116-452: Bobby Darin (born Walden Robert Cassotto ; May 14, 1936 – December 20, 1973) was an American musician, songwriter, and actor. He performed jazz , pop , rock and roll , folk , swing , and country music . Darin started his career as a songwriter for Connie Francis . In 1958, Darin co-wrote and recorded his first million-selling single, " Splish Splash ", which was followed by Darin's own song " Dream Lover ", then his covers of " Mack
232-533: A candy store in Washington Heights . They wrote jingles and songs, beginning with "Bubblegum Pop". In 1956, Darin's agent negotiated a contract with Decca Records . The songs recorded at Decca had minimal commercial success. A member of the Brill Building gang of struggling songwriters, Darin was introduced to singer Connie Francis , for whom he helped write several songs. They developed
348-626: A "special relationship to time defined as 'swing ' ". Jazz involves "a spontaneity and vitality of musical production in which improvisation plays a role" and contains a "sonority and manner of phrasing which mirror the individuality of the performing jazz musician". A broader definition that encompasses different eras of jazz has been proposed by Travis Jackson: "it is music that includes qualities such as swing, improvising, group interaction, developing an 'individual voice', and being open to different musical possibilities". Krin Gibbard argued that "jazz
464-461: A Bath". Both Kaufman and Darin felt the title was lackluster, but Darin, with few options, said: "I could write a song with that title." Within an hour, Darin had written "Splish Splash". The single, Darin's first successful foray into the rock and roll genre, sold more than a million copies. His partnership with Kirshner, who was not involved in the writing of that song, ended at that time. Darin made another recording in 1958 for Brunswick Records with
580-399: A Million Dollar Baby", were sung in an Elvis style, which did not suit Darin's personality. Guided by Atlantic's star-maker Ahmet Ertegun , Darin's career finally took off in 1958 when he recorded " Splish Splash ". Darin co-wrote the song with radio D.J. Murray Kaufman after a phone call from Kaufman's mother, Jean, a frustrated songwriter. Her latest song idea was: "Splish, Splash, Take
696-652: A band called The Ding Dongs. With the success of "Splish Splash" the single was re-released by Atco Records as " Early in the Morning " with the band renamed as The Rinky Dinks. It charted, and made it to number 24 in the United States. In 1959, Darin recorded the self-penned " Dream Lover ", a ballad that became a multi-million seller. With it came financial success and the ability to demand more creative control of his career; Darin meant for his That's All album to show that he could sing more than rock and roll as
812-584: A cover version of "Mack the Knife" on the 1984 album L.A. Is My Lady , perhaps a testament to Darin. Darin and Elvis Presley were notable friends and teen idols in the 1950s. On occasion, Presley would sneak into Darin's concerts and watch him perform. In his short life, Darin explored all genres of music, such as pop, jazz, country, and folk music. In a 1988 Rolling Stone interview, Neil Young confessed: "I used to be pissed off at Bobby Darin because he changed styles so much. Now I look at him and I think he
928-473: A drum made by stretching skin over a flour-barrel. Lavish festivals with African-based dances to drums were organized on Sundays at Place Congo, or Congo Square, in New Orleans until 1843. There are historical accounts of other music and dance gatherings elsewhere in the southern United States. Robert Palmer said of percussive slave music: Usually such music was associated with annual festivals, when
1044-456: A form of folk music which arose in part from the work songs and field hollers of African-American slaves on plantations. These work songs were commonly structured around a repetitive call-and-response pattern, but early blues was also improvisational. Classical music performance is evaluated more by its fidelity to the musical score , with less attention given to interpretation, ornamentation, and accompaniment. The classical performer's goal
1160-438: A gun and threatened to shoot Darin, who managed to escape out of a window. Darin and Francis talked briefly after the show, but parted ways. Over a four-month period in 1956, the two maintained a secret correspondence involving love letters. Darin kept the letters until his death, and the letters were auctioned. They were returned to Francis later in life. In the following years, they saw each other several times while appearing on
1276-410: A limited melodic range, sounding like a field holler, and the guitar accompaniment was slapped rather than strummed, like a small drum which responded in syncopated accents, functioning as another "voice". Handy and his band members were formally trained African-American musicians who had not grown up with the blues, yet he was able to adapt the blues to a larger band instrument format and arrange them in
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#17327839183251392-460: A multi- strain ragtime march with four parts that feature recurring themes and a bass line with copious seventh chords . Its structure was the basis for many other rags, and the syncopations in the right hand, especially in the transition between the first and second strain, were novel at the time. The last four measures of Scott Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag" (1899) are shown below. African-based rhythmic patterns such as tresillo and its variants,
1508-399: A number of made for TV movies , TV specials, and TV series. One of those series was the musical game show Musical Chairs , notable for being the first game show hosted by an African-American, Adam Wade . In the fall of 1972, Kirshner was asked by ABC Television to serve as executive producer and "creative consultant" for their new In Concert series, which aired every other week in
1624-518: A pitch which he called a 'jazz ball' "because it wobbles and you simply can't do anything with it". The use of the word in a musical context was documented as early as 1915 in the Chicago Daily Tribune . Its first documented use in a musical context in New Orleans was in a November 14, 1916, Times-Picayune article about "jas bands". In an interview with National Public Radio , musician Eubie Blake offered his recollections of
1740-660: A popular music form. Handy wrote about his adopting of the blues: The primitive southern Negro, as he sang, was sure to bear down on the third and seventh tone of the scale, slurring between major and minor. Whether in the cotton field of the Delta or on the Levee up St. Louis way, it was always the same. Till then, however, I had never heard this slur used by a more sophisticated Negro, or by any white man. I tried to convey this effect ... by introducing flat thirds and sevenths (now called blue notes) into my song, although its prevailing key
