The ‘Big Bang’ in Jazz History

Notes from America with Kai Wright

WNYC Studios

News Commentary, Politics, History, News

4.4 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 31 May 2021

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jazz pianist Jason Moran brings us an exploration into the life and work of James Reese Europe and how the infamous 369th Infantry Regiment - also known as the Harlem Hellfighters - crossed racial lines and brought jazz to Europe. Joe Young of New York Public Radio talks about how using music as a service member informed his own patriotism Companion listening for this episode: Juneteenth, an Unfinished Business (June 26, 2020) As the nation grapples with a reckoning, we pause to celebrate Juneteenth. Our holiday special, for Black liberation and the ongoing birth of the United States. Music, McCarthy, and the Sound of Americana (May 23, 2017) The "common man" era in the 1930s and '40s needed a truly American music. Aaron Copland created it in one America and 20 years later found himself in quite another United States. “The United States of Anxiety” airs live on Sunday evenings at 6pm ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts. To catch all the action, tune into the show on Sunday nights via the stream on WNYC.org/anxiety or tell your smart speakers to play WNYC. We want to hear from you! Connect with us on Twitter @WNYC using the hashtag #USofAnxiety or email us at [email protected].

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the United States of Anxiety, a show about the unfinished business of our history and its grip on our future.
0:08.0	Every fallen family's feeling is the same is that their loved ones are going to be forgotten.
0:13.0	So that's our mission, is I not be.
0:14.8	The sacrifices our ancestors made,
0:17.8	they who marched away, not for a moment, not for a a day way away forever.
0:25.0	I will give my all to you.
0:27.5	May God bless America and may God protect our troops.
0:32.6	Now World War I brought about significant social change,
0:35.8	not least the introduction of jazz to Europe.
0:38.3	We won France by playing music which was ours
0:41.7	and not a pale imitation of others.
0:43.6	The real patriotism is when you're black in America and you fought for a nation even though that nation
0:50.5	did not fight for you.
0:52.1	That's real patriotism.
0:54.0	Welcome to the show. I'm Kai Wright and happy Memorial Day everybody.
1:01.0	And since it's Memorial Day weekend, we're going to spend this show in a remembrance of our own.
1:07.0	We're going to look back at World War I and a remarkable group of soldiers who made history on several fronts in the war itself,
1:16.6	and the story of black people in America, and in the history of American music.
1:21.9	And to set the stage for that, we've invited one of our colleagues at
1:25.2	WNYC who gave us this idea in the first place and who helped produce the show
1:29.4	you're about to hear. Joe Young is not just a proud servant of public radio, he's also a proud member of the
1:36.7	U.S. Army Reserves. And specifically, he's an executive officer in the Army Band, so he's got a unique ear for this particular story
	...

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