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dance jazz sing jazz play jazz dance jazz sing jazz play jazz dance jazz sing jazz play jazz dance jazz sing jazz play jazz dance jazz sing jazz play jazz dance jazz sing jazz play jazz dance jazz sing jazz play jazz dance jazz sing jazz play jazz dance jazz sing jazz play jazz dance jazz sing jazz play jazz dance jazz sing jazz play jazz dance jazz sing jazz play jazz dance jazz sing jazz play jazz dance jazz sing jazz play jazz dance jazz sing jazz play jazz dance jazz sing jazz play jazz dance jazz sing jazz play jazz dance jazz sing jazz play jazz dance jazz sing jazz play jazz dance jazz sing jazz play jazz dance jazz sing jazz play jazz dance jazz sing jazz play jazz dance jazz sing jazz play jazz dance jazz sing jazz play jazz dance jazz sing jazz play jazz dance jazz sing jazz play jazz dance jazz sing jazz play jazz dance jazz sing jazz play jazz dance jazz sing jazz play jazz dance jazz sing jazz play jazz dance jazz sing jazz play jazz dance jazz sing jazz play jazz dance jazz sing jazz play jazz dance jazz sing jazz play jazz dance jazz sing jazz play jazz dance jazz sing jazz play jazz dance jazz sing jazz play jazz dance jazz sing jazz play jazz dance jazz sing jazz play jazz ng jazz play jaz jazz The ATS WALLER Musical Show Based on an idea by Murray Horwitz and Richard Maltby, Jr. Directed and choreographed by Marcia Milgrom Dodge STUDY GUIDE AINT MISBEHAVIN Compiled by M. Christine Benner

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Page 1: Ain't Misbehavin Study Guide

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Based on an idea by Murray Horwitzand Richard Maltby, Jr.

Directed and choreographed byMarcia Milgrom Dodge

STUDY GUIDE

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Compiled by M. Christine Benner

Page 2: Ain't Misbehavin Study Guide

PITTSBURGH PUBLIC THEATER’S STUDY GUIDE TO

Ain’t Misbehavin’: The FATS WALLER Musical Showbased on an idea by Murray Horwitz and Richard Maltby, Jr.

January 20 - February 20, 2005

TABLE OF CONTENTS

About the Show• Falling in Love With Fats• This Time Around• What is a Revue?• Songs of Ain’t Misbehavin’• Contemporary Connections

About the Man• Fats Waller: Giant of Jazz• Harlem Stride Piano

About the Time• Harlem: History and Rebirth• What is a Rent Party?• Dancing in Harlem• Are You Hep to the Jive?• Additional Terms

Resources and Suggested Readings• Fats Waller• Harlem Renaissance• Jazz

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�� �����������������How Ain’t Misbehavin’ came to Broadwayby M. Christine Benner

Fats Waller’s song “Ain’t Misbehavin’” rose to fame in aBroadway show. Fats Waller himself was one of the great-est performers America has ever seen. It is therefore nosurprise that the show dedicated to Fats Waller’s music wonthe love of the American public on the Broadway stage. Butthere were those who were amazed.

Broadway is known for its musicals--big productions, im-mense casts, flashy costumes, and intricately choreographedsongs. When a show with little or no plot, five actors, and afew songs by Fats Waller won the New York Drama CircleBest Musical Award in 1978, many were astonished. Theoriginal production of Ain’t Misbehavin’ ran through the seventies and into the eighties--1,604 perfor-mances in all. Fats Waller, more than thirty years after his death, was again a sensation.

Years before Ain’t Misbehavin’ became the sweetheart show of New York City, a teenaged boy by thename of Murray Horwitz was searching through the music of Dayton, Ohio’s Public Library. He foundan album entitled “Valentine Stomp” and checked it out. Interested in both comedy and jazz, theteenager fell instantly in love with the music he heard. For the next ten years, he pursued and collectedthe music of the jazz comedian, Fats Waller. Partnered with lyricist and director Richard Maltby, Jr.,Horwitz helped to create Ain’t Misbehavin’. The energy and warmth that Horwitz had sensed in FatsWaller’s music as a teenager began to spread to every person that saw the show.

Nell Carter, Ken Page, Andre DeShields, Charlaine Woodard, andArmelia McQueen starred in theoriginal production. LutherHenderson, a lengendary figure inBroadway music, played the piano--the symbol of Fats Waller’s music.Arthur Faria, an expert on 1930sdance, choreographed the show. Sixyears after the show left Broadway,Carter, Page, and Hendersonbrought it back for another 184 per-formances.

Today, Ain’t Misbehavin’ retains itspopularity as an energetic, musically rich show. In January and February of this year alone, over eighttheaters in the United States and Canada are producing Ain’t Misbehavin’. Over sixty years after FatsWaller’s last performance, new audiences are meeting and falling in love with him again.

Fats Waller directing his band.

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The original cast of Ain’t Misbehavin’

Page 4: Ain't Misbehavin Study Guide

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A traditional revue is a group of singers and dancers “reviewing” popular songs.There is no pretense of setting or plot.

• Our performers will be performing as if they were at a 1930s Harlem rent party.

Performers in a revue generally do not change costume.

• Our actors will change costumes a number of times during the show. Watch for themesor trends in costuming.

Bands for revues are there to back up the singers. They are usually off to one sideor unseen.

• The six members of our band will be visible on stage. They, like the singers, are a part ofthe production.

The original cast consisted of five performers using their actual names--Andre,Armelia, Charlaine, Ken, and Nell--as character names.

• Our cast (the standard five with three extras) have been given character names typical ofHarlem in the 1930s.

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Page 6: Ain't Misbehavin Study Guide

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Page 7: Ain't Misbehavin Study Guide

ACT I

Ain’t Misbehavin’ (1929)Music by Fats Waller and Harry BrooksLyrics by Andy Razaf

Lookin’ Good But Feelin’ Bad (1929)Lyrics by Lester A. Santly

‘T Ain’t Nobody’s Biz-ness If I Do (1922)(The first song recorded by Fats Waller)Music and Lyrics by Porter Grainger andEverett RobbinsAdditional Lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr. andMurray Horwitz

Honeysuckle Rose (1929)Lyrics by Andy Razaf

Squeeze Me (1925)Lyrics by Clarence Williams

Handful of Keys (1933)Lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr. and MurrayHorwitz (based on an idea by Marty Grosz)Vocal arrangement by William Elliott

I’ve Got a Feeling I’m Falling (1929)Music by Fats Waller and Harry LinkLyrics by Billy Rose

'������������������������All songs were written or recorded by Fats Waller

How Ya Baby (1938)Lyrics by J.C. Johnson

The Jitterbug Waltz (1942)Lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr.Vocal arrangement by William Elliott

The Ladies Who Sing With the Band (1943)Lyrics by George Marion, Jr.