1856-476: A producer-promoter, Kirshner was instrumental in launching the careers of singers and songwriters, including Bobby Darin , with whom he collaborated on a number of advertising jingles and pop "ditties" - their first was called "Bubblegum Pop". He was also responsible for finding Tony Orlando , Neil Diamond , Carole King , and Sarah Dash of Labelle , as well as discovering the occasional rock act, such as Kansas . Kirshner had three record labels. The first
1972-541: A result. Darin's next single, " Mack the Knife ", the standard from Kurt Weill 's Threepenny Opera , was given a vamping jazz-pop interpretation. Although Darin was initially opposed to releasing it as a single, the song went to No. 1 on the chart for nine weeks, sold two million copies, and won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1960. He was also voted the Grammy Award for Best New Artist that year, and "Mack
2088-435: A romantic interest, but her father was not fond of Darin and did not approve of the relationship, and the couple split up. At one point, Darin wanted to elope immediately; Francis has said that not marrying Darin was the biggest mistake of her life. Darin left Decca to sign with Atlantic Records ' Atco subsidiary , where he wrote and arranged music for himself and others. Songs Darin recorded, such as Harry Warren 's "I Found
2204-448: A series of Hollywood leading men Sidney Poitier , Steve McQueen , and Gregory Peck . In October 1964, Darin appeared as a wounded ex-convict who is befriended by an orphan girl in "The John Gillman Story" episode of NBC 's Wagon Train western television series. "Now my attitude is very simple: I must do what artistically pleases me." Bobby Darin, 1967 Pop Chronicles interview Darin became more politically active as
2320-520: A similar show on NBC called The Bobby Darin Show . That show ran for 13 episodes, ending on April 27. Darin subsequently made television guest appearances and remained a top draw. Darin was on par with Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra . In 1960, Darin infamously told Life magazine that he wanted to be established as a legend by the age of 25. Darin's off-the-cuff statements generated a rivalry and playful banter between Sinatra and himself. Sinatra released
2436-493: A son, Dodd Mitchell Darin (also known as Morgan Mitchell) on December 16, 1961. Dee and Darin made a few films together with moderate success, such as If a Man Answers (1962), and That Funny Feeling (1965). In 1961, Darin starred as a struggling jazz musician in Too Late Blues , John Cassavetes ' first film for a major Hollywood studio. Writing in 2012, Los Angeles Times critic Dennis Lim observed that Darin
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#17327839183252552-414: A song Darin had written. They were soon in what Darin's friends described as, "an intense romance". However, Francis's parents did not approve of Darin and one night after returning from a date, Francis found her bags packed and waiting for her on the front step. Darin proposed almost immediately. When her father found out about the engagement, he stormed into the rehearsals of The Jackie Gleason Show with
2668-460: A subsidiary of the COLPIX label, in 1966. Kirshner was hired by the producers of The Monkees to provide hit-worthy songs to accompany the television program, within a demanding schedule. Kirshner used songwriting talent from his Brill Building stable of writers and musicians to create catchy, engaging tracks which the band could pretend to perform on the show. This was required to keep up with
2784-626: A tribute to dead musicians, which O'Day wrote shortly after Darin's death. On May 14, 2007, Darin was awarded a star on the Las Vegas Walk of Stars to honor his contribution to making Las Vegas the "Entertainment Capital of the World" and named him one of the twentieth century's greatest entertainers. Fans paid for the star. Darin also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame . On December 13, 2009, at its 2010 Grammy Awards ceremony,
2900-527: A version of Tim Hardin 's " If I Were A Carpenter ", which peaked at No. 9 (No. 8 in the US). Darin performed the opening and closing songs on the soundtrack of the 1965 Walt Disney film That Darn Cat! . "Things" was sung by Dean Martin in the 1967 TV special Movin' With Nancy , starring Nancy Sinatra . In the fall of 1959, Darin played "Honeyboy Jones" in an early episode of Jackie Cooper 's CBS military sitcom/drama Hennesey . That same year, he became
3016-478: Is a conniving SOB." On December 16, 1961, they had a son named Dodd Mitchell Darin. In the early 1960s, the pair became Hollywood's golden couple, but they had a troublesome marriage. Dee and Darin divorced on March 7, 1967. Darin's second wife was Andrea Yeager, a legal secretary whom he met in 1970 and married on June 25, 1973, after the couple had lived together for three years. Four months later, in October 1973,
3132-454: Is a construct" which designates "a number of musics with enough in common to be understood as part of a coherent tradition". Duke Ellington , one of jazz's most famous figures, said, "It's all music." Although jazz is considered difficult to define, in part because it contains many subgenres, improvisation is one of its defining elements. The centrality of improvisation is attributed to the influence of earlier forms of music such as blues ,
3248-693: Is a fundamental rhythmic figure heard in many different slave musics of the Caribbean, as well as the Afro-Caribbean folk dances performed in New Orleans Congo Square and Gottschalk's compositions (for example "Souvenirs From Havana" (1859)). Tresillo (shown below) is the most basic and most prevalent duple-pulse rhythmic cell in sub-Saharan African music traditions and the music of the African Diaspora . Tresillo
3364-558: Is a reminder of "an oppressive and racist society and restrictions on their artistic visions". Amiri Baraka argues that there is a "white jazz" genre that expresses whiteness . White jazz musicians appeared in the Midwest and in other areas throughout the U.S. Papa Jack Laine , who ran the Reliance band in New Orleans in the 1910s, was called "the father of white jazz". The Original Dixieland Jazz Band , whose members were white, were
3480-493: Is heard prominently in New Orleans second line music and in other forms of popular music from that city from the turn of the 20th century to present. "By and large the simpler African rhythmic patterns survived in jazz ... because they could be adapted more readily to European rhythmic conceptions," jazz historian Gunther Schuller observed. "Some survived, others were discarded as the Europeanization progressed." In
