Episode 9: Washington, DC

In this episode, we explore the musical history of Washington DC. Important contributions from DC include John Phillip Souza, Jelly Roll Morton, Duke Ellington, Shirley Horn, Ruth Brown, Buzz Busby and the Bayou Boys, The Country Gentlemen, The Seldom Scene, John Fahey,  Piedmont Blues, Roy Buchanon, Danny Gatton, Go-Go, Chuck Brown, DC Punk, Minor Threat, Bad Brains, Fugazi, Jawbox, Post-Punk, Dischord Records, the 9:30 Club, The Birchemere, The Black Cat, Blues Alley and more. 

Transcript

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When Washington, D.C. was founded in 1790, it was largely mosquito-infested marshland. Over the next two hundred and thirty-six years, it would become the home to the United States federal government, world-class museums, monuments, and art galleries, as well as the home of some of the most influential musicians in the United States. From the refined orchestration of Sousa and Ellington to the uniquely Washingtonian sounds of Chuck Brown and Minor Threat, tonight we are diving into the musical legacy of Washington, D.C. Welcome to the Music Scope. Military band performances have been part of DC since its founding. Throughout the Civil War, when the city was home to hundreds of thousands of troops, military band performances were used to boost morale during long days of drilling and waiting to be called into battle. For American military marches, no name is more famous than John Philip Sousa. Sousa was born to immigrants, his mother from Germany and his father a Portuguese trombonist. In 1868, Sousa enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps band, and by 1880, he was the unit's bandmaster and known for high standards of performance. During his tenure, he would write some of the most recognizable marches in the world, including The Stars and Stripes Forever. He would compose 136 military marches in his career and invent a tuba-like instrument used commonly in marching bands ever since, the Sousaphone. During Sousa's reign as bandmaster, another part of town was emerging as a center of African American culture. Evolving from camps for recently freed slaves, the Shaw neighborhood was located what at the time was the outskirts of the city. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Shaw attracted hundreds of African American artists, performers, writers, and educators. Among those who came to the neighborhood was Jelly Roll Morton, who had found success as one of the first published jazz songwriters and a well-known performer and recording artist. He helped establish improvisation as a key component of jazz music by organizing his arrangements to allow for instrumental showcases. Upon his arrival in DC, Morton was hired as the manager of the music box, a bar in Shaw where he would act as piano player, bouncer, MC, and bartender. The owner's friends were allowed to enter and drink for free, which prevented the bar from having any real chance of solvency. It was here that musicologist Alan Lomax saw him perform and convinced Jelly Roll to record music and give interviews for the Library of Congress. These interviews chronicle the early years of jazz and its performers. They are an important insight into jazz's early evolution by one of its founders. Shortly after this time, Morton was stabbed by one of the patrons of the music box and was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was refused since they only served white patients. He was taken across town to an African-American hospital where he wasn't treated for several hours and was only given ice to place on his wounds. For the rest of his life, his injuries would keep him from regaining his former success. Morton eventually moved to Los Angeles, where he would succumb to complications from his injuries less than four years later. Jelly Roll Morton had emigrated to DC from New Orleans, but it was a born and bred Washingtonian who would take jazz to a new level of sophistication. Duke Ellington was born in 1899 to two parents who were both pianists. His mother, Daisy, made sure to expose Ellington to people who emphasized manners and elegance. The Duke moniker came from his schoolmates, who took note of his fashion sense and demeanor, saying that he must be royalty. He began taking piano lessons at age seven, but it was age 14 that he devoted himself to the instrument after he began sneaking into pool halls and seeing pianists there playing current popular music and ragtime pieces. By age 18, Duke Ellington was anxious to become a professional musician. He used his day job painting signs to network and land gigs. He would paint a sign for an event and ask the client if they had musicians lined up. His band became successful and enjoyed steady work around the DC area. After a short stint in New York City during the Harlem Renaissance, Ellington returned to Washington and continued to refine and grow his band. After appearing on several recordings and penning his own tunes, Ellington made an agreement with Irving Mills. Mills would act as manager and open doors to recording contracts with several labels. Soon Ellington was recording his songs often and gaining more and more publicity. His band was hired as the house band for The Cotton Club, an influential nightclub which was featured on its own radio show. This opened the floodgates for the band, appearing at the Cotton Club, Vaudeville, and beginning in 1929, the