Yacht Club Swing (1938)Music by Fats Waller and Herman AutryLyrics by J.C. Johnson

When the Nylons Bloom Again (1943)Lyrics by George Marion, Jr.

Cash for Your Trash (1942)Lyrics by Ed Kirkeby

Off-Time (1929)Music by Fats Waller and Harry BrooksLyrics by Andy Razaf

The Joint is Jumpin’ (1938)Lyrics by Andy Razaf and J.C. Johnson

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ACT II

Spreadin’ Rhythm Around (1935)Music by Jimmy McHughLyrics by Ted KoehlerAdditional Lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr.

Lounging at the Waldorf (1936)Lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr.Vocal arrangement by William Elliott

The Viper’s Drag (1934)“The Reefer Song” (traditional)

Mean to Me (1929)Music and Lyrics by Roy Turk andFred E. Ahlert

Your Feet’s Too Big (1936)Music and Lyrics by Ada Benson andFred Fisher

That Ain’t Right (1943)Music and Lyrics by Nat “King” ColeAdditional Lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr. andMurray Horwitz

Keepin’ Out of Mischief Now (1932)Lyrics by Andy Razaf

Find Out What They Like (1929)Lyrics by Andy Razaf

Fat and Greasy (1936)Music and Lyrics by Porter Grainger andCharlie Johnson

Black and Blue (1929)Music by Fats Waller and Harry BrooksLyrics by Andy RazafVocal arrangement by William Elliott

FINALE: Fats Waller Hits

I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myselfa Letter (1933)Music by Fred E. AhlertLyrics by Joe Young

Two Sleepy People (1938)Music by Hoagy CarmichaelLyrics by Frank Loesser

I’ve Got My Fingers Crossed (1935)Music by Jimmy McHughLyrics by Ted Koehler

I Can’t Give You Anything But Love (1928)Music by Jimmy McHughLyrics by Dorothy Fields

It’s a Sin to Tell a Lie (1933)Music and Lyrics by Billy Mayhew

Honeysuckle Rose (reprise)

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(�����)*�&+',�)'+

-�..Jazz cutting contests are forums in which two musicians duel to see

who is the best. Yet, even as they duel, they do so in a collectivecontext, playing with their bandmates, or, in the case of piano cut-ting contests, drawing on a common repertoire.

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Reprinted, with permission, fromCENTERSTAGE; The Next Stage; January, 2003

Rhonda Robbins, Editor

Early raps included boastful tales andplayful put-downs intended to taunt rivalrappers. Today, rappers openly challengetheir opponents to improvise clever andflawless raps on the spot in Freestyle Bat-tling competitions such as seen in the hittelevision show Making the Band.

Rap, a musical poetic expression, evolvedfrom African people in general and blackpeople born in the United States in particu-lar. Its origins can be traced to West Africawhere tribesmen held “men of words” in highregard. When slaves were brought to theNew World, they integrated American musicwith the beats they remembered from Africa.

Another origin of rap is a form ofJamaican folk stories called“toasts.” These are narrative po-ems that tell stories in rhyme.

-���/�&��/�����#��#��are particular forms of black expressiveculture. They are part of a continuum of“African aesthetic expressiveness.” Likemany traditional African art forms, they are atonce communal and competitive.

Competition, especially what we now call“trash talking,” is a component of traditionalAfrican culture. However, in traditional Africanculture, competition is holistic (unifying) ratherthan dualistic (isolating). Africancommunalism, a belief system that places thecommunity before the individual, embracescompetitiveness but not selfishness. Thereis not a conflict between competitiveness andcommunalism in the African performancetradition, because the communal essencecounterbalances the aggression ofcompetitiveness.

Traditional African praise songs allow performers to interactwith the audience through call and response as well as toshowcase their “superior” abilities.

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�������������� ���������By Richard S. Ginell, All Music Guide

Courtesy of allmusic.com

Not only was Fats Waller one of the greatest pianists jazz has ever known, he was also one of its

most exuberantly funny entertainers — and as so often happens, one facet tends to obscure the other.

His extraordinarily light and flexible touch belied his ample physical girth; he could swing as hard as

any pianist alive or dead in his classic James P. Johnson-derived stride manner, with a powerful left

hand delivering the octaves and tenths in a tireless, rapid, seamless stream. Waller also pioneered the

use of the pipe organ and Hammond organ in jazz — he called the pipe organ the “God box” —

adapting his irresistible sense of swing to the pedals and a staccato right hand while making imaginative

changes of the registration. As a composer and improviser, his melodic invention rarely flagged, and he

contributed fistfuls of joyous yet paradoxically winsome songs like “Honeysuckle Rose”, “Ain’t

Misbehavin’”, “Keepin’ Out of Mischief Now”, “Blue Turning Grey Over You” and the extraordinary

“Jitterbug Waltz” to the jazz repertoire.

During his lifetime and afterwards, though, Fats Waller was

best known to the world for his outsized comic personality and sly

vocals, where he would send up trashy tunes that Victor Records made

him record with his nifty combo, Fats Waller and his Rhythm. Yet on

virtually any of his records, whether the song is an evergreen standard

or the most trite bit of doggerel that a Tin Pan Alley hack could serve

up, you will hear a winning combination of good knockabout humor,

foot-tapping rhythm and fantastic piano playing. Today, almost all of

Fats Waller’s studio recordings can be found on RCA’s on-again-off-

again series The Complete Fats Waller, which commenced on LPs in

1975 and was still in progress during the 1990s.

Thomas “Fats” Waller came from a Harlem household where his father was a Baptist lay preacher

and his mother played piano and organ. Waller took up the piano at age six, playing in a school orchestra

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Page 11: Ain't Misbehavin Study Guide

led by Edgar Sampson (of Chick Webb fame). After his mother died when he was 14, Waller moved

into the home of pianist Russell Brooks, where he met and studied with James P. Johnson. Later, Waller

also received classical lessons from Carl Bohm and the famous pianist Leopold Godowsky. After making

his first record at age 18 for Okeh in 1922, “Birmingham Blues” and “Muscle Shoals Blues,” he backed

various blues singers and worked as house pianist and organist at rent parties and in movie theatres and

clubs. He began to attract attention as a composer during the early and mid-1920s, forming a most

fruitful alliance with lyricist Andy Razaf that resulted in three

Broadway shows in the late ’20s, Keep Shufflin’, Load of Coal,

and Hot Chocolates.

Waller started making records for Victor in 1926; his

most significant early records for that label were a series of

brilliant 1929 solo piano sides of his own compositions like

“Handful of Keys” and “Smashing Thirds.” After finally

signing an exclusive Victor contract in 1934, he began the

long-running, prolific series of records with his Rhythm, which

won him great fame and produced several hits, including “Your

Feet’s Too Big,” “The Joint Is Jumpin’” and “I’m Gonna Sit

Right Down and Write Myself a Letter.” He began to appear

in films like Hooray for Love and King of Burlesque in 1935 while continuing regular appearances on

radio that dated back to 1923. He toured Europe in 1938, made organ recordings in London for HMV

and appeared on one of the first television broadcasts. He returned to London the following spring to

record his most extensive composition, London Suite for piano and percussion, and embark on an

extensive continental tour (which, alas, was cancelled by fears of impending war with Germany). Well

aware of the popularity of big bands in the ’30s, Waller tried to form his own, but they were short-lived.

Into the 1940s, Waller’s touring schedule of the U.S. escalated, he contributed music to another

musical, Early to Bed, the film appearances kept coming (including a memorable stretch of Stormy

Weather where he led an all-star band that included Benny Carter, Slam Stewart and Zutty Singleton),

the recordings continued to flow, and he continued to eat and drink in extremely heavy quantities. Years

of draining alimony squabbles, plus overindulgence and, no doubt, frustration over not being taken

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more seriously as an artist, began to wear the pianist down. Finally,

after becoming ill during a gig at the Zanzibar Room in Hollywood

in December 1943, Waller boarded the Santa Fe Chief train for

the long trip back to New York. He never made it, dying of

pneumonia aboard the train during a stop at Union Station in

Kansas City.

While every clown longs to play Hamlet as per the cliché

— and Waller did have so-called serious musical pretensions,

longing to follow in George Gershwin’s footsteps and compose

concert music — it probably was not in the cards anyway due to

the racial barriers of the first half of the 20th century. Besides,

given the fact that Waller influenced a long line of pianists of and

after his time, including Count Basie (who studied with Fats),

Teddy Wilson, Art Tatum, Thelonious Monk, Dave Brubeck and

countless others, his impact has been truly profound.

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#�� ���'�����,���By Mike Lipskin

Reprinted with permission of the author

Stride is a jazz piano style originating in early 20th Century, a vibrant and rich jazz idiom with a unique

place in American keyboard music. Unfortunately more and more jazz commentators and self-anointed

jazz scholars have propagated an inaccurate characterization of the idiom.

Special and separate from other formative jazz piano styles; stride is one of the most classical- European

oriented. It also draws on the rich traditions of American pop music, as well as impressionist composers

and Chopin. Stride influenced 20th Century pop music and was influenced by it. You can hear George

Gershwin and Cole Porter in stride and you can hear stride’s influence in them. Duke Ellington was a

fine stride pianist, and his 1920s recordings sometimes sound like orchestrated James P. Johnson and

Willie The Lion Smith. Art Tatum was a stride pianist, as was Count

Basie, and early on, Thelonious Monk and Errol Garner.

It’s most accomplished practitioners, Fats Waller, Willie The Lion Smith,

Donald Lambert, and above all, James P. Johnson, respected European

musical tradition and had some formal training. Consequently they were

concerned with pianistic dynamics, tone, and tension and release, more

so than those who worked in other primary styles: boogie woogie, “trumpet style,” “New Orleans”

sound and the “swing” sound of Jess Stacy or Joe Sullivan (not to denigrate these other great jazz piano

sounds). Waller and Johnson also were song writers with many pop tunes to their credit and hit Broadway

shows.

Unfortunately as time passes there is less and less understanding of what stride is, with fewer pianists

able to play it although they claim to. Misguided “jazz history” teachers bunch much pre-bop piano

together, with little scholarly analysis or understanding of this music. The confusion is compounded by

their labeling as stride other styles where the left hand alternates between the lower bass notes and the

middle ones on the keyboard. Some think that Teddy Wilson, Jess Stacey and Jelly Roll Morton are

playing stride. As great and innovative as these giants are, they were not stride pianists.

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Ragtime, a simple three theme written non-jazz music is sometimes mistaken for stride because it

preceded the form, and has the alternating left hand. Often those who want to sound knowledgeable call

ragtime stride. The harmonics and rhythms of ragtime are much simpler, more repeated, and it derives

from fewer sources.

I am often asked if stride is where the left hand plays a single note or a tenth on the first and third beats,

and a chord on the second and fourth or when the tempo is fast. This is a small facet of so many styles,

not just stride, and does nothing to musically explain what it is. Yes, stride is so called because the left

hand “strides” or alternates sometimes between low octaves or tenths (if you can play tenth intervals as

Waller and Tatum did, not broken) and chords toward middle C of the keyboard. But it is a musical

language using many idioms, varied harmonics and rhythms, such as 2 against 3. It must be studied

over a period of years so that the performer no longer has to think about each left hand alternation but

can program ahead several bars. As

all jazz, it is impossible to play

properly by simply reading sheet

music, and when younger pianists

try to play a Waller or Johnson piece

note for note from a written

transcription, the special swing and

feeling of the style are completely

lost. They often sound mechanical,

like piano rolls or someone at a

Disneyland Pizza joint.

A good stride pianist will also

respect the song being played,

subtly reminding the listener of the

melodic line creating variations in harmonic context to what the composer asked for. A real stride

pianist also plays a whole song with variations on a theme for several minutes, not just two or four bars

of imitative stride between whatever other style (usually post bop) the pianist is conversant with. There

must be varying of the dynamics, with minute retard and anticipation between right and left hands. The

sense of order underlying improvisation is sonic craftsmanship supreme.

A player piano. Fats Waller learned to play his firststride piano piece on such an insturment.

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#�� ��"�#���������&�0���

Harlem began as a farming village,became a resort town, an upper-classneighborhood, a slum, andeventually was born as the idol ofblack innovation. The artists,writers, and entertainers of Harlemin the 1920s, ‘30s, and ‘40s weremen and women of strength andcreativity. They created works thatchanged American culture; theywere the Harlem Renaissance.

When the Dutch came to Americain the mid-1600s, they were in themidst of their greatest span of power,sending ships from New Zealand to

Indonesia, to the New World. During the fifty years of Dutch occupation, the “New Netherlands” wasfocused on a long, narrow island. A barricaded wall protected the capital city, New Amsterdam, fromany potential attack. The north part of the island—best reached by following an old Indian trail that rannorth to south—was flat and lush, ideal for farming. New Haarlem, named for a city in Holland, wasbuilt as a farming village for the settlers.

Harlem kept its name long after its Dutch founders were gone. (The trail became known as Broadway,the barricade as Wall Street, and New Amsterdam as New York City.) The considerable distance fromNew York City made Harlem an ideal location for the country estates of the wealthy upper class. In thelate 19th century, as improved transportation made commuting from the northern part of Manhattanpossible, well-to-do white New Yorkers were seeking apartments in Harlem, away from the explodingimmigrant population further downtown. Housing prices were inflated; demand was high—Harlemreal estate was ballooning out ofcontrol. When the bottom fell out ofthe market in the early 1900s, buildingowners in Harlem were desperate torent their property. An expanding blackpopulation soon filled and overfilled theempty apartments.

New York had become a majordestination for the hundreds ofthousands of black Americans escapingthe intolerant, abusive environment ofthe South. The “black” parts of NewYork City—The Tenderloin, Hell’sKitchen, and San Juan Hill—were fullto bursting; the African-American

by M. Christine Benner

A sunset view of Harlem

Harlem row houses

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population in New York needed housing. In 1911, the Metropolitan Baptist Church became the firstblack church to move its meeting place to Harlem. Other churches and social institutions were soon tofollow. Immigrants from both Africa and the West Indies were also pouring into the port city. By 1930,two-thirds of the black population of New York were living in Harlem. Given the tensions betweenNorth and South, foreign- and native-born, black New Yorkers had anything but a unified front. But thegrowing in numbers and influence, the power of the group as a whole was unmistakable.

Organizations like Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) and W.E.B.DuBois’ National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) found Harlem theperfect place to begin their work. While both Garvey and DuBois taught pride and self-reliance fortheir people, DuBois encouraged participation in American institutions (such as the military); Garveyurged blacks to form their ownindependent nation.

The culture of Harlem began to formunder the increasing push for unity.Black artists observed their neighborsfrom the South, the North, from Africa,and from the West Indies. In the crucibleof Harlem, creative energy surgedbetween minds. The black communitiesof the world were finding inspiration ineach other.

The Roaring Twenties, a time ofyouthful exuberance nationwide, wasespecially dynamic in Harlem. Blackartists, writers, and musicians wereextraordinarily prolific. The nightclubs,dance halls, and theaters of Harlem weremythically famous. Curious white NewYorkers wandered up to Harlem to seefor themselves the talented young

��������#����

Of the many writers of the HarlemRenaissance, Langston Hughes isperhaps the best known and themost influential. Hughes took thesounds and rhythms of jazz and theblues and translated them into po-etry. In his forty years of writing,Hughes produced sixteen books ofpoems, two novels, three collec-tions of short stories, twenty plays,children’s poetry, various musi-cals, operas, autobiographies and more.

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�1�� ���� ���

Heiress to great fortune from her mother’s hairproduct company (one branch located in Pitts-burgh), A’Lelia Walker was one of the most gen-erous benefactors of Harlem artists. Her home,

dubbed the “DarkTower” by CounteeCullen, provided ameeting place forblack writers andpoets. LangstonHughes, upon herdeath, wrote of heras the “joy goddessof Harlem’s1920s.”

artists. Black culture, brutally suppressed by the establishment of slavery, was experiencing rebirth.The Harlem Renaissance had begun.

Fine artists, poets, writers and intellectuals were amazing the world with their skill. Writers like LangstonHughes, Countee Cullen, James Weldon Johnson, and Zora Neale Hurston would gather and encourageeach other’s creative ventures. Their writing is still considered some of the finest American workproduced. Claude McKay, writing from oversees, expressed the passionate injustice of black Americain a perfect sonnet form. Painters and sculptors like Aaron Douglas, Palmer Hayden, Augusta Savage,Laura Waring, Betsy Reyneau, William H. Johnson captured the movement and color of Harlem intheir work. New styles were emerging in both fields, drawing attention to these rising stars.

But it was the musicians andentertainers that really shone to theworld. Louis Armstrong, Bill“Bojangles” Robinson, Fats Waller,Ethel Waters, Duke Ellington, BessieSmith—these are the legends ofHarlem. Once “discovered,” Harlementertainers were demanded fromcoast to coast. In Europe, the soundsof American jazz were passionatelycelebrated. Through the Depression,jazz music and dance remained as themysterious joy of a downtroddennation. Decades before the CivilRights Movement championed therights of the African-Americanpopulation, the people of Harlemwere creating an identity and a pridethat would never be forgotten.

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��������&����,����%

This essay is a firsthand account of the Harlem rent parties of the 20s and 30s. FatsWaller was known for playing stride piano at rent parties. Sometimes, he would competewith other musicians like James P. Johnson or Willie “the Lion” Smith. Although seeminglylighthearted, rent parties were really a means of survival for the people of Harlem. Rentparties embodied both the exuberance and the struggle of Harlem.

NAME OF WORKER: Frank Byrd

ADDRESS: 224 W. 135th St. New York City

DATE: August 23, 1938

SUBJECT: HARLEM RENT PARTIES

Reprinted from the Library of Congress, Manuscript Division, WPA Federal Writers’Project Collection.

The history of the Harlem house-rent party dates back as far as the World War [I].To understand what gave such an impetus and community wide significance tothis institution, it is necessary to get a picture of living conditions as they were inHarlem at that time.

During the early nineteen twenties it is estimated that more than 200,000 Negroesmigrated to Harlem: West Indians, Africans and American Negroes from the cottonfields and cane brakes of the Deep South. They were all segregated in a smallsection of Manhattan about fifty blocks long and seven or eight blocks wide; anarea teeming with life and activity. Housing experts have estimated that,sometimes, as many as five to seven thousand people have been known to live in asingle block.

Needless to say, living conditions under such circumstances were anything butwholesome and pleasant. It was a typical slum and tenement area little differentfrom many others in New York except for the fact that in Harlem rents werehigher; always have been, in fact, since the great war-time migratory influx ofcolored labor. Despite these exorbitant rents, apartments and furnished rooms,however dingy; were in great demand. Harlem property owners, for the most partJews, began to live in comparative ease on the fantastic profits yielded by theirantiquated dwellings. Before Negroes inhabited them, they could be let forvirtually a song. Afterwards, however, they brought handsome incomes. Thetenants, by hook or crook, managed to barely scrape together the rents. In turnthey stuck their roomers for enough profit to yield themselves a meager living.

A four or five room apartment was (and still is) often crowded to capacity withroomers. In many instances, two entire families occupy space intended for only

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one. When bedtime comes, there is the feverish activity of moving furniture about,making down cots or preparing floor-space as sleeping quarters. The samepractice of overcrowding is followed by owners or lesees of private houses. Largerooms are converted into two or three small ones by the simple process ofstrategically placing beaverboard partitions. These same cubby holes are rented atthe price of full sized rooms. In many houses, dining and living rooms aretransformed into bed rooms soon after, if not before, midnight. Even “shift-sleeping” is not unknown in many places. During the night, a day-worker uses theroom and soon after dawn a night-worker moves in. Seldom does the bed have anopportunity to get cold.

In lower Harlem, sometimes referred to as the Latin Quarter and populated mostlyby Cubans, Puerto Ricans and West Indians, accommodations are worse. TheSpanish seen to require even less privacy than their American cousins. A three orfour room apartment often houses ten or twelve people. Parents invariably havethe two or three youngest children bedded down in the same room withthemselves. The dining room, kitchen and hallway are utilized as sleepingquarters by relatives or friends.

Negroes constitute the bulk of the Harlem population, however, and have (as wasaforementioned) since the War. At that time, there was a great demand for cheapindustrial labor. Strong backed, physically capable Negroes from the South werethe answer to this demand. They came North in droves, beginning what turnedout to be the greatest migration of Negroes in the history of the United States. Thegood news about jobs spread like wildfire throughout the Southlands. There wasmoney, good money, to be made in the North, especially New York. New York; thewonder, the magic city. The name alone implied glamour and adventure. It was apicture to definitely catch the fancy of restless, over-worked sharecroppers andfarmhands. And so, it was on to New York, the mecca of the New Negro, themodern Promised Land.

Not only Southern, but thousands of West Indian Negroes heeded the call. Thatwas the beginning of housing conditions that have been a headache to asuccession of political administrations and a thorn in the side of community andcivic organizations that have struggled valiantly, but vainly, to improve them.

With the sudden influx of so many Negroes, who apparently instinctively headedfor Harlem, property that had been a white elephant on the hands of manylandlords immediately took an upward swing. The majority of landlords weredelighted but those white property owners who made their homes in Harlem werepanic-stricken. At first, there were only rumblings of protest against thisunwanted dark invasion but as the tide of color continued to rise, threatening tocompletely envelop the Caucasian brethren, they quickly abandoned their fightand fled to more remote parts; Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Westchester. As soonas one or two Negro families moved into a block, the whites began moving out.Then the rents were raised. In spite of this, Negroes continued to pour in untilthere was a solid mass of color in every direction.

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Harlemites soon discovered that meeting these doubled, and sometimes tripled,rents was not so easy. They began to think of someway to meet their everincreasing deficits. Someone evidently got the idea of having a few friends in aspaying party guests a few days before the landlord’s scheduled monthly visit. Itwas a happy; timely thought. The guests had a good time and enteredwholeheartedly into the spirit of the party. Besides, it cost each individual verylittle, probably much less than he would have spent in some public amusementplace. Besides, it was a cheap way to help a friend in need. It was such a good,easy way out of one’s difficulties that others decided to make use of it. Thus wasthe Harlem rent-party born.

Like the Charleston and Black Bottom, it became an overnight rage. Here at last,was a partial solution to the problem of excessive rents and dreadfully subnormalincomes. Family after family and hundreds of apartment tenants opened widetheir doors, went the originators of the idea one better, in fact, by having a partyevery Saturday night instead of once a month prior to the landlord’s call. Theaccepted admission price became twenty five cents. It was also expected that theguests would partake freely of the fried chicken, pork chops, pigs feet and potatosalad (not to mention homemade “cawn”) that was for sale in the kitchen or at amakeshift bar in the hallway.

Saturday night became the gala night in Harlem. Some parties even ran well intoSunday morning, calling a halt only after seven or eight o’clock. Parties wereeventually held on other nights also. Thursday particularly became a favorite inview of the fact that “sleep in” domestic workers had a day off and were free tokick up their heels without restraint. Not that any other week-day offeredSaturday any serious competition. It always retained its popularity because of itsall round convenience as a party day. To begin with, the majority of working classNegroes, maids, porters, elevator operators and the like, were paid on Saturdayand, more important than that, were not required to report to work on Sunday.Saturday, therefore, became the logical night to “pitch” and “carry on”, whichthese pleasure-hungry children did with abandon.

The Saturday night party, like any other universally popular diversion, soon fellinto the hands of the racketeers. Many small-time pimps and madames who, up tothat time, had operated under-cover buffet flats, came out into the open andstaged nightly so-called Rent Parties. This, of course, was merely a “blind” formore illegitimate activities that catered primarily to the desire of travellingsalesmen, pullman porters, inter-state truck drivers other transients, for someplace to stop and amuse themselves. Additional business could always bepromoted from that large army of single or unattatched males and females whoprowled the streets at night in search of adventure in preference to remaining intheir small, dingy rooms in some ill-ventilated flat. There were hundreds of youngmen and women, fresh from the hinterlands, unknown in New York and eager forthe opportunity of meeting people. And so, they would stroll the Avenue until theysaw some flat with a red, pink or blue light in the window, the plunk of a tin-panny piano and sounds of half-tipsy merry making fleeting out into the night air;then they would venture in, be greeted volubly by the hostess, introduced around

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and eventually steered to the kitchen where refreshments were for sale.Afterwards, there was probably a night full with continuous drinking, wild,grotesque dancing and crude love-making. But it was, at least, a temporaryescape from humdrum loneliness and boredom.

The party givers were fully aware of the conditions under which the majority ofthese boys and girls lived and decided to commercialize on it as much as possible.They began advertising their get-togethers on little business cards that were naiveattempts at poetic jingles. The following is a typical sample:

There’ll be brown skin mammas

High yallers too

And if you ain’t got nothin to do

Come on up to ROY and SADIE’S

228 West 126 St. Sat. Night, May 12th.

There’ll be plenty of pig feet

An lots of gin

Jus ring the bell

An come on in.

They were careful, however, to give these cards to only the “right” people.Prohibition was still in effect and the police were more diligent about raidingquestionable apartments than they were about known “gin mills” that flourishedon almost every corner.

Despite this fact, the number of personal Saturday night responses, in answer tothe undercover advertising, was amazing. The party hostess, eager and glowingwith freshly straightened hair, would roll back the living room carpets, dim thelights, seat the musicians, (usually drummer, piano and saxophone player) and,with the appearance of the first cash customer, give the signal that would officiallyget the “rug-cutting” under way. Soon afterwards she would disappear into thekitchen in order to give a final, last minute inspection to the refreshment counter:a table piled high with pig-feet, fried chicken, fish and potato salad.

The musicians, fortified with a drink or two of King Kong (home made cornwhiskey) begin “beating out the rhythm” on their battered instruments while thedancers keep time with gleeful whoops, fantastic body-gyrations and convulsionsthat appear to be a cross between the itch and a primitive mating-dance.

After some John buys a couple of rounds of drinks, things begin to hum inearnest. The musicians instinctively improvise as they go along, finding it difficult,perhaps, to express the full intensity of their emotions through a merearrangement, no matter how well written.

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But the thing that makes the house-rent party (even now) so colorful andfascinating is the unequalled picture created by the dancers themselves. When theband gets hot, the dancers get hotter. They stir, throw or bounce themselvesabout with complete abandon; their wild, grotesque movements silhouetted in thesemi-darkness like flashes from some ancient tribal ceremony. They apparentlywork themselves up into a frenzy but never lose time with the music despite theirfrantic acrobatics. Theirs’ is a coordination absolutely unexcelled. It is simple,primitive, inspired. As far as dancing is concerned, there are no conventions. Youdo what you like, express what you feel, take the lid off if you happen to be in themood. In short, anything goes.

About one o’clock in the morning; hilarity reaches its peak. “The Boys”, most ofwhom are hard-working hard-drinking truck drivers, long-shoremen, moving men,porters or laborers, settle down to the serious business of enjoying themselves.They spin, tug, and fling their buxom, amiable partners in all directions. When themusic finally stops, they are soaked and steaming with perspiration. “The Girls”,the majority of whom are cooks, laundresses, maids or hair-dressers, set theirhats at a jaunty angle and kick up their heels with glee. Their tantalizing grinsand the uniformly wicked gleam in their eyes dare the full blooded young bucks todo their darndest. They may have been utter strangers during the early part of theevening but before the night is over, they are all happily sweating and laughingtogether in the beat of spirits.

Everything they do is free and easy; typical of that group of hard-working Negroeswho have little or no inhibitions and the fertility of imagination so necessary to theinvention and unrestrained expression of new dance-steps and rhythms.

The dancers organize little impromptu contests among themselves and thiscompetition is often responsible for the birth of many new and original dance-steps. The house-rent party takes credit for the innovation of the Lindy-Hop thatwas subsequently improved upon at the Savoy Ballroom. For years, it has been agreat favorite with the regular rug-cutting crowd. Nothing has been able tosupplant it, not ever the Boogie-Woogie that has recently enjoyed a great wave ofpopularity in Uptown New York.

Such unexpected delights as these made the house-rent party, during its infancy,a success with more than one social set. Once in awhile a stray ofay or a smallparty of pseudo-artistic young Negroes, the upper-crust, the creme-de-la-creme ofBlack Manhattan society, would wander into one of these parties and gasp ortitter (with cultured restraint, of course) at the primitive, untutored Negroes whoapparently had so much fun wriggling their bodies about to the accompaniment ofsuch mad, riotously abandoned music. Seldom, however, did these outsiders seemto catch the real spirit of the party, and as far as the rug-cutters were concerned,they simply did not belong.

With the advent of Repeal, the rent-party went out, became definitely a thing ofthe past. It was too dangerous to try to sell whiskey after it became legal. With itspassing went one of the most colorful eras that Harlem has ever known.

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The Savoy Ballroom, covering an entire city block, wasHarlem’s most popular ballroom and the first to be com-

pletely integrated. The Savoy would always hire two bandsa night; there was never a lull in the dancing. Due to

such constant use, the wooden floor had to bereplaced every three years. Other prominent

entertainment locations were the Cotton Club and the

Apollo Theatre.

23

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Two dances, the Breakaway and the Charles-ton, combined to form the Lindy Hop. Namedin honor of Charles Lindbergh’s flight acrossthe Atlantic, the dance is an athletic series ofsmooth moves and “air-steps.” Later, the dance became known as the “Jitterbug.”

Originating in its South Carolina name-sake city, the Charleston first came toHarlem stages in 1913. By the early

1920s, it had be-come a dance sen-sation. The dancewas so popularthat waiters andwaitresses wereexpected to per-form it for cus-tomers upon re-quest. The bird-like steps andmovements re-main the trade-mark dance of the1920s.

Page 24: Ain't Misbehavin Study Guide

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Page 26: Ain't Misbehavin Study Guide

Chassis: The structural framework of a car ortruck, satirized here into meaning the portion ofthe body below the waist.

Dowager: A widow who holds a title or propertyinherited from her deceased husband, or anelderly woman of high social station.

Duses: Pretty, “natural” women; after the Italianactress Eleonora Duse, who was known for herrealistic portrayals of down-to-earth characters,particularly in the plays of Gabriele d’Annunzio.

Jitterbug: A strenuous dance performed to quick-tempo swing or jazz music, consisting of varioustwo-step patterns embellished with twirls andsometimes acrobatic maneuvers. Also one whoperforms this dance.

Mose: Slang term for an African American:Florida’s Fort Mose was the first free blacksettlement in America.

Old Ned: Mythologized beloved slave characterimmortalized in Stephen Foster ’s 1848composition “Uncle Ned.”

Raggin’: Partying; plays of “ragtime,” the musicalancestor of jazz and swing.

Reet: Slang for “right.”

Schism: A separation or division into factions;disunion; discord.

Sutton: A high-end residential hotel onManhattan’s east side known for housing artists,musicians, and intellectuals in the 1930s and ‘40s.Or Sutton Place, a street known for its multiplehigh-rises.

Three-Quarter Rhythm: The meter of music thatcharacterizes a waltz.

Thrombosis: a blood clotting disorder that canlead to heart attacks, hemorrhages, and strokes.

������� �����Reprinted, with permission, from

CENTERSTAGE; The Next Stage; January, 2003Rhonda Robbins, Editor

Tin Pan Alley: Genre of U.S. popular music thatstarted in New York in the late 19th century. Thename was coined by the songwriter MonroeRosenfeld and acted as a nickname for the streetwhere the industry was centered. “Tin pan”referred to the sound of pianos furiously poundedby “song pluggers” demonstrating tunes topublishers. The name eventually becamesynonymous with U.S. popular music until Rockand Roll was born in the 1950s.

Turtle-Dovin’: Romantic snuggling, which mimicsthe action sand low “purring” of the monogamousturtledoves.

V-Disc: Recordings made exclusively formembers of the US Armed Forces stationedabroad during World War II.

WACS: The Women’s Army Corps. 150,000female soldiers belonged to the US Army duringWorld War II.

Wagon: The “paddy wagon” is the name for thevehicle used to cart a large number of people tojail; often associated with those picked up for beingdrunk in public.

Waldorf: The Waldorf Astoria Hotel, long consid-ered one of Manhattan’s finest.

Waldorf Cake: A red velvet cake, thought to haveoriginated at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Alsoknown as $100 Cake; legend has it that a patronbought the secret recipe from the hotel chef for$100.

Mr. Wallace: Henry Agard Wallace (1888-1965)was elected Vice President in 1940 and servedduring President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s thirdterm.

Waltz: A ballroom dance in triple time with a strongaccent on the first beat; an instrumental or vocalcomposition in triple time. Informally, somethingthat is easy and can be accomplished with littleeffort.

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FATS WALLER

Ain’t Misbehavin’: The Story of Fats Waller. W.T. Kirkeby. Da Capo Press, 1975.

• W.T. Kirkeby, Fats Waller’s manager, gives an account of Fats’ professional life. The bookexamines Fats as a musician and performer.

Fats Waller. Maurice Waller and Anthony Calabrese. Macmillan Publishing Company, 1977.

• Fats Waller’s son, Maurice Waller, tells the story of his father’s life. The story follows hismusical developments, acquaintances, troubled marriages, etc. Recommended reading.

“Fats Waller Forever Digital Exhibit.” Rutgers University.<http://newarkwww.rutgers.edu/ijs/fw/fatsmain.htm>

• Rutgers has assembled a collection of information and reflections on the life of Fats Waller.Letters from Fats, touring accounts, beautiful photos, etc. His entire career and life historycan be found within these pages. Excellent resource. Readings and recordings available.

“A story of Fats Waller.”<http://perso.wanadoo.fr/jcarl.simonetti/fats_life.htm>

• This site contains a biography of Fats Waller. It is an example of the continued Europeaninterest in Fats’ work; it is based in France. Well-researched and interesting. 4 pages,printed.

• On the left-hand side of the page, a link to “Harlem and the kings of Stride” is available. Itis a succinct overview of the careers of James P. Johnson, Willie “The Lion” Smith, and FatsWaller.

Movies with Fats Waller:• Hooray for Love (1935). Ann Sothern, Gene Raymond. Directed by Walter Lang.• King of Burlesque (1935). Warner Baxter, Alice Faye. Directed by Sidney Langfield.• Stormy Weather (1943). Lena Horne, Bill “Bojangles” Robinson. Directed by Andrew L.

Stone.

HARLEM RENAISSACE: its time and people

“American Memory from the Library of Congress.”<http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/>

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• The Library of Congress has innumerable resources available regarding American history.Search for topics related to jazz, Harlem, the Harlem Renaissance, etc. Photos, newspaperarticles, first-hand accounts, and more available.

• Suggested title: Race in Harlem are at “Wits End” for Houses.

“American Life Histories.”<http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/wpaintro/wpahome.html>

• The Federal Writer’s Project of the Work Project Administration (WPA) collected andrecorded the life histories of thousands of Americans from 1936-1940. Search functionavailable. Suggested titles: Eddie’s Bar, Buffet Flat, Dancing Girls, Amateur Night, CocktailParty, The Whites Invade Harlem, Savoy Ballroom, Harlem, “Slick” Reynolds, Bernice, Betty(if not found, see next resource). Suggested topics: New York City, Harlem, and Jazz.

• Note: not all stories are recommended for young children, as they contain accounts ofserious drug and alcohol use and prostitution.

A Renaissance in Harlem: Lost Essays of the WPA. Edited by Lionel C. Bascom. Amistad,2001.

• This book is a collection of Harlem-related WPA Life Histories. See above resource forrecommended titles.

Daily Life in the United States, 1920-1940: How Americans Lived Through the “RoaringTwenties” and the Great Depression. David E. Kyvig. Ivan R. Dee, 2004.

• This book is a detailed account of everyday life in a post World War I United States. Subjectsinclude the advent of electricity and radio, diet, housing, culture and crime. An in-depthperiod study.

“Drop Me Off in Harlem.” The Kennedy Center<http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/exploring/harlem/artsedge.html>

• The Kennedy Center’s Education Department has created a wonderful site for theexploration of Harlem culture. Audiovisual resources, Renaissance figures, Harlem history,and classroom connections are all available on the main page. Educational, thorough, andeasy to explore. Highly recommended!

Extraordinary people of the Harlem Renaissance. P. Stephen Hardy & Sheila Jackson Hardy.Children’s Press, 2000.

• This book, designed for children, is full of excellent pictures from the Harlem Renaissanceand informative essays on key figures in literature, music, art, and politics. Highlightedpeople include: Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Ethel Waters, Henry Ossawa Tanner,Nancy Elizabeth Prophet, Langston Hughes, Countee Cullen, Jean Toomer, W.E.B. Du Bois,Marcus Garvey, and Alain Leroy Locke.

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James P. Johnson. Scott E. Brown and Robert Hilbert. Rowan & Littlefield, 1992.

• James P. Johnson’s musical career and recordings are accounted for in this book. Photos,bibliography, discography, biography included.

“James P. Johnson: A Composer Rescued.” Leslie Stifelman.<www.columbia.edu/cu/cjas/11/12.html>

• Stifelman writes about her journey to recover the symphonic works of James P. Johnson.Manhattan’s Concordia Chamber Symphony orchestra performed the pieces, for the first timesince Johnson’s lifetime, in 1992. This is the story of the quest for and recovery of Johnson’slandmark orchestral arrangements.

“The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain.” Modern American Poetry.<www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/g_l/hughes/mountain.htm>

• Langston Hughes’s 1926 essay on racial struggle is reprinted here. Hughes writes to blackintellectuals and artists to refuse the standards of white expectation and rise to a uniquesuccess including the jazz culture of the time. 3 pages, printed.

The Power of Pride: stylemakers and rule breakers of the Harlem Renaissance. Carole Marksand Diana Edkins. Crown Publishers, 1999.

• This book examines, through essays and marvelous photos, seventeen important people fromthe Harlem Renaissance: Josephine Baker, Walter White, Zora Neale Hurston, A’LeliaWalker, James Weldon Johnson, Ethel Waters, Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, AlbertaHunter, Jessie Fauset, Nella Larsen, Florence Mills, Duke Ellington, Bill “Bojangles”Robinson, Carl Van Vechten, Langston Hughes, and Dorothy West.

• “A Nightclub map of Harlem,” E. Simms Campbell’s stunning caricature of 1932 Harlem, isincluded in this book.

JAZZ: music and dance

“Dance History Archives.” StreetSwing.com<www.streetswing.com/histmain/d5index.htm>

• This page contains tabs for dancers, dance halls (including the Savoy), dance terms, dancetimelines, etc. A search function is available. Suggested topics: Charleston, Lindy Hop,Savoy Ballroom, Black Bottom, Cotton Club, and Rent Parties.

• Each entry has a list of cross-references referencing contemporary dances, music, etc.

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“Fats Waller-Great Solos, 1929-1941.” Hal Leonard, publisher.

• If your students are interested in playing Fats Waller piano pieces, this book of sheet music isa transcription of his stride piano solos. Songs include: Ain’t Misbehavin’, Alligator Crawl,Handful of Keys, Honeysuckle Rose, Smashing Thirds, etc.

“JAZZ: A Film By Ken Burns.” PBS<www.pbs.org/jazz>

• Explore this website for a full history of jazz, its musicians, and its influence. Artistbiographies, classroom applications, and various links are provided. There is also a sectionfor younger children under “Jazz Kids.”

• There is an accompanying book (by the same name), found at local libraries, authored byKen Burns and Geoffrey Ward.

• The film is excellent. Produced by PBS Home Video Studios, it was released in 2001 onDVD. Check local libraries. 10 episodes, less than two hours each. Episodes 1-7 focus onthe history and events of the time in which Ain’t Misbehavin’ is set.

“A Passion for Jazz!”<www.apassion4jazz.net/>

• With two main categories on the main site—Jazz History and Jazz Education—this site isideal for students focusing on jazz. Timelines, lingo, photos of important events, and otherinstructions and explanations surrounding jazz are available.

“Pittsburgh Jazz: Book & Music Lists.” Carnegie Library.<www.clpgh.org/locations/musicart/lists/pittsburghjazz.html>

• Carnegie Library has a list of resources found in their collection relating to jazz history inPittsburgh. Listed are books about Pittsburgh jazz musicians and recordings from Pittsburghjazz artists.

“Pittsburgh Jazz Society.”<www.pitsburghjazz.org>

• The Pittsburgh Jazz Society website has links to local jazz artists, information about localevents, and opportunities for participation in jazz.

“The Red Hot Jazz Archive.”<www.redhotjazz.com>

• This website provides a history of pre-1930 jazz. Tabs for musicians, films, essays, and otherinformation are provided with cross-references. A search function is available. Suggestednames: Fats Waller (and his Rhythm), James P. Johnson, and Langston Hughes.

• Fats Waller’s brief biography is accompanied by an extensive list of songs he recorded orwrote. The songs can be played, with good sound quality, through the computer.

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Rent Party Jazz. William Miller and Charlotte Riley-Webb. Lee & Low Books, 2001.

• Written for children ages 9-12, this novel tells the story of a New Orleans family’s experiencewith jazz. Set in the 1930s, a young boy throws a rent party to help his mother pay for theirapartment after she loses her job.

Steppin’ on the Blues: The Visible Rhythms of African American Dance. Jacqui Malone.University of Illinois Press, 1996.

• A complete look at jazz dance, its history and contemporary applications.

Stride! John L. Fell. Rowman & Littlefield, 1999.

• John Fell traces the history of stride piano from ragtime to the present. Both the musiciansand the nature of the music itself are discussed.

Swingin’ at the Savoy: The Memoir of a Jazz Dancer. Norma Miller and Evette Jensen. TempleUniversity Press, 1996.

• Norma Miller, comedian, dancer, and choreographer, tells her story of growing up in Harlemnear the Savoy. She recounts her interactions with the legends of jazz and traces theinfluence of dance on culture.

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