# Red, white and Blues: Take Five celebrates the fourth of July: Videos, Sounds, Photos

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2022/07/04/red-white-and-blues-take-five-celebrates-the-fourth-of-july-videos-sounds-photos/
- Published: 2022-07-04T10:44:10+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**Jazz is often described as the original American art form. Here are five choice
cuts, by everyone from Louis Armstrong to Carla Bley, that make the connection explicit.**

**Louis Armstrong, “The Star Spangled Banner”**

As long as he lived in the public eye, Louis Armstrong maintained that he was born
on the Fourth of July. This was later called into question by official birth records,
which tell us Pops came into the world on Aug. 4, 1901. But for many admirers, Armstrong
remains a “firecracker baby,” as he liked to put it. Before COVID, the Louis Armstrong
House Museum even held an annual birthday party, with cake, in Queens. All of which
is to say that there can be no celebration of jazz on Independence Day without giving
a place of honor to Armstrong, one of the first American musicians to show us what
independence was all about. Here is our national anthem as sublimely played at the
end of his set at the Newport Jazz Festival on July 4, 1960.

**Carla Bley, “Looking For America”**

The composer and pianist Carla Bley has always had a keen ear for a twisted anthem,
and on her 2003 album _Looking for America_, she tackled the idea head-on. The album’s
centerpiece is this fond, unruly medley, which filters the raw melodic material 
of “The Star Spangled Banner” through a sort of funhouse lens. A few years back 
I asked Bley about this track, which I see as an expression of affectionate irreverence.“
Yes, thank you,” she replied, noting that some observers only catch the irreverent
part. “I felt emotionally moved, while also making fun of it.”

**Gary McFarland, “If I’m Elected…”**

When I mentioned around the office that I was planning this edition of Take Five,
WBGO’s own [John Newcott](http://wbgo.org/people/john-newcott) asked if I was familiar
with _America the Beautiful_, by Gary McFarland. I’m ashamed to say that I wasn’t—
but I’ve done my part to catch up. McFarland, who died under mysterious circumstances
in 1971, was a vibraphonist, composer-arranger and bandleader who made some of the
first jazz-rock albums of the era. _America the Beautiful: An Account of Its Disappearance
_was among his most ambitious, a big-band suite with a disillusioned air.

The imaginative slant of McFarland’s writing is clear throughout, and still startlingly
relevant. (Listen to the marchlike phrase that appears four minutes into “If I’m
Elected…,” and compare it to [the opening of ](https://www.wbgo.org/music/2018-07-02/%3Cbrightspot-cms-external-content%20data-state=)_
[The New Breed](https://www.wbgo.org/music/2018-07-02/%3Cbrightspot-cms-external-content%20data-state=)_,
by guitarist Jeff Parker_._) As for the relevance of the album’s themes, I’ll simply
note that a reviewer for _DownBeat _recently pegged _America the Beautiful_, released
in 1968, as “a thoughtful response to a country in turmoil.” No further comment.

**The Army Blues Jazz Ensemble, “Conspiracy Theory”**

Were you aware of the U.S. Army Blues, the premier jazz ensemble of the United States
Army? An official component of the Army Band since 1972, it has appeared at major
festivals, at marquee jazz clubs, and of course at the White House. The band’s roster
is constantly changing, but the musicianship is unwavering.

By way of illustration, here’s an original composition by saxophonist Mike Tomaro,
recorded at the ensemble’s 25th anniversary concert in 1997. Tomaro, who was a Sergeant
First Class at the time, clearly draws inspiration from the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis
Orchestra, and his bandmates do a fine job bringing the chart to life. He titled
this tune “Conspiracy Theory,” but let’s not go searching for any hidden significance
there. (That’s what they’d want you to think.)

**Lester Young, “Flat Foot Floogie” and “I Haven’t Changed a Thing,” 1938**

You probably don’t need to be reminded that Lester Young was The President of the
tenor saxophone. You may not even need to be told that he appears in rare form on
_The Savory Collection_, a revelatory trove of radio broadcasts that has been [issued on Mosaic Records](http://www.mosaicrecords.com/The-Savory-Collection-1935-1940/productinfo/266-MD-CD/)
as a limited-edition 6-CD boxed set.

A couple of gems had to be omitted from the set, and Loren Schoenberg, the Savory
Collection’s producer, scholar, guardian and sleuth supreme, was recently kind enough
to post them to the SoundCloud link above. The first clip is an ebullient 32-bar
solo on “Flat Foot Floogie,” recorded with the Count Basie Orchestra on Aug. 18,
1938; the second is a tantalizing pair of four-bar breaks on “I Haven’t Changed 
A Thing,” recorded with the same crew at the Famous Door six days earlier, on Aug.
12. As the kids say: Nothing but respect for MY president.

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