Post by conwention on Mar 1, 2010 15:57:50 GMT -5
This is an excerpt from a story called " THE HEALING "
Location - Sammy's Night club, Los Angeles Calif, Early 1930s, 1am
The plot of the story is that after an engagement at the Coconut Grove in LA. the band takes Babe to a Black night club to fulfill Babes long time desire to play some low down blues for a Black audience.
Characters
Mike Fletcher - Trumpet
Leroy ( Boots ) Washington - Sax
Dexter Peirce - Drums
" Doc " Edmonds - Piano
T. J. Johnson - Stand up Bass
Johny Harmon - Trombone
Otis Brown - Clarinet
Frank Gumm - Judys Father
Babe - Judy Garland
Vocal Inspirations - Bessie Smith, Judy Garland
Note - Bessie Smith was a very successful Black blues singer in the 1920s. Janis Joplin was a great admirer of Bessie.You can hear alot of Bessie's voice when you listen to Janis sing.
Note - Just as a Country song is supposed to tell a story, I use the Blues song to tell a story ( in parentheses ) that Judy is personally experiencing.
The first of three slow blues.
All through the intro the audience reaching up hands to touch Babe, Babe holding hands, answering questions, nodding, giggling. Babe at mike. Babe just stood there and kept standing there, Dexter glancing at Mike, Mike looking at Boots.Babes whole body was trying to accentuate the quarter beat after the 2&4 of the measure.She stubbornly stood her place, motioning with her hands and hips for her band to play as one on these beats.Boots shrugged and they all started building up the power that Babe wanted completely destroying the delicate rhythm of the Blues masters they were trying to emulate.
The crowd was watching this drama unfold and realized Babe had gotten her way and that she was trying to communicate something to them.The beat just started to lift them higher and higher and they began yelling and cheering that she pulled it off creating an atmosphere full of danger.She did it for them and they just loved her for it.All smiles now on the faces of the band and awed for the umpteenth time as they were reminded who ran this band.Mike never knew a front man where the most important thing was their intimate love affair with their audience, above the music or any personal want.
Babe with head and shoulders back, blasting out first line ( woke up this morning when chickens was crowin for days ) with the golden horns fallin down like hail all around her, then on to something about ( a pillow and her man gone away ) tears started to flow from the audience, these people have adopted her at this point, the story unfolding about ( a left note and no time to settle down ) the audience can feel the power of the chorus coming ( I'm a young woman and I aint done runnin round ) Babe seeing the shock wave through the crowd as they recoil to this child singing like a woman, ( some call her a hobo, some call her a bum, nobody knows her name, nobody knows what's shes done ) Babe getting up into her head, getting her frustrations out singing with anger, the satisfaction of being bad, though not as bad as she'd like to be, sporadic little squabbles in the crowd, a Black man incensed at the shameful behavior of this young girl, other men impatient with his behavior, Babe striking nerves witch is always right.
The last breaks setting up Babes explanation ( of the end of the long lonesome road ) everybody believes Babe about the long lonesome road she's singin about, how the hell does this young girl know about such things, Babe had that kind of effect, you would believe what ever she said
( end of excerpt )
Location - Sammy's Night club, Los Angeles Calif, Early 1930s, 1am
The plot of the story is that after an engagement at the Coconut Grove in LA. the band takes Babe to a Black night club to fulfill Babes long time desire to play some low down blues for a Black audience.
Characters
Mike Fletcher - Trumpet
Leroy ( Boots ) Washington - Sax
Dexter Peirce - Drums
" Doc " Edmonds - Piano
T. J. Johnson - Stand up Bass
Johny Harmon - Trombone
Otis Brown - Clarinet
Frank Gumm - Judys Father
Babe - Judy Garland
Vocal Inspirations - Bessie Smith, Judy Garland
Note - Bessie Smith was a very successful Black blues singer in the 1920s. Janis Joplin was a great admirer of Bessie.You can hear alot of Bessie's voice when you listen to Janis sing.
Note - Just as a Country song is supposed to tell a story, I use the Blues song to tell a story ( in parentheses ) that Judy is personally experiencing.
The first of three slow blues.
All through the intro the audience reaching up hands to touch Babe, Babe holding hands, answering questions, nodding, giggling. Babe at mike. Babe just stood there and kept standing there, Dexter glancing at Mike, Mike looking at Boots.Babes whole body was trying to accentuate the quarter beat after the 2&4 of the measure.She stubbornly stood her place, motioning with her hands and hips for her band to play as one on these beats.Boots shrugged and they all started building up the power that Babe wanted completely destroying the delicate rhythm of the Blues masters they were trying to emulate.
The crowd was watching this drama unfold and realized Babe had gotten her way and that she was trying to communicate something to them.The beat just started to lift them higher and higher and they began yelling and cheering that she pulled it off creating an atmosphere full of danger.She did it for them and they just loved her for it.All smiles now on the faces of the band and awed for the umpteenth time as they were reminded who ran this band.Mike never knew a front man where the most important thing was their intimate love affair with their audience, above the music or any personal want.
Babe with head and shoulders back, blasting out first line ( woke up this morning when chickens was crowin for days ) with the golden horns fallin down like hail all around her, then on to something about ( a pillow and her man gone away ) tears started to flow from the audience, these people have adopted her at this point, the story unfolding about ( a left note and no time to settle down ) the audience can feel the power of the chorus coming ( I'm a young woman and I aint done runnin round ) Babe seeing the shock wave through the crowd as they recoil to this child singing like a woman, ( some call her a hobo, some call her a bum, nobody knows her name, nobody knows what's shes done ) Babe getting up into her head, getting her frustrations out singing with anger, the satisfaction of being bad, though not as bad as she'd like to be, sporadic little squabbles in the crowd, a Black man incensed at the shameful behavior of this young girl, other men impatient with his behavior, Babe striking nerves witch is always right.
The last breaks setting up Babes explanation ( of the end of the long lonesome road ) everybody believes Babe about the long lonesome road she's singin about, how the hell does this young girl know about such things, Babe had that kind of effect, you would believe what ever she said
( end of excerpt )
