAR THAT MUSIC?

WOW!"

AND WE WALKED THROUGH THE DOOR.

WE OPENED THE DOOR, AND WE TURNED AROUND.

AS YOU COME UP THE STEPS, WHEN YOU COME THROUGH THE DOORS, YOUR BACK IS TO THE BANDSTAND, SO YOU TURN AROUND THE STAIRWELL, AND THEN YOU FACE THE BAND.

AND AS I TURN AROUND AND FACE THIS, THE FLOOR WAS FULL WITH PEOPLE!

AND IT LOOKED LIKE EVERYONE ON THE FLOOR WAS DOING THE LINDY HOP.

Manning: EVERYBODY WAS JUST BOUNCING UP AND DOWN, AND THE MUSIC WAS ROMPING AND STOMPING AND WE START, "MAN!"

WE STARTED LOOKING AT EACH OTHER.

"HEY, MAN!

YOU HEAR THIS MUSIC?

LOOK AT ALL THESE PEOPLE IN THIS PLACE DANCE WITH EACH OTHER!"

AND THE FLOOR WAS--OH!

LOOKED LIKE THE FLOOR WAS GETTING INTO THE MOOD OF THE DANCE, BECAUSE THE FLOOR WAS JUST BOUNCING UP AND DOWN, YOU KNOW?

AND THE PEOPLE WERE BOUNCING UP AND DOWN, AND CHICK WEBB WAS ON THE BANDSTAND, WAILING.

BOY, IT WAS JUST SUCH A WONDERFUL TIME IN OUR LIFE TO COME UP THERE, YOU KNOW, AS YOUNGSTERS, AND BE EXPOSED TO THIS KIND OF MUSIC.

OH, WOW!

[RADIO STATIC] [JAZZ PLAYING] Announcer: WE ARE BROADCASTING THIS EVENING FROM THE COTTON CLUB, WHERE DUKE ELLINGTON AND HIS ORCHESTRA ARE PLAYING FOR THE DANCERS.

[RING DEM BELLSPLAYING] Man: DUKE ELLINGTON WAS ELEGANCE.

DUKE ELLINGTON WAS THE CAPACITY TO BE IN THE MIDDLE OF IT AND ABOVE IT AT THE SAME TIME.

HE TAUGHT US THE TRUE MEANING OF STYLE, THE TRUE MEANING OF GRACE, THE TRUE MEANING OF FLOATING.

HERE WE WERE, YOU KNOW, PEOPLE DESCRIBED OFTEN AS CLUMSY, STUPID, SHUFFLING, AND, UH, WHATEVER.

ELLINGTON WALKED ON STAGE... AND ALL OF THOSE MYTHS WERE DISSIPATED.

[PLAYING ROCKIN' IN RHYTHM] Man: AND THEN ELLINGTON AND THE GREAT ORCHESTRA CAME TO TOWN...

CAME WITH THEIR UNIFORMS, THEIR SOPHISTICATION, THEIR SKILLS, THEIR GOLDEN HORNS, THEIR FLIGHTS OF CONTROLLED AND DISCIPLINED FANTASY...

CAME WITH THEIR ART, THEIR SPECIAL SOUND.

THEY WERE NEWS FROM THE GREAT, WIDE WORLD-- AN EXAMPLE AND A GOAL.

RALPH ELLISON Narrator: AS THE DEPRESSION SETTLED IN, AND MORE AND MORE PEOPLE FOUND THEMSELVES WITHOUT WORK OR EVEN THE PROSPECT OF WORK, DUKE ELLINGTON, LIKE LOUIS ARMSTRONG, PROSPERED.

HE HAD BECOME THE BEST-KNOWN BLACK BANDLEADER IN AMERICA, FAMOUS FOR THE EXOTIC-SOUNDING "JUNGLE MUSIC" HE BROADCAST OVER A NATIONWIDE RADIO HOOK-UP FROM THE COTTON CLUB.

BUT ELLINGTON'S MANAGER, IRVING MILLS, THOUGHT HE COULD BE EVEN BIGGER, AND IN 1930 ARRANGED FOR HIM AND THE BAND TO GO TO HOLLYWOOD AND APPEAR IN A COMEDY CALLED CHECK AND DOUBLE CHECK.

[PLAYING JAZZ TUNE] WELL, LISTEN, AMOS.

WE GOT TO GET THIS THING FIXED AND GET BACK TO THE LODGE MEETIN'.

WELL, I CAN TELL YOU RIGHT NOW, ANDY, I CAN'T FIX THE THING BY MYSELF.

Narrator: THE HEROES OF THE FILM WERE AMOS AND ANDY-- THE MOST POPULAR RADIO PERFORMERS IN THE COUNTRY-- WHITE COMEDIANS WHO PLAYED IN BLACKFACE, THEIR HUMOR STEEPED IN RACIAL STEREOTYPES THAT HARKED BACK TO THE EARLY DAYS OF THE MINSTREL SHOW.

IN A BIZARRE TURN, THE STUDIO-- CONCERNED THAT WHITE AUDIENCES WOULD THINK ELLINGTON'S BAND WAS INTEGRATED, INSISTED THAT JUAN TIZOL AND BARNEY BIGARD, ITS TWO LIGHTEST-SKINNED MEMBERS, BLACK UP AS DARK AS AMOS AND ANDY.

IF HOLLYWOOD'S RACIAL CODE OFFENDED ELLINGTON, HE NEVER LET IT SHOW.

HE SAW CHECK AND DOUBLE CHECK AS THE CHANCE OF A LIFETIME, AND HE WAS RIGHT.

NO OTHER BLACK BAND HAD EVER BEEN GIVEN SUCH A SHOWCASE, AND ELLINGTON'S FAME CONTINUED TO SPREAD.

[CAR HORN HONKS] [BAND PLAYING SOPHISTICATED LADY] Man: ONE'S EARLIEST PERCEPTION OF DUKE ELLINGTON WAS THAT HE WAS A TRANSCENDENT FIGURE IN THE MUSIC... BECAUSE THE EARLIEST THINGS THAT YOU HEARD HAD SO MUCH OF ALL OF THE MUSIC THAT YOU KNEW ABOUT IN IT.

EVERYBODY IDENTIFIED WITH THAT.

IT WAS AS IF WE KNEW EXACTLY WHERE HE GOT THAT FROM-- SOME CORNER IN WASHINGTON, JUST AS WE KNEW IT FROM SOME CORNER IN MOBILE AND ALL.

AND IT WAS LIKE... PEOPLE WOULD SAY, FOR THE WANT OF A BETTER TERM, IT WAS LIKE CLASSICAL MUSIC.

IT'S LIKE TAKING BLUES AND MAKING CLASSICAL MUSIC OUT OF IT.

HE COULD LISTEN TO A STYLE AND GET TO THE VERY CENTER OF IT AND TAKE THE MEANING AND THE JUICE OUT OF THAT STYLE AND PUT IT INTO HIS.

HE IS THE ORIGINATOR OF A WAY OF ORCHESTRATING THE SOUNDS OF THE BLUES FOR A LARGE ENSEMBLE.

IT'S THE SYSTEMS OF HARMONIZATION AND VOICINGS THAT HE ALONE INVENTED, ONLY HE KNOWS.

Crouch: AND IT'S AN EPIC VISION THAT IS BOTH ETHNIC AND ALL-INCLUSIVE.

THAT'S THE THING ABOUT HIM THAT'S SO REMARKABLE, IS THAT IT'S-- IS THAT IT'S...

IT'S NEGROID WITHOUT BEING EXCLUSIVE.

IN DUKE ELLINGTON'S MUSIC, THERE'S ALWAYS, "HEY, COME ON IN."

SO THERE'S A KIND OF A WELCOMING QUALITY THAT YOU ASSOCIATE WITH THE HIGHEST FORM OF CIVILIZATION, I WOULD SUGGEST.

SEE, BECAUSE CIVILIZATION, IN A CERTAIN SENSE, CAN BE REDUCED TO THE WORD "WELCOME."

Marsalis: YOU DON'T GET THE SAME TYPE OF SPIRITUAL HIGH-MINDEDNESS IN HIS SOUND THAT YOU HAVE IN LOUIS ARMSTRONG'S, BUT IT'S THERE.

BUT DUKE ELLINGTON--HE'S MORE OF A LATE-NIGHT PERSON.

HE'S THE PERSON WHO UNDERSTANDS THE SENSUOUS, AND THAT'S IN HIS MUSIC AND IT'S IN HIS SOUND.

DUKE ELLINGTON, WHEN HE HITS ONE OR TWO NOTES ON THE PIANO, HE'S GOING TO TAKE YOU INTO A LATE-NIGHT ROOM WHERE SOMETHING OF INTEREST IS ABOUT TO TAKE PLACE.

[ORCHESTRA PLAYING THAT LINDY HOP] Narrator: IN 1931, ELLINGTON SENT FOR HIS MOTHER TO JOIN HIM IN A BIG, NEW APARTMENT IN HARLEM'S BEST NEIGHBORHOOD--SUGAR HILL.

DAISY ELLINGTON CAME RIGHT AWAY.

IN HER EYES, HER SON COULD DO NO WRONG.

SOON, SHE WAS HAPPILY CLEANING AND COOKING FOR HIM AGAIN, LONGING FOR THE MOMENT WHEN HE WALKED THROUGH THE DOOR AND ANNOUNCED, "MOTHER, I'M HOME TO DINE."

ELLINGTON SHOWERED HER WITH GIFTS-- ROPES OF PEARLS, A FUR COAT, AND A CHAUFFEUR-DRIVEN PIERCE-ARROW SO THAT SHE COULD FOLLOW HER SON FROM ENGAGEMENT TO ENGAGEMENT.

"AFTER A COUPLE OF THOUSAND PEOPLE HAD STOPPED APPLAUDING," HIS SISTER REMEMBERED, "MY MOTHER WAS ALWAYS STILLAPPLAUDING."

[PIANO PLAYING I AIN'T GOT NOBODY] Davis: JAZZ WAS THE BUBBLE IN THE LIFE OF HARLEM.

IT WAS...

THE THING YOUR SOUL WORKED FOR...

THE EPITOME...