3596-437: Is to play the composition as it was written. In contrast, jazz is often characterized by the product of interaction and collaboration, placing less value on the contribution of the composer, if there is one, and more on the performer. The jazz performer interprets a tune in individual ways, never playing the same composition twice. Depending on the performer's mood, experience, and interaction with band members or audience members,
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3712-625: The Atlantic slave trade had brought nearly 400,000 Africans to North America. The slaves came largely from West Africa and the greater Congo River basin and brought strong musical traditions with them. The African traditions primarily use a single-line melody and call-and-response pattern, and the rhythms have a counter-metric structure and reflect African speech patterns. An 1885 account says that they were making strange music (Creole) on an equally strange variety of 'instruments'—washboards, washtubs, jugs, boxes beaten with sticks or bones and
3828-617: The Dixieland jazz revival of the 1940s, Black musicians rejected it as being shallow nostalgia entertainment for white audiences. On the other hand, traditional jazz enthusiasts have dismissed bebop, free jazz, and jazz fusion as forms of debasement and betrayal. An alternative view is that jazz can absorb and transform diverse musical styles. By avoiding the creation of norms, jazz allows avant-garde styles to emerge. For some African Americans, jazz has drawn attention to African-American contributions to culture and history. For others, jazz
3944-659: The UCLA Medical Center shortly after his death. In 1990, Darin was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame , with singer and close friend Paul Anka announcing the honor. In 1999, Darin was voted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame . Songwriter Alan O'Day alluded to Darin and his recording of "Mack the Knife" in the song " Rock and Roll Heaven " (made a hit by the Righteous Brothers ),
4060-484: The 11:30 p.m. slot normally showing The Dick Cavett Show . The following September, Kirshner left In Concert to produce and host his own syndicated weekly rock-concert program called Don Kirshner's Rock Concert . With its long-form live performances, it was a new direction for pop music presentation on television as compared to rehearsed, often lip-synced performances that were the staple of earlier television shows like Shindig! . The last show aired in 1981,
4176-411: The 1920s Jazz Age , it has been recognized as a major form of musical expression in traditional and popular music . Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes , complex chords , call and response vocals , polyrhythms and improvisation . As jazz spread around the world, it drew on national, regional, and local musical cultures, which gave rise to different styles. New Orleans jazz began in
4292-451: The 1950s, many women jazz instrumentalists were prominent, some sustaining long careers. Some of the most distinctive improvisers, composers, and bandleaders in jazz have been women. Trombonist Melba Liston is acknowledged as the first female horn player to work in major bands and to make a real impact on jazz, not only as a musician but also as a respected composer and arranger, particularly through her collaborations with Randy Weston from
4408-529: The 1960s progressed, and his musical output became more " folksy ". In 1966, Darin had a hit with folksinger Tim Hardin 's " If I Were a Carpenter ", securing a return to the Top 10 after a two-year absence. Darin traveled with Robert F. Kennedy and worked on the politician's 1968 presidential campaign. He was with Kennedy on June 4, 1968, the day he traveled to Los Angeles for the California primary, and Darin
4524-576: The 1960s, Darin owned and operated, with Doris Day 's son Terry Melcher , a music publishing and production company (TM Music/Trio). Darin signed Wayne Newton and gave him the song " Danke Schoen ", which became Newton's breakout hit. Darin also was a mentor to Roger McGuinn , who worked for him at TM Music and played the 12-string guitar in Darin's nightclub band before forming the Byrds . Darin also produced Rosey Grier 's 1964 LP Soul City , and Made in
4640-476: The 21st century, such as Latin and Afro-Cuban jazz . The origin of the word jazz has resulted in considerable research, and its history is well documented. It is believed to be related to jasm , a slang term dating back to 1860 meaning ' pep, energy ' . The earliest written record of the word is in a 1912 article in the Los Angeles Times in which a minor league baseball pitcher described
4756-590: The Archies and Kansas . Calendar/Kirshner recordings were first distributed by RCA Records , then CBS Records . Kirshner was also involved in Dimension Records . In the early 1960s, Kirshner was a successful music publisher as head of his own company, Aldon Music, which later was sold to Screen Gems-Columbia Music. With Al Nevins, Kirshner brought performers such as Bobby Darin together with songwriters and musicians. He later became president of COLGEMS,
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4872-575: The Black middle-class. Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre, which originated in African-American communities of primarily the Deep South of the United States at the end of the 19th century from their spirituals , work songs , field hollers , shouts and chants and rhymed simple narrative ballads . The African use of pentatonic scales contributed to
4988-464: The Caribbean. African-based rhythmic patterns were retained in the United States in large part through "body rhythms" such as stomping, clapping, and patting juba dancing . In the opinion of jazz historian Ernest Borneman , what preceded New Orleans jazz before 1890 was "Afro-Latin music", similar to what was played in the Caribbean at the time. A three-stroke pattern known in Cuban music as tresillo
5104-705: The Knife " and " Beyond the Sea ", which brought him worldwide fame. In 1962, Darin won a Golden Globe Award for his first film, Come September , co-starring his first wife, actress Sandra Dee . During the 1960s, Darin became more politically active and worked on Robert F. Kennedy 's Democratic presidential campaign. He was present at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles at the time of Robert Kennedy's assassination in June 1968. That same year, Darin discovered
