Episode Seven: Dedicated to Chaos

When America enters World War II, jazz is part of the arsenal. In Europe, where musicians like the Gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt continue to play despite a Nazi ban, jazz is a beacon of hope. In America, it becomes the embodiment of democracy, as bandleaders like Glenn Miller and Artie Shaw enlist, taking their swing to the troops overseas. For many black Americans, however, that sound has a hollow ring. Segregated at home and in uniform, they find themselves fighting for liberties their own country denies them, as authorities padlock the Savoy Ballroom to keep servicemen off its integrated dance floor, and military police patrol Swing Street, breaking up fistfights sparked by prejudice and pride. Despite such injustices, jazz answers the call during the war years. Duke Ellington sells war bonds and premieres his most ambitious work ever, the tone portrait Black, Brown and Beige, as a benefit for war relief. His band at a peak, Ellington is helped now by the gifted young composer Billy Strayhorn and continues manipulating his players' talents, turning his orchestra into an instrument with which he creates music of astonishing perfection. Yet underground and after hours, jazz is changing. In a Harlem club called Minton's Playhouse, a small band of young musicians led by the trumpet virtuoso Dizzy Gillespie and the brilliant saxophonist Charlie Parker has discovered a new way of playing--fast, intricate, exhilarating, and sometimes chaotic. A wartime recording ban keeps their music off the airwaves, but soon after the atom bomb forces Japan's surrender, Parker and Gillespie enter the studio to create an explosion of their own. The tune is called "Ko Ko," the sound will soon be called "bebop," and once Americans hear it, jazz will never be the same. ©2001 Amazon.com