Inside Out Theatre Company Denver Center

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Denver CenterTheatre CompanyInside OutA S TUDY G UIDEproduced by the education departmentMarch 2000Gene is the “side man” of the play. Hisability as a trumpet player is goodenough to give him occasional solos thatput him briefly in the spotlight. He has evenplayed with Frank Sinatra and the big bands.Though he is esteemed among his peers, he iscontent to drift from gig to gig and collectunemployment until jobs materialize. Music ishis life and he is oblivious to anything else—especially the fact that he is living in a timewhen most side men are being phased out ofexistence as the Big Band era ends.While Gene remembers nothing but themusic, his son Clifford is the one who remembers and tells the tale of the harmonious andthe discordant times beginning before hisbirth in 1953 and concluding in 1985. BesidesGene, the audience gets to know Clifford’smother, Terry, a streetwise but naive jazz loverwhose misguided expectations for her husbandcontribute to this dysfunctional family; Patsy,the waitress and care-giver to everybody; andGene’s zany, musician buddies, Al, Ziggy andJonesy.his is a memory play filled with musicfrom the Big Band era, but also with family pain. As it loops about in time, ayoung man tries to come to terms with hisparents and his past—-and the life ahead ofhim.Photo by Gary IsaacsTsideman1999 TONY AWARD Best PlaySide man—any member of aband other than the leader.Big Band—an ensemble oftwo to five trumpets, two tofive trombones, four to sixsaxophones (who may doubleon clarinets, flutes andother woodwinds) anda rhythm section.

Musical termsand othersCHART: a score, part or anyitem of written music; the mapto guide musicians while playing.CHORD: the simultaneoussounding of three or moretones, two simultaneous tonesusually being designated as aninterval.DOO-WOP: harmonic vocalmusic of the 1950s and 1960s,sometimes sung a cappela.Examples would be theChantels and the Platters.Songs such as “Blue Moon” and“The Lion Sleeps Tonight” weresung in this style.GIG: a job in musician parlance.JAM SESSION: an impromptu,and often private, performanceby a loosely organized group ofplayers.LICK: a melodic phrase that aplayer uses regularly in improvising.RIFF: a short phrase (usuallytwo to four measures long)that repeats several times.BREAK: a short unaccompaniedsolo, usually two to four measures long and usually occurring in the middle or at theend of a chorus.BALLAD: a slow popular song,often in aaba form.INTERVAL: the distancebetween two notes.GASLIT: from the movieGaslight; a husband tries todrive his wife insane.Apel, Willi. Harvard Dictionaryof Music. Cambridge, MA: TheBelknap Press of HarvardUniversity, 1972.Kernfeld, Barry. The New GroveDictionary of Jazz. London:Macmillan Press, 1988.2The Playwright“One of the things I learned from my father ishow to live cheaply.” Warren Leight.1For his first full-length play, Side Man, Warren Leight received the 1999Tony Award for Best Play in addition to Drama Desk and Outer CriticsCircle nominations. Despite seemingly overnight success, Leight hasbeen writing for more than two decades. He has written everything fromstand-up comedy material to screenplays. He made his Broadway debut in1985 with the book to the musical Mayor, with music and lyrics by CharlesStrouse, for which he also received a Drama Desk nomination. His othertheatre work includes: High Heeled Women (Outer Critics Circle Award), TheLoop and Stray Cats, as well as numerous one-acts at the Atlantic Theatre,Circle Rep, New York Playwrights Lab and La MaMa, among others. His current projects include Big Street, a musical based on a Damon Runyon storywith composer Alan Menken and lyricist Marion Adler, and Glimmer, Glimmerand Shine, which recently opened at the Penguin Rep after premiering atthe Williamstown Theatre Festival.Mr. Leight says he was “a poor, scrawny kid from the Upper West Side.”2He went to StanfordUniversity on a scholarship and, though hegraduated in 1977,he felt out ofplace in PaloAlto, California.He returnedto New Yorkand wroteads fortextbooks atthe Harcourt,Brace andJovanovich PublishingCompany. When he sold anarticle on “something like Whereto Find a Public Bathroom in New York,to the Village Voice,” he became a careerwriter of articles.3 These articles eventuallyformed the 1983 collection entitled The I Hate New York Guidebook, whichwas the basis, along with former mayor Ed Koch’s memoirs, of the 1985musical, Mayor. He also had a stint as the “His” columnist for Mademoisellemagazine and wrote for National Lampoon.ide Man is influenced by Leight’s father, Donald, now 76, who was atrumpet player for Claude Thornhill, Woody Herman and other bandleaders through the 1950s. The great steady job of his career wasplaying for the musical Hair. For Leight, his play is also autobiographicalbecause “I still see myself as a sideman in many ways. Coming from a jazzfamily, I always felt like I should earn a living. So for the last 20 years, I’vebeen a writer-for-hire basically.”4S