5220-408: The Knife" has since been honored with a Grammy Hall of Fame Award . Darin followed "Mack" with " Beyond the Sea ", a jazzy English-language version of Charles Trenet 's French hit song " La Mer ". Both tracks were produced by Atlantic founders Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun with staff producer Jerry Wexler and they featured arrangements by Richard Wess. The late-1950s success included Darin setting
5336-477: The Recording Academy awarded Darin a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award. Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans , Louisiana , in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues , ragtime , European harmony , African rhythmic rituals, spirituals , hymns , marches , vaudeville song, and dance music . Since
5452-541: The Shade for Jimmy Boyd . In 1962, Darin began to write and sing country music , with hit songs including " Things " (US No. 3/UK No. 2) (1962), " You're the Reason I'm Living " (US No. 3), and "18 Yellow Roses" (US No. 10). The latter two were recorded by Capitol Records , which he joined in 1962, before returning to Atlantic three years later. Darin left Capitol in 1964. Two years later, he had his final UK hit single, with
5568-665: The Starlight Roof at the famed Waldorf-Astoria Hotel . He entertained audiences with a light elegant musical style which remained popular with audiences for nearly three decades from the 1930s until the late 1950s. Jazz originated in the late-19th to early-20th century. It developed out of many forms of music, including blues , ragtime , European harmony , African rhythmic rituals, spirituals , hymns , marches , vaudeville song, and dance music . It also incorporated interpretations of American and European classical music, entwined with African and slave folk songs and
5684-589: The U.S. Female jazz performers and composers have contributed to jazz throughout its history. Although Betty Carter , Ella Fitzgerald , Adelaide Hall , Billie Holiday , Peggy Lee , Abbey Lincoln , Anita O'Day , Dinah Washington , and Ethel Waters were recognized for their vocal talent, less familiar were bandleaders, composers, and instrumentalists such as pianist Lil Hardin Armstrong , trumpeter Valaida Snow , and songwriters Irene Higginbotham and Dorothy Fields . Women began playing instruments in jazz in
5800-506: The age of 37 in a hospital recovery room after having open heart surgery in Los Angeles. Darin was born Walden Robert Cassotto in East Harlem , New York City, on May 14, 1936, to Vanina Juliette "Nina" Cassotto (born November 30, 1917). Because his mother was only 18 at the time of his birth, Darin's maternal grandmother became his mother and Nina his older sister. Darin's maternal grandmother, Vivian "Polly" Fern Walden, (born in 1891)
5916-640: The all-time attendance record at the Copacabana nightclub in Manhattan and headlining at the major casinos in Las Vegas . Darin's 1960 recording of "Artificial Flowers", a song by Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock from the Broadway musical Tenderloin about the death of a child laborer, featured a jazzy, big band arrangement by Richard Behrke, that was in sharp contrast to its tragic lyrics. In
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#17327839183256032-552: The blues are undocumented, though they can be seen as the secular counterpart of the spirituals. However, as Gerhard Kubik points out, whereas the spirituals are homophonic , rural blues and early jazz "was largely based on concepts of heterophony ". During the early 19th century an increasing number of black musicians learned to play European instruments, particularly the violin, which they used to parody European dance music in their own cakewalk dances. In turn, European American minstrel show performers in blackface popularized
6148-476: The copyright to his own music and eventually, their worth. The company Darin sold them to went bankrupt. It was believed that during his final days, Darin was still trying to gain back the rights to his music. In 1970, Darin proposed a self-directed and written film The Vendors (1970), about the life of a folk singer. However, the production left him broke and was not released, which led Darin to return to music. In spite of his declining health, Darin's last venture
6264-546: The couple divorced amid strain caused by Darin's worsening health problems. Darin had poor health throughout his life. Darin was frail as an infant and, beginning at age eight, had recurring bouts of rheumatic fever that left him with a seriously weakened heart. Darin was well aware that he might not live long, and lived his life accordingly. During his first heart surgery in January 1971, Darin had two artificial valves implanted, then spent most of that year recovering from
6380-477: The demanding schedule. The formula worked phenomenally well – the singles " Last Train to Clarksville ", written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart , and " I'm a Believer ", written by Neil Diamond , were, along with the first two Monkees albums, produced and released in time to catch the initial wave of the television program's popularity. After a year, the Monkees wanted a chance to play their own instruments on
6496-555: The development of blue notes in blues and jazz. As Kubik explains: Many of the rural blues of the Deep South are stylistically an extension and merger of basically two broad accompanied song-style traditions in the west central Sudanic belt: W. C. Handy became interested in folk blues of the Deep South while traveling through the Mississippi Delta. In this folk blues form, the singer would improvise freely within
6612-447: The drama department. After only two semesters, he dropped out to pursue an acting career. Darin was an ambitious young adult and aspired to be an actor, go on Broadway , and become a recording artist. By the time he was a teenager, Darin could play several instruments, including piano, drums, and guitar. He later added harmonica and xylophone . Darin took his stage name, Bobby Darin , when he began to record. One version of how Darin got
6728-434: The early 1910s, combining earlier brass band marches, French quadrilles , biguine , ragtime and blues with collective polyphonic improvisation . However, jazz did not begin as a single musical tradition in New Orleans or elsewhere. In the 1930s, arranged dance-oriented swing big bands , Kansas City jazz (a hard-swinging, bluesy, improvisational style), and gypsy jazz (a style that emphasized musette waltzes) were
6844-509: The early 1920s, drawing particular recognition on piano. When male jazz musicians were drafted during World War II, many all-female bands replaced them. The International Sweethearts of Rhythm , which was founded in 1937, was a popular band that became the first all-female integrated band in the U.S. and the first to travel with the USO , touring Europe in 1945. Women were members of the big bands of Woody Herman and Gerald Wilson . Beginning in
