Author: Gregory M. Kuzma
Publisher: iUniverse, Inc.
ISBN: 0-595-32278-6
In 1994, a college student named Greg Kuzma spent his summer break touring with an American drum and bugle corps company, the Blue Knights. This book is based on his daily journal.
The summer begins with Kuzma's flight from his home in Florida to the Blue Knights' home in Denver, Colorado. The 128 corps members, who are billeted in local homes throughout Denver, meet every day for 12 or more hours of rehearsals. Their show, when it is ready, will be approximately 11 minutes long; all of the music and drill will be performed by memory. Upon the completion of approximately three weeks of rehearsal camp, the corps hits the road for a two-month-long tour across the United States.
Once the tour begins, the corps members live primarily in buses and school gyms, and they rarely stay in one town for more than one night. Most of their meals are provided by the chuck wagons that travel with the group. According to Kuzma, the food is fairly good and nutritious. He eats far less junk food over the summer than he does throughout the year at college. Nevertheless, according to his daily journal entries, he consumes a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
The Blue Knights compete against approximately 20 other division 1 drum corps throughout the summer. Competitions are held 3-5 nights per week throughout the country and each corps competes approximately 30 times before heading to the final round of competition in mid-August. When the corps members are not competing or traveling, they march in local parades and spend time refining their shows. Days off are rare and treasured events.
Throughout his journal, Kuzma describes the ups and downs of his friendships and the stresses that relationships endure when approximately 150 people live and work closely together for 3 months. He describes the fatigue of long rehearsals and the elation of good performance scores. He describes the joy of a successful season and his sorrow at the summer's end. Most importantly, he shares the many lessons that the drum corps experience taught him about discipline, commitment, physical and psychological endurance, patience and communication. For Kuzma, the drum corps experience is not merely about marching, playing and competing. It is, ultimately, about developing skills and work habits that he will take with him long after the last note has been played.
Due to its specialized subject matter, this book will appeal to a fairly small group of readers. Nevertheless, there are some people who will benefit greatly from reading this book. Anyone interested in joining a drum corps should read this book. Anyone who is the parent of a drum corps member, or a prospective member, should read this book. In fact, drum corps fans of all ages will enjoy reading this book. For readers such as these, Kuzma's book is a goldmine of honest, inside information about the drum corps experience.
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Showing posts with label music. Show all posts
Monday, February 12, 2007
Friday, January 19, 2007
Rhythm is Our Business
Author: Eddy Determeyer
Publisher: The University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 0-472-11553-7
For more than a decade, from the mid-1930s until the late 1940s, Jimmie Lunceford’s Orchestra (aka: the Harlem Express) was acknowledged as one of the leading jazz bands of the swing era. The group was famous for its rhythmic precision and “bounce,” its rich sonority, its discipline and its impeccable showmanship. Musically, the Harlem Express did it all: toured the USA and Sweden, played radio gigs, clubs and dances, cut dozens of hit records. . . . Socially and politically, the Harlem Express dismantled racial barriers; Lunceford was one of the first black bandleaders to hire white musicians and composers, and his group played for black, white and desegregated audiences without discrimination. Jimmie Lunceford’s band was highly regarded by musicians, critics and audiences, all of whom were stunned when Lunceford died of an apparent heart attack at the age of 45. As a tribute to their leader, the band tried to stay together, but the effort was short-lived; the group just wasn’t the same without the leader who had molded and guided them for so long. When Lunceford died, the heart and soul of the Harlem Express died with him.
Rhythm is Our Business is Eddy Determeyer’s painstakingly researched chronicle of the rise, peak and collapse of Lunceford’s orchestra. Determeyer gathered his material from nearly five dozen interviews, and more than four dozen journals, newspapers and books. In addition to the endnotes and bibliography, Determeyer includes an extensive discography of the Harlem Express’s recordings.
