Stomp and Swerve: American Music Gets Hot, 1843-1924

by David Wondrich

"The early decades of American popular musicùStephen Foster, Scott Joplin, John Philip Sousa, Enrico Carusoùare, for most listeners, the dark ages. It wasnÆt until the mid-1920s that the full spectrum of this musicùblack and white, urban and rural, sophisticated and crudeùmade it onto records for all to hear. This book brings a forgotten music, hot music, to life by describing how it became the dominant American musicùhow it outlasted sentimental waltzes and parlor ballads, symphonic marches and Tin Pan Alley novelty numbersùand how it became rock ÆnÆ roll. It reveals that the young men and women of that bygone era had the same musical instincts as their descendants Louis Armstrong, Elvis Presley, James Brown, Jimi Hendrix, and even Ozzy Osbourne. In minstrelsy, ragtime, brass bands, early jazz and blues, fiddle music, and many other forms, there was as much stomping and swerving as can be found in the most exciting performances of hot jazz, funk, and rock. Along the way, it explains how the strange combination of African with Scotch and Irish influences made music in the United States vastly different from other African and Caribbean musics; shares terrific stories about minstrel shows, ôcoonö songs, whorehouses, knife fights, and other low-life phenomena; and showcases a motley collection of performers heretofore unknown to all but the most avid musicologists and collectors."

Genres: Music, History, Jazz, Nonfiction

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Born on the banks of the Monongahela. Raised in major urban centers. Ex-bass player, ex-English professor, ex-ragtime writer. Mixographer. Brooklynite. Likes port and Stilton and Artemus Ward.

Reviews

[Katie (Beveroth) Rider · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author's snarky tone detracted from what could have been a decent history of American Music. I found it difficult to get past the myriad of digs and personal quips to actually get down to the content. There is, however, a decent section on Blackface Minstrelsy and he has an interesting take on Sousa's career as well. It's obvious the author knows a lot about this music, but he presents the information pompously.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a brief history of the ways American music swerved away from the genteel approach - minstrelsy, ragtime, blues, and jazz get big chunks of discussion. Wondrich not only knows his stuff - he's heard examples of everything he talks about (although, of course, the first half of the book contains more things which need to be inferred from later versions of the styles) - but he is one heck of an entertaining writer.

Here's an example chosen at random: "Where a regime record such as Sousa's "At a Georgia Camp Meeting" is close-order drill, all discipline, precision, and snap, the Original Dixieland Jazz Band record, no matter which side you approach it from, is more like a boardinghouse biscuit-scrum, everyone grabbing at the same time and devil take the hind most."

Wondrich's theory of hot music - by the way, the book should have been called Drive and Swerve, as he doesn't talk much about stomping, but for reasons of alliteration and obviously not wishing to encourage reckless actions on the road, he chose the actual name of the book - is based on the writing of Roman poet Lucretius. Well, the drive part isn't so much - that's just about the ways some music cooks harder than other examples - but the swerve, that's straight up Lucretius talking about the way the universe comes together as certain atoms deviate from straight lines and run into each other. That's the metaphor for every time a musician slides a note, rags a rhythm, colors outside the rigid lines of European-derived harmony.

The story inevitably has to deal with issues of race, as so much of American music history was created by African-Americans and popularized by whites. Wondrich never simplifies these questions. Along the way, he dismisses more than a few simplified myths which have been carried down about the ways in which musicians interacted, though he never forgives the horrific racism involved.

When I get time, there are about fifty records discussed in this book that I really need to hear (though I think back fondly on my month or so as a Napster user before the original site was shut down, when I was snagging Vess Ossman and Sophie Tucker records for free. Yep, I helped bring down the record industry.).

[Eric Glick]

I don't like to rate books.

Reading this book was like being at a party with a drunken college professor who is a master of his field and has you held in thrall.

I spent a sizeable amount of time while reading this book preparing witty comebacks to many of its very strong opinions. I won't waste your time relating these here.

I suggest you read this with Youtube nearby - many of the songs and pieces discussed will be available to you there.

He's an interesting writer, but a bit "gonzo" for my tastes.

But the topic is less explored than it should be.

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this book. David Wondrich has to be the angriest white man alive. Seriously, if a brother said half the things that David says about race and entertainment, I swear they would've shot his ass. But Wondrich is hysterical. He's also incredibly knowledgeable. He perfectly straddles the line between academia and pop culture. I've also learned more about early American music and its disgusting racial history than I've ever known (and yall know how absolutely nerdy I am). I think everybody and his mother should definitely check this bad boy out. Thank you, Wondrich.

[Jack · Rating 3 out of 5]

A highly subjective but ultimately quite interesting and entertaining book of musical history. It's somewhat irritatingly written, both in terms of its haphazard structure (which finally hangs together better towards the end) and Wondrich's diction, which sometimes reminds one of a talented but smug thirteen-year-old who leans a bit too heavily on his thesaurus. Definitely worth reading as a casual introduction to the antecedents and early history of jazz.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for 76-221, Roots of Rock and Roll, and really liked! Also notable as the most recent, and quite possibly last ever, book about which I wrote an essay.

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book examines the emergence of "hot" music in America from the mid 19th century through the first quarter of the twentieth. Wondrich defines hot music as having at least one and preferably both of two characteristics: drive, which is a stomping propulsive pulse, and swerve, which involves warping or deviating from the beat or the tonal scheme or both. Wondrich then traces the presence and development of these characteristics through minstrelsy, ragtime, early jazz, and the blues.
Wondrich writes in a chatty, slangy, yet very clear style that make Stomp and Swerve really enjoyable to read. However, the book does ramble at times and Wondrich does not always convey a clear through-line to his argument. However, he does a wonderful job of uncovering and discussing a lot of music and musicians who are less well-known but no less important to the development of jazz. He also does a great job of connecting all these threads to each other and to the eventual development of rock n roll.

[Andrew Roach]

The conversational tone of this book, coupled with its tendency to embrace racist language rather than distancing itself from that language, made this a rather difficult read.

I'm all for a conversational tone, but not when you're casually using racist slurs.

[Nate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative and entertaining. I enjoyed thoroughly and learned a lot.

[RA · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting book about the beginning of the minstrel period and the subsequent changes in American music up until the 1920s. Well-written, creative, easy to read.

[David]

For what it's worth, my favorite of my books, if a bit bratty.

[Monica]

So many tomes so little time.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent and informative read. I will seek out more from David Wondrich.

[Micah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yeah, I don't really like this book. The way it's written isn't very good. The information is mostly solid, but the way it's portioned out is kinda poopy.