THE FINAL EXPRESSION THAT TOLD US WE WERE A GREAT PEOPLE, TOO.

NOW, THE EXPLOSIVE NATURE WOULD HAVE MADE IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR US TO KEEP IT TO OURSELVES, EVEN IF WE HAD WANTED TO.

THE VERY NATURE OF JAZZ IS TO PROCLAIM TO ALL THE WORLD, "HEY, LOOK!

WOW!

POOF!"

AND THIS IS US: "LOOK, COME HAVE SOME."

THE LIMITATIONS ARE OFF.

PUT RACE ASIDE.

"COME IN, OPEN YOUR HEART, OPEN YOUR MIND, WHOEVER THE HELL YOU ARE."

"COME IN.

JUST LISTEN TO THIS, BROTHER.

LISTEN TO THIS, SISTER."

YOU KNOW, "BE A PART OF THIS."

"THIS IS GOING TO BE GOOD FOR YOU, MAN, WHOEVER YOU ARE.

"IT'S GOING TO CHANGE YOU...

GOING TO DO SOMETHING TOYOU--SOMETHING GOOD."

WE FELT THAT.

[PIANO PLAYING HANDFUL OF KEYS] Narrator: THE HONORARY MAYOR OF HARLEM WAS THOMAS "FATS" WALLER, WHO MAY HAVE BEEN THE MOST POPULAR MAN IN TOWN-- A BRILLIANT PIANIST AND AN ELECTRIFYING ENTERTAINER WITH A GIFT FOR SONGWRITING FEW MUSICIANS WOULD EVER MATCH.

HE ATE MORE FOOD, DRANK MORE LIQUOR, PLAYED AS MUCH PIANO, AND SEEMED TO BE HAVING MORE FUN THAN ANY OTHER MUSICIAN OF HIS TIME.

HE WAS A BIG MAN, NEARLY 6 FEET TALL, SOMETIMES WEIGHING MORE THAN 300 POUNDS, AND WORE SIZE 15 SHOES.

HE ROUTINELY DOWNED 3 STEAKS FOR LUNCH, DRANK A QUART OR MORE OF GIN OR WHISKEY AT EVERY RECORDING SESSION, AND CALLED THE LIQUOR HE DRANK UPON AWAKENING EACH MORNING HIS "LIQUID HAM AND EGGS."

THE STRIDE PIANO MASTER JAMES P. JOHNSON WAS HIS MENTOR, AND WALLER NEVER LOST THE MIGHTY, RUMBLING LEFT HAND JOHNSON HAD TAUGHT HIM.

BUT THE TOUCH OF HIS RIGHT HAND WAS LIGHT, MELODIC, IRREPRESSIBLE.

"CONCENTRATE ON THE MELODY," WALLER TOLD ONE INTERVIEWER.

"YOU GOT TO HANG ONTO THE MELODY AND NEVER LET IT GET BORESOME."

FATS WALLER WAS NEVER "BORESOME."

Man: HE WAS A BIG MAN, HE WAS A FAT MAN.

HE WAS CALLED "FATS," FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE.

AND PEOPLE LIKE THAT ARE EXPECTED TO BE JOVIAL, AND HE WAS WILLING TO PLAY THE PART, FOR THE MOST PART.

IT'S WHEN YOU HEAR SOME OF THE ORIGINAL PIECES AND WHEN YOU HEAR THE SOLO PIANO YOU REALIZE HE'S A MUSICIAN OF ENORMOUS DEPTH AND OF GREAT LEARNING.

HE KNOWS THE PIANO REPERTOIRE IN THE EUROPEAN TRADITION, AS WELL AS IN JAZZ.

AND HIS RHYTHM IS INCOMPARABLE.

HE DOESN'T NEEDA BAND, HE SWINGS SO HARD.

Narrator: WALLER SOLD SOME 400 SONGS TO MUSIC PUBLISHERS, AND BECAUSE THEY PAID HIM SO LITTLE, HE REGULARLY SOLD EACH SONG SEVERAL TIMES.

"YOU HAD TO BUY THEM," ONE PUBLISHER REMEMBERED, "EVEN THOUGH YOU KNEW HE PROBABLY HAD SOLD IT ACROSS THE HALL."

WALLER'S TUNES INCLUDED LOUIS ARMSTRONG'S BIG HIT AIN'T MISBEHAVIN', HONEYSUCKLE ROSE, BLUE TURNING GREY OVER YOU, NUMB FUMBLIN', AND THE JOINT IS JUMPIN'.

Waller: ♪ MY, MY ♪ ♪ OH, OH ♪ ♪ YES, YES ♪ ♪ MY, MY ♪ ♪ THEY HAVE A NEW EXPRESSION ♪ ♪ 'LONG OLD HARLEM WAY ♪ ♪ THAT TELLS YOU WHEN A PARTY ♪ ♪ IS 10 TIMES MORE THAN GAY ♪ ♪ TO SAY THAT THINGS ARE JUMPIN' ♪ ♪ LEAVES NOT A SINGLE DOUBT ♪ ♪ WATCH ALL THESE CATS, WATCH EVERYTHING ♪ WHEN YOU HEAR SOMEBODY SHOUT ♪ ♪ THIS JOINT IS JUMPIN' ♪ ♪ REALLY JUMPIN' ♪ ♪ COME IN, CATS, AND CHECK YOUR HATS ♪ ♪ I BELIEVE THIS JOINT IS JUMPIN' ♪ LET IT LEAP!

YES!

SING IT, JACK!

SING THAT, JACKSON!

I LOVE IT!

OH, YES!

GIVE THAT BOY A DRINK OVER THERE.

HE'S ALL RIGHT!

FINE LAD, YES.

UH-HUH!

[PLAYING RAPID SOLO] ♪ GET YOUR BIG FEET BINGIN' ♪ ♪ THERE'S PLENTY IN THE KITCHEN ♪ ♪ WHAT IS THAT THAT JUST WALKED IN?

♪ ♪ JUST LOOK AT THE WAY IT'S SWITCHIN', OH, MERCY ♪ ♪ DON'T MIND, ALL ♪ [SIREN BLARING] ♪ 'CAUSE I'M IN POWER ♪ ♪ I GOT BAIL IF WE GO TO JAIL ♪ ♪ I MEAN, THIS JOINT IS JUMPIN', YEAH ♪ OH, DON'T EVER GIVE YOUR RIGHT MAN.

NO, NO.

DON'T EVER DO THAT.

♪ I MEAN, THIS JOINT IS JUMPIN' ♪ YEAH!

[ORCHESTRA PLAYING HOTTER THAN HELL] Giddins: THE BIG BAND, IN A WAY, RECAPITULATES THE IDEA OF THE CALL AND RESPONSE OF A BAPTIST CHURCH.

THE EARLY FLETCHER HENDERSON ARRANGEMENTS--I MEAN, YOU HAVE THAT ALMOST LITERALLY-- SAXOPHONES AND THE BRASSES RESPONDING TO EACH OTHER.

BASICALLY, YOU HAVE 3 SECTIONS IN A BIG BAND.

YOU'VE GOT THE SAXOPHONE SECTION, THE REED SECTION-- WHICH OFTEN HAS CLARINETS.

YOU HAVE THE TRUMPET SECTION AND THE TROMBONE SECTION, WHICH BECAME MORE IMPORTANT AS YEARS WENT BY.

ORIGINALLY, THERE WOULD USUALLY JUST BE ONE TROMBONE.

AND THE TROMBONES AND THE TRUMPETS TOGETHER WERE THE BRASSES.

AND THEN YOU HAVE THE RHYTHM SECTION, WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY 4 PIECES, AND THEN THEY DROPPED THE GUITAR/BANJO GUY AND IT BECAME 3 PIECES-- JUST DRUMS, BASS, AND PIANO.

AND THESE SECTIONS WORK LIKE GEARS IN A MACHINERY.

THEY INTERLOCK, AND WHAT THE ORCHESTRATOR HAS TO DO IS TO FIND REALLY EXCITING, INVENTIVE WAYS TO BLEND THESE INSTRUMENTS, TO WORK ONE SECTION AGAINST ANOTHER, AND TO CREATE A NEW MUSIC WITH... AN INSTRUMENTATION THAT IS PURELY AMERICAN.

IT'S AN AMERICAN INVENTION.

IT'S WHAT WE HAVE INSTEAD OF THE SYMPHONY.

Narrator: 89 BLOCKS SOUTH OF THE SAVOY, AT BROADWAY AND 51st STREET, STOOD ROSELAND-- MANHATTAN'S MOST ELEGANTLY APPOINTED BALLROOM, WHERE MANY NEW YORKERS WENT TO FORGET THE DEPRESSION.

OFF AND ON FOR NEARLY 20 YEARS, IT WAS THE HOME OF FLETCHER HENDERSON AND HIS ORCHESTRA.

AND IT WAS HERE THAT HE AND HIS MOST ADVENTUROUS ARRANGER, DON REDMAN, HELPED CREATE A NEW WAY OF PLAYING JAZZ-- BIG BAND SWING.

OVER THE YEARS, MANY OF THE MUSICIANS WHO MOVED THROUGH HENDERSON'S RANKS BECAME STARS IN THEIR OWN RIGHT: LOUIS ARMSTRONG, RED ALLEN, CHU BERRY, BENNY CARTER, ROY ELDRIDGE, AND THE INCOMPARABLE TENOR SAXOPHONE PLAYER COLEMAN HAWKINS.

"IT WAS THE STOMPINGEST, PUSHINGEST BAND I EVER HEARD," HAWKINS SAID.

"AND FEW ORCHESTRAS EVER BESTED FLETCHER HENDERSON'S "ONCE HE CALLED OUT TO HIS MEN, COME ON, LET'S TAKE CHARGE."

[ORCHESTRA PLAYING BIG BAND SWING] [SONG ENDS, CROWD CHEERING AND APPLAUDING] Narrator: BUT THE DANCERS WHO PAID THEIR WAY INTO ROSELAND WERE ALL WHITE.

NO BLACKS WERE ALLOWED ON THE DANCE FLOOR.

THERE WAS ONE PLACE WHERE MUSICIANS AND DANCERS OF EVERY COLOR COULD GO.

