ENTERTAINMENT
BRIEFS
The fUm mt yoor typical
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1becu1t\n1 betwealan
African-Amerlam woo' never
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ofDemctriusbeal be wanted .,
ya JX2IOIl fir a dlIu9.
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pIeed mt it'll be in dam dis
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2d says be doesn't lIM �xt
projcctlincd �.Ik'll besperdng
his 1iR mer.bing . soo' pee-
wee team.
Chav z ttl
with Kravitz
It _ beall� tIIlt singer
songwriter Ingrid ChaVt:l will
� both co--writing aedit aOO
a share of the royalties from
Madonna' hit single "Justify My .
Love." Lenny Kravitz produced
1be IDOl and writing aedit
Madonna.
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dalmecl tIIltKravf1Z 1BIlcM1a'ink>
� � acdif aOO royalties fOr
Aa:o�"ClJavez, they had
an affair aM he didn't want her b
getaeditforfcarbis thenwife Usa
Booet would flDl out.
Jack on turns
down Duke
debate
CNN 1alksmw Imt Revereoo
Jesse Jackson turned down a
$D),(XX) offer t) debate David
Dulce on teicvmon. Now, �
program's would-be executive
producer Hanis Salamon says
they were looking f<r other gues�
bt. "nat people don't want k>
share a stage or a platform with
David Duke."
The cx-KJamman is alJeady
umer ron1ract to do the sbow,
M>rton Downey Jr.· set b bost,
On .the home front
Jennifer Holliday has
separated froql her husband
JD8IIl8C" Billy Meadows. The two
wed just _t year. Repom &Ie that
a divm:e is likely.
Hammer Married?
The iIsue of iDIIerest fOr a lot of
Hammer fans is whcther or oot �
� rapper. lDIIricd. For
m.e wm cam, my sowa:s (Usa
Q)Uins) say be is. Manicd or rot,
Hammer will bft the road begin
nlngApril1 in VirgiIiaftramtbcr
natiooal"ur.
Opening willbe Boyz n Men,
Jodcd mI Oakmwn 3·5*7.
. M Icolm X -
the movie
Spike Lee's rot sa� all that
much abolt his upoo� film,
"MolcoImX", except to say that it
ems in � � of South
Africa, oot Harlem's Audubon
beIlroom where he WM
ted.
Lee IS qultcd as saying, "I felt
it would be a mis1alce k> em �
film 00 the stage of � Audubon
Ballroc:m where he WEsOOl. That
wWd lIM made it ac:em liD tis
idta died tIae m, am that's oot
1beC81C."
- compiled by K. Barb
- tpoei.l contributort: Ut.
COlliDt (BebIDd.The-SceDeI) ud
RadioScope. •. The ColulDD
. '.
W J m P. Johnson the in
visible compo er, the mu ical
counterpart to Ralph Ellison' In
vi ible Man? Johnson, who died in
1955, holds the odd di tinction of not
being remembered the composer
of "The Charleston;" the musical
emblem of the ro ring 20'. Jazz
aficionado leno him as the father
of Harlem tride piano and the com
po er of the famou "Carolina
Shout." But Johnson Iso composed
16 m ical, more than 200 ongs, a
ymphony, a piano cocerto, two tone
poems, even an opera. TOOugh the
worts parallel the achievement of
his contemporary George Ge hwin,
they are virtually unknown.
Johnson's jazz piano tyle haped
the playing of hi protege Thomas
(Fa ) Waller and the tyles of Art
Tatum, Erroll Gamer, Thelonious
Monk and Marcus Roberts. Duke
Ellington, who, like Fletcher
Henderson and Count Basie, learned
"Carolina Shout" from the player
piano, called himself a "close di -
ciple" of Johnson'. "Jame was
more than a beginning, It Ellington
wrote. "He went right on up to the
top. It Johnson's influence appears
not only in Ellington's playing but
also in many of his compositions,
from "Block Beauty" to "A Portrait
0/ Bert Williams. "
James Price Johnson, born in
New Brunswick, N.J., in 1894,
began to play ragtime and classical
piano at an early age. By 1912, he
was making a living as a pianist,
playing at cabarets, movies and
danCe halls in San Juan Hill - now
the site of Lincoln Center, then a
rough Black annex of Hell's
Kitchen.
SOON JOHNSON dominated
the competitive world of rent-party
"ticklers," playing a music that
blended ragtime and the blues into a
new style called stride. Unlike rag
time, stride piano was improvised,
and it swung. The striding left hand
functioned as a rhythmic arabesques
in ever-changing patterns. The
tride P ani t a one-man jazz
n.
By the early 20' , Johnson
e tabU hed hi pre-eminence in
tride piano, and hi "CarolbuJ
Shout" bec me the tes t for 11
prospective ticklers. Compared to
Scott Joplin' rap, Johnson's tride
compositions inhabited a larger and
livelier universe - and they also
demanded tly greater virtuosity.
