BLOOMINGTON'S OWN HOAGY CARMICHAEL.
>> WHEN THE GREAT SONGWRITER HOAGY CARMICHAEL PUBLIC HISHED
HIS FIRST MEMOIR IN 1946 HE
CALLED IT "STARDUST ROAD."
THE ROAD THAT HOAGY TOOK
METAPHORICALLY AND
METAPHORICALLY AND GEOGRAPHICALLY BEGAN IN HIS HOME
STATE OF INDIANA, A STATE THAT
PLAYED A SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN THE
LIVES OF HOAGY'S BELOVED JAZZ
MUSIC FROM THE 20th CENTURY TO
THE JAZZ EDUCATION MOVEMENT OF
TODAY, A PLACE WHERE HOT JAZZ
FIT LIKE A HAPPY FEVER IN THE
1920s.
1920s. HOAGY CARMICHAEL DESCRIBED THE
PHENOM NONE.
PHENOM NONE. IN THE FARMLANDS AND FROM THE
COW PASTURE UNIVERSITIES THERE
SPROUTED A BEARDLESS PRIESTHOOD
OF JAZZ PLAYERS AND JAZZ
COMPOSERS, INSTEAD OF BUTTER
MILK AND BLACKSTONE WE WERE
NURTURED ON BATHTUB GIN AND
RHYTHM.
RHYTHM. IT PROVIDED NUMEROUS WORKING
OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE NUMEROUS
BANTSDZ THAT SPRANG UP IN THE
HOT JAZZ COLLEGE SCENE OF THE
1920s.
1920s. ARTISTS BLACK AND WHITE TREKKED
TO JANETTE RECORDS.
BACK IN BLOOMINGTON, HOAGY
REVELED IN A GROWING PASSION FOR
JAZZ, STARTING HIS OWN GROUP,
CARMICHAEL COLLEGIATES.
CARMICHAEL COLLEGIATES. WHEN NOT AT CLASS OR PERFORMING
AT THE BOOTLEG LIQUOR PARTIES,
HOAGY COULD BE FOUND CONTINUE
KLING AWAY ON THE UPRIGHT GRAND.
IT'S QUITE POSSIBLE, HOWEVER,
THAT "STARDUST" WOULD NEVER HAVE
COME TO PAST IF VISITORS HADN'T
PAID TO BLOOMINGTON IN THAT NOW
DISTANT SPRING OF 1924.
THE RECORDINGS HAVE BEEN TREATED
AS SACRED TEXT OF EARLY JAZZ BUT
MANY FIND HIM A FOUNDING FATHER
OF COOLER JAZZ WHEN HE AND THE
WOLVERINES ROLLED INTO
BLOOMINGTON IN THE SPRING OF
'24.
'24. THEY HAD RECORDED ONLY TWO SIDES
SO FAR.
SO FAR. CARMICHAEL HEARD HIM PLAY BUT
HAD NOT BEEN IMPRESSED.
BY THE END OF '23 HE MADE BIG
GRAINS IN HIS STRENGTH AND
CREATIVITY AS A PLAYER AND THE
WOLVERINES GAVE HIM HIS FIRST
CONSISTENT VEHICLE FOR
DISPLAYING HIS TALENTS ACROSS
THE MIDWEST.
THE MIDWEST. SAXOPHONIST GEORGE JOHNSON ALSO
JOINED THE WOLVERINES AND
CONTACTED HOAGY IN 1924 HOPING
TO LAND SOME JOBS FOR THE BAND
AT INDIANA UNIVERSITY.
CARMICHAEL SET UP A SERIES OF 10
FRATERNITY AND SORORITY DANCE
GIGS FOR THE WOLVERINES SPREAD
OVER FIVE WEEKENDS IN APRIL AND
MAY.
MAY. IT WAS ON ONE OF THOSE FIRST
SATURDAY AFTERNOONS AT THE
FRATERNITY THAT HOAGY GOT A
CHANCE TO HEAR THE NEW MUSICIAN
PLAY.