Woman: AFTER THE BAND WOULD FINISH PLAYING AT ROSELAND ABOUT 1 A.M., THEY'D SOMETIMES PLAY FOR DANCES IN HARLEM TILL ABOUT 3:30 IN THE MORNING.

THERE'D BE A BAND ON BEFORE FLETCHER GOT THERE, BUT WHEN HE AND THE MEN ARRIVED, EVERYTHING WOULD STOP.

FOLKS WOULD GET OUT OF THE WAY.

[ORCHESTRA PLAYING SUGAR FOOT STOMP] AND THEN FLETCHER WOULD START OFF WITH SUGAR FOOT STOMP, AND THE CROWD WOULD GO WILD.

Miller: WE LIVED IN A VERY SEGREGATED COUNTRY, BUT THE MOST AMAZING THING ABOUT THE BALLROOM-- IT WAS THE FIRST BUILDING IN AMERICA, EVER IN THE WORLD, THAT OPENED ITS DOORS COMPLETELY INTEGRATED.

AT THE TIME, WE DIDN'T UNDERSTAND THAT.

EVERYBODY CAME TO THE BALLROOM, SO I WAS RAISED IN AN INTEGRATED DANCE WORLD.

I DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THE OTHER UNTIL I WENT OUTSIDE THE BALLROOM, SO MY FIRST EXPERIENCE, AS FAR AS DANCING WAS CONCERNED, WAS ALWAYS INTEGRATED.

WELL, I'LL TELL YOU, WHEN I WAS GOING TO THE SAVOY, I WASN'T REALIZING THAT WHITE PEOPLE AND BLACK PEOPLE WERE GOING THERE.

ALL I COULD THINK ABOUT WAS DANCERSWERE GOING TO THE SAVOY BALLROOM.

Miller: RIGHT.

AND WHETHER YOU WERE BLACK, GREEN, YELLOW, OR WHAT, IF YOU WALKED IN THE SAVOY, THE ONLY THING WE WANTED TO KNOW IS, "CAN YOU DANCE?"

AND IF YOU CAME IN THERE, IT WASN'T LIKE A WHITE PERSON WALKING IN AND EVERYBODY WOULD TURN AROUND AND LOOK AT THEM, YOU KNOW?

IT WAS--WE'D COME IN THERE AND WE SEE HIM AND... "HEY!

HE CAN DANCE!

RIGHT!

OK!"

[ORCHESTRA PLAYING WILD MAN BLUES] Man: "HOLLYWOOD.

"VIC BERTON, DRUMMER WITH ABE LYMAN'S BAND, "AND LOUIS ARMSTRONG, COLORED TRUMPET ARTIST "IN SEBASTIAN'S COTTON CLUB, "WERE ARRESTED BY NARCOTICS OFFICERS "AND ARRAIGNED ON CHARGES OF POSSESSING MARIJUANA, A DOPE WEED USED IN CIGARETTES."

VARIETY Narrator: AS SOON AS ARMSTRONG'S AGENT, TOMMY ROCKWELL, HEARD THE NEWS OF ARMSTRONG'S ARREST, HE SENT A THUG NAMED JOHNNY COLLINS TO LOS ANGELES WITH ORDERS TO USE HIS UNDERWORLD CONNECTIONS TO GET HIS TRUMPET STAR OUT OF JAIL.

IT WORKED.

ARMSTRONG WAS OUT IN 9 DAYS.

BUT THEN JOHNNY COLLINS CONVINCED ARMSTRONG THAT HE HAD CUT A DEAL WITH TOMMY ROCKWELL, AND THAT HE--COLLINS--WAS NOW ARMSTRONG'S NEW MANAGER.

IT WASN'T TRUE, AND ROCKWELL WAS FURIOUS WHEN HE FOUND OUT.

ARMSTRONG, UNAWARE OF THE DOUBLE CROSS, WENT ON TOUR WITH COLLINS.

IN APRIL OF 1931, ARMSTRONG WAS IN CHICAGO, PLAYING AT A CLUB CALLED THE SHOWBOAT, WHEN A MYSTERIOUS GUNMAN APPEARED IN HIS DRESSING ROOM TO "PERSUADE" HIM TO BOARD THE TRAIN FOR NEW YORK RIGHT AWAY.

HIS REAL AGENT, TOMMY ROCKWELL, HAD PROMISED DUTCH SCHULTZ THAT ARMSTRONG WOULD PLAY AGAIN AT CONNIE'S INN, AND DUTCH SCHULTZ DIDN'T LIKE TO BE DISAPPOINTED.

ARMSTRONG ASSURED THE GUNMAN HE WOULD SHOW UP AT THE STATION AS ORDERED... THEN SLIPPED OUT OF TOWN WITH COLLINS INSTEAD.

NOBODY WAS GOING TO TELL LOUIS ARMSTRONG WHERE HE HAD TO PLAY.

Giddins: I THINK A LOT OF PEOPLE WOULD HAVE ASSUMED THAT A BLACK ENTERTAINER WOULD HAVE SAID, "OH, OK," YOU KNOW, "I'LL BE THERE.

WHAT TIME?"

ARMSTRONG HAD NO INTENTION OF THAT.

HE ASKED THEM WHERE AND WHEN, THEY TOLD HIM, AND THEN HE JUST LEFT TOWN.

HE WAS A MAN EXTREMELY SELF-POSSESSED.

I KNOW THAT'S NOT THE POPULAR PICTURE, BUT THE MORE YOU LEARN ABOUT LOUIS ARMSTRONG, THE MORE YOU REALIZE JUST HOW SELF-POSSESSED HE WAS, AND HOW SURE HE WAS, AND HOW BRAVE HE WAS.

HE NEVER PLAYED CHICAGO AND HE NEVER PLAYED NEW YORK UNTIL THE GANGSTER ERA WAS OVER.

AND HE WAS ON THE RUN, YOU COULD SAY, FOR TWO YEARS.

[TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWING] Narrator: LATER THAT SPRING, COLLINS BOOKED ARMSTRONG INTO HIS OLD HOMETOWN OF NEW ORLEANS.

ARMSTRONG WASN'T SURE WHAT KIND OF RECEPTION HE WOULD GET... [BAND PLAYING WEARY BLUES] BUT WHEN HIS TRAIN PULLED INTO THE SAME STATION FROM WHICH HE HAD LEFT 9 YEARS EARLIER TO JOIN JOE OLIVER IN CHICAGO, 8 MARCHING BANDS AND A CHEERING, INTEGRATED CROWD MET THE TRAIN.

"ALL IN ALL," ARMSTRONG RECALLED YEARS LATER, "I THINK THAT DAY WAS THE HAPPIEST DAY IN MY LIFE."

HE VISITED THE COLORED WAIF'S HOME, WHERE HE HAD LEARNED TO PLAY THE CORNET AS A BOY; DELIGHTED IN A LOUIS ARMSTRONG CIGAR, SPECIALLY MANUFACTURED IN HIS HONOR; AND OUTFITTED A BASEBALL TEAM-- LOUIS ARMSTRONG'S SECRET NINE.

HE ALSO BROADCAST FROM THE SUBURBAN GARDENS, A BIG RESTAURANT ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF TOWN.

ONLY WHITES WERE ALLOWED INSIDE, BUT THOUSANDS OF BLACKS GATHERED ALONG THE RIVERBANK, IN THE DARKNESS, TO HEAR THEIR HERO PLAY.

[WEARY BLUESPLAYING] Man: THE VERY FACT THAT THE BEST JAZZ PLAYERS BARELY MADE A LIVING-- WERE BARRED FROM ALL PLAYING JOBS IN RADIO AND IN MOST NIGHTCLUBS--ENRAGED ME.

TO BRING RECOGNITION TO THE NEGRO'S SUPREMACY IN JAZZ WAS THE MOST EFFECTIVE AND CONSTRUCTIVE FORM OF SOCIAL PROTEST I COULD THINK OF.

JOHN HAMMOND [DOWN GEORGIA WAYPLAYING] Narrator: JOHN HENRY HAMMOND, JR. COULDN'T CARRY A TUNE, NOR DID HE OWN A RECORD COMPANY OR RUN A NIGHTCLUB.

BUT HE WAS CENTRAL TO THE HISTORY OF JAZZ, AND WITHOUT HIM, A HOST OF MUSICIANS, BOTH BLACK AND WHITE, MIGHT NEVER HAVE ACHIEVED FAME.

HE WAS BORN IN 1910, THE PAMPERED SON OF PRIVILEGE.

THE GREAT-GRANDSON OF THE RAILROAD KING CORNELIUS VANDERBILT, HE WAS RAISED IN A NEW YORK MANSION WITH 16 SERVANTS AND A BALLROOM THAT COULD HOLD 250 GUESTS.

AT THE AGE OF 12, HAMMOND HEARD HIS FIRST LIVE JAZZ... AND WAS ENTRANCED.

HE STARTED COLLECTING RECORDS, BEGAN SLIPPING OFF TO HARLEM SPEAKEASIES AT 17 TO SIP LEMONADE AND LISTEN TO BLACK BANDS... AND FINALLY DROPPED OUT OF YALE TO TRY WHAT ONLY A HANDFUL OF PEOPLE HAD DONE-- WRITE SERIOUSLY ABOUT JAZZ AND SOCIETY.

TO MANY YOUNG AMERICANS LIKE HAMMOND, THE DESPAIR THE DEPRESSION CAUSED SEEMED TO SIGNAL AN END TO THE CAPITALIST SYSTEM ITSELF AND COMPELLED THEM TO RE-EVALUATE EVERY ASPECT OF AMERICAN LIFE, INCLUDING RACE RELATIONS.

Man: IT WAS DEPRESSION ERA, MIND YOU, AND THEY WERE PRETTY MUCH LEFTIST IN THEIR FEELINGS AND THEIR POLITICS AND SO ON, SO THEY APPROACHED JAZZ WITH THIS IN MIND, AND THAT THE BLACK MUSICIAN WHO, AFTER 300 YEARS OF MALTREATMENT IN AMERICA, IT'S TIME WE OPEN THE DOORS AND WINDOWS AND RECOGNIZE THAT THEY CREATED A GREAT ART.

