(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Black Music Sunday: Teaching Black history is being banned. Will Black music be next? [1] ['Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags', 'Showtags Popular_Tags'] Date: 2023-02-05 In between tunes and artists, I was also reading more and more alarming analyses of the implications of DeSantis’ agenda, along with that of other Republicans following his lead across the nation. No surprise he’s been dubbed “DeNazi” by people who see similarities between the right-wing fascist agenda he espouses and the days of the rise of the Third Reich. One of the regular commenters to this series, fellow Community Contributor Charles Jay, recently wrote about those exact concerns. RELATED: It can happen here: Lessons from 'Rise of the Nazis' on 90th anniversary of Hitler's coming to power As a result of what I uncovered, my feeling is that we had better work to ensure that “Never Again” is a mantra we all raise, alongside our Jewish American friends who fight to ensure the Holocaust is not forgotten or repeated. DeSantis’ characterization of the teaching of Black history as “indoctrination” mirrors techniques used by the Nazis, who denigrated both Black music and Black musicians, referring to jazz that was popular in Europe before WWII as “degenerate Negermusick.” You don’t have to speak German to understand what “Negermusick” means. The Black Central European Studies Network (BCESN) describes what the Nazis dubbed ”degenerate music” in 1938. The image below was the cover of the 1938 “Degenerate Music” (Entartete Musik) exhibition’s programmatic brochure. While not as popular as the similarly titled “Degenerate Art” (Entartete Kunst) exhibition of 1938, the event aimed to galvanize public hatred of music judged “un-German” by Nazi standards. The exhibition opened in Düsseldorf on 24 May 1938 and presented degenerate music by way of audio snippets, pictures, and accompanying texts. In this poster from the exhibition, the desire to vilify jazz (deemed as “nigger” music) is made clear through the perfidious caricature of a black jazz musician as the brochure cover. The brochure cover can be seen in this tweet, from actor Jeffrey Wright in response to recent Hitler-embracing antisemitic remarks made by “Ye,” the ignant artist formerly known as Kanye West. x In case you're tempted to lean into this ignorance, Hitler oversaw the murder of 6 million Jews and would've aimed to gas your black ass, too, if you'd been there in numbers. Don't twist it. From a 1938 Nazi exhibition in Düsseldorf on "Degenerate Music"... pic.twitter.com/zOPtniETIA — Jeffrey Wright (@jfreewright) December 2, 2022 Here’s another look, courtesy of the Combat Antisemitism Movement. x In 1938, the Nazis opened an exhibition titled "Degenerate Music," which aimed to galvanize public hatred of music deemed "un-Aryan." The poster chosen to represent the exhibition featured a Black man portrayed as an animal playing a saxophone and wearing a Star of David. pic.twitter.com/OAA2m6vAHu — Combat Antisemitism Movement (@CombatASemitism) October 21, 2021 This 13-minute video from YouTuber Train Room Productions takes a look at the role of jazz in the propaganda war between Axis and Allies. x YouTube Video Les Back, a lecturer in Sociology at Goldsmiths College at the University of London, wrote Sturm und Swing in 1995. The book is hard to find today, and this excerpt, published in the UK’s Chronicle World in 2011 but seemingly lost in their migration to a new website, can only now be found on the Wayback Machine. It’s worth the hunt. Black jazz used to tame the Wehrmacht [The American Broadcast Station in Europe (ABSIE)] was the brainchild of General Dwight Eisenhower's Psychological Warfare Division and from April 1944 it offered news and commentary in almost every European language. At the core of ABSIE's programming was its jazz broadcasts. Glenn Miller's [American Band of the Allied Expeditionary Force] recorded enough music during the Abbey Road sessions for six programmes. These were transmitted under the title "Music for the Wehrmacht" (i.e. German armies). The sound quality of these sessions was extraordinarily high and the full dynamics of the band was captured complete with the addition of a string section. Major Miller addressed German soldiers in their own language with the assistance of Ilse Weinberger a German compere and translator. Ilse introduced Glenn Miller as the "magician of swing" and through