John Lewis, 1920-2001: He Created One of the Most Famous Jazz Groups in America, the Modern Jazz Quartet
Lewis combined classical music with traditional jazz to create songs for himself and the three other members of his quartet. Transcript of radio broadcast:
28 February 2009
VOICE ONE:
I’m Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Shirley Griffith with the VOA Special English program PEOPLE IN AMERICA. Today, we tell about pianist John Lewis. He created one of one of the most famous jazz groups in America, the Modern Jazz Quartet.
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VOICE ONE:
John Lewis was known for his creativity. He was a skilled piano player and musical director of the Modern Jazz Quartet for almost fifty years. He wrote and arranged all the music for the small group. Mister Lewis was responsible for the group’s sound and its identity.
John Lewis was interested in jazz, blues, and bebob, a music with a great deal of energy. Yet he was also greatly influenced by his training in European classical music. Classical music is expressive and intense, but is also structured. He thought jazz should be presented the same way.
John Lewis combined classical music with traditional jazz to create songs for himself and the three other members of his quartet. He believed music should be simple and clear, yet played in a meaningful way. Here is one of the Modern Jazz Quartet’s big hits, “Django.”
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VOICE TWO:
John Lewis was greatly influenced by the piano style of the famous jazz bandleader, Count Basie. Like Basie, Lewis believed in making every note of music count. He depended as much on silence as he did on notes to get his message across.
John Lewis often used a form of music called fugue. Fugue is a series of opposing melodies used to create a complex effect. Mister Lewis also combined written music with music that the group invented as it went along.
This new kind of jazz attracted both lovers of jazz and classical music. It also appealed to people who did not necessarily like jazz. Here is an example of fugue in the song “Alexander’s Fugue.”
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VOICE ONE:
The Modern Jazz Quartet included John Lewis, Milt Jackson, Percy Heath and Connie Kay. The group made its first recording in nineteen fifty-two. And they continued to play together, with a seven year break, until nineteen ninety-nine.
John Lewis was as concerned about appearances as he was about the music. The musicians had to dress well for every performance. They played mostly in concert halls instead of small dance clubs. Lewis believed jazz should receive the same respect as classical music.
VOICE TWO:
John Lewis was born in La Grange, Illinois, in nineteen twenty. He grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He started playing the piano when he was seven. As a teenager, he played professionally in churches around Albuquerque. He soon was playing in local dance halls.
Lewis studied anthropology and music at the University of New Mexico. In nineteen forty-two, he joined the Army and served in Europe during World War Two.
After the war, Lewis moved to New York City and played in Dizzy Gillespie’s big band. He also studied for his master’s degree at the Manhattan School of Music.
VOICE ONE:
John Lewis played in the rhythm section of Gillespie’s band. Other members were drummer Kenny Clarke, bass player Ray Brown and vibraphone player Milt Jackson. The four often performed together while the horn players in the band rested.
The four band members continued to work together after leaving Dizzy’s group in the late nineteen forties. At that time, they were criticized for not playing “true jazz.” But they continued anyway. Ray Brown and Kenny Clarke soon left the group. Bass player Percy Heath and drummer Connie Kay replaced them. In nineteen fifty-two, the group became the Modern Jazz Quartet and established its own identity.
VOICE TWO:
In nineteen fifty-six, the Modern Jazz Quartet played a series of concerts in Europe. The group helped make jazz popular with many music listeners in Europe. The members of the quartet had become major stars by the time they returned to the United States.
The Modern Jazz Quartet continued to perform all over the world for sold-out crowds until the late nineteen seventies. People loved the group’s teamwork and their amazing sound. Listen as we play “Vendome”, another big hit.
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VOICE ONE:
Critics say John Lewis’s “less is more” piano style and Milt Jackson’s energy on the vibraphone were the secret to the group’s long-lasting success.
Yet over the years, Mister Jackson expressed dissatisfaction with limits that were put on his talents. The group separated in nineteen seventy-four. However, the members of the quartet reunited after seven years. They played together until Milt Jackson’s death in nineteen ninety-nine.
In addition to his work with the Modern Jazz Quartet, John Lewis worked for many years as musical director of the Monterey Jazz Festival in California. He wrote the music for several Hollywood films. He taught at Harvard University and the City College of New York. And he helped establish a jazz school in Massachusetts.
VOICE TWO:
Through the years, John Lewis worked with some of the biggest names in jazz, including trumpet player Miles Davis. Yet for all the praise Lewis received, he was known for putting the interests of the group over the individual.
John Lewis lived a quiet life with his wife, Mirjana, in New York City. In March, two thousand one, he died of cancer. He was eighty years old. His death officially marked the end of a historic period in modern jazz.
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VOICE ONE:
This Special English program was written and produced by Cynthia Kirk. Our audio engineer was Roy Benson. I’m Steve Ember.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Shirley Griffith. Listen again next week for another PEOPLE IN AMERICA program on the Voice of America.
Industry Gathers for Paris Air Show at a Rough Time
Airlines are under pressure from the recession, higher oil prices and other issues. Transcript of radio broadcast:
13 June 2009
This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.