Man: I SUPPOSE I COULD BEST BE DESCRIBED AS A NEW YORK SOCIAL DISSIDENT, FINALLY FREE TO EXPRESS MY DISAGREEMENT WITH THE SOCIAL SYSTEM I WAS BORN INTO AND WHICH MOST OF MY CONTEMPORARIES ACCEPTED AS A MATTER OF COURSE.

THE STRONGEST MOTIVATION FOR MY DISSENT WAS JAZZ.

I HEARD NO COLOR IN THE MUSIC.

JOHN HAMMOND [DOWN SOUTH CAMP MEETING PLAYING] Narrator: AT AGE 21, JOHN HAMMOND HORRIFIED HIS FAMILY BY DEMANDING THAT HIS NAME BE DELETED FROM THE SOCIAL REGISTER, MOVED TO GREENWICH VILLAGE, AND SET OUT IMMEDIATELY TO LOCATE AND RECORD BLACK MUSICIANS HE BELIEVED HAD NOT RECEIVED THE ATTENTION THEY DESERVED.

HAMMOND HELPED BUY A LOWER EAST SIDE THEATER SO THAT JOBLESS MUSICIANS OF ANY RACE WOULD HAVE A DIGNIFIED PLACE TO PLAY WHAT HE CALLED "AUTHENTIC JAZZ."

HE ORGANIZED JAM SESSIONS ON LOCAL RADIO, PAYING MUSICIANS $10 A SESSION PLUS CARFARE OUT OF HIS OWN POCKET TO MAKE IT WORTH THEIR WHILE.

WHEN HE COULDN'T FIND AN AMERICAN RECORDING COMPANY WILLING TO RECORD HIS DISCOVERIES, HE TALKED A BRITISH LABEL INTO DOING IT INSTEAD.

AND NIGHT AFTER NIGHT, JOHN HAMMOND SCOURED HARLEM CLUBS FOR STILL MORE TALENT.

Man: JOHN HAMMOND-- ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE I EVER MET.

HE JUST FELL IN LOVE WITH JAZZ SO MUCH.

WITHOUT JOHN HAMMOND, I DON'T-- THERE WOULD HAVE BEEN JAZZ, BUT A LOT OF PEOPLE WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN DISCOVERED AND HEARD.

BUT MOSTLY, IT'S THE ENTHUSIASM OF THIS KID-- YOUNG KID, YOUNG GUY-- FROM A WHOLLY DIFFERENT ASPECT OF SOCIETY, THE OPPOSITE END OF IT, YOU KNOW.

I MEAN, FIFTH AVENUE, RIVERSIDE, WAY BACK IN THOSE DAYS.

SERVANTS ALL AROUND THE LOT-- LEAVING IT.

THIS WHITE GUY, ALL ALONE IN THE COMMUNITY-- HE'D GO RIGHT IN, AND THEY WELCOMED HIM, OF COURSE.

THEY LOVED HIM.

Narrator: COLEMAN HAWKINS, FLETCHER HENDERSON, TEDDY WILSON, BENNY GOODMAN, COUNT BASIE, CHARLIE CHRISTIAN, BILLIE HOLIDAY-- SOME OF THE BEST MUSICIANS IN JAZZ WOULD SEE THEIR CAREERS ADVANCED WITH JOHN HAMMOND'S HELP.

[CLOUDSPLAYING] AS THE MISERY OF THE DEPRESSION SPREAD TO EVERY PART OF THE COUNTRY, MEMBERSHIP IN THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF MUSICIANS FELL BY 1/3.

EVEN AFTER THEIR DUES WERE CUT IN HALF, MANY MUSICIANS COULD NO LONGER PAY THEM.

EVEN THE BLUES NO LONGER SEEMED TO EASE THE PAIN.

"NOBODY WANTS TO HEAR THE BLUES NO MORE," BESSIE SMITH SAID.

"TIMES IS HARD."

THE TRUMPET PLAYER MAX KAMINSKY AND HIS FRIEND, GUITARIST EDDIE CONDON, WERE LOCKED OUT OF THEIR MANHATTAN HOTEL ROOM IN MID-WINTER FOR FAILING TO PAY THEIR RENT.

"WE GNAWED AT EACH OTHER'S WRISTS," CONDON RECALLED.

"WE BLED TO DEATH IN THOSE YEARS."

WHEN KAMINSKY WAS FINALLY LUCKY ENOUGH TO LAND A JOB, HE FOUND HIMSELF RUNNING HIS OWN BREAD LINE EVERY EVENING, PASSING OUT 50-CENT PIECES TO MUSICIANS LESS FORTUNATE THAN HE.

I, FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT... Narrator: IN MARCH OF 1933, FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT WAS INAUGURATED PRESIDENT, PLEDGED TO A "NEW DEAL" FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.

ECONOMIC RECOVERY MIGHT TAKE YEARS, BUT SPIRITS COULD BE RAISED RIGHT AWAY.

PROHIBITION WAS REPEALED.

[THROWING STONES AT THE SUN PLAYING] Man: THE SPEAKEASIES UNLOCKED THEIR DOORS, AND FRESH AIR HIT THE CUSTOMERS FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 13 YEARS.

THE FIRST FLOOD OF LEGAL LIQUOR WAS SO BAD, EVERYONE WISHED PROHIBITION WAS BACK.

NIGHTCLUBS OPENED ON 52nd STREET LIKE POPCORN.

THE ONYX WENT ACROSS THE STREET.

LEON & EDDIE'S, TONY'S, 21, 18, AND REILLY'S TOOK OFF THE LOCKS AND SHOWED LIGHTS.

EDDIE CONDON Narrator: BUT WHEN SPEAKEASIES REOPENED AS LEGAL NIGHTCLUBS, BUSINESS WAS POOR.

WITH NEIGHBORHOOD LIQUOR STORES NOW OPEN, PEOPLE COULD SAVE MONEY BY DRINKING AT HOME.

TO GET BACK THEIR CUSTOMERS, NIGHTCLUBS NEEDED TO OFFER NEW EXCITEMENT AND NEW DISTRACTIONS.

BILLY ROSE, A NOISY ENTREPRENEUR AND SHOWMAN, ANNOUNCED PLANS TO OPEN AN ESPECIALLY LAVISH CLUB, COMPLETE WITH NUDE DANCERS, MIDGETS, A WATERFALL, AND ROOM FOR 1,000 PATRONS.

ROSE ALSO WANTED A WHITE DANCE BAND, AND 23-YEAR-OLD BENNY GOODMAN WAS DETERMINED TO PROVIDE IT.

[PLAYING CALIFORNIA ECHOES] IT HAD BEEN 8 YEARS SINCE GOODMAN HAD LEFT HIS IMMIGRANT PARENTS ON THE WEST SIDE OF CHICAGO TO BECOME A FULL-TIME, PROFESSIONAL MUSICIAN.

HE HAD GROWN UP FAST IN THE BEN POLLACK BAND, BEST KNOWN FOR THE SWEET DANCE MUSIC IT PLAYED AND THE HARD-DRINKING GOOD TIMES ITS STARS ENJOYED BETWEEN ENGAGEMENTS.

GOODMAN HAD EARNED A REPUTATION AS A FINE CLARINETIST, BUT THE DESPERATE POVERTY OF HIS CHILDHOOD HAD HELPED MAKE HIM FIERCELY AMBITIOUS.

HE WAS ACCUSED OF GRABBING TOO MANY SOLOS, AND WAS ONCE CAUGHT TRYING TO BOOK THE BEN POLLACK BAND...

WITHOUT BEN POLLACK.

AFTER POLLACK FIRED HIM, GOODMAN BECAME ONE OF NEW YORK'S MOST SUCCESSFUL STUDIO MUSICIANS, ABLE AT A MOMENT'S NOTICE TO PLAY ANY KIND OF MUSIC ON RECORDS OR ON THE RADIO.

Man: YOU MUST REMEMBER, WE HAD ANOTHER WORLD AT THAT TIME.

THERE WAS NO TELEVISION.

THERE WAS RADIO.

IT WAS THE ONLY MASS MEDIUM.

AND IF YOU WANTED TO PLAY FOR A LIVING, YOU HAD TO PLAY EXECRABLE MUSIC.

MUSIC WAS REALLY DREADFUL, SOMETHING THAT SICKENED YOU, BECAUSE YOU WERE SELLING AUTOMOBILES, YOU WERE SELLING SOAP, YOU WERE SELLING EVERYTHING BUT MUSIC.

THE MUSIC WAS THE WAY TO GET AN AUDIENCE TO LISTEN...OSTENSIBLY, AND THEN YOU COULD SELL THEM STUFF.

THAT WAS WHAT RADIO WAS ABOUT.

[GET HAPPYPLAYING] Narrator: DESPITE THE MODEST SUCCESS HE HAD FOUND IN THE MIDST OF HARD TIMES, BENNY GOODMAN HAD GROWN DISSATISFIED WITH THE KIND OF MUSIC HE WAS MOST OFTEN HIRED TO PLAY.

"NONE OF US HAD MUCH USE FOR COMMERCIAL MUSICIANS," HE REMEMBERED.

GOODMAN HAD SOMETHING ELSE IN MIND, SOMETHING FAR MORE CHALLENGING, AND, LIKE JOHN HAMMOND, HE HAUNTED THE CLUBS OF HARLEM, ABSORBING EVERYTHING HE HEARD.

BENNY GOODMAN REALLY WAS DRIVEN, AND HE'S AN EXAMPLE OF A MUSICIAN WHO-- HE WANTED TO BE THE BEST.

HE WANTED TO HAVE THE BEST BAND.

HE WANTED TO DO WHATEVER IT WAS GOING TO TAKE TO LEARN HOW TO PLAY AND BE ON A VERY HIGH LEVEL.

Narrator: INSPIRED BY CHICK WEBB AND FLETCHER HENDERSON, GOODMAN BEGAN TO ROUND UP YOUNG WHITE MUSICIANS WHO SHARED HIS PASSION FOR WHAT HE CALLED "GENUINE JAZZ," INCLUDING TRUMPET PLAYER BUNNY BERIGAN; A HARD-DRIVING DRUMMER FROM CHICAGO NAMED GENE KRUPA; AND A YOUNG SINGER, HELEN WARD.

