Lucious Curtis and Willie Ford - "Times is Gettin' Harder"

The lyrics in this track are a musical and poetic illustrations of the 'push' of the Great Migration. It paints a picture of the conditions that were present in sharecropping that made it desirable for African Americans to seek other locations and lifestyles.

Topics: The Great Migration, Share Cropping, Jim Crow

LeadBelly - The Boll Weevil Song

Another one that artfully refers to the 'push' factors. Love the way that Leadbelly takes the migration of the Boll Weevil from Mexico as a parallel as well as a cause for his own need for migration. Great example of Delta Blues. Plus Leadbelly's story is an interesting one.

Topics: The Great Migration, Share Cropping, Jim Crow

When the Levee Breaks- Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie - 1929

Based on the Great Mississippi Flood 1927

In the first half of 1927, the Great Mississippi Flood ransacked the state of Mississippi and its surrounding areas. It destroyed many homes, plantations and devastated the cotton crops of the Mississippi Basin. Huge numbers of sharecroppers were forced to uproot their lives and flock to urban environments, major contributor to the "Great Migration."

This song was covered on Led Leppelin IV and it may be fun to include that example well. It also provides an opportunity to illustrate how British rock bands were heavily influenced by American Blues artists.

This can be great for discussions on the impacr of Katrina as well as climate change

Topics: The Great Migration, Share Cropping, Jim Crow

Kansas City

Count Basie - One O'Clock Jump

This is one of Count Basie's most famous songs. It was actually made up on stage by the band and the parts that developed were improvised night after night. The band's inside name for this song was "Blue Balls." However when Basie was asked for the name of the song during a live radio broadcast, he saw that it was one AM. After realizing that this name would not be acceptable on the air he quickly came up with "One O'clock Jump."

This is a simple 12 bar blues played by the rhythm section with horn improvisations on top. Listen for that "Kansas City Groove" which was so influential on the R&B to follow. This recording has some distortion and slight pitch modulation issues. I still went with this one because it is the authentic version.

Kansas City was one of the only cities in America un-affected by the Great Depression. The Mayor at the time, Tom Pendergast, basically turned a blind eye to all vices like alchohol, drugs, prostitution and gambling. As a result, money was flowing everywhere. This created a mecca for musicians due to the fact that they could get paid. The combination of players that congregated from different parts the South and even the East Coast (Count Basie was from Red Bank, NJ), erupted a unique musical style with a groove that nobody could replicate at the time. The "Kansa City sound" was a result of the melding musical styles from all over the country and a heavy mixture of Jazz and Blues. It was also the father of Rhythm and Blues which would come later. When these bands would compete in "battle of the bands" competitions in places like Harlem, they grooved their opponents off the stage.

Harlem

Harlem was a different destination to other "Great Migration" cities. Harlem's intelectual culture included the forward thinking minds of people like Langston Hughes, W.E.B DuBois and Marcus Garvey. It's location on the upper part of Manhattan allowed it's residence exposure to things that were simply less common in the Midwest. A msuicain from Harlem had opportunities to learn from virtuosi like Vladamir Horowitz. As a result the style of piano that developed in Harlem, "Harlem Stride" exhibited technical prowess that jazz players still find challenging to replicate.

Rent Parties

Another phenomenon worth mentioning when discussing the development of music in Harlem is the concept of 'rent parties,' parties. These parties were held at peoples apartments when the rent was due and their wasn't enough money to cover it. You would simply have a party, charge admission, hire a piano play or other musicians, tip them some of the money and pay off the rent with the rest.

Often times piano players would compete to "out play" one another. The winners were those that got to witness the music. James P. Johnson emerged from this environment.