“Jazz: A History of America’s Music.”  Jazz: A Film By Ken Burns. 2006. Public Broadcasting Service. 17 April 2006.  http://www.pbs.org/jazz/time/time_wwii.htm/ .

• “Jazz went to war, too, and overseas, swing — still America's most popular music — would serve to remind the men and women of the armed forces of home.” S – top
• Music on the home front struggled because of frequent blackouts and curfews for activity. S – top
• Many musicians went off to service, leaving music behind at home. S – top
• Music experienced a rise in female musicians and all-girl bands because the men were overseas fighting. S – ¼
• “By October 1942, Down Beat was running a regular column headed Killed in Action.” S – 2/5
• Famous musicians who partook in the war or played overseas – Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, and Benny Goodman
• “No one felt more alienated from the war effort than young black musicians. They knew that once drafted, they were likely to be sent to the Jim Crow South for basic training, where the relative freedom they had experienced in the North would vanish, and when that ordeal was over, they were less likely than their white counterparts to be offered jobs in military bands.” S – 2/3
• "The enemy, by that period, was not the Germans” said Dizzy Gillespie, "it was above all white Americans who kicked us in the butt every day, physically and morally ... If America wouldn't honor its Constitution and respect us as men we couldn't give a [damn] about the American way. And they made it damn near un-American to appreciate our music." S – 2/3
• “Through World War II, jazz — the music that German propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels called "the art of the subhuman" — stayed stubbornly alive in Nazi-occupied Europe, a bright symbol of resistance.” S – 5/6
• Use of the term jazz barred in Nazi Germany, as well as all things cohesive to the subject of jazz (seen as propagandistic and pro-American). S – 5/6
• Jazz reorganized by the Nazis for advantage – took popular jazz songs and made them pro-Nazi Germany, sent jazz musicians to concentration camps. S – 5/6

Radish, James. “Jazz During World War II.” Golden Age of Jazz: The Evolution of Jazz Music in American History. 20 April 2006. http://www.hssd.k12.wi.us/bayport/staff/ atrisk/Jazz%20Music/Jazz%20Music/Project/ jazzduringwar.htm .

• “The struggle over the jazz of old and the new commercialized swing music took opposite paths during the World War II era.” S – top
• “Swing reached a wide variety of people. Young Americans made up the majority of the audiences at live concerts.” S – 1/5
• Military orchestras, including those with Glenn Miller and Artie Shaw, brought swing to the battlefronts for entertainment for the soldiers.
• “Some of the remaining popular musicians like Benny Goodman, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, and Louis Armstrong did their part for the war effort by promoting bond rallies and concerts at military bases and hospitals in the U.S.” S – 1/3
• African American musicians still struggled against the stereotypes and bigotry of other swig bands, which were predominately white. S – ½
• Focus of music drifted to love, to remind audiences of loved ones at home or fighting overseas. S – ½

 “Herman’s Is Finest Ofay Swing Band.” Down Beat Magazine. 19 April 2006. Archived article. http://www.downbeat.com/default.asp?sect=stories&subsect=story_detail&sid=645 .

• “With the beginning of World War II, Woody suffered the same losses and gained the same sense of insecurity that was affecting not only all bandleaders, but everyone in every field.” S – 5/6
• with the draft, forced to get new musicians from either younger pools or less well-known instrumentalists. S – 5/6
• “It was the exciting contact with the "new right idea" that allowed him to let himself and his band go free musically.” S – bottom
• altered music style – big band swing was created, not played

Cuje, Lennie. “Hitler Youth to American Jazz.” 18 August 2005. Washingtonpost.com. 18 April 2006. http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0NTQ/is_2005_August_18/ai_n14922021 .

• Herndon, Va.: Did any of your classmates try to play any jazz during the Nazi era? I assume that would have been very dangerous. Lennie Cuje: Jazz was unknown to us since it was forbidden in Germany. I didn't encounter it until after the capitulation of Germany in 1945. It changed my life and made me follow it to the source. S – Middle, pg. 2
• Baltimore, Md.: What do you think attracted you to jazz initially that caused it to have such a large impact upon your life? Lennie Cuje: The true feeling of freedom and democracy is what I found in jazz and in a jazz band. We are definitely individuals that come together as a unit and produce that "happening." S – Middle, pg. 3
• “When I was younger, it was socially unacceptable for blacks, Jews and whites to perform together freely. There were only a few places where we could comfortably socialize and play music together.” S – top, pg. 5
• a jazz musician who grew up in the Hitler youth, who later came to America and experienced a new style of music free from control by the government

“Jazz and World War II: A Rally for Resistance, A Catalyst For Victory.” 2006. Edsitement: National Endowment for the Humanities. 18 April 2006. http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=379 .

• supportive of US servicemen and their missions overseas. S – top

• encouraged those at home to wage warfare from the home front. S – top
• USO went over to entertain the troops, which lifted down spirits. S – top

“Swing Era Photos of some of the Most Famous Jazz Musician.” 2004. SwingMusic.net. http://www.swingmusic.net/Swing_Era_Pics.html .
 Woody Herman, possibly the best and first big band leader
Three famous musicians – (from L to R) Glen Gray, Duke Ellington and Bob Crosby

 

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