By Garrison Thomas
On January 16, 1938, jazz history was made… twice.
It’s great to see Damien Chazelle making a film about jazz again. Not to mention that he will be adapting a real-life story this time. True stories can be difficult to adapt because there is a temptation to take creative license with the material in order to craft a crowd-pleaser, but Chazelle respects the art and history of jazz too much to misrepresent what actually happened.
Sources tell Cinema Literature that Jazz Night will focus on the performance of the Benny Goodman Orchestra at Carnegie Hall as well as The Battle of the Bands between Chick Webb’s and Count Basie’s Orchestra at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem. Chazelle will write and direct. No casting news as of yet. The film will open on December 11, 2020. This mirrors the release date for La La Land.
Carnegie Hall normally hosted classical music acts, but with the meteoric rise of swing music in the late thirties, Benny Goodman became the first swing act to be booked at the venue. Tickets sold out quickly with classical musicians and music critics filling some of the seats in the crowd. After starting out stiff, drummer Gene Krupa livened up the band in the middle of the first song. Goodman’s orchestra then relaxed and had the crowd standing up and dancing by the end when they finished with their signature number, “Sing, Sing, Sing.” The performance legitimized swing music for the high class elite.
Sources tell Cinema Literature that Jazz Night will focus on the performance of the Benny Goodman Orchestra at Carnegie Hall as well as The Battle of the Bands between Chick Webb’s and Count Basie’s Orchestra at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem. Chazelle will write and direct. No casting news as of yet. The film will open on December 11, 2020. This mirrors the release date for La La Land.
Carnegie Hall normally hosted classical music acts, but with the meteoric rise of swing music in the late thirties, Benny Goodman became the first swing act to be booked at the venue. Tickets sold out quickly with classical musicians and music critics filling some of the seats in the crowd. After starting out stiff, drummer Gene Krupa livened up the band in the middle of the first song. Goodman’s orchestra then relaxed and had the crowd standing up and dancing by the end when they finished with their signature number, “Sing, Sing, Sing.” The performance legitimized swing music for the high class elite.
After the Carnegie Hall performance, some of Goodman’s band members went across town to the Savoy Ballroom to see the Battle of the Bands between Chick Webb and Count Basie, a swing act from Kansas City. Goodman’s band members were soundly defeated by Chick Webb a year prior so they were curious about the new challenger Basie. A judge declared Webb to be the winner but the audience was divided.
Chazelle has a lot to play with here, especially when examining the dichotomy between black and white jazz orchestras. Benny Goodman, dubbed the “King of Swing”, was invited to play at Carnegie Hall while Chick Webb (Harlem’s “King of Swing”) was still playing at the Savoy Ballroom even though he led a better band and was established long before Goodman.
What do you think of Damien Chazelle’s next film? Is it something you would see? Comment below!
Chazelle has a lot to play with here, especially when examining the dichotomy between black and white jazz orchestras. Benny Goodman, dubbed the “King of Swing”, was invited to play at Carnegie Hall while Chick Webb (Harlem’s “King of Swing”) was still playing at the Savoy Ballroom even though he led a better band and was established long before Goodman.
What do you think of Damien Chazelle’s next film? Is it something you would see? Comment below!
*****Read the first word of each sentence in the first paragraph******