Determeyer traces Lunceford’s early years in Oklahoma City and Denver and his college years at Fisk University. He recounts Lunceford’s brief career as a high school music teacher in Memphis and describes how Lunceford and his students transformed themselves from a local sensation to a top-notch band based in New York City. Determeyer reveals the financial and personal tensions that arose within the group and discusses the personnel changes that gradually altered the band’s character and style. He offers intimate details about cooperation and competition between the New York jazz bands, and about the struggles between the musicians’ union, radio stations and recording companies. Perhaps most intriguingly, Determeyer reconstructs the details of Lunceford’s last day and puts forward his theory regarding the leader’s untimely demise.
Readers interested in the histories of the Harlem Express and the mid-twentieth century jazz scene (particularly in New York City) will find this book highly satisfying. Those who want to learn about Jimmie Lunceford himself will find such information sparse. This lack of detail is not Determeyer’s fault. Lunceford was an intensely private man who was barely known by anyone, including those who lived and worked with him for nearly twenty years. Determeyer probably has uncovered just about anything that ever will be known about Jimmie Lunceford, the quiet, clean-cut, clean-living man who loved music, sports and aviation and had once loved W.E.B Dubois’s daughter. Aside from those few personal details, the story of the Harlem Express is also, for the most part, the story of Jimmie Lunceford. Rhythm Is Our Business is a well researched, finely written book. Readers interested in jazz history will certainly want to add this volume to their collections.
Publisher: The University of Michigan Press
ISBN: 0-472-11553-7
For more than a decade, from the mid-1930s until the late 1940s, Jimmie Lunceford’s Orchestra (aka: the Harlem Express) was acknowledged as one of the leading jazz bands of the swing era. The group was famous for its rhythmic precision and “bounce,” its rich sonority, its discipline and its impeccable showmanship. Musically, the Harlem Express did it all: toured the USA and Sweden, played radio gigs, clubs and dances, cut dozens of hit records. . . . Socially and politically, the Harlem Express dismantled racial barriers; Lunceford was one of the first black bandleaders to hire white musicians and composers, and his group played for black, white and desegregated audiences without discrimination. Jimmie Lunceford’s band was highly regarded by musicians, critics and audiences, all of whom were stunned when Lunceford died of an apparent heart attack at the age of 45. As a tribute to their leader, the band tried to stay together, but the effort was short-lived; the group just wasn’t the same without the leader who had molded and guided them for so long. When Lunceford died, the heart and soul of the Harlem Express died with him.
Rhythm is Our Business is Eddy Determeyer’s painstakingly researched chronicle of the rise, peak and collapse of Lunceford’s orchestra. Determeyer gathered his material from nearly five dozen interviews, and more than four dozen journals, newspapers and books. In addition to the endnotes and bibliography, Determeyer includes an extensive discography of the Harlem Express’s recordings.
Determeyer traces Lunceford’s early years in Oklahoma City and Denver and his college years at Fisk University. He recounts Lunceford’s brief career as a high school music teacher in Memphis and describes how Lunceford and his students transformed themselves from a local sensation to a top-notch band based in New York City. Determeyer reveals the financial and personal tensions that arose within the group and discusses the personnel changes that gradually altered the band’s character and style. He offers intimate details about cooperation and competition between the New York jazz bands, and about the struggles between the musicians’ union, radio stations and recording companies. Perhaps most intriguingly, Determeyer reconstructs the details of Lunceford’s last day and puts forward his theory regarding the leader’s untimely demise.
Readers interested in the histories of the Harlem Express and the mid-twentieth century jazz scene (particularly in New York City) will find this book highly satisfying. Those who want to learn about Jimmie Lunceford himself will find such information sparse. This lack of detail is not Determeyer’s fault. Lunceford was an intensely private man who was barely known by anyone, including those who lived and worked with him for nearly twenty years. Determeyer probably has uncovered just about anything that ever will be known about Jimmie Lunceford, the quiet, clean-cut, clean-living man who loved music, sports and aviation and had once loved W.E.B Dubois’s daughter. Aside from those few personal details, the story of the Harlem Express is also, for the most part, the story of Jimmie Lunceford. Rhythm Is Our Business is a well researched, finely written book. Readers interested in jazz history will certainly want to add this volume to their collections.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
