David said (edited):
>There's no doubt that Crosby idolized Jolsen. EVERYONE idolized him, but
>I'm not so sure he was that big a musical influence on Crosby. Certainly
>Jolsen's charisma as a performer was an inspiration, but as for the way he
>actually sang, Crosby was far more influenced by Armstrong, and he often
>said so.
Yes, I know what you mean - however...Crosby was influenced enough by Jolson
to forego his previously scheduled future to pursue a career in music.
After Crosby began singing he took other influences into account and thus
established his own style. I'd say Jolson was the greatest influence for
Crosby as Jolson was responsible
for kick-starting a career which may not have been otherwise.
David said:
>Jolsen is undoubtedly influential, though--he'd have to be in the top 20 or
>20 or so somewhere. Still, there's something about his work that doesn't
>translate well to our times--am I speaking out of turn here? I don't think
>so--something stagey and overdone and unsubtle and rhythmically dense, etc,
>etc. etc. to our modern tastes. It's as if he's speaking a different
>language, practically. Which is just another way of saying, I guess, that
>his specific musical influence didn't much carry over throughout the rest
>of the century.
Well, it seems to me that Jolson was responsible for changing the way in
which music was presented. Music became drama, theatre and focused in on
the performer instead of just the song. Remember, when Jolson started doing
minstrel shows, most every song was just available in sheet music form and
sold accordingly. It was Jolson who sold the songs mostly by word of mouth
(no pun intended) via newspaper reporters and from his long stint on
Broadway. Jolson incorporated every measure of his being onstage, from eye
and hand movements to dancing, melodramatic posing
and even his exaggerated vocal style. At that time, there weren't any
recording second-takes or overdubbs, so each performance he gave had to be
"on the money".
If you think about how many of "his" songs became part of Americana, it
staggers the imagination - "Swanee", "You Made Me Love You", "California
Here I Come", "Steppin' Out", "I'm Sitting On Top Of The World", "April
Showers", "Rock-A-Bye Your Baby (With A Dixie Melody)", "When The Red, Red
Robin Comes Bob, Bob Bobbin' Along" and the ubiquitous "Toot, Toot Tootsie",
to name a few. How many times have these songs been featured in movies
and/or recorded by other artists?
Also, one could argue Jolson's influence not only on the lavish Busby
Berkely movie musicals of the thirties but also to his influence on Broadway
musicals and even so some degree "performance as art" influence upon the
glam/rock and punk/rock era. Think camp, drama, theatre, dancing...thought
I'd leave you with that to chew on <g>
Tera (and you still skirted around the issue of great female
influentials...harummph! Can I hear a Ma Rainey or a Bessie Smith?)
P.S. - can't respond to your last paragraph right now (below), I ran out of
gas down the road apiece, my battery went dead and the cable won't
reach...(not intending to rip off Ricki Lee or anything <g>) - ANOTHER
viable female artist - hint.
>
>As I've said you could trace influences back forever, which would make the
>most inlfuential artist ever the first artist ever, the one who picked up a
>rock and banged it against another rock for the sheer pleasure of the sound
>or whatever. But that's not very revealing (and I know it's not what Tera
>said..). It's also inacurate, I think, since it means that predecessors are
>always more influential, by definition. Little Willie John is more
>influential than James Brown? Jake Hess is more influential than Elvis?
>Miss Ross is more influential than Michael Jackson? Bolden, and King Oliver
>too, were certainly big influences on Louis but how many people in future
>years cited Oliver or Bolden as influences? And how many named Armstrong?
>--david cantwell
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