IT WAS HER ATTRACTIVE PRESENCE THAT FINALLY PERSUADED BILLY ROSE TO HIRE BENNY GOODMAN'S BAND FOR HIS NEW NIGHTCLUB.

Maher: THEY HAD A LOT OF FUN THAT SUMMER.

IT WAS NEW, IT WAS FRESH.

AND THE THING THAT HAPPENED WAS THE LAST NIGHT OF THE BILLY ROSE ENGAGEMENT.

A MAN CAME IN FROM AN ADVERTISING AGENCY AND HEARD BENNY AND INVITED HIM TO AUDITION FOR AN EXTRAORDINARY THING THAT NOBODY HAD EVER TRIED-- A 3-HOUR RADIO SHOW ENTIRELY MADE UP OF MUSIC.

AND WHEN?

ON SATURDAY NIGHT.

BOY, WHAT A BREAK, YOU KNOW?

Narrator: IN THE AUTUMN OF 1934, THE NATIONAL BROADCASTING COMPANY PLANNED A NEW SATURDAY NIGHT RADIO PROGRAM CALLED LET'S DANCE.

THEY NEEDED 3 BANDS: ONE TO PLAY RHUMBAS, ONE TO PLAY SWEET DANCE MUSIC, AND ONE TO PLAY THE NEW, HOT KIND OF SWING MUSIC-- THE KIND OF MUSIC BENNY GOODMAN WANTED TO PLAY.

Collier: THE AUDITION FOR THE LET'S DANCESHOW WAS HELD IN THE AGENCY.

THEY PIPED THE MUSIC INTO THE OFFICES, AND THEY HAD ALL THE YOUNG SECRETARIES AND OFFICE BOYS-- THE YOUNG PEOPLE WHO WERE WORKING IN THE AGENCY-- GET UP AND DANCE, AND THEY'D ASK THEM WHICH BANDS THEY LIKED BEST AND WHICH ONES THEY DIDN'T.

THEY ENDED UP VOTING... AND THE BENNY GOODMAN BAND WON BY ONE VOTE OF THESE KIDS, SO BENNY GOT THE JOB.

Narrator: BUT GOODMAN HAD A PROBLEM.

HE DIDN'T HAVE A BIG ENOUGH OR GOOD ENOUGH BOOK-- A SET OF ARRANGEMENTS TO FILL ALL THE HOURS HE WAS EXPECTED TO PLAY ON THE RADIO.

HE EXPLAINED HIS PROBLEM TO A FRIEND, THE SINGER MILDRED BAILEY.

Maher: MILDRED SAID TO BENNY, "BENNY, THE BAND SOUNDS JUST GREAT.

ONE PROBLEM: "IT SOUNDS LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE-- JUST SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD BAND.

YOU'VE GOT TO HAVE A PERSONAL IDENTITY."

AND SHE SAID TO HIM, OUT OF THE BLUE, SHE SAID, "WHY DON'T YOU GET A HARLEM BOOK?"

WELL, JOHN IS STANDING THERE-- JOHN HAMMOND--AND HE'S IN ON THIS CONVERSATION.

HE HAD THE ACCESS, AND HE KNEW IMMEDIATELY WHAT TO DO.

HE WENT AND GOT FLETCHER HENDERSON.

Narrator: HENDERSON'S OWN BAND HAD FALLEN ON HARD TIMES, AND HE WAS HAPPY TO SELL HIS OLD ARRANGEMENTS-- HIS BOOK--TO GOODMAN AND TO WRITE NEW ONES FOR HIM, AS WELL.

BENNY WAS A MANDARIN.

UH, HE BELIEVED THAT THE BAND SHOULD BE PERFECT.

HE DIDN'T HAVE THE BEST SOLOISTS.

HIS SOLOISTS WEREN'T NEARLY AS GOOD AS FLETCHER HENDERSON'S SOLOISTS.

BUT THE ENSEMBLE WAS SPIT-AND-POLISH.

SO HENDERSON LOVED WRITING FOR GOODMAN BECAUSE HE COULD HEAR HIS ARRANGEMENTS PLAYED, YOU KNOW, THE WAY HE IMAGINED THEM.

Narrator: GOODMAN USED OTHER ARRANGERS, WHITE AS WELL AS BLACK, BUT WITHOUT FLETCHER HENDERSON, GOODMAN SAID, HE WOULD HAVE HAD "A PRETTY GOOD BAND, BUT SOMETHING QUITE DIFFERENT FROM WHAT IT TURNED OUT TO BE."

Marsalis: THE TYPE OF ARRANGEMENTS THAT BENNY GOODMAN WOULD GET FROM FLETCHER HENDERSON-- THE CLASSIC ONE IS KING PORTER STOMP.

YOU HAVE THE STRONG BOTTOM RHYTHM--DOOM, DOOM, DOOM.

UM, YOU KNOW, YOU HAVE... ♪ DIDDLY DOO DEE LEE DOO DEE DIP DEE DOO ♪ "D" RIFF... ♪ DIP BOO DEE DOO DIDDLE OODLE LOO ♪ ♪ DIP BOO DIT DIT DOODLE LIT DIT DOO ♪ SYNCOPATION... ♪ DIT BEE DIT BIT BOO DIDDLE DOODLEOO DEEDLE OODLE LA ♪ [KING PORTER STOMPPLAYING] Narrator: A WHITE BANDLEADER WAS NOW BROADCASTING THE KIND OF SWING MUSIC THAT HAD FIRST BEEN PLAYED AT THE SAVOY AND ROSELAND BALLROOMS.

Man: I THINK BENNY GOODMAN WAS THE MAN WHO STARTED OUTSIDE AND WAS ATTRACTED TO SOMETHING HE HEARD INSIDE AND CAME INSIDE HIMSELF, SAW WHAT WAS GOING ON, AND PICKED UP THE NEAREST THING AND JOINED IN.

HE EXPERIENCED IN HIS OWN PERSON THE TRUE WELCOME THAT'S AT THE ROOT OF JAZZ.

FOR HIM TO CROSS THE THRESHOLD WAS EASY BECAUSE JAZZ MADE IT EASY.

Narrator: BENNY GOODMAN'S REPUTATION BEGAN TO GROW.

SOON, MANY YOUNG AMERICANS WERE PLANNING THEIR SATURDAY NIGHTS AROUND THE LET'S DANCE RADIO SHOW.

Man: I WOULD BE STUDYING PATHOLOGY--I WAS IN MED SCHOOL AT THE TIME-- AND I DROPPED MY BOOKS SATURDAY NIGHT AT 12:00 MIDNIGHT AND PUT THAT SHOW ON.

FORGET ABOUT PATHOLOGY.

I GAVE MY GOOD CELLS A CHANCE TO WORK OUT JUST LISTENING TO THAT KIND OF MUSIC.

IT WAS FABULOUS, JUST WONDERFUL.

Narrator: SINCE THE SHOW'S LISTENERS LOVED POPULAR TUNES, GOODMAN PERSUADED HENDERSON TO WRITE NEW ARRANGEMENTS OF FAMILIAR FAVORITES.

Maher: THE BAND WAS FAMOUS FOR ITS PRECISION IN INTONATION, IN EXECUTION, IN TIME VALUES.

IF FLETCHER HENDERSON HAD WRITTEN A TRIPLET, YOU GOT AN EVEN TRIPLET.

BUT FLETCHER STARTED WRITING ARRANGEMENTS OF POPULAR TUNES OF THE DAY... THAT WE ALL KNEW, THAT WE WHISTLED, THAT WE SANG-- IN THE SHOWER, GENERALLY-- AND HAD A LOT OF FUN WITH, SO THAT THIS WAS OUR LANGUAGE.

IT WAS NOT AN ESOTERIC LANGUAGE BEING PLAYED BY 6 GUYS IN A CELLAR SOMEWHERE.

THIS WAS POPULAR MUSIC.

Man: WHO'S THAT WALKING AROUND HERE?

Narrator: ONE EVENING, FATS WALLER WAS PLAYING IN A NEW YORK CLUB WHEN HE HEARD A STIR IN THE AUDIENCE.

A LARGE, HEAVY MAN WAS MAKING HIS WAY AMONG THE TABLES.

WALLER STOPPED PLAYING.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN," HE SAID, "I JUST PLAY THE PIANO, BUT GOD IS IN THE HOUSE."

THEN HE LEFT THE PIANO BENCH SO THAT ART TATUM COULD TAKE OVER.

[PLAYING TINY'S EXERCISE] Narrator: TATUM WAS FROM TOLEDO, OHIO.

HE BEGAN PICKING OUT TUNES ON THE PIANO AT 3 AND STUDIED AT THE TOLEDO CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC.

HE WAS TOTALLY BLIND IN ONE EYE AND VERY NEARLY SIGHTLESS IN THE OTHER.

Man: HE COULDN'T SEE ALL THAT WELL.

HE COULD SEE A LITTLE BIT OUT OF ONE EYE, LIKE THIS EYE.

IF HE RAISED HIS HEAD, HE MIGHT RECOGNIZE YOU, YOU KNOW, BUT THIS ONE WAS TOTALLY GONE.

AND HIS MOTHER BOUGHT HIM A PIANO ROLL MADE BY TWO PEOPLE.

AND HE DIDN'T KNOW IT WAS MADE BY TWO PEOPLE, SO HE LEARNED IT-- HA HA HA HA-- AND, WITH TWO HANDS, PLAYED THIS PIANO ROLL.

HA HA HA!

OH, ART TATUM, I MEAN, WHEN YOU HEAR-- THE FIRST TIME I HEARD ART TATUM, I THOUGHT I WAS LISTENING TO 4 GUYS--4 PEOPLE!

THAT'S WHAT IT SOUNDED LIKE.

I MEAN, YOU COULDN'T EVEN SEE WHAT HE WAS DOING.

HE WAS ABSOLUTELY UNBELIEVABLE.

Narrator: TATUM HAD A MEMORY FOR MELODY SO PRECISE THAT HE RARELY HAD TO HEAR A TUNE MORE THAN ONCE TO PLAY IT BACK WITH EMBELLISHMENTS, AND AN EAR FOR PITCH SO UNCANNY, HE COULD TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A PENNY AND A DIME DROPPED ON A TABLE BY THE SOUND IT MADE.

