Archives for December 7, 2020

“Happy Feet,” a production number from King of Jazz, a 1930 film shot in early Technicolor, directed by John Murray Anderson, and starring Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra. Bing Crosby and Whiteman’s Rhythm Boys are featured in the song, written by Milton Ager and Jack Yellen and arranged by Ferdé Grofe:

(This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday)

“I know what the power of silence is. When I used to play in clubs, everybody was loud; there was a lot of noise. So I would take my mute off the microphone, and I would play something so soft that you could hardly hear it…and you talk about listening.”

Miles Davis, quoted in Julie Coryell and Laura Friedman, Jazz-Rock Fusion: The People, the Music