movies. By the mid-1930s, Duke Ellington was known internationally as a superb band leader and composer. His career would stretch into the 1970s, with his final show played at Northern Illinois University in 1974. Ellington's influence would affect composers, performers, and how African American artists were perceived for generations that followed. So much of it coming from what he had learned in his youth in Washington, D.C. Shirley Horne was another remarkable jazz performer from the nation's capital. She began piano lessons in 1938 at the age of four. At twelve, she began studying at Howard University and graduated from there with a degree in classical music. By the time she was 20, Horn was playing around DC, leading her own jazz trio. She studied jazz pianists such as Ahmed Jamal and Oscar Peterson. Their influence, along with her classical training, would give her powerful command of her instrument, demonstrating amazing independence between her hands while using her sultry, lush voice to woo listeners in. She released her first album in 1960, and it caught the ear of Miles Davis, who invited her to play intermissions in between his sets. Horn was then approached by Quincy Jones, who at the time was the vice president of Mercury Records. She would release two albums for Mercury and go on to release several more during the mid-60s. However, within a few years, Horn had largely retired from music, playing only the occasional local set. She maintained her distance from the music industry until her mid-40s, when in 1978, she was approached by a Danish label to record her music again. Horn produced four albums before signing with Verve in 1987. She would release 11 albums for Verve during her lifetime and finally gained the recognition of her talent and contributions to music. Horn survived breast cancer, however, battled diabetes, which took her life in 2004. She has been recognized by Congress for her contributions to jazz and American culture, has played for numerous presidents, and received an honorary doctorate from the Berkeley College of Music in 2002. As music progressed and RB came to the forefront, Ruth Brown brought her powerful voice to help kindle rock and roll's flame. She was born Ruth Weston in Portsmouth, Virginia. She directed her church choir, but against her parents' wishes, she snuck into nightclubs, inspired by the sounds of Sarah Vaughn and Billy Holliday. At 17, she ran away with Jimmy Brown, a trumpeter, to perform in clubs and pursue her singing career. Soon the pair were married, and Ruth found herself in Washington, D.C., being managed by Blanche Callaway, sister of Cab Callaway, performing at the Crystal Caverns Nightclub. She was seen there by Duke Ellington and disc jockey Willis Conover, who recommended her to Ahmed Ergatson and Herb Abramson, who had formed Atlantic Records in D.C. before moving to New York. Before she could audition, Ruth was involved in a car crash that would hospitalize her for months. Atlantic still signed her while still in the hospital. When she began recording for Atlantic, Erginson pushed her from popular songs to sing rhythm and blues. From her first single So Long in 1949, Brown was consistently in the top of the RB charts. Her hits include Teardrops from My Eyes, I'll Wait For You, I Know, 510, 15 Hours, Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean, Oh What a Dream, and many more. She toured almost exclusively in the South, playing segregated dances and gained a fervent following there. Her popularity continued through the 1950s, but by the mid-60s, she had largely retired and was focused on raising her children. She came back into the spotlight in the 1970s when a huge fan in the form of Red Fox helped get her into several acting roles. She appeared in the sitcoms Hello Larry and the John Waters cult classic Hairspray. She also starred in Broadway productions, including Amen Corner and Black and Blue. She continued to record music and act in films and television until her death in 2006. Folk in bluegrass music have always been a staple of the DC music scene. One of the earliest DC bluegrass musicians to come to prominence was Mandolin player Buzz Busby, who moved from his home state of Louisiana to DC in the early 50s to take a job with the FBI. While working his day job, he made friendships with fiddle player Scottie Stoneman, later of the Kentucky Colonels, and cowboy Jack Clement. Jack Clement would go on to write major hits for artists like Johnny Cash. Buzzby, Stoneman, and Clement would go on to play locally and at times at WWVA in West Virginia and WCOP in Boston. After Clement returned to his native Memphis, Buzz formed Buzz and Pete and the Bayou Boys with Pete Pike on guitar and Donnie Bryant on banjo. They became known for playing fast renditions of Bluegrass Standards, usually a few steps higher in pitch. They went on to win first place at the Warrington National Country Music Championship and were hired by WRC TV to appear on a daily afternoon television show. The show was popular and would air for a year. Buzz would go on to play with many artists and give others their start in music, including Charlie Waller and John Duffy. Despite not gaining the fame of other artists, Buzzby would be a key player in the foundation of the folk and bluegrass scene in Washington, D.C. One group that was deeply influenced by Buzz Busby, and who would go on to influence many more, were