PLAY. CARMICHAEL WOULD RECOUNT THE
SCENE TIME AND TIME AGAIN AS THE
WOLVERINES STARTED TO WARM UP,
HE RECALLS, EVERY NERVE IN MY
BODY WOULD TINGLE.
I'VE HEARD WAGNER'S MUSIC AND
EVERYTHING ELSE.
EVERYTHING ELSE. THOSE NOTES HE PLAYED MEANT MORE
THAN ANYTHING ELSE IN THE BOOKS.
IT WAS A LIFELONG EXPERIENCE
BUILT ON EXPERIENCES AT THE
CAMPUS LIKE MIDNIGHT SAIR NAIDZ,
A RITUAL IN WHICH MUSICIANS WERE
DRIVEN ON THE BACK OF A TRUCK.
AFTER ONE SUCH SERENADE AS HOAGY
LATER REMEMBERED THE TWO FRIENDS
ENDED UP BACK AT HOAGY CAMPUS
HOUSE LYING ON THE FLOOR AND
LISTENING REPEATEDLY TO THE
"FIREBIRD."
"FIREBIRD." WITHIN WEEKS VICKS AND HIS FELL
OWE WOLVERINES MADE HIS FIRST
COMPOSITION OF RIVERBOAT
SHUFFLE.
SHUFFLE. AFTER THE SPRING OF 1924 DREW TO
A CLOSE, THEY WENT THEIR
SEPARATE WAYS.
SEPARATE WAYS. HOAGY GRADUATED FROM THE IU
SCHOOL OF LAW, SPENDING THE
MID-1920s TORN BETWEEN TWO
WORLDS, BECOMING A LAWYER AND
PURSUING HIS LOVE OF JAZZ.
BY 1927 HIS TRUE PASSION WON
OUT.
OUT. HE RETURNED TO BLOOMINGTON AND
BEGAN TO CRAFT THE SONG THAT
WOULD LAUNCH HIS CAREER.
ON OCTOBER 31st AT JANETTE,
HOAGY RECORDED THE FIRST
RENDITION OF "STARDUST."
TODAY "STARDUST" REMAINS ONE OF
THE MOST RECORDED SONGS OF ALL
TIME.
TIME. JUST WEEKS LATER, HOAGY REUNITED
WITH VICKS ONCE AGAIN, WHO IS
NOW A MEMBER OF ONE OF THE MOST
POPULAR ENSEMBLES IN THE
COUNTRY, THE PAUL WHITEMAN
ORCHESTRA TP CARMICHAEL RECORDED
HIS ORIGINAL COMPOSITION
"WASHBOARD BLUES" PLAYING PIANO
AND SINGING ON THE NATIONAL
STAGE FOR THE FIRST TIME.
AFTER A MOVE TO HOLLYWOOD, HOAGY
CONTINUED TO WRITE INDEPENDENT
SONGS FOR PUBLICATION AND FILM,
INCLUDING FAVORITES SUCH AS
"HEART AND SOUL," THE ACADEMY
AWARD WINNING "IN THE COOL,
COOL, COOL OF THE EVENING."
VICKS' JOURNEY TOOK A MORE
TRAGIC TURN, WITH HIS UNKINDLY
DEATH AT THE AGE OF 28.
IT WAS A DEVASTATING LOSS TO
BOTH JAZZ AND HOAGY ALIKE.
HE LATER WROTE, WITH THE PASSING
OF VICKS MY INTEREST IN MUSIC
DROPPED ABOUT 50%.
WALKING THE I.U. CAMPUS TODAY
YOU COULD ALMOST SEE THEM, VIGZ
AND HOAGY CARMICHAEL, TWO YOUNG
ARTISTS CROSSING PATHS IN THE
HEART OF THE HEART LINE, HIGH ON
LIFE, LIQUOR AND MUSIC.
A FEW YEARS LATER, ONE WOULD BE
DEAD, THE OTHER WOULD LIVE, AND
LIGHT AND REMEMBER TOGETHER THEY
CARRIED THE SPIRIT OF
BLOOMINGTON THROUGH THE ANNALS
OF JAZZ HISTORY.