6960-480: The education of freed African Americans. Although strict segregation limited employment opportunities for most blacks, many were able to find work in entertainment. Black musicians were able to provide entertainment in dances, minstrel shows , and in vaudeville , during which time many marching bands were formed. Black pianists played in bars, clubs, and brothels, as ragtime developed. Ragtime appeared as sheet music, popularized by African-American musicians such as
7076-556: The entertainer Ernest Hogan , whose hit songs appeared in 1895. Two years later, Vess Ossman recorded a medley of these songs as a banjo solo known as "Rag Time Medley". Also in 1897, the white composer William Krell published his " Mississippi Rag " as the first written piano instrumental ragtime piece, and Tom Turpin published his "Harlem Rag", the first rag published by an African-American. Classically trained pianist Scott Joplin produced his " Original Rags " in 1898 and, in 1899, had an international hit with " Maple Leaf Rag ",
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#17327839183257192-459: The first jazz group to record, and Bix Beiderbecke was one of the most prominent jazz soloists of the 1920s. The Chicago Style was developed by white musicians such as Eddie Condon , Bud Freeman , Jimmy McPartland , and Dave Tough . Others from Chicago such as Benny Goodman and Gene Krupa became leading members of swing during the 1930s. Many bands included both Black and white musicians. These musicians helped change attitudes toward race in
7308-415: The first written music which was rhythmically based on an African motif (1803). From the perspective of African-American music, the "habanera rhythm" (also known as "congo"), "tango-congo", or tango . can be thought of as a combination of tresillo and the backbeat . The habanera was the first of many Cuban music genres which enjoyed periods of popularity in the United States and reinforced and inspired
7424-532: The habanera rhythm and cinquillo , are heard in the ragtime compositions of Joplin and Turpin. Joplin's " Solace " (1909) is generally considered to be in the habanera genre: both of the pianist's hands play in a syncopated fashion, completely abandoning any sense of a march rhythm. Ned Sublette postulates that the tresillo/habanera rhythm "found its way into ragtime and the cakewalk," whilst Roberts suggests that "the habanera influence may have been part of what freed black music from ragtime's European bass". In
7540-424: The influences of West African culture. Its composition and style have changed many times throughout the years with each performer's personal interpretation and improvisation, which is also one of the greatest appeals of the genre. By the 18th century, slaves in the New Orleans area gathered socially at a special market, in an area which later became known as Congo Square , famous for its African dances. By 1866,
7656-460: The instruments of jazz: brass, drums, and reeds tuned in the European 12-tone scale. Small bands contained a combination of self-taught and formally educated musicians, many from the funeral procession tradition. These bands traveled in black communities in the deep south. Beginning in 1914, Louisiana Creole and African-American musicians played in vaudeville shows which carried jazz to cities in
7772-578: The late 1950s into the 1990s. Jewish Americans played a significant role in jazz. As jazz spread, it developed to encompass many different cultures, and the work of Jewish composers in Tin Pan Alley helped shape the many different sounds that jazz came to incorporate. Jewish Americans were able to thrive in Jazz because of the probationary whiteness that they were allotted at the time. George Bornstein wrote that African Americans were sympathetic to
7888-539: The late 1950s, using the mode , or musical scale, as the basis of musical structure and improvisation, as did free jazz , which explored playing without regular meter, beat and formal structures. Jazz-rock fusion appeared in the late 1960s and early 1970s, combining jazz improvisation with rock music 's rhythms, electric instruments, and highly amplified stage sound. In the early 1980s, a commercial form of jazz fusion called smooth jazz became successful, garnering significant radio airplay. Other styles and genres abound in
8004-955: The many top players he employed, such as George Brunies , Sharkey Bonano , and future members of the Original Dixieland Jass Band . During the early 1900s, jazz was mostly performed in African-American and mulatto communities due to segregation laws. Storyville brought jazz to a wider audience through tourists who visited the port city of New Orleans. Many jazz musicians from African-American communities were hired to perform in bars and brothels. These included Buddy Bolden and Jelly Roll Morton in addition to those from other communities, such as Lorenzo Tio and Alcide Nunez . Louis Armstrong started his career in Storyville and found success in Chicago. Storyville
8120-413: The melody was stated briefly at the beginning and most of the piece was improvised. Modal jazz abandoned chord progressions to allow musicians to improvise even more. In many forms of jazz, a soloist is supported by a rhythm section of one or more chordal instruments (piano, guitar), double bass, and drums. The rhythm section plays chords and rhythms that outline the composition structure and complement
8236-697: The music internationally, combining syncopation with European harmonic accompaniment. In the mid-1800s the white New Orleans composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk adapted slave rhythms and melodies from Cuba and other Caribbean islands into piano salon music. New Orleans was the main nexus between the Afro-Caribbean and African American cultures. The Black Codes outlawed drumming by slaves, which meant that African drumming traditions were not preserved in North America, unlike in Cuba, Haiti, and elsewhere in
8352-583: The music of New Orleans with the music of Cuba, Wynton Marsalis observes that tresillo is the New Orleans "clavé", a Spanish word meaning "code" or "key", as in the key to a puzzle, or mystery. Although the pattern is only half a clave , Marsalis makes the point that the single-celled figure is the guide-pattern of New Orleans music. Jelly Roll Morton called the rhythmic figure the Spanish tinge and considered it an essential ingredient of jazz. The abolition of slavery in 1865 led to new opportunities for