a strange act of cultural alchemy tunes like Long Ago and Far Away and My Heart Tells Me were rendered by vocalist Johnny Desmond in German. Nazi propagandists hit back by proclaiming jazz as the product of an inferior black race. Prior to the D Day landings posters were plastered over Dutch billboards representing the 'Allied Liberators' as the bearers of a dangerous cultural heritage. Negative stereotypes American troops were portrayed symbolically as an 'uncivilised Frankenstein' that had jitterbugging apes for its torso, a face hidden behind the mask of the Klu Klux Klan and black arms sporting a boxing glove on one hand and a jazz record in the other. They also tried to invoke racial fears amongst the peoples of occupied Europe through spreading a rumour that black American soldiers would play a prominent part in the invasion. Which Black musicians were on the scene in Europe during the rise of the Nazis? One of the most prominent was Coleman Hawkins. Scott Yanow wrote this biography of “Hawk” for AllMusic. Coleman Hawkins was the first important tenor saxophonist and he remains one of the greatest of all time. A consistently modern improviser whose knowledge of chords and harmonies was encyclopedic, Hawkins had a 40-year prime (1925-1965) during which he could hold his own with any competitor. Coleman Hawkins started piano lessons when he was five, switched to cello at age seven, and two years later began on tenor. At a time when the saxophone was considered a novelty instrument, used in vaudeville and as a poor substitute for the trombone in marching bands, Hawkins sought to develop his own sound. A professional when he was 12, Hawkins was playing in a Kansas City theater pit band in 1921, when Mamie Smith hired him to play with her Jazz Hounds. Hawkins was with the blues singer until June 1923, making many records in a background role and he was occasionally heard on instrumentals. After leaving Smith, he freelanced around New York, played briefly with Wilbur Sweatman, and in August 1923 made his first recordings with Fletcher Henderson. When Henderson formed a permanent orchestra in January 1924, Hawkins was his star tenor. [...] By 1934, Coleman Hawkins had tired of the struggling Fletcher Henderson Orchestra and he moved to Europe, spending five years (1934-1939) overseas. He played at first with Jack Hylton's Orchestra in England, and then freelanced throughout the continent. His most famous recording from this period was a 1937 date with Benny Carter, Alix Combille, Andre Ekyan, Django Reinhardt, and Stephane Grappelli that resulted in classic renditions of "Crazy Rhythm" and "Honeysuckle Rose." With World War II coming close, Hawkins returned to the U.S. in 1939. My favorite recording from Hawk’s time in Europe is the album Coleman Hawkins in Europe, 1934-1939. Give a listen to his lush sound on “Lullaby.” x YouTube Video Here’s a look at him live in Holland, in 1935. x YouTube Video As the YouTube upload notes: Accompanied by pianist Leo de la Fuente, Coleman Hawkins announces and plays "I Wish That I Were Twins". Filmed at Pulchri Studio, Lange Voorhout, The Hague, Netherlands While in Europe, Hawkins frequently gigged with Black American pianist Freddy Johnson, who did not leave Europe for the States when the drums of war got louder. Encyclopedia.com has a very short bio, courtesy of Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians; it notes the steep price Johnson paid for staying abroad. Johnson, Freddy, jazz pianist; b. N.Y., March 12, 1904; d. there, March 24, 1961. Johnson worked as Florence Mills’s accompanist c. 1922 before forming his own band in N.Y. (1924). During 1925, he worked with Elmer Snowden, then joined Billy Fowler in 1926. After briefly working with other bands, he joined Sam Wooding’s group from 1928-29, and traveled to Europe with them in June 1928. He remained in Paris in 1929, working for a long time at Bricktop’s famous club. In February 1934, he left France to work in Belgium and Holland. He played regularly at the Negro Palace in Amsterdam, including several long spells in a trio with Coleman Hawkins. In 1941, he opened his own club La Cubana in Amsterdam until arrested by the Nazis on Dec. 11, 1941. From January 1942 until February 1944, he was interned in Bavaria, then repatriated to the U.S. in March 1944. University College London’s Center for Holocaust Education has highlighted Johnson. x Despite the Nazis' campaign to ban ‘degenerate music’ like jazz, African