THEABIG BAND ERArecordings such as “Caldonia” with Woody’s infectious singingccording to the New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, swing is aand the band’s vocal howls.name “given to a jazz style and to a related phase ofpopular music which originated around 1930 when Newlaude Thornhill began his band in 1940, using it as abackground for his distinctive, delicate piano-playing. HeOrleans jazz was in decline.”5 It is characterized by an emphasis on solo improvisation, larger ensembles, a repertoire basedpioneered the use of French horns, flutes and piccolos, foron popular songs and more equal weight given to the fourmerly unusual in big bands. The result was a romanticism thatbeats of a musical measure. The development of swing coincidset the band apart from its contemporaries.ed with the emergence by 1932 of the 13-piece dance bandGene Krupa was a drummer with Benny Goodman’s band but(three trumpets, two trombones, four reed instruments, piano,left in 1938 to start a band that spotlighted his drumming. Itguitar, double bass and drum set.) Swing, even when played bybecame popular when he added singer Anita O’Day and trumpetbig bands, was predominately for dancing.er Roy Eldridge. With Krupa’s dark good looks, dynamic personSome of the swing’s distinguishing elements had appeared inality and flamboyant manner of playing, he was one of thethe 1920s in bands led by Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson,most striking images of the swing era.Bennie Moten, Glen Gray and others. But the beginning ofTommy Dorsey was a trombonist who became known as “Theswing as a popular phenomenon is generally dated to the sumSentimental Gentleman of Swing.” His band was adept at playmer of 1935 when Benny Goodman and his band played theing both hot music and swinging ballads. Fans flocked to dancePalomar Ballroom in Los Angeles. When he struck up the “Kingto his music. Tommy tempted Frank Sinatra away from the HarryPorter Stomp” with his clarinet, the audience went wild.James’ band and they made an outstanding recording of “I’llGoodman had brought swing to a national consciousness andNever Smile Again.”was promptly dubbed the “King of Swing.”Jimmy Dorsey played the alto saxophone with his band butAs the country embraced swing in the mid-thirties, it discovattained popularity with vocalists Bob Eberle and Helenered the music that Duke Ellington and his band had been play- O’Connell. Their big successes were the recordings of “Amapola,”ing for ten years. Duke was a warm and witty gentleman as well “Green Eyes” and “Tangerine.”as a conductor-composer-arranger-pianist who built his band’sGlenn Miller’s ambition was to “have a reputation as one ofperformance on superb musicianship and freedom of expression. the best all-round bands.”6 Some critics say the Glenn MillerIts repertoire included a select quota of pop songs but generally sound was achieved by having trumpeter Pee Wee Erwin play anoctave (eight notes) higher, with fourfocused on the Duke’s compositions.harlie Barnet was a bandleaderin unison beneath him. The“No matter how much talent or saxophoneswho patterned his arrangementsband had numerous successful records:after Duke Ellington. He employed experience a player brings, there “Moonlight Serenade,” “Little Brownare things to learn when he sits Jug,” “In the Mood,” “Tuxedomany black musicians even though segregation at the time was rife. TheJunction,” “Pennsylvania 6-5000,”down with a seasoned band.”band’s sound, however, came fromamong others. Because of his tragicCannonball AdderlyCharlie himself. He played most of thedisappearance and death in World Warsaxophone family and was particularlyII, he is remembered with much nostaladept on the soprano sax. The band’s most successful recordgia today.ig bands all but disappeared in the 1980s. An exceptionings were “Cherokee,” “Pompton Turnpike” and “Skyliner.”Dizzy Gillespie was an outstanding trumpeter who formed awas Lester Lanin, a major band contractor and darling ofbig band in the mid-1940s. The band played with fire andNew York society. He has played for American presidentsfrom Eisenhower to Reagan. His music delights members of theexcitement and concentrated on songs with a strong Latin flavor. It is considered by many to have been one of the bestBritish royal family who engaged him for weddings, birthdaysbands of the bebop era. However, although the band was aand functions in the 1980s.musical success, it was a commercial failure.“Swing continues to reassert itself, reaching new audiencesA bandleader who moved with the times from swing to bebop but always cloaked in nostalgia.”7 Its latest standard-bearer isto rock was Woody Herman. Beginning as the Band that PlaysHarry Connick, Jr., who has strong piano and vocal talents. Histhe Blues in the 1930s, his band evolved into the Herman Herdmeteoric rise was aided by the performance on the 1989 soundtrack to the movie, When Harry Met Sally.with an explosive sound built on the rhythm section. Woodyplayed the clarinet, but he was just as well known for spottingmusical talent and developing it. His music was characterizedby good humor and the simple joy of life that resulted inCCB“It don’t mean a thing, if it ain’t gotthat swing ” Duke Ellington, song title.3