[THREE LITTLE WORDSPLAYING] TATUM GOT TO NEW YORK IN 1932 AND SOON FOUND HIMSELF BEING CHALLENGED BY THE 3 MOST RESPECTED PIANISTS IN TOWN: JAMES P. JOHNSON, WILLIE "THE LION" SMITH, AND FATS WALLER.

THEY MET AT A HARLEM CLUB CALLED MORGAN'S.

JOHNSON, SMITH, AND WALLER EACH PLAYED A FAVORITE NUMBER.

EACH TIME, ART TATUM PLAYED IT BETTER.

"HE WAS JUST TOO GOOD," FATS WALLER REMEMBERED.

WHEN TATUM PLAYED THE POPULAR HIT THREE LITTLE WORDS, ANOTHER VANQUISHED PIANO PLAYER SAID, "IT WAS MORE LIKE3,000 WORDS."

[THREE LITTLE WORDSENDS] [APPLAUSE] [TOO MARVELOUS FOR WORDS PLAYING] Narrator: TATUM INFLUENCED EVERY KIND OF MUSICIAN.

"GUYS MIGHT NOT REALIZE IT," THE TRUMPET PLAYER ROY ELDRIDGE REMEMBERED, "BUT AFTER THEY HEARD ART, HE WAS ALWAYS WITH THEM "IN THE WAY THEY THOUGHT ABOUT IMPROVISING.

HE WAS THE INVISIBLE MAN OF JAZZ."

Giddins: HIS VIRTUOSITY IS AWESOME.

I MEAN, YOU CAN'T GET BEYOND IT, AND IT'S PART OF THE DELIGHT THAT WE HAVE IN HIS MUSIC, IS TO HEAR THOSE RIPPLING ARPEGGIOS WITH ALL THESE CHORDS COMING IN.

YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE THEY'RE GOING TO STOP-- I MEAN, ARPEGGIOS THAT GO ON FOR 8 MEASURES AND THEN STOP EXACTLY ON THE BEAT.

YOU KNOW, EVERY TIME I HEAR SOME OF THOSE RECORDS, I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE THAT HE'S GOING TO MAKE IT.

Narrator: TATUM'S WHOLE LIFE WAS MUSIC.

HE DID PLAY A LITTLE PINOCHLE, USING A SPECIAL LIGHT TO SQUINT AT HIS HAND, LOVED TO DRINK QUART AFTER QUART OF PABST BLUE RIBBON BEER, AND HAD AN ENCYCLOPEDIC MEMORY FOR BASEBALL STATISTICS.

OTHERWISE, HE WAS AT THE PIANO, PLAYING AT ONE CLUB AND THEN MOVING ON TO CLOSE ANOTHER... AND ANOTHER...

FINALLY FALLING ASLEEP FOR A FEW HOURS BEFORE STARTING IN AGAIN.

[TOO MARVELOUS FOR WORDSENDS] [APPLAUSE] [SHANGHAI SHUFFLEPLAYING] [HORN HONKS] Davis: ONE OF THE THINGS I LOOKED FORWARD TO WHEN I FIRST GOT TO NEW YORK WAS EXPERIENCING EVERYTHING THAT HARLEM HAD MEANT TO ME FROM ALL THE STORIES I HAD HEARD.

THERE WAS THE APOLLO, THERE WAS THE RENAISSANCE, AND THERE WAS THE SAVOY.

AND THE SAVOY WAS A PALACE OF DANCE.

I NEVER QUITE MANAGED ALL OF THE DYNAMICS.

AND I REMEMBER BEING ON THE FLOOR, HAVING PICKED UP SOME CHARMING YOUNG LADY WHO MIGHT, YOU KNOW, BE WORKING OUT ON THE ISLAND, AND DANCING WITH HER.

AND, OF COURSE, I HAD IMBIBED OF SOME OF THE JUICE, AND I REMEMBER THROWING THE GIRL OUT... AND SOMETIMES, THE GIRL NEVER CAME BACK.

[LAUGHING] Miller: AND EVERYBODY CAME TO DANCE.

SWING HAS A MARVELOUS THING OF BRINGING PEOPLE TOGETHER.

OH, YOU SAID IT.

IT BROUGHT SHE AND I TOGETHER.

WE HAD WHITE DANCERS IN THE SAVOY BALLROOM.

OH, YEAH, LINDY-HOPPING.

AND I'M TELLING YOU, THEY WERE GOOD.

OH, MAN, WERE THEY EVER!

THEY WERE SO GOOD THAT YOU WANTED TO HIM 'EM.

[LAUGHING] BUT, SEE, THAT WAS SUCH AN AMERICAN THING.

WE HAD ITALIAN BOYS THAT USED TO COME FROM THE BRONX, YOU HAD THE JEWISH BOYS THAT COME FROM BROOKLYN... AND THIS MELTING POT OF EVERYBODY TRYING TO OUTDANCE EACH OTHER.

WE DIDN'T KNOW HOW RICH WE WERE IN RELATIONSHIPS.

BUT 50 YEARS AGO, WHEN WE LOOK BACK, WE REALIZE WE HAD A WONDERFUL THING GOING WITH ALL RACES, AND THAT'S WHAT MADE THE SAVOY SO... A WONDERFUL PLACE.

SUCH A WONDERFUL PLACE TO BE, RIGHT.

[HORNS HONKING] [IT DON'T MEAN A THING IF IT AIN'T GOT THAT SWINGPLAYING] Narrator: DUKE ELLINGTON WAS MOVING FAR BEYOND THE"JUNGLE MUSIC" THAT HAD FIRST MADE HIM FAMOUS.

HE WAS CONSTANTLY ON THE ROAD NOW, PERFORMING HITS THAT SEEMED TO FLOW EFFORTLESSLY FROM HIS PEN-- MOOD INDIGO, SOPHISTICATED LADY, SOLITUDE,AND IT DON'T MEAN A THING IF IT AIN'T GOT THAT SWING, RECORDED WITH THE BAND'S BRILLIANT NEW SINGER, IVY ANDERSON.

THERE WERE RADIO BROADCASTS, THEATER APPEARANCES, FORMAL CONCERTS AS WELL AS ONE-NIGHTERS, AND MORE MOVIES FEATURING THE BAND.

Woman: A BAND LIKE ELLINGTON'S HAD SO LEFT THE DEGRADING ASPECTS OF MINSTRELSY BEHIND.

THEY WERE ESSENTIALLY CREATING, YOU KNOW, THIS WONDERFUL PALETTE OF AMERICAN STYLES THAT YOU WERE SEEING ONLY CREATED BY WHITES IN THE MOVIES.

THEY'RE MATINEE IDOLS, THEY'RE GREAT ACTORS, THEY ARE EMBODYING THIS STRANGE, MULTI-STYLIZED AMERICAN CHIC.

AND, YOU KNOW, GOD, HOW COULD YOU, AS A BLACK PERSON, NOT FIND THIS UTTERLY THRILLING?

[IVY ANDERSON SINGING SCAT] Jefferson: THEY'RE MAKING EVERY ASPECT OF AMERICAN STYLE THEIR OWN.

Anderson: ♪ IT DON'T MEAN A THING ♪ ♪IF IT AIN'T GOT THAT SWING ♪ Man: ONE OF THE INTERESTING IRONIES ABOUT ELLINGTON, WHEN HE AND HIS BAND WOULD COME TO TOWN-- HALF THE PEOPLE WOULD NOT DANCE.

THESE PEOPLE WERE SO IMPRESSED WITH WHAT ELLINGTON WAS DOING TO THE MUSIC, THAT THEY'D DRESS UP AND JUST SIT, YOU KNOW?

AND DUKE WANTED THEM TO DANCE, TOO.

BUT PEOPLE WOULD SAY, "I'LL BUY THE RECORD AND DANCE TO THAT AT HOME, BUT HE'S PRESENT."

SO IT WAS LIKE A SACRED EVENT.

[BLACK BEAUTYPLAYING] Man: NOBODY IN MY FAMILY HAD A TUXEDO.

HERE ALL THESE GENTLEMEN HAD ON THESE TUXEDOS, SO IT WAS MY INSPIRATION TO WANT TO BE-- THIS IS WHERE I WANT TO BE.

IF MUSIC WAS GOING TO TAKE ME THERE, THIS IS WHAT I WANTED TO DO, HOW I WANTED TO GO.

Narrator: FOR MILLIONS OF BLACK AMERICANS STRUGGLING JUST TO SURVIVE DURING THE DEPRESSION, DUKE ELLINGTON WOULD ALWAYS REPRESENT THE VERY BEST.

Giddins: I THINK THAT ONE OF THE THINGS THAT WE LOOK TO ART FOR IS TO GIVE US A SENSE OF COMMUNITY AND WHO WE ARE, WHO THE OTHER IS, TO MAKE THE OTHER LESS "OTHER."

FOR EXAMPLE, IN THE 1930s, I THINK THE POPULARITY OF PEOPLE LIKE JACK BENNY AND GROUCHO MARX MADE THE WHOLE COUNTRY A LITTLE BIT JEWISH.

AND I THINK THAT JAZZ CERTAINLY MAKES THE WHOLE COUNTRY MORE THAN A LITTLE BIT AFRICAN-AMERICAN.

BUT ELLINGTON, SPECIFICALLY-- WHEN YOU LISTEN TO A PIECE LIKE SEPIA PANORAMA... [HUMMING] THE WHOLE WAY IT OPENS UP, OR BLACK BEAUTY, ONE OF THE LOVELIEST MELODIES IN AMERICAN MUSIC, NO LYRIC, YOU THINK THAT BEING AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN MUST BE THE GRANDEST STATE THAT A HUMAN BEING COULD ACHIEVE.

THERE'S A SENSE OF PATRIOTISM THAT ELLINGTON BRINGS TO IT.

NO PROTESTS, NO SENSE OF IRONY OR SARCASM OR BITTERNESS...

BUT JUST A SENSE OF WONDER AND DELIGHT AND TREMENDOUS PRIDE.

[MOOD INDIGOPLAYING] Narrator: IN 1933, ELLINGTON WENT ON TOUR IN EUROPE AND ENGLAND.