American artists such as Freddy Johnson continued to tour Europe to share their art. The Nazis interned Freddy at Tittmoning POW camp. Learn more: https://t.co/srYIB6uTjY #BlackHistoryMonth @holocaustmuseum pic.twitter.com/d6ECJrcT0T — Holocaust Education (@UCL_Holocaust) October 13, 2022 The UCL tweet links to the United States Holocaust Museum’s “Holocaust Encyclopedia” entry on Johnson. x By the mid-1930s, Nazi propagandists had banned all foreign, non-Aryan music in Germany. Despite the campaign to ban jazz, African American artists, such as Freddy Johnson, continued to travel abroad to share their art. Read his story: https://t.co/Nmh2pCVmKK #BlackHistoryMonth pic.twitter.com/zcDU1sNKib — US Holocaust Museum (@HolocaustMuseum) February 23, 2019 For Black History Month 2022, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum hosted a Zoom panel discussion on “Black Artists Under Nazi Persecution,” and featured Johnson’s story. Jazz musician Freddy Johnson refused to let racism in America stall his career. He embraced opportunities throughout Europe until the United States entered the war and he and other Americans were arrested. At the Tittmoning internment camp, Johnson continued to play music and met Black portrait artist Josef Nassy, who depicted their daily life as prisoners. Life was even more precarious for Black German artists. You can watch the entire panel below. x YouTube Video The Museum’s Facebook page features a photo of Freddy Johnson playing with Coleman Hawkins, and a short biography. The Coleman Hawkins jazz trio performs in Amsterdam on April 20, 1938. Pictured are Coleman Hawkins (tenor sax), Maurice van Cleef (drums), and Freddy Johnson (piano). The post also notes that Johnson’s wife and daughters were also captured by the Nazis. Freddy Johnson, an African American jazz pianist, was born on March 12, 1904. In 1930, he moved to Cannes, France, with his wife Ida and daughters Jacqueline and Marilyn to escape American racism and so he could pursue professional opportunities. From there they moved to Paris and The Hague. Soon after the United States entered World War II, Freddy was arrested and sent to the camp Amersfoort. From January 1942 until his release in February 1944, Freddy was interned in Tittmoning, a camp for foreign nationals, where he was held from January 1942 until February 1944. About a year after his arrest, Ida, Jacqueline, and Marilyn were sent to Amersfoort and then interned in Liebenau, another camp for foreign nationals. They were released a few months after Freddy was. #BlackHistoryMonth Here’s a short clip of Johnson and his orchestra, swinging in Paris in 1939. x YouTube Video Stories from those interned at Tittmoning Castle—mostly Black American athletes and artists, along with European Jewish people with (typically fraudulent) non-European passports—continued to emerge as recently as 2016, thanks to Jerome “Jerry” Mahrer, who, at 14, was the youngest Tittmoning prisoner. Mahrer left the camp with an album of caricatures of his fellow inmates, created by Polish artist Max Brandel. The album can be seen here, thanks to the Museum of Jewish Heritage, where Mahrer donated it in 1999. Freddy Johnson’s caricature is on slide 17; Johnson mentions “September in the Rain” because the youngster was learning to play it at the time. The history of those drawn by Brandel has been meticulously chronicled by his daughter, Eve. By the time of his arrest on December 11, 1941, Johnson had been living in the Netherlands for seven years, and he owned a nightclub in Amsterdam. While an internee, Johnson performed on a piano provided by the YMCA, studied classical music scores (also provided by the YMCA), gave music lessons to his fellow inmates, and, according to his friend and fellow internee Ted White, boxed, wrestled, and concocted gourmet meals from the ingredients of Red Cross packages. Johnson was returned to the United States in a March 1944 exchange of war prisoners. His wife, Ida, and their two New York-born teen-age daughters joined him there several months later; they had been held in a German civilian internment camp for women and children. Once back in the States, Johnson continued to perform and teach. He returned one time to Europe, as a rehearsal pianist for the “Free and Easy” big band tour led by a 26-year-old Quincy Jones, before succumbing to cancer in New York in 1961. Saxophonist Benny Carter was also a sensation in Europe. Like Hawkins, he left before the