the Country Gentlemen. The Country Gentlemen performed as a stand-in group for Buzz Busby and the Bayou Boys. Busby and other musicians were involved in a car wreck and were unable to play for some time. Charlie Waller, who was the guitarist in the Bayou Boys, recruited John Duffy on mandolin and Bill Emerson on banjo, and Larry Leahy on bass to cover the scheduled gigs. Bill Emerson left, acting as a sideman to many other famous artists, including a five-year stint with Jimmy Martin. He would come back to the Country Gentleman for a period in the 1970s before leaving again to focus on his work with Cliff Waldron. Charlie Waller continued to lead the group with occasional lineup changes. A young Ricky Skaggs would contribute fiddle for a time, and famous Dobro player Jerry Douglas would also perform with the group in the middle 70s. Waller continued to lead the band until his death in 2004. His son Randy continues the band as Randy Waller and The Country Gentleman Today. The Seldom Seen were another DC area band that would prove influential in Bluegrass circles. While honoring Bluegrass's tradition of instrumental prowess, the Seldom Seen used drastically different arrangements and song selections. The band formed in 1971 in the DC suburb of Bethesda, Maryland, and would release five albums between 1971 and 1976. The band was unique in that it did not tour. It only played shows around the DC area with occasional appearances in Pennsylvania or Virginia. Like many long-standing groups, the Seldom Scene went through numerous lineup changes and saw members leave and return, and even retire. Along with artists like John Hartford, Tony Rice, and Sam Bush, the Seldom Scene helped usher in a new progressive form of bluegrass music that showed influences from rock and pop music with classical prowess. DC's rich acoustic music tradition also encompasses unique blues and folk traditions. John Fahy was an incredibly influential folk guitarist whose use of alternate tunings and unique phrasing can be heard in many solo guitar pieces in folk and rock music. He had a love of music roots and would go on record collecting trips with Dick Spotswood, who would become an influential DJ at WAMU Radio in D.C. Fehey was primarily influenced by finger style blues artists such as John Hurt and contemporary classical composers like Charles Ives, but blended all kinds of influences into his sound, including flamenco and military marches. Fehey issued his own music on his own label, Tacoma Records. He would suffer from poor health and struggle financially throughout most of his career, but would find a resurgence in the 1990s. He would adopt a second career as a painter, staging several exhibitions. When his health failed him in 2001 due to complications from heart surgery, he left behind a blueprint for what has been coined American primitive guitar. Fahy's alternate tunings and finger picking style were influenced by Mississippi John Hurt, who relocated to Washington, D.C. during the folk revival in the early 60s. Blues artist Skip James would also move to the district soon after. Through the influence of Dick Spotwood's radio program, folk and blues revivalists, and the rediscovery and celebration of famous country blues artists, DC's acoustic blues scene flourished throughout the late 60s and 70s and is still a vibrant scene today. John Cephas, Flora Moulton, Archie Edwards, and Phil Wiggins all have contributed to the Piedmont style of blues that DC is associated with. Intricate finger style guitar with the syncopated ragton feel provides the backing for vocals, harmonica, fiddle, and other lead instruments. DC's blues jams could be heard in barber shops as much as in clubs during the 70s and 80s. Its blues scene also influenced and produced virtuosos like Roy Buchanan and Danny Gatton, who are both masters of the electric guitar with very distinct styles. Buchanan was born in Arkansas in 1939, but by the time he moved to DC in the mid-60s, he had already recorded for chess records and had worked with Ronnie Hawkins to help bring his young guitar player Robbie Robertson up to speed. Hawkins' backup band, The Hawks, would eventually go out on their own with Robertson to work with Bob Dylan and become the band. Once Buchanan moved to Washington to take care of his growing family, he worked as a barber, continuing to play guitar with the Danny Denver band around the DC area. In 1971, he was the subject of a PPS documentary which gained him national attention. From that point on, he was a guitarist guitarist, gaining praise from the likes of Merle Haggard, John Lennon, and the Rolling Stones, who allegedly offered him a spot as a guitarist before he turned it down. He recorded 12 albums in his career, including five for Polydor and three more for Atlantic, before landing on Alligator Records, who let him have complete artistic control. His last album, Hot Wires, was released in 1987. Buchanan had struggled with drinking for years and in 1988 was arrested for public intoxication in Fairfax, Virginia. He was found dead in his cell the next morning, having hung himself with his shirt. Buchanan used techniques such as chicken picking, where instead of a pick, the right hand uses alternating picking between the thumb and other fingers. Similar to finger style, but more efficient and percussive. He also used pinch harmonics in his playing, which creates a false harmonic by hitting the string