The end of theBIGbANDERA“We ruined the (big band) business because we were boundand determined to play the kind of music we wanted to play.”Stan Kenton8By the end of World War II, Big Bands had been at thecenter of the entertainment scene in the United Statesfor a quarter of a century. But the era was about to end.Toward the end of the war, leaders such as Tommy Dorsey,Benny Goodman, Harry James and Artie Shaw were receiving aguaranteed 4000 a night for appearances, with an option of60% of the profits. Ballroom operators, who also had to pay anentertainment tax, found that they had to raise prices to evenmake a small profit. At this time, there was a cutback in individual spending on entertainment because of the uncertainty ofthe immediate post-war period. “The national mood of themoment is one of uncertainty verging on pessimism, and swingand pessimism don’t mix,” said Ray McKinley.9 So, ballroomswere less frequented; this resulted in many being sold tobecome cinemas or supermarkets. To be fair to the bandleaders,they, too, were facing spiraling costs in the musicians’ salariesand in traveling expenses and, with the closing of ballrooms,they had no place to play.Swing was no longer in sync with the emotional needs of itsaudience and many bands migrated to concert halls.Bandleaders such as, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton and StanKenton played at Carnegie Hall or “Jazz at the Philharmonic.”This new music was music for listening, not dancing. Whenleaders like Tommy Dorsey tried to retool their orchestras fordancing, not everyone joined his movement. For the first timesince before World War I, recreational dancing seemed to befalling out of fashion.he musicians’ union played a part, too. In 1942, the president of the American Federation of Musicians, JamesPetrillo, decreed that unemployment of musicians wasattributable to jukeboxes and the number of records that radiostations played. He demanded that record companies set up afund for the unemployed. When the record companies refused,Petrillo called for a strike. At first, the recording firms stumbled, but then they turned to vocalists accompanied by nonunion players. The careers of Bob Eberle, Helen O’Connell andT4Frank Sinatra began in this fashion. As a result of the strike, ashake-out occurred in the recording industry. Many independentcompanies folded, leaving the four giants—Decca, Columbia,RCA and Capitol. These conglomerates used movies and, later,television to promote the music they felt the public wanted anddeployed song “pluggers” to persuade band leaders and discjockeys to play particular songs.ince 1884, ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authorsand Publishers) had controlled most of the music writtenand published in the country. When it demanded greaterannual annuities from radio stations in 1941, the stationsrefused. The radio networks set up a competing organization,BMI (Broadcasting Music Inc.) and called for a ban on allASCAP material. This resulted in publishers of country musicand rhythm and blues finding an outlet for their product. Asthe 1940s turned into the 1950s, rhythm and blues and countrybecame familiar to audiences nationwide and ushered in therock ’n’ roll era.Changing social and economic patterns included the growingfinancial strength of the youth population. With their numbers,they were able to create and sustain demands for new forms ofmusic. They were eager to hear new sounds that promised newdances.By 1947, Les Brown, Benny Carter, Benny Goodman, WoodyHerman, Tommy Dorsey, Jack Teagarden and Harry James brokeup their bands within a period of four weeks. Although somereformed in the following years, several were never again tolead a big band.S“Sometimes I wonder today, with all theyoung fellas in the country that are studyingmusic, where they’re ever going to get achance to play it, what they’re gonna do .”Stan Kenton10