war, and avoided Freddy Johnson’s fate. From his website: As a soloist, Carter, along with Johnny Hodges, was the model for swing era alto saxophonists. He is nearly unique in his ability to double on trumpet, which he plays in an equally distinctive style.In addition, he is an accomplished clarinetist, and has recorded proficiently on piano and trombone. As an arranger, he helped chart the course of big band jazz, and his compositions, such as "When Lights Are Low" and "Blues In My Heart," have become jazz standards.Carter has also made major musical contributions to the world of film and television. His musicianship and personality have won him the respect of fellow artists and audiences on every continent. Born in New York in 1907, Carter received his first music lessons on piano from his mother. He was attracted to the trumpet through his cousin, the legendary Cuban Bennett, and a neighbor, the great Ellington brass man Bubber Miley. Carter saved for months to buy a trumpet but, failing to master it over the weekend, he exchanged it for a C-melody saxophone. Frankie Trumbauer was an early inspiration to the young Benny, who was largely self-taught. By age fifteen, Carter was already sitting in at Harlem night spots. [...] A timely invitation brought Carter to Paris in 1935 to play with Willie Lewis's orchestra. At the suggestion of music critic Leonard Feather, he was invited to England to serve as arranger for the BBC dance orchestra. Carter played an essential role in spreading jazz abroad. Over the next three years, he traveled throughout Europe, playing and recording with the top British, French, and Scandinavian jazzmen, as well as with visiting American stars such as his friend Coleman Hawkins. In Holland during this period, Carter also led the first international, interracial band. Here’s a clip of Carter playing in London, from June 1936. x YouTube Video Jazz Rhythm’s Dave Radlauer compiled Carter’s “European Triumphs.” Carter was in Europe during the years 1936-38, where he was a sensation, successfully appearing and recording to wide acclaim. Leading ensembles and collaborating with other great American jazzmen then in Europe Carter set the standard for hot jazz and swing. PARIS, 1935 -- Carter is toast of the town, jamming and recording with Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli in the Quintet of the Hot Club of France. ENGLAND, 1936 -- Within 24 hours of his arrival Benny Carter is signed to make what turn out to be great records with the cream of British jazz musicians, orchestrates several movie scores and briefly directs the BBC Dance Orchestra. LONDON, 1936 -- Carter records the first jazz waltz. A modest 24-bar blues with Benny soloing on tenor, alto sax and trumpet, his “Waltzing The Blues” demonstrates that jazz and classical forms can be successfully be combined. It is loudly praised -- and condemned -- by the British music press. HOLLAND & FRANCE, 1937 -- Benny is wildly popular in Holland and France where he records with Coleman Hawkins, again with Django, and leads an international, multiracial jazz band in the Hague. The fruits of these years are perhaps best exemplified by “Gin and Jive” (London, 1936) and “Skip It” (Hague, 1937) both of which are his own compositions. His easy precision and economical solos that are as carefully structured as an architectural drawing can be heard on “My Buddy” (Hague, 1937) where Carter plays both alto and trumpet. Among my own all-time Carter favorites are “I’m Coming Virginia” and “Farewell Blues” (1938) from his last pre-war European sessions in Paris with guitarist Django Reinhardt and the excellent French tenor saxophonist Alix Combelle. Here’s that controversial first jazz waltz that Brit critics loved and hated, “Waltzing the Blues.” x YouTube Video And here’s “Gin and Jive.” x YouTube Video So back to DeSantis ramping up hate. He hates Black folks. He hates immigrants. He hates the LGBTQ community. He’s anti-abortion, and anti-history books. And if y’all music lovers think he’s not going to eventually target Black music, I’ve got a bridge to sell you from my hometown of Brooklyn. Join me for some more music in the comments—but while we talk music, let’s also talk about what we are gonna do to save our history … and our humanity. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/5/2150045/-Black-Music-Sunday-Teaching-Black-history-is-being-banned-Will-Black-music-be-next Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/