The Greatest Music Stories Never Told: 100 Tales from Music History to Astonish, Bewilder, and Stupefy (The Greatest Stories Never Told) by Rick Beyer

Author:Rick Beyer
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2013-07-29T14:00:00+00:00

It didn’t have a whole lot to do with jazz, but what Gershwin and Grofe created under the press of deadline proved to be one of the most enduring and popular pieces of American music of all time, “a musical kaleidoscope of America” Gershwin called it.

“Rhapsody in Blue.”

Paul Whiteman was one of the most popular American bandleaders of the 1920s and 1930s. He became known as the “King of Jazz,” and his band introduced many Americans to a somewhat smoothed-over version of this emerging music. Whereas most jazz musicians embraced improvisation, Whiteman thought the genre could be refined by orchestrating it with formal written arrangements.

Clarinet player Ross Gorman was described by one music critic as a “virtuoso and imp of the perverse.” Goofing around during rehearsal, he played the opening notes of the piece with what he considered a humorous send-up, sliding from one note to the next. Gershwin told him to play it like that in the concert, getting as much “wail” as possible. The result is one of the most arresting song opens in music.

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