As you may know, I am a huge fan of America’s first self-made woman millionaire Madam CJ Walker. In my humble opinion her entrepreneurial spirit, free enterprise ambitions, and philantrophic achievements are unparalleled in the history of business.
As documented in the book Self-Made (originally published as On Her Own Ground), Walker’s great-great granddaughter A’Lelia Bundles writes that Madam C. J. Walker found great joy in promoting the work of young Black artists through events that she hosted. She personally resonated with a wide range of music from spiritual and opera to classical and ragtime. But it was through the latter musical genre that she was introduced to the work of James Reese Europe who is widely considered to be “The Godfather of Ballroom and Ragtime.”
As Bundles writes:
“With his 125-member Clef Club Orchestra, the classically trained Europe had caused a cultural sensation in May of 1912 when he introduced African-American music and musicians to a racially charged Carnegie Hall audience. As bandleader and music director for Vernon and Irene Castle — the celebrated husband and wife dance team — Europe provided the rhythmic tunes that helped them popularize the turkey trot and the fox trot among white American audiences during the 1910s. A dark-skinned man with a “statuesquely powerful build,” Europe moved easily on the yachts and in the ballrooms of the Wanamaker, Gould and Vanderbilts, who frequently booked the musicians for their private parties. With his recently formed Tempo Club Ensemble now headquartered in a row house at 119 West 136r Street, he and the Walkers had become neighbors.”
One of the first Black Americans to record music in the United States, James Reese Europe was born on February 22, 1881 in Mobile, Alabama to Henry and Lorraine Europe. During his early youth, his family relocated to Washington D.C. where he commenced a course of violin study under the tutorship of Enrico Hurlei, assistant director of the Marine Corps Band. Twenty-three years later, he moved to New York to continue his musical studies.
Known as an outspoken and somewhat radical personality, Europe despite his classical training was hell bent on cultivating his own unique musical style. When subjected to criticism, his common refrain was:
“We have developed a kind of symphony music that, no matter what else you think, is different and distinctive, and that lends itself to the playing of the particular compositions of our race…My success had come from a realization of the advantages of sticking to the music of my own people.”
In 1910, Europe founded The Clef Club, a hybrid union and fraternal organization which owned a building on West 53rd Street in New York City. He became the club’s first elected president as well as the conductor of the group’s symphony orchestra. Two years later, the orchestra under Europe’s direction had the distinction of appearing at Carnegie Hall. The attention that this concert received led to a flurry of followup engagements in cities like Paris and London as well as on global travelyachts
The orchestra reaped in excess of $100,000 in bