Popular Music in the Mercer Era, 1910-1970

Johnny Mercer Centennial Celebration Concert featuring Lizz Wright, Joe Gransden and the Georgia State University Jazz Band

Georgia State University — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 20:00:00 PST

The Johnny Mercer Centennial events concluded with a special performance of Johnny Mercer's music with Lizz Wright, Joe Gransden and the Georgia State University Jazz Band. Lizz Wright studied voice at Georgia State University, and continued her musical education at New York's New School and in Vancouver. Returning to Atlanta, she won considerable regional acclaim after joining the jazz group In the Spirit. In 2002, Wright gained high-profile acclaim for her performances as part of a touring Billie Holiday tribute, for which she was singled out as a future star by several prominent critics. She is currently a Verve recording artist, and one of the jazz world's most celebrated rising stars, both as an accomplished songwriter and a versatile, deeply expressive singer.

Joe Gransden also studied music at Georgia State University, and the trumpeter/vocalist has performed worldwide and released seven CDs under his own name. Joe grew up in an environment that was rich in music, and soon after high school he was on the road as a sideman with the big bands of Tommy Dorsey and Glenn Miller. This was followed by a number of gigs with notable artists including Barry White, The Moody Blues, Kenny Rogers, The Temptations, Aretha Franklin, and The Whispers. Joe currently makes Atlanta his home, and his group, The Joe Gransden Trio, is a staple of the thriving Atlanta jazz music scene.

'To The Cow Country': The Musical Landscape of Gordon Jenkins' San Fernando Valley

Kirby Pringle — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 10:00:00 PST

This presentation follows the 1944 smash hit song written by Gordon Jenkins for a Roy Rogers' film of the same name. Various versions of "San Fernando Valley" are examined including those of Bing Crosby, Gordon Jenkins, Johnny Mercer, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, and, finally, a scathing hillbilly answer song by Moon Mullican that specifically addressed the attraction of the San Fernando Valley to migrants from the South. The success of the "San Fernando Valley" song in depicting the area as the embodiment of rural culture helped identify the region to droves of returning GIs, as well as those of the Southern Diaspora, ultimately helping to usher in urbanization. As the popularity of the "San Fernando Valley" tune bridged oceans as well as genres, its success on American Armed Forces Radio overseas, as well as the foreign versions it spawned, will be examined. Special attention will be given to Johnny Mercer, a long-time collaborator of Gordon Jenkins, and his contribution to the region's popularity.

'I'm Hep To That Step And I Dig it': Johnny Mercer Writes For (And With) Fred Astaire

Todd Decker — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 14:00:00 PST

Johnny Mercer contributed to five of Fred Astaire's thirty studio-era musicals: among songwriters, only Irving Berlin worked on a greater number of Astaire films. Always an aspiring songwriter, Astaire called upon Mercer as lyricist, co-composer and song doctor. This paper considers Mercer's many collaborations with Astaire, a body of work that extends across two decades and reaches beyond musical film to the parallel realms of popular recordings and television. Putting Astaire and Mercer in the same frame brings both men into focus in new ways. Both adjusted effectively to changes in the popular entertainment marketplace and showed particular sensitivity to shifts in musical style: thriving in the age of swing; sustaining their positions in the post-war "classic pop" era; finding new, if narrower niches after the rise of rock and roll. And both excelled at adapting black vernacular jazz idioms for mainstream (white) audiences. Looking at Astaire through his work with Mercer – and vice versa – brings a particular sharpness to the historical image of both of these creators of popular entertainment.

Going Hollywood with Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer

Kyle Barnett — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 14:00:00 PST

During the 1930s, noted popular music songwriters Johnny Mercer and Hoagy Carmichael both moved to southern California for work in the film industry. Like many songwriters who had left New York for the promise of lucrative film work, both composers would make a name for themselves at the height of the Hollywood studio system. In addition to being songwriters, they each performed the part in front of the camera as well. My presentation seeks to provide some preliminary answers to the questions: Why have songwriters in front of the camera? What might this suggest about the role of the Tin Pan Alley songwriter in Hollywood? During a period in which the film musical was in its ascendancy, musical numbers were constantly in need of catchy songs. But beyond this, did the songwriters themselves add to the Hollywood myth onscreen and off?

'Don't Be Scared About Going Low-Brow': Vernon Duke and the American Musical on Screen

Cynthia J. Miller — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 14:00:00 PST

A contemporary of Johnny Mercer, Russian-born poet, composer, and pianist, Vladimir Dukelsky, wrote his first ballet at age eight, gained note as one of Serge Diaghilev's favorite classical composers, and counted Prokofiev and Horowitz among his close friends and colleagues. But there was another side to Dukelsky's genius – a side named Vernon Duke – whose rise to fame in the United States was linked to names like Gershwin and Ziegfeld, and to the scores of the Follies and Broadway productions that brought us "Taking a Chance on Love," "Autumn in New York," and "April in Paris." Following Gershwin's urging to "Try to write some real popular tunes--and don't be scared about going low-brow. That will open you up," Duke straddled two worlds – classical and popular – divided for decades between composing songs for stage and screen under one name, and penning symphonies, oratorios, and chorales under the other. While not as well known as other figures of his ilk, notably Mercer, Oscar Levant, Virgil Thomson, and Jose Iturbi, Vernon Duke exemplifies American Music at its fullest and in its many media incarnations. Drawing on the popular song, the ballet, and the stage review, this paper will explore a selection from the hundreds of Hollywood musical movies that thrived on Duke's balancing of classical and popular idioms.

Ghost Singers, Citybillies, and Pseudo-Hillbillies: Freelance New York Recording Artists and the Creation of Old-Time Music, 1924-1932

Patrick Huber — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 10:00:00 PST

This presentation examines freelance New York studio singers such as Carson J. Robison, Frank Luther, Frankie Marvin, Arthur Fields, Bob Miller, and, most notably, Vernon Dalhart, all of whom began their professional recording careers in light opera or popular music but who, during the mid- to late 1920s, shifted into recording, if sometimes only occasionally, material aimed at the expanding national market for hillbilly music. Collectively, such artists were responsible for recording approximately one-third of the 11,400 hillbilly discs released between 1924 and 1932. But because of these urban-based studio singers' lack of "authentic" traditional folk backgrounds and because of their formal musical training, they have not been accorded the same legitimacy and importance within the history of country music as have, for example, Fiddlin' John Carson, Jimmie Rodgers, or the Carter Family. Instead, they have been roundly dismissed as "professional hillbillies," "citybillies" or, more pejoratively, "pseudo-hillbillies"—that is, as nothing more than cultural carpetbaggers and impersonators. This presentation examines the careers of several of these freelance New York studio singers and musicians to document their underappreciated contributions to the development of hillbilly music during its formative first decade, and to discuss the issues of authenticity, commercialism, and the regional and class origins of this music, around which much of country music studies currently revolves.

Johnny Mercer and Louis Armstrong: A Story in Three Songs

Joshua Berrett — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 12:00:00 PST

Given the fact that Armstrong's theme song was "When It's Sleepy Time Down South," it is not surprising that the titles in the Mercer songbook to which he gravitated most often were those evoking a Southern sensibility. The first of these, "Lazybones," which catapulted Mercer to international fame was one of Armstrong's staples. In the case of "Jeepers Creepers" we have the benefit of not only the recorded legacy, but also the movie Going Places in which the song was premiered. The third Mercer song is "Blues in the Night," characterized by Arthur Schwartz as "probably the greatest blues song ever written—and that includes 'St. Louis Blues.' " Although Armstrong recorded it only twice, each version is rich in terms of cultural context. Adding special resonance to the song is the fact that it was first heard as part of a jail sequence in a movie by the same name, a defining moment where a black musician uses it as a vehicle of protest against white exploitation in a nightclub.

Building Bridges: Hank Williams and the Hit Parade

Steve Goodson — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 10:00:00 PST

Hank Williams is widely considered to be the greatest songwriter in the history of country music. He is also the first country songwriter whose songs were consistently recorded with commercial success by artists in the "pop" field. Tony Bennett's first number-one record, for example, was "Cold, Cold Heart," a Hank Williams composition. In this paper I plan to discuss William's role as a popular songwriter, exploring the differences that his songs highlight between the pop and country genres. I also plan to discuss the ultimate significance of the bridge that Williams built between the two genres. Williams' achievement in breaking through to the mainstream national market has long been celebrated by the country music industry, but, ironically, it might inadvertently have helped lead to the "watering down" of country music that many traditional-minded fans loudly lament today.

Bopping Along With Johnny Mercer

Frank A. Salamone — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:00:00 PST

There aren't many jazz musicians who have not performed a Johnny Mercer song. Bop musicians were no exception. Oscar Peterson and Dizzy Gillespie were just two among the many who performed "Autumn Leaves," for example. Cannonball Adderley and Miles Davis found much to explore in the song as well. Ella Fitzgerald did an entire songbook album of Mercer melodies. In a movie portrait of Gillespie, Mercer's "Midnight Sun" is featured. The question is why Boppers turned to Mercer's tunes so often? What was there in his lyrics and melodies, which attracted them? For young Turks who were supposedly rebelling against the restrictions of Swing it seems an odd choice of material. However, deeper examination shows the logic of their choice and reveals a good deal about Bop, which is often overlooked.

Could Fifty Million Record-Buyers Have Been Irrelevant? Understanding the Post-World War II Past through Popular Music

Michael T. Bertrand — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:00:00 PST

Conventional historians often overlook the role of popular music in their interpretations of the past. They generally treat the subject as if it existed on the periphery of everyday life. Such an approach removes popular music from its social, cultural, and historical environment and places it within a vacuum where it predictably retains little meaning except as trivia. Without discounting the commercial nature of popular culture, this paper will argue that modern-day consumers utilize the tools that are available to them, including music, to express themselves in ways that often are denied in other social spheres. Consequently, historians have the opportunity to discover patterns of consumption that correspond to larger trends in society. In examining the evolution of popular music in the 1950s, for instance, one can detect outlooks that both sustain and challenge existing interpretations of the era, particularly as they pertain to issues of race, class, gender, and generation. Far from being irrelevant or trivial, record buyers in the post-World War II years have a great deal to tell us about the society in which they lived.

Singers and Jazz Instrumentalists As Interpreters of the Popular Song

Geoffrey J. Haydon — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 14:00:00 PST

Dr. Haydon will look at America's Golden Age of Popular Music with a sampling of songs from some of the great songwriters and lyricists of the 1920's, 30's, 40's and 50's. Selections will include but not be limited to Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, George and Ira Gershwin, Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart/Oscar Hammerstein II, Jerome Kern, Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer. We will look at how singers use both the music and lyric to interpret these songs. Then we will discuss how jazz musicians have adopted the same repertoire using it as a vehicle for their own creative aspirations.

"Johnny Mercer: The Dream's On Me" Documentary Film

Presented by Clint Eastwood et al. — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:00:00 PST

Because his music continues to speak to us even today, the story of Johnny Mercer's life and work has widespread appeal. To mark the 100th anniversary of his birth in 1909, this documentary will present the life and work of Johnny Mercer through the story telling eyes of Clint Eastwood with new performances and interviews by: TONY BENNETT, JOHN WILLIAMS, JULIE ANDREWS, DR.JOHN, MICHAEL FEINSTEIN, BLAKE EDWARDS, JAMIE CULLUM, AUDRA McDONALD, ANDRE PREVIN, MAUDE MAGGART, ALAN BERGMAN and STEPHEN HOLDEN.

Dixie Lullaby: Songs of the South From Tin Pan Alley

Karen Cox — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:00:00 PST

Dr. Cox's paper focuses on popular music about the American South, tracing its development from the minstrel tunes of Stephen Foster and Daniel Decatur Emmett to the "coon songs" of the late nineteenth-century, and finally, the "back-to-Dixie" songs of Tin Pan Alley. Cox shows how popular music, over several decades, helped perpetuate a nostalgic image of the South as a pre-industrial American paradise where life was easy and less hectic than the urban North, and African Americans like the beloved "mammy" were idealized as happy servants.

Blackbirds in Britain: Florence Mills, Johnny Mercer and British Imaginings of the American South Between the Two World Wars

Brian Ward — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:00:00 PST

In 1936, Johnny Mercer visited Britain for the first time as part of Lew Leslie's "Blackbirds of 1936" – a revue with an all-African American cast for which Mercer wrote many of the lyrics. Mercer was surprised to learn of the transatlantic popularity, not only of his own songs, but also of southern-themed popular culture more generally. A decade earlier another "Blackbird," the brilliant singer-dancer Florence Mills, had been similarly amazed by the British fascination with things both southern and black. Focusing primarily on the Blackbirds revues, this paper considers how British understandings and misunderstandings of the South – and, in particular, of its race relations – were largely constructed from the popular songs, plays, radio shows, and films of the period. It also examines how diverse British responses to these forms of "southern" and "black" popular culture reveal at least as much about British attitudes towards race, gender, sex, class and generational tensions as about the realities of southern life, black or white, between the wars.

When Big Bands were 'Beach Music': The Swing Era in the Coastal Carolinas

Mary Montgomery Wolf — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:00:00 PST

According to historian David Stowe, it is possible to think of America ca. 1935-1945 as "swing shaped." That is to say, swing pervaded American popular music in a way that no genre had before. It embodied a certain spirit of the age, including new ways of thinking about race, cultural difference, and what it meant to be an American. To what extent does this interpretation ring true in the South? Some of the most important venues for swing in the south were those found in summer beach resorts like Wrightsville Beach and Atlantic Beach in North Carolina and Myrtle Beach and Pawley's Island in South Carolina. How were national bands received in these venues? Furthermore, how did "territory bands" like North Carolina's Hod Williams and His Orchestra interpret swing?

A Celebration of Jazz in a Dark Decade

Samuel Charters — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:00:00 PST

In the dark years of the Depression of the 1930s, American society teetered on the edge of social collapse. However, one of the few bright voices of optimism and hope was the sound of the new American jazz. Leaving behind their music's early years as a derided musical style left to its disreputable setting of speakeasies and dance halls, the new jazz orchestras, with the new name "swing bands," presented a glittering promise that life could be better. Through the worst moments of the long financial crisis the bands offered a bright, infectious enthusiasm. Although their music didn't confront the daily realities of America's racial discrimination, by introducing African American musicians into their stage presentations the bands took important steps toward breaking down racial barriers. It was a moment when the music of great swing artists like Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and Glen Miller became a lifeline toward a hopefully better future, and it was the song writers of that era like Johnny Mercer who gave them the new music to play. Jazz for the troubled decade was a celebration, at a moment when it seemed there was little else to celebrate.