Johnson' recordings and piam roll
demonstrate hi powerful rhythmic
drive, light touch and breathtaking
inventiven . A rare recording of
his performance of 20 choI'USCS of
Gershwin' "Lim" displays inex
haustible resources as an improviser.
Johnson alway viewed himself
more than a pian! 1. In 1920, be
met Gershwin - then on the verge
of turning from the life of a ong
plugger to that of a songwriter -
when they were both making piano
roll for Aeolian, and Johnson later
recalled that tbey bared their ambi
tion to write great mu ic on
American theme. Both bad con
tinued to tudy clas ical music while
pursing their work entertainers.
By 1924, Gershwin would write
"Rhapsody in Blue" and "Lady, Be
Good, " but by 1� Johnson had his
firsthitshow, "Ru1Ulin'Wild, "which
included the ongs "Old Fashioned
Love" and "The Charleston."
Gershwin paid Johnson the compli- _
ment of basing the first movement of
PiaDo CoDceno 1n F (1925) on
l'he Charleston." 10 in tum,
emulated Gershwin's example with.
his first symphonic composition,
"Yamwaw: A Negro Rhapsody,"
which Waller performed at Carneige
Hall on April 27, 1928.
"Yamekraw," orchestrated by
William Grant Still, is not a jazz
piece, but it combines jazz, stri�e,
ragtime, blues, spirituals and gospel
in a symphonic overview of Africa�
. American musical genres. Rudi
Blesh, the authority on ragtime,
wrote that the music has a "feeling of
breadth and a racial pungecy that
Gershwin missed, and its Afri.can.
rhythms move with a forthright
nobility."
JOHNSON'S MUSIC has a
charm and emotional warmth dis
tinct from Gershwin's ophistication
or d I their in r
they livod in parallel
universe. Gersh in, like many
stylish Yo of the period,
ould visit Harlem at night. The
next day he could tum uptown traw
in Broad y gold. Johnson lived
nd worked in Harlem, and hi music
came out of the traditio of that
community, including the music of
the ring- hout, a religious dance that
went all the w y back to Africa.
Gershwin was the toast of Broad
way and, by 1924, was the favorite
p rty pianist of the rich and famous.
Johnson' show played on Black
Bro dway, which w still ddled
ith the racial stereotype of mini
strelsy. Many ofms ongs are unper
formable today because of their
"blackface" lyrics - although there
are undoubtedly many more on the
level of such Johnson standards as "If
I Could Be With You One Hour
Tonight" and "A Porter's Love Song
to a Chambermaid. "
When Maurice Ravel visi ted New
York in 1928, Gershwin took him
uptown to hear the real jazz of the
Harlem piani�. Later Ravel told
American composers they could cre
ate a great music out of their popular
traditions. Was he speaking of
Gershwin or Johnson? Gershwin
received the upport of Paul
Whiteman, Walter Damrosch and
Serge Kousscviatzky, but Johnson
wu not taken up by, any Ameri�
conducto • .
StUl, be • AltbOup be
continued to play stride and compose
songs and shows in the 30's and 40's,
he devoted much of hi creative ef ...
fort to symphonic composition, in
cluding the "Harlem Symphony, " the
piano concerto "Jazz-o-Mine," the
overture "Drums," an "�rican
Suite," based on W.C. Handy's "St.
'Louis Blues," and an opera, "The
Org_anizer," written in collaboration
with Langston Hughes for the inter
national Ladies Garment Workers
Union.
The "Harlem Symphony" (1932)
is probably Johnson's finest work.
. 115 four movements, "Subway Ride, "
"April in Harlem, " "NightClub" and
"Baptist Mission, " giv� an overview
of the secular and sacred, the inside
and outside life of the community,
with strong melodies, colorful or-
A
Jimmy McGriff
Hi 1990 debut with Headfirst, "You Ought To 'l'IIlIIk
About Me", w yet anolher Top 10 sUCcess for Mc
Griff. Current release, "In A Blue Mood", has Mc
Griff entering his 30th year in the music busiIlC with
a contemporary flair to his cl ic blUC$ style.
Jimmy McGriff continues to tour constantly, play
ing to sell-out crowds worldwide. He has also per
formed with Paul Shaffer's band on TM David
Lettemfllll Show. As be be yet aootber decide In
his career his signature bl playIna will continue to
be sho cased to the world with more live and
televised appearancea and additional acclaimed al ...
bums. Jimmy McOrlff - -the master of the Ih;mmond
B3 organ".
z
"They've always classified me as a jazz organist,
whiCh I am not," states Jimmy McGriff. "I'm more
of a blues organ player. That' really what I feel."
With innumerable Top 10 best-selling albums to
his credit, there is no mistaking McGrifrs status as a
blues legend. A master of the Hammond B-3 organ,
McGriff's renditions of known standards and new
son� have made him a blue original.
Since the 60's, McGriff's recordtngs of "I've Got
A Woman" and "AllAbout My Girl'! have been radio
and jukebox staples. .