Next week is the one hundredth anniversary of the Paris Air Show, the biggest in the world. It takes place every two years, and organizers say even with the economic downturn they expect a “full house.” Airbus, Boeing and other manufacturers will be there to sell aircraft.
A flight lands at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in Texas
A landing at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in Texas
But observers are not expecting any major signs of a recovery for the airline industry.
Industry leaders, meeting this week in Malaysia, were told that their industry faces its most difficult situation ever. Airlines are worried not just about the recession but also about higher oil prices.
And now comes the new H1N1 flu virus. The World Health Organization this week declared the first pandemic, or worldwide spread, of influenza in forty-one years. But countries are being urged not to restrict travel.
The air show also follows the crash last week of an Air France jet in the Atlantic Ocean off Brazil. All two hundred twenty-eight people on the flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris were killed.
Before the flight went down, sensors gave conflicting information on air speed to the plane’s computers, possibly because of ice. Such problems had led Air France to begin replacing older sensors on some of its Airbus planes, but not the one that crashed.
Air France is now moving quickly to put in newer versions of the speed sensors. But the cause of the crash is still under investigation.
Bodies and wreckage have been found over a wide area. The plane hit storms before the crash. Incorrect air speed readings could have led the pilots to fly so fast that the plane broke apart. Wrong data can also cause pilots to fly too slow and lose lift.
In the United States, officials are investigating a different safety issue — the safety of regional airlines. These smaller carriers now operate about half the airline flights within the United States. They carry one in four passengers.
They have grown as major airlines have cut or changed their service. In fact, the big airlines often save money by using smaller ones to carry passengers. The pilots are paid less, and there are questions about whether they get enough training or rest.
The Federal Aviation Administration plans an industry safety meeting next week. And new legislation could be coming.
Congress is holding hearings into a crash in February near Buffalo, New York. The flight was operated for Continental Airlines by another company, Colgan Air. Fifty people died.
Deadly airline crashes are increasingly rare. But regional carriers have had four in the last five years, while major airlines have had one.
Transportation safety investigators held hearings this week into an accident that involved a major airline. Everyone survived the water landing of a US Airways jet on the Hudson River in New York in January. Birds disabled both engines. At the hearings, one of the subjects discussed was the increase in populations of large birds in North America that could threaten other planes.
And that’s IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English, written by Brianna Blake. I’m Mario Ritter.
Obama Seeks ‘New Beginning’ for US, Muslims
The president gave a major speech in Egypt to the Islamic world, then headed for Europe. On Friday he visited the former Nazi death camp at Buchenwald in Germany. Transcript of radio broadcast:
05 June 2009
This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.
President Obama is calling for new efforts toward progress in peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians. He says “each side is going to have to make some difficult compromises.” But he pointed to his recent talks with leaders on both sides. And he noted that George Mitchell, his special diplomat for the Middle East, is going back next week.
BARACK OBAMA: “I think given what we have done so far, we have at least created the space, the atmosphere in which talks can restart.”
President Obama spoke Friday in Germany, part of a European visit to remember the Allied invasion on D-Day, June sixth, nineteen forty-four. He met with Chancellor Angela Merkel in Dresden. Later they visited the remains of the Nazi death camp at Buchenwald. The president’s great uncle was part of American forces who liberated the camp. The murder of six million Jews in the Holocaust led to the creation of Israel.
Friday’s visit came a day after President Obama gave a speech in Egypt directed to the world’s more than one billion Muslims. At Cairo University he called for “a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world.” He said they should work together to stop extremism and support peace.
He spoke of being a Christian whose father came from a Kenyan family with generations of Muslims. He also noted that as a boy he spent several years in the country with the world’s largest Muslim population, Indonesia.
BARACK OBAMA: “That experience guides my conviction that partnership between America and Islam must be based on what Islam is, not what it isn’t.”
President Obama discussed several areas of tensions, especially the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.
The president speaking in Cairo
Speaking in Cairo
BARACK OBAMA: “If we see this conflict only from one side or the other, then we will be blind to the truth.”
He called America’s bond with Israel “unbreakable” and said the tragic history that led to a Jewish homeland cannot be denied. But he went on to say “it is also undeniable that the Palestinian people — Muslims and Christians — have suffered in pursuit of a homeland.”
He said the Palestinians must reject violence, but he also demanded a stop to Israeli settlement activity. He said again that the only solution is two states, where Israelis and Palestinians each live in peace and security. In his words, “That is in Israel’s interest, Palestine’s interest, America’s interest and the world’s interest.”
Many Muslims who commented on the speech said they were generally pleased. But they said that of course the true test would not be in words, but actions.
The president used words from the Koran several times throughout his speech. He also called for religious understanding and spoke of the importance of equality for women. The speech contained no major policy changes. But it did signal what many Muslims saw as a newly sympathetic voice from an American president.
And that’s IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English, written by Brianna Blake. For more about the speech, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I’m Steve Ember.