IT WAS A TRIUMPH.

ONE BRITISH CRITIC DECLARED THAT ELLINGTON'S MUSIC POSSESSED "A TRULY SHAKESPEAREAN UNIVERSALITY."

"GIRLS WEPT," HE SAID, "AND YOUNG CHAPS SANK TO THEIR KNEES."

Man: "HOW CAN I DESCRIBE THE UNBELIEVABLE SPECTACLE I HAVE JUST BEHELD AT THE PALLADIUM?"

"I'M NOT ASHAMED TO SAY THAT I CRIED DURING THE PLAYING OF MOOD INDIGO."

"HERE WAS A MUSIC FAR REMOVED "FROM THE ABRACADABRA OF SYMPHONY.

"HERE WAS A TENUOUS MELODIC LINE "WHICH DISTILLED FROM THE EMOTIONS "ALL HERITAGE OF HUMAN SORROW, WHICH LIES DEEP IN EVERY ONE OF US."

THE LONDON ERA [SONG ENDS, APPLAUSE] [DROP ME OFF IN HARLEMPLAYING] Narrator: BACK HOME, THE BAND MADE A 12-WEEK TOUR OF THE SOUTH.

IT, TOO, WAS A TRIUMPH.

THE MUSIC CRITIC OF THE DALLAS NEWSCALLED ELLINGTON "SOMETHING OF AN AFRICAN STRAVINSKY," WHO HAD "ERASED THE COLOR LINE" BETWEEN JAZZ AND CLASSICAL MUSIC.

BUT BLACK FANS HAD TO HEAR HIM FROM THE BALCONY OF THE THEATERS HE PLAYED, AND WHITE HOTELS AND RESTAURANTS EXCLUDED HIM AND HIS BAND.

DAISY ELLINGTON HAD TAUGHT HER SON FROM CHILDHOOD TO OVERLOOK ALL UNPLEASANTNESS.

AFTER HIS SOUTHERN TOUR, RATHER THAN AGAIN SUFFER THE INDIGNITY OF BEING TURNED AWAY FROM HOTELS AND RESTAURANTS, ELLINGTON AND HIS MANAGER, IRVING MILLS, SAW TO IT THAT THE ORCHESTRA TRAVELED IN ITS OWN PRIVATE PULLMAN CARS, EATING AND SLEEPING IN THE RAILROAD YARDS BETWEEN APPEARANCES.

"THE NATIVES WOULD COME BY AND THEY WOULD SAY, WHAT ON EARTH IS THAT?"

ELLINGTON REMEMBERED.

"AND WE WOULD SAY, THAT'S THE WAY THE PRESIDENT TRAVELS.

YOU DO THE VERY BEST WITH WHAT YOU'VE GOT."

[SOLITUDEPLAYING] IN EARLY 1934, DAISY ELLINGTON WAS DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER.

SHE HAD ALWAYS BEEN THE CENTER OF HER SON'S WORLD.

HE SOUGHT OUT THE FINEST SPECIALISTS IN THE COUNTRY, BUT THEY COULD DO NOTHING, AND SHE DIED ON MAY 27, 1935.

FOR HER FUNERAL, HER SON FILLED THE CHURCH WITH 3,000 FLOWERS, AND HE ASKED IRVING MILLS TO BUY THE MOST SPLENDID CASKET IN NEW YORK.

THEN HE COLLAPSED IN GRIEF.

"THE BOTTOM'S OUT OF EVERYTHING," HE SAID.

"I HAVE NO AMBITION LEFT."

HE DRANK HEAVILY, SAW NO ONE, REFUSED TO LEAVE THE APARTMENT THEY HAD SHARED.

Woman: HE STOPPED WRITING.

I THINK HE CONTINUED TO PLAY, OR HE LET THE BAND GO OUT AND PLAY FOR A WEEK OR TWO, BUT HE HIMSELF STOPPED COMPOSING.

HE DIDN'T OPERATE WHEN HIS MOTHER DIED.

HE WAS VERY UPSET WHEN HIS FATHER DIED, BUT WHEN HIS MOTHER DIED, HE WAS TOTALLY SHATTERED... LIKE THE END OF THE WORLD.

[TRAIN WHISTLE] [REMINISCING IN TEMPOPLAYING] Narrator: THEN, SLOWLY, HE BEGAN TO WORK AGAIN... ON A NEW COMPOSITION.

AS HE WROTE AND REWROTE IN HIS TRAIN COMPARTMENT, HE REMEMBERED, TEARS STAINED THE MUSIC SHEETS.

HE CALLED THE PIECE REMINISCING IN TEMPO.

IT WAS A TRIBUTE TO HIS MOTHER, FILLED WITH MELANCHOLY AND CAREFULLY CRAFTED.

EVEN THE SOLOS WERE COMPOSED.

IT WAS THE MOST AMBITIOUS MUSIC HE HAD YET WRITTEN, IN 3 MOVEMENTS, 13 MINUTES LONG, COVERING BOTH SIDES OF TWO RECORDS.

NOTHING LIKE IT HAD EVER BEEN RECORDED BEFORE.

REMINISCING IN TEMPO BAFFLED MOST CRITICS.

SOME CALLED IT PRETENTIOUS AND URGED ELLINGTON TO GO BACK TO 3-MINUTE DANCE TUNES.

JOHN HAMMOND THOUGHT IT A DISASTER, "WITHOUT THE SLIGHTEST SEMBLANCE OF GUTS."

ELLINGTON, HE SAID, HAD "SHUT HIS EYES TO THE ABUSES BEING HEAPED UPON HIS RACE AND HIS ORIGINAL CLASS."

THERE WERE TWO WORLDS OF JAZZ IN THIS SENSE: THERE WAS THE WORLD OF THE MUSICIAN, AND THERE WAS THE WORLD OF THE WRITER/OBSERVER/CRITIC.

THE WRITER/OBSERVER/CRITIC FREQUENTLY IS DEFINING JAZZ, TELLING THE MUSICIAN WHAT HE COULD PLAY, WHAT HE COULDN'T PLAY, OR SHOULD PLAY, OR SHOULDN'T PLAY.

THESE WERE THE PEOPLE WHO ESTABLISHED WHAT IS THE CANON OF JAZZ-- WHO'S GOOD, WHO'S BAD, WHO'S A HERO, WHO'S A BUM, SO FORTH AND SO ON.

I'VE OFTEN WONDERED, MUSICIANS GOING THROUGH THE YEARS READING THIS STUFF MUST HAVE FELT THEY WERE ABSOLUTELY LOST IN A WILDERNESS.

Narrator: FOR HIS PART, ELLINGTON REFUSED TO RESPOND TO HAMMOND... OR ANY CRITIC.

FOR THE NEXT 40 YEARS, HE WOULD CONTINUE TO EXPLORE AND EXPERIMENT, COMPOSING SOME OF THE MOST REMARKABLE MUSIC EVER MADE IN AMERICA.

[TIGER RAGPLAYING] Man: ALBERT EINSTEIN SAYS AS YOU GET CLOSER TO THE SPEED OF LIGHT, THE FASTER YOU GO, THE MORE TIME SLOWS DOWN.

AND IF YOU COULD ACTUALLY GET TO THE SPEED OF LIGHT, THERE'D BE NO TIME.

YOU'D STOP.

AND LOUIS HAD FIGURED THAT OUT IN HIS GUT SOME WAY.

THE FASTER YOU GO, THE MORE RELAXED YOU CAN BE.

JUST RELAXED, HOLDING THE NOTE FOREVER.

NO TIME.

Narrator: IN 1933, LOUIS ARMSTRONG WAS IN EUROPE, STILL TRAVELING, STILL RELUCTANT TO RETURN TO NEW YORK.

HE WAS ACCOMPANIED BY HIS NEW MANAGER, JOHNNY COLLINS, WHO WAS STILL FEUDING WITH HIS OLD BOOKING AGENT TOMMY ROCKWELL AND THE GANGSTER DUTCH SCHULTZ.

ARMSTRONG WAS A SENSATION EVERYWHERE HE WENT-- HOLLAND, BELGIUM, ITALY, SWITZERLAND... AND COPENHAGEN, DENMARK, WHERE 10,000 FANS TURNED OUT TO MEET HIM AT THE RAILROAD STATION.

HE FILLED THE TIVOLI CONCERT HALL 8 EVENINGS IN A ROW.

Glaser: HE IS ABSOLUTELY ON FIRE.

AND IT OCCURRED TO ME THAT IT WAS POSSIBLE-- AND NO ONE WILL TELL ME OTHERWISE, IT'S A FANTASY THAT I TREASURE-- THAT WERNER HEISENBERG COULD HAVE BEEN IN THE AUDIENCE IN COPENHAGEN IN 1933.

HE LIVED IN COPENHAGEN AT THAT TIME, AND IN 1933 HE WON THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR HIS WORK ON QUANTUM MECHANICS.

AND I'VE ALWAYS HAD THIS FANTASY THAT HE AND A COUPLE OF OTHER SCIENTISTS, AFTER A HARD DAY OF WORK ON QUANTUM MECHANICS, WENT OUT THAT NIGHT, HEARD LOUIS ARMSTRONG, AND WERE COMPLETELY BLOWN AWAY, AND REALIZED THAT IN A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT IDIOM, HE EMBODIED EVERYTHING THAT THEY WERE WORKING ON-- PROFOUND NEW IDEAS ABOUT TIME, SPACE, AND THE HUMAN PLACE IN THE COSMOS.

AND THEY SAW LOUIS PLAYING, AND THEY THOUGHT, "WOW, THAT'S IT."

IN A LANGUAGE UTTERLY DIFFERENT THAN THEIR SCIENTIFIC LANGUAGE, THAT'S IT.

Narrator: LIKE ELLINGTON, ARMSTRONG WAS NOW AN INTERNATIONAL STAR, BELOVED ON BOTH SIDES OF THE ATLANTIC.

BUT HIS SUCCESS WAS TAKING A FEARFUL TOLL.

[ST. JAMES INFIRMARYPLAYING] JOHNNY COLLINS HAD TURNED OUT TO BE A DRIVEN, SOMETIMES ABUSIVE TASKMASTER, UTTERLY UNINTERESTED IN HIS CLIENT BEYOND THE MONEY HE COULD MAKE OUT OF OVERBOOKING HIM.