8468-537: The name is that the first three letters on a Mandarin Chinese restaurant were burned out. According to another version, he adapted it from the first name of actor Darren McGavin , TV's Mike Hammer. Darin said: "My legal name will remain Cassotto. Cassotto was my mother's name, and it will be my children's name." Darin's career took off with a songwriting partnership, formed in 1955 with Don Kirshner , whom he met at
8584-467: The northeastern United States, a "hot" style of playing ragtime had developed, notably James Reese Europe 's symphonic Clef Club orchestra in New York City, which played a benefit concert at Carnegie Hall in 1912. The Baltimore rag style of Eubie Blake influenced James P. Johnson 's development of stride piano playing, in which the right hand plays the melody, while the left hand provides
8700-618: The northern and western parts of the U.S. Jazz became international in 1914, when the Creole Band with cornettist Freddie Keppard performed the first ever jazz concert outside the United States, at the Pantages Playhouse Theatre in Winnipeg , Canada. In New Orleans, a white bandleader named Papa Jack Laine integrated blacks and whites in his marching band. He was known as "the father of white jazz" because of
8816-427: The only actor ever to have been signed to five major Hollywood film studios . Darin wrote music for several films in which he appeared. Darin's first major film, Come September (1961), was a teenager-oriented romantic comedy with Rock Hudson and Gina Lollobrigida and featuring 18-year-old actress Sandra Dee . They met during the production of the film and they soon married on December 1, 1960. Dee gave birth to
8932-470: The performer may change melodies, harmonies, and time signatures. In early Dixieland , a.k.a. New Orleans jazz, performers took turns playing melodies and improvising countermelodies . In the swing era of the 1920s–40s, big bands relied more on arrangements which were written or learned by ear and memorized. Soloists improvised within these arrangements. In the bebop era of the 1940s, big bands gave way to small groups and minimal arrangements in which
9048-500: The period 1820–1850. Some of the earliest [Mississippi] Delta settlers came from the vicinity of New Orleans, where drumming was never actively discouraged for very long and homemade drums were used to accompany public dancing until the outbreak of the Civil War. Another influence came from the harmonic style of hymns of the church, which black slaves had learned and incorporated into their own music as spirituals . The origins of
9164-458: The perspective of other musical traditions, such as European music history or African music. But critic Joachim-Ernst Berendt argues that its terms of reference and its definition should be broader, defining jazz as a "form of art music which originated in the United States through the confrontation of the Negro with European music" and arguing that it differs from European music in that jazz has
9280-494: The plight of the Jewish American and vice versa. As disenfranchised minorities themselves, Jewish composers of popular music saw themselves as natural allies with African Americans. The Jazz Singer with Al Jolson is one example of how Jewish Americans were able to bring jazz, music that African Americans developed, into popular culture. Benny Goodman was a vital Jewish American to the progression of Jazz. Goodman
9396-459: The post-Civil War period (after 1865), African Americans were able to obtain surplus military bass drums, snare drums and fifes, and an original African-American drum and fife music emerged, featuring tresillo and related syncopated rhythmic figures. This was a drumming tradition that was distinct from its Caribbean counterparts, expressing a uniquely African-American sensibility. "The snare and bass drummers played syncopated cross-rhythms ," observed
9512-676: The pre-jazz era and contributed to the codification of jazz through the publication of some of the first jazz sheet music. The music of New Orleans , Louisiana had a profound effect on the creation of early jazz. In New Orleans, slaves could practice elements of their culture such as voodoo and playing drums. Many early jazz musicians played in the bars and brothels of the red-light district around Basin Street called Storyville . In addition to dance bands, there were marching bands which played at lavish funerals (later called jazz funerals ). The instruments used by marching bands and dance bands became
9628-491: The press, "The purpose of Direction Records is to seek out statement-makers....The album is solely comprised of compositions designed to reflect my thoughts on the turbulent aspects of modern society." Darin was struggling with his finances as his music career was dwindling. Darin's venture into protest music was not received favorably and generated little or no profits. In late 1969, Darin sold his songs, his record label (Direction Records), and publishing company (TM Music), losing
9744-537: The prominent styles. Bebop emerged in the 1940s, shifting jazz from danceable popular music toward a more challenging "musician's music" which was played at faster tempos and used more chord-based improvisation. Cool jazz developed near the end of the 1940s, introducing calmer, smoother sounds and long, linear melodic lines. The mid-1950s saw the emergence of hard bop , which introduced influences from rhythm and blues , gospel , and blues to small groups and particularly to saxophone and piano. Modal jazz developed in
9860-528: The records. They also wanted more control over which songs would be released as singles. The matter reached a breaking point over a disagreement regarding the Neil Diamond -penned " A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You " in early 1967. The song's release by Kirshner as a single, without Columbia Pictures' consent, led to his dismissal. Kirshner's later venture was the Archies , an animated series where there were only studio musicians to be managed. Kirshner
9976-410: The rhythm and bassline. In Ohio and elsewhere in the mid-west the major influence was ragtime, until about 1919. Around 1912, when the four-string banjo and saxophone came in, musicians began to improvise the melody line, but the harmony and rhythm remained unchanged. A contemporary account states that blues could only be heard in jazz in the gut-bucket cabarets, which were generally looked down upon by
10092-721: The same television shows but were never romantically involved again. In 1960, Francis heard on the radio that Darin had married Sandra Dee — just as she and her father were driving through the Lincoln Tunnel . Francis later wrote: "I wished that somehow God would cause the Hudson River to come gushing in and entrap us in that tunnel." Francis has said that not marrying Darin was the biggest mistake of her life. Darin married actress Sandra Dee on December 1, 1960. They met in Rome , Italy , while filming Come September (which