it musBebopB“I still don’tknow whatbebop is and Ido not believeanyone reallydoes. It’s onlygood or badmusic and callmine bop orschmop,it’s good.”Benny Goodman11ebop had its roots in swing in the early40s in informal sessions led by DizzyGillespie, Lester Young and Cab Calloway,among others. Throughout the decade, bebopreached its largest live audiences in the bigbands led by Billy Eckstine, Dizzy Gillespie,Woody Herman and Charlie Ventura. The formbegan attracting media attention in 1946.Bebop is characterized by more complicatedchord patterns and melodic ideas. Most bebopmusicians had an exceptional technique andknowledge of music theory that enabled themto play long dazzling phrases with many notes.On slower tunes, they displayed a keen ear forsubtle changes of harmony. When pressed formore explanation, most jazz boppers spoke of anew way of phrasing and accenting, new chordsand “previously shunned intervals like flattedfifths and ninths.”12ebop had trouble gaining cultural acceptance, but the watershed occurred inSeptember 1947 when Carnegie Hall hosted an all bop concert. The participants includedDizzy Gillespie and his big band, Charlie Parkerand his quintet, and the vocalist Ella Fitzgerald.The concert attracted a sellout crowd and led toa concert career for Gillespie.Bic.”Let’snp.ocall it bebtoLet’s callCharlie Parker.13Because no one knew what bebop really was,certain bandleaders such as Benny Goodman,Charlie Ventura and Lester Young grafted bebopdevices onto a traditional swing sound. Others,like Gillespie, added Afro-Cuban rhythm effects.A proper rhythm was established so bebopcould be danced to as well as heard. By 1948,bebop was broadcast over radio stations in NewYork. Chicago’s “high brow” disc jockey, DaveGarroway, introduced listeners to bebop overradio station WMAQ.nfortunately, bebop was smeared by amoral taint. Out of the scene came thefigure known as the “hipster”—with zootsuits, long haircuts and reefers (marijuana cigarettes). In short, dangerous excesses were associated with bebop—juvenile delinquency, sexualpromiscuity, outrageous language and dress,and illicit drug use.Within three years bebop achieved and lostboth media notoriety and public acclaim. But ithad completely altered the jazz vocabulary, andits musical twists would be adopted in themusic to come.USWING REDUX“Today swing has been absorbed by the culture,both musically and ideologically.”19The 1950s witnessed recurrent rumors of a revival ofbig bands. Some leaders of the 30s and 40s maintained bands and toured: Ellington, Basie, StanKenton, Harry James, Les Brown. Some others scaled theirbands down in size. In 1965 Thad Jones, who had playedwith Basie, and drummer Mel Lewis formed a big band thatplayed at the Village Vanguard in New York when not touring. The following year Buddy Rich, who had been withHarry James and the Dorseys, formed his own big band,which won acclaim through the 1970s. Trumpeter MaynardFerguson formed a number of bands in the 1960s and 70sthat played a jazz-rock fusion. And in 1973, pianistToshikoAkiyoshi formeda big band withLew Tabackinthat, by 1980,was widely considered the leading jazz-oriented big band. Their audienceswere primarily listeners who gathered at jazz festivals,concert halls, nightclubs and college auditoriums.Swing’s idioms are still used by TV studio orchestras,movie soundtracks, New Year’s Eve celebrations and FMeasy-listening stations.5

PEOPLE, PLACES & EVENTSDrugs& Music“The popular conception is that all we do isget high off our tea and use grog for chasers.”Lionel Hampton14In the play, the character Jonesy is a hilarious sidekick toGene, but his addiction to hard drugs precipitates the endto his career and, probably, his life. In his book Swing toBop, Ira Gitler states that the hard drug epidemic among jazzmusicians had its beginnings during World War II. Music makers were not the only drug users; many doctors in Germanybetween the world wars were addicted to morphine. Musicianshad a reputation for living a wild and colorful “nightlife.” Thiscoupled with more public exposure than most of the rest ofthe population gave their “drug culture” more attention.Many musicians turned to drugs to emulate their idols—Charlie Parker, for one. Parker, or Bird as he was called, was afantastic trumpet player, and as Frankie Socolow says: “Birdwas a big junkie and to be like Bird you had to be a junkie. Everybody smoked pot, but when it came to hard (stuff), itdidn’t really become popular until Bird and his emulators.”15ome musicians felt that drugs helped them play betterbecause it heightened their powers of concentration. RedRodney, another musician, says: “Guys were always experimenting and the drugs had something to do with that. Whena guy is loaded and at peace, he shuts everything else outexcept what he’s interested in.”16 Unfortunately, drug use ledto hostility and pettiness among players, and thievery to payfor a supply.Gitler proposes another theory for strung-out players: in thepost-war period, musicians were trying to play a music thatwasn’t readily accepted (bebop), and the pressure of beingdifferent led to a frustration that could only be assuaged bydrugs. Others cite the influence of the music environment—the people of questionable morals, the nightlife underground.Gerry Mulligan points to the age of most musicians. Heremembers coming to New York at age 18 and suddenly finding “you’ve cut out a life for yourself which is more than youcan handle.”17 With no background to cope with living in NewYork, he felt he wasn’t tough enough to handle the jazz scene.This fact, plus internal emotional pressures, led him to usedrugs.rt Pepper says the loneliness of a touring life led to hisuse of heroin. His first wife stopped going on the roadwith him and he was unhappy. One night, after playingexceptionally well and being praised for it, he was left aloneat a bar

Gene Krupa was a drummer with Benny Goodman’s band but left in 1938 to start a band that spotlighted his drumming. it became popular when he added singer Anita O’day and trumpet-er Roy eldridge. With Krupa’s dark good looks, dynamic person-ality and flamboyant manner of playing,

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