James' Harell McGriff was born in Philadelphia, a .
city wrrlch bad become the organ town by the time he
has grown. He was surrounded by music during his
childhood. Both his mother and father were pianists,
but McGriff started out on and su. By the time
. be' d finished high school he w also playing drums,
vibe and piano. McGriff then studied organ at
Philadelphia' Combe College of Music and at Juil
liard in New York. as well as privately with Jimmy
Smith, Milt Buckner, and classical organist Sonny
Gatewood.
McGriff was playing at a club in Trenton, New
Jersey when a talent scout was impressed with hi
instrumental arrangement of Ray Csarles "J've Got A
Woman" and offered him a contract., His recording of
that song w purchased by the Sue label and became
a smash reaching lIS on Billboard's R&B chart and
#12 on the Pop chart. With that and such Subsequent
hits as "A llA bout My Girl", "M.G. Bluu" and "Bump
De Bump", McGriff staked out a musical tertitory all
his own, somewhere between the jazz of Jimmy Smith
and the R&B of Booker T. & the MFa. He toured for
two years with the Buddy Rich band.
MCGRIFF HAS cut many alburm forotber labe
including a few with the late blues Inger Junior
Parker and wi th alto saxophone great Ha� Crawford.
JAMES P. JOHNSON
chcstratfon and, in the finale, a
reUgio\B intensity. Despite tbe title,
tbe music does not put on symphonic
airs. It is like, say, Gershwin's
"American in Paris," written with a
similar show-business know-how
but from a different point of view.
-among tbe seminal jazz figures" El
lington, Basie and Jelly Roll Morton,
but compared his classical ambitions
to " a median lusting after the role
of Hamelet."
Yet Johnson, unlike his protege
Waller, was not a comedian. For 2S
years, despite ill health and little en
couragement, he pursued symphonic
compo ition. At the very moment of
a revival of hi music in the 1940' ,
trokes ended his performing and
composing activity. His name
dropped out of the jazz literature.
Downbeat magazine even published
a premature Obituary. As i.t turned
out, Johnson was not dead; he had
imply disappeared.
JOHNSON'S SYMPHONY
provided a model for Duke
Ellington' "Black, Brown and
Beige" (1943) and "Tone Paral�l to
Harlem" (1950). But where
Ellington' extended compositio
are always jazz works, written for
jazz performers, Johnson, like
Gershwin, scored jazz materials for
the classical orchestra. His style
stands halfway between tile dance
ball and the concert ball. Some ..---------------.
. critics thought this roecb both
compromised the improvilational
basis of jazz and lacked the formal
complexity of symphonic music.
Despite a Carnegie Hall tribute in
1945, his symphonic works dropped
from sight. He died in 1955, after a
series of paralyzing strokes.
The concert by the Concordia
Chamber Orchestra on Friday cul-:
minates six years of sleuthing and
. research by the conductor Marin
Alsop and the pianist Leslie Stifel
man. Little of Johnson's music is in
print, and many of the orchestral ----------
material were hidden away in fami- IN LOOKING FOR the music,
lyarchives. Since 1986. Ma. A1aop Mt. Alsop and Ms. Stifelman unear
and Ms. Stifelman cro cd the tbed much evidence of Johnson'
country to track down unpubl bed pers tent arti tic devotion, tragic
scores and parts. Their research led frustration - and j t plain b d luck .
them to Scott E. Brown, the autborof TIley found stacks of rejection letters
1982 bi h"J P from the Guggenheim Foundation,
a ograp y, ames . Fritz Reiner and even Paul
Johnson: A Case 0/ Mistaken Iden-
tity, " whose knowledge of Johnson Whiteman. Despite his uccesses on
proved e ntial to assembling the Broadway, he could not find
musical materials. employment in movie or radio.
"When the ound films came in, they
. In his research, Dr. Brown, now a hired white people," Johnson once
Baltimaore phy ician, found that told an interviewer .. His final musi-
Johnson w constantly confused
with other musicians or with other cal, "Sugar Hill" (1948), never
Johnsons. Even his date of birth dif- reached Broadway, despite a three-
fered widely from one ource to month run in Hollywood.
another. Critics, moreover, could Johnson' mu ic, M . Alsop
not decide whether his music was finds, has a "personal quality that is
ragtime or jazz, and almost none hard to put into words, a traightfor-
took him serio ly as a composer. wardne that makes you feel as if
Jazz critics, ay Dr. Brown, you know the man and tbat cor-
pegged Johnson a throwback to respond to 11 the account of
ragtime instead of eeing the way his Johnson written by people who knew
music influenced the Wing bands of him well. You can really bear the
Ellington, Henderson and Basie. intention of the music. It' political,
The ually judiciOUS Whitney Bal- and it wan� the experiences it ex-
lien, for example, placed Johnson press to be ta en' seriously."
Johnson'S
Music has a
charm and
emotional
warmth distinct
from Gerchwin's
sophistication
and glitter.