10208-556: The slang connotations of the term, saying: "When Broadway picked it up, they called it 'J-A-Z-Z'. It wasn't called that. It was spelled 'J-A-S-S'. That was dirty, and if you knew what it was, you wouldn't say it in front of ladies." The American Dialect Society named it the Word of the 20th Century . Jazz is difficult to define because it encompasses a wide range of music spanning a period of over 100 years, from ragtime to rock -infused fusion . Attempts have been made to define jazz from
10324-444: The soloist. In avant-garde and free jazz , the separation of soloist and band is reduced, and there is license, or even a requirement, for the abandoning of chords, scales, and meters. Since the emergence of bebop, forms of jazz that are commercially oriented or influenced by popular music have been criticized. According to Bruce Johnson, there has always been a "tension between jazz as a commercial music and an art form". Regarding
10440-592: The son of Gilbert Kirshner, a tailor, and Belle Jaffe. He graduated from George Washington High School in Manhattan, and went on to study at Upsala College in East Orange, New Jersey. After graduation he went to work for Vanderbilt Music, a small music publishing company owned by former Tin Pan Alley lyricist Al Lewis . Kirshner brought Lewis together with Sylvester Bradford, an African-American songwriter. Lewis and Bradford wrote " Tears on My Pillow ", which
10556-509: The surgery. In the last few years of his life, Darin was often administered oxygen during and after his performances on stage and screen. In 1973, after failing to take antibiotics to protect his heart before a dental visit, Darin developed sepsis , an overwhelming systemic infection, which further weakened his body and affected one of his heart valves. On December 11 of that year, Darin checked himself into Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles for another round of open-heart surgery to repair
10672-500: The twice-daily ferry between both cities to perform, and the habanera quickly took root in the musically fertile Crescent City. John Storm Roberts states that the musical genre habanera "reached the U.S. twenty years before the first rag was published." For the more than quarter-century in which the cakewalk , ragtime , and proto-jazz were forming and developing, the habanera was a consistent part of African-American popular music. Habaneras were widely available as sheet music and were
10788-484: The two artificial heart valves he had received in January 1971. On the evening of December 19, a four-person surgical team worked for over six hours to repair Darin's damaged heart. Shortly after the surgery ended in the early morning hours of December 20, Darin died in the recovery room without regaining consciousness. He was only 37 years old. Darin's last wish in his will was that his body be donated to science for medical research , and Darin's remains were transferred to
10904-575: The use of tresillo-based rhythms in African-American music. New Orleans native Louis Moreau Gottschalk 's piano piece "Ojos Criollos (Danse Cubaine)" (1860) was influenced by the composer's studies in Cuba: the habanera rhythm is clearly heard in the left hand. In Gottschalk's symphonic work "A Night in the Tropics" (1859), the tresillo variant cinquillo appears extensively. The figure was later used by Scott Joplin and other ragtime composers. Comparing
11020-504: The woman who had raised him was his grandmother, not his mother as he thought, and learned that the woman he thought was his sister was actually his mother. Those events deeply affected Darin and sent him into a long period of seclusion. Although Darin made a successful comeback (in television) in the early 1970s, his health was beginning to fail due to a weak heart. The knowledge of Darin's vulnerability had always spurred him on to use his musical talent while still young. Darin died in 1973 at
11136-498: The writer Robert Palmer, speculating that "this tradition must have dated back to the latter half of the nineteenth century, and it could have not have developed in the first place if there hadn't been a reservoir of polyrhythmic sophistication in the culture it nurtured." African-American music began incorporating Afro-Cuban rhythmic motifs in the 19th century when the habanera (Cuban contradanza ) gained international popularity. Musicians from Havana and New Orleans would take
11252-416: The year that MTV was launched. The program presented many of the most successful bands of the era, usually rock and roll but occasionally from other genres, each time introduced by Kirshner's trademark monotone delivery as the program host. In its final season, Rock Concert was mostly hosted by Kirshner's son and daughter, whose delivery was similar as their father's. Kirshner's "wooden" presentation style
11368-500: The year's crop was harvested and several days were set aside for celebration. As late as 1861, a traveler in North Carolina saw dancers dressed in costumes that included horned headdresses and cow tails and heard music provided by a sheepskin-covered "gumbo box", apparently a frame drum; triangles and jawbones furnished the auxiliary percussion. There are quite a few [accounts] from the southeastern states and Louisiana dating from
11484-690: Was "a surprise in his first nonsinging role, willing to appear both arrogant and weak". In 1962, Darin won the Golden Globe Award for "New Star of the Year – Actor" for his role in Come September . The following year he was nominated for a Best Actor Golden Globe for Pressure Point . In 1963, Darin was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as a shell-shocked soldier in Captain Newman, M.D. Throughout his acting career, Darin appeared alongside
11600-534: Was Chairman Records, a subsidiary of London Records . Although he was responsible for scores of hits in the 1960s, he was only to have one on the Chairman label – 1963's " Martian Hop " by The Ran-Dells – which reached number 16 nationally. Kirshner later had two other record labels: Calendar Records, which had early hits by the Archies , and later morphed into the Kirshner label, which had later hits by
11716-624: Was a big hit for Little Anthony and the Imperials in 1958. Kirshner achieved his first major success in the late 1950s and early 1960s as co-owner of the influential New York-based publishing company Aldon Music with partner Al Nevins , which had under contract at various times several of the most important songwriters of the so-called " Brill Building " school, including Carole King , Gerry Goffin , Neil Sedaka , Neil Diamond , Paul Simon , Phil Spector , Howard Greenfield , Barry Mann , Cynthia Weil , Tony Orlando , and Jack Keller . As