with the edge of the thumb and the pick at the same time. By using these techniques and others, he opened up the vocabulary of the guitar and helped inspire guitarists such as Jeff Beck, Pink Floyd's David Gilmour, and Arlen Roth. Another guitarist who took note of Buchanan's techniques was Danny Gatton. Gatton was born in DC in 1945, and he would begin his rise as a session player in Nashville, Tennessee. After gaining notoriety for his musical versatility and mastery of the Fender Telecaster, Danny Gatton released his first solo album, American Music, in 1975. He was most associated with a 1953 Fender Telecaster and what he called Redneck Jazz, inspiring and humbling all guitarists he met with his showmanship and technique. By the late 1980s, his reputation had grown amongst guitar players for him to be featured in Guitar Player Magazine's Unknown Greats issue in 1989. In 1991, he had his major label debut with 88 Elmira Street, an album that explored rockabilly, country, and jazz music, intertwining all of them. Although he experienced acclaim from any guitarist who saw him, Gatton suffered severely from depression, and in 1994, he took his own life. His legacy rests in the blending of genres and techniques into something uniquely American and always all out. One of the district's most iconic contributions to music has been Go-Go. Go-go is a unique type of funk music with a strong backbeat accenduated with bongos, congas, and other percussion. Go-go evolved from soul music, which got progressively harder and funkier throughout the late 60s. Chuck Brown was the guitarist and band leader of the Soul Searchers, who made it a habit to blend one song into the next, keeping the dance floor full and the clubs making money. Brown used soul, gospel, and Latin influences to craft this unique funky beat. Other innovators included Black Heat, whose No Time to Burn hit the national charts in 1974. Chuck Brown and The Soul Searchers released Bust and Loose in 1978, providing the definitive point in Go-Go when it hit number one in the RB chart. Other Go-Go artists included Experience Unlimited, Rare Essence, the Junkyard Band, and Trouble Funk. The amped-up funk of Go-Go in the 70s and 80s was reflected across town in the burgeoning punk scene. Punk began to appear in DC around 76 after bands like the Ramones and later The Damned visited town. Soon bands like The Slicky Boys and Urban Verbs appeared, and the compilation 30 over Washington was released on Limp Records, which would heavily influence the DC scene. In 1980, the 930 Club opened and gave DC Punk its home. Early DC Punk bands like Iron Cross, SOA, Youth Brigade, Government Issue, and Scream pointed towards a more aggressive form of punk. Bad Brains would take this direction and become DC's first true hardcore band and provide a huge influence on DC's scene, including a young Ian Mackay and Jeff Nelson, who are in the Teen Idols, spelled I D L E S, before forming Minor Threat in 1980. Minor Threat would be a huge influence, particularly on the Straight Edge movement, which promoted abstinence from drugs, alcohol, and sex. Makkay and Nelson would go on to form Discord records, which would help inspire the U.S. indie record label phenomenon in the 80s and 90s. Discord promoted the DIY or do-it-yourself work ethic by recording, pressing, and packaging releases in-house. It would only record bands from DC and offer the same straightforward deal to every band. Nelson and Makai's approach was to put musical integrity over profits. Makai has said, we are partners, they make the music, and we make the records. Post-hardcore evolved in the late 80s, combining the aggressive elements of hardcore with more diverse influences. Out of the ashes of minor threat, Fugazi emerged in the late 80s, pushing past the boundaries of the hardcore genre. Other bands such as Jawbox, Shudder to Think, and Nation of Ulysses expanded post-hardcore sound and influenced an even wider range of artists who would expand the scene in the 1990s. Smart Went Crazy, The Dismemberment Plan, Q and Not U, and Farrakat were DC bands that embraced hardcore and post-hardcore influences while pushing and diversifying the sound further with influences from dub, pop, and even jazz. Throughout its musical history, DC has provided long-standing venues for its artists to craft and refine their sound. The Birchmere, across the river from DC in Alexandria, Virginia, has been home to many of the bluegrass and folk groups that have made DC's acoustic scene so rich and diverse. Blues Alley is a well-known jazz club located on Wisconsin Avenue that has been at the center of DC jazz and blues since the 1960s. As I mentioned earlier, the 930 Club began as a home for DC's punk scene and has grown to be a legendary rock venue that hosts national acts of all sizes. The Black Cat on 14th Street is known for showcasing indie, rock, metal, punk, EDM, and other alternative music genres. Washington, D.C.'s influence on American music can be felt in every genre, from Duke Ellington to Minor Threat, John Philip Sousa to Chuck Brown. DC's legacy is intertwined with the evolution of music in the United States. I want to thank you for touring the musical history of DC with me. Our next stop takes us to Detroit, Michigan, where we explore the musical origins of the city that gave us MM, Motown, the MC5, and the White Stripes. Thanks for listening to the Music Scope. I'm Mike Grubb.