IN ORDER TO MAKE THE HIGH NOTES THAT WERE AMONG HIS SPECIALTIES, ARMSTRONG PLACED ENORMOUS PRESSURE ON HIS LIP.

HE BUILT UP A THICK CALLUS WHICH WAS PRONE TO INFECTION AND INJURY.

IN LONDON IN NOVEMBER OF 1933, HIS LIP GAVE WAY ON STAGE, SPATTERING HIS SHIRT WITH BLOOD.

HE STOPPED PLAYING, MOVED TO PARIS, AND SETTLED INTO A SEMI-RETIREMENT THAT LASTED NEARLY 8 MONTHS.

IN JANUARY OF 1935, AFTER MORE THAN 14 MONTHS IN EUROPE, ARMSTRONG SAILED FOR HOME.

DISASTER SEEMED TO LOOM EVERYWHERE.

HE HAD DISCOVERED THAT JOHNNY COLLINS HAD BEEN CHEATING HIM STEADILY AND FAILING TO PAY HIS INCOME TAXES.

HE FIRED COLLINS, WHO THEN SUED HIM FOR BREACH OF CONTRACT.

NOW HE HAD TWO MEN WITH MOB CONNECTIONS MAD AT HIM.

HIS SECOND WIFE, LIL HARDIN, FROM WHOM HE HAD SEPARATED, WAS NOW DEMANDING WHAT SHE CALLED "MAINTENANCE."

HIS NEW GIRLFRIEND, ALPHA SMITH, WAS DEMANDING THAT HE MARRY HER.

AND WHEN HE FINALLY GOT BACK TO CHICAGO, WHERE HE HAD FIRST WON FAME, HE COULDN'T SEEM TO FIND STEADY WORK.

EVEN LOUIS ARMSTRONG, THE MAN WHO HAD INVENTED MODERN TIME, HAD HIT HARD TIMES.

[DOWN SOUTH CAMP MEETING PLAYING] Man: "MARCH 1935.

"BENNY GOODMAN AND HIS LET'S DANCEBAND "ARE A GREAT MEDICINE, A TRULY GREAT OUTFIT-- "FINE ARRANGERS AND MUSICIANS WHO ARE TOGETHER ALL THE TIME.

"THEY PHRASE TOGETHER, THEY BITE TOGETHER, THEY SWING TOGETHER."

METRONOME Narrator: IN THE SPRING OF 1935, THINGS LOOKED BRIGHT FOR BENNY GOODMAN.

THE AUDIENCE FOR THE LET'S DANCERADIO PROGRAM WAS GROWING EVERY WEEK.

BUT THEN WORKERS AT THE NATIONAL BISCUIT COMPANY, THE SHOW'S SPONSOR, WENT OUT ON STRIKE.

LET'S DANCEWAS CANCELED.

DESPERATE TO KEEP HIS BAND TOGETHER, GOODMAN SCRAMBLED TO FIND WORK.

EVENTUALLY, HIS AGENT ARRANGED A CROSS-COUNTRY TOUR TO END IN LOS ANGELES.

BENNY GOODMAN WAS NOT PLEASED.

HE KNEW THAT MOST OF AMERICA STILL HADN'T HEARD SWING, AND "THE WEST," HE SAID, "HAD A REPUTATION FOR BEING CORNY."

THE BAND SET OUT IN MID-JULY ANYWAY, PLAYING ONE-NIGHTERS AS THEY WENT.

THERE WAS NO MONEY FOR A BUS, SO THE MUSICIANS HAD TO DRIVE THEMSELVES ACROSS THE CONTINENT.

THINGS DID NOT GO WELL.

IN DENVER, THE MANAGER OF ONE DANCE HALL DEMANDED THEY LEAVE AFTER HEARING THEM FOR JUST HALF AN HOUR.

"I HIRED A DANCE BAND," HE TOLD GOODMAN.

"WHAT'S THE MATTER?

CAN'T YOU BOYS PLAY ANY WALTZES?"

IN GRAND JUNCTION, COLORADO, THE BAND PLAYED BEHIND CHICKEN WIRE TO KEEP FROM BEING HIT BY THE WHISKEY BOTTLES HURLED BY DISAPPOINTED DANCERS.

AS GOODMAN'S LITTLE CARAVAN OF CARS CONTINUED WEST TOWARD CALIFORNIA, HE REALIZED THAT IF THEIR LUCK DIDN'T CHANGE, IT WAS UNLIKELY HE COULD HOLD HIS BAND TOGETHER MUCH LONGER.

ON AUGUST 21, 1935, GOODMAN AND HIS ORCHESTRA FINALLY REACHED LOS ANGELES.

"I THOUGHT WE'D FINISH THE ENGAGEMENT," HE SAID, "THEN TAKE THE TRAIN BACK TO NEW YORK, "AND THAT WOULD BE IT.

I'D JUST BE A CLARINETIST AGAIN."

THEN THE BAND PULLED UP IN FRONT OF THE BRAND-NEW PALOMAR BALLROOM.

[HORNS HONKING] Giddins: THEY FOUND THIS ENORMOUS THRONG OF PEOPLE LINED UP AROUND THE BLOCK, WAITING TO GET IN.

AND THEY THOUGHT, "WELL, WAIT A MINUTE.

WHAT'S THIS?

IT CAN'T BE FOR US."

Collier: BENNY NOW HAS BEEN TOLD BY EVERY BALLROOM OWNER ACROSS THE COUNTRY NOT TO PLAY THE JAZZ STUFF.

THEY JUST WANT TO HEAR THE DANCE TUNES.

SO HE GETS TO THE PALOMAR, AND THERE'S A CROWD THERE, BUT HE'S NOT TAKING ANY CHANCES.

[RESTLESSPLAYING] SO THEY START PLAYING THE WALTZES AND THE POP-- THE STOCK ARRANGEMENTS.

AND THE AUDIENCE IS JUST KIND OF MILLING AROUND.

THERE'S NO RESPONSE.

Collier: AND SO THEY WERE DOING THIS, AND IT WASN'T GOING VERY WELL, AND BUNNY BERRIGAN OR SOMEBODY IN THE BAND SAID, YOU KNOW, "THE HECK WITH THIS.

"IF WE'RE GOING TO GO DOWN, LET'S GO DOWN DOING THE KIND OF MUSIC WE WANT TO PLAY."

[KING PORTER STOMPPLAYING] SO THEY BROKE OUT THE KING PORTER STOMP.

Giddins: THAT'S WHAT THEY WERE WAITING FOR.

THEY'D BEEN LISTENING TO THIS STUFF ON THE RADIO, AND THAT'S WHAT THEY WANTED TO HEAR--THIS JAZZ MUSIC.

Collier: THE AUDIENCE WAS CHEERING, CROWDING AROUND THE BANDSTAND AND SHOUTING AND JUMPING... AND THEY COULDN'T BELIEVE IT.

THEY WERE ABSOLUTELY STUNNED.

AND THE NEXT MORNING, BENNY GOODMAN WAS FAMOUS.

Narrator: THE SOUND OF SWING THAT HAD BEGUN WITH LOUIS ARMSTRONG AND HAD BEEN NURTURED IN THE DANCE HALLS OF HARLEM WAS NOW ECHOING ACROSS THE COUNTRY.

THE SWING ERA WAS ABOUT TO BEGIN.

[MUSIC BEGINS] [LOUIS ARMSTRONG SINGING DINAH] CAPTIONING MADE POSSIBLE BY GENERAL MOTORS CAPTIONED BY THE NATIONAL CAPTIONING INSTITUTE --www.ncicap.org-- ♪ OH, DINAH ♪ ♪ IS THERE ANYONE FINER ♪ ♪ IN THE STATE OF CAROLINA?

♪ ♪ IF THERE IS AND YOU KNOW ♪ ♪ SHOW HER TO ME ♪ ♪ DINAH... ♪ Narrator: ENJOY THE TRUE WELCOME OF JAZZ.

VISIT THE JAZZWEBSITE AT PBS.ORG OR AMERICA ONLINE KEYWORD: PBS, WHERE YOU'LL FIND MUSIC AND VIDEO CLIPS, TIMELINES, BIOGRAPHIES, ACTIVITIES, AND MORE.

THE ENTIRE 10-PART JAZZ SERIES IS AVAILABLE ON VIDEOCASSETTE OR WITH EXTRA FEATURES ON DVD.

A 5-CD MUSIC COLLECTION WITH NEARLY 100 INFLUENTIAL JAZZ RECORDINGS IS ALSO AVAILABLE.

YOU CAN ALSO ORDER THE COMPANION BOOK WITH OVER 500 PHOTOGRAPHS SPANNING 100 YEARS OF AMERICA'S MUSIC.

TO ORDER, CALL PBS HOME VIDEO AT 1-800-PLAY-PBS.

[ARMSTRONG CONTINUES SCATTING] ♪ IF YOU EVER WANDERED TO CHINA, BABE ♪ ♪ I WOULD HOP AN OCEAN LINER, OH, YEAH ♪ [APPLAUSE] [APPLAUSE] >> FOR OVER A DECADE, GENERAL MOTORS HAS BEEN THE SOLE CORPORATE SPONSOR OF THE FILMS OF KEN BURNS.

WE'RE PROUD OF OUR ASSOCIATION WITH KEN BURNS AND PBS.

IT'S ALL PART OF GM's COMMITMENT TO SHARE THE AMERICAN EXPERIENCE THROUGH QUALITY TELEVISION PROGRAMMING.ION, DEDICATED TO EDUCATION AND QUALITY TELEVISION...

...SUPPORTING PERFORMING ARTISTS WITH THE CREATION AND PUBLIC PERFORMANCE OF THEIR WORK.

LOUISIANA, HOME OF THE SOUNDS OF ZYDECO, CAJUN, GOSPEL, AND, OF COURSE, JAZZ.

THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES-- EXPANDING OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD.

...A FAMILY FOUNDATION.

...AND BY THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING AND CONTRIBUTIONS TO YOUR PBS STATION FROM VIEWERS LIKE YOU.