11832-412: Was a creative consultant for Rockrena, a company founded by Jack Wishna , and launched in 2011 to promote new music talent online. He died of heart failure in a Boca Raton, Florida hospital on January 17, 2011, at age 76, survived by his wife of 50 years, Sheila; his son, Ricky Kirshner ; daughter, Daryn Lewis; and five grandchildren. On April 14, 2012, Don Kirshner was posthumously inducted into
11948-606: Was a fucking genius." Darin was an enthusiastic chess player. His television show included an occasional segment where he would explain a chess move. Darin arranged with the United States Chess Federation to sponsor a grandmaster tournament, which pitted him against the young Eastern Division champion Stephen Ryder, with the largest prize fund in history, but the event was canceled after Darin's death. In 1956, Darin and Connie Francis met after their manager, George Scheck arranged for Francis to record
12064-453: Was a music consultant or music supervisor for nearly two dozen TV series between 1966 and 1977, such as Bewitched . One instance brought Phil Spector, Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart together on the TV show I Dream of Jeannie , a program on which Don Kirshner was credited as music consultant for 35 episodes from 1966 to 1967. From 1970 to 1979, Kirshner served as producer or executive producer for
12180-686: Was also at the Ambassador Hotel later that night when Kennedy was assassinated. That event, combined with learning about his true parentage, had a deep effect on Darin, who spent most of the next year living in seclusion in a trailer near Big Sur . In 1968–69, he wrote and recorded two albums that covered issues such as civil rights , poverty, the Vietnam War and the death of RFK – Bobby Darin Born Walden Robert Cassotto (1968) and Commitment (1969). Returning to Los Angeles in 1969, Darin started his own record label which
12296-562: Was an American music publisher , music consultant, rock music producer , talent manager , and songwriter . Dubbed "the Man with the Golden Ear" by Time magazine, he was best known for managing songwriting talent as well as successful pop groups, such as the Monkees , Kansas , and the Archies . Don Kirshner was born to a Jewish family in the Bronx , New York , United States,
12412-594: Was later lampooned on Saturday Night Live by Paul Shaffer , most notably in Shaffer's introduction of the Blues Brothers during the duo's television debut. Shaffer and Kirshner worked together on the short-lived situation comedy, A Year at the Top , which Kirshner co-produced with Norman Lear , and in which Shaffer starred. Kirshner received the 2007 Songwriters Hall of Fame Abe Olman Publishing Award. He
12528-433: Was major ... , and I carried this device into my melody as well. The publication of his " Memphis Blues " sheet music in 1912 introduced the 12-bar blues to the world (although Gunther Schuller argues that it is not really a blues, but "more like a cakewalk"). This composition, as well as his later " St. Louis Blues " and others, included the habanera rhythm, and would become jazz standards . Handy's music career began in
12644-460: Was meant for Cassotto's family. Sam Cassotto died from pneumonia in 1935 while in prison, a year before Darin's birth. In 1968, when Darin was 32 and considering entering politics, Nina told him the truth, reportedly devastating Darin. She refused to reveal the identity of his biological father and took that secret to her grave when she died in 1983. The man's identity remained unknown until 2020. In April 2020, Emilio "Milton" Lepore (1911/1912 – 1965)
12760-545: Was of English, Danish and Norwegian ancestry and had been a vaudeville singer before Darin's birth. His maternal grandfather, Saverio Antonio "Big Sam Curly" Cassotto (born January 26, 1882), was of Italian descent. He had been a made man and "soldier" in the Genovese Crime Family as well as a close associate of Frank Costello . Sam served as a witness at Costello's 1914 wedding, though the relationship soured after he accused Costello of withholding money that
12876-489: Was released in 1961). It was Dee's mother, Mary Douvon, who convinced the actress to go on a date with Darin. Later commenting on their relationship, Dee stated: "Bobby loved me. He was a calculating guy, but I don't think he arrived in Rome with a plan to marry this new little Mary Pickford of Hollywood. Aside from the fact that he was rude, brash and always trying to get a reaction, I didn't like this person. I just thought, this
12992-452: Was shut down by the U.S. government in 1917. Cornetist Buddy Bolden played in New Orleans from 1895 to 1906. No recordings by him exist. His band is credited with creating the big four: the first syncopated bass drum pattern to deviate from the standard on-the-beat march. As the example below shows, the second half of the big four pattern is the habanera rhythm. Don Kirshner Donald Kirshner (April 17, 1934 – January 17, 2011)
13108-507: Was spent performing live, while undergoing heart surgery and receiving post-treatment medication. He released his last album, self-titled (1972) on Motown . Beginning on July 27, 1972, Darin starred in his own television variety show on NBC, Dean Martin Presents: The Bobby Darin Amusement Company , which ran for seven episodes ending on September 7. Beginning on January 19, 1973, Darin starred in
13224-536: Was the leader of a racially integrated band named King of Swing. His jazz concert in the Carnegie Hall in 1938 was the first ever to be played there. The concert was described by Bruce Eder as "the single most important jazz or popular music concert in history". Shep Fields also helped to popularize "Sweet" Jazz music through his appearances and Big band remote broadcasts from such landmark venues as Chicago's Palmer House , Broadway's Paramount Theater and
13340-627: Was titled Direction Records, putting out folk and protest music. Darin wrote "Simple Song of Freedom" in 1969, which, in an interesting turn of events, was first recorded by Tim Hardin and the song became Hardin's best-selling record. It reached #48 on the RPM Top 100 Singles list in Canada . Also in Canada, a version by Buckwheat reached #52. Darin himself sang the song "live" on several television variety shows. Of his first Direction album, Darin told
13456-494: Was traced, through familial DNA, as being Darin's biological father. Darin moved to the Bronx early in his life (with a rented summer home in Staten Island ) and graduated from the prestigious Bronx High School of Science . In later years, Darin attributed his arrogance to his experiences there, where Darin was surrounded by brighter students who teased him. Darin then enrolled at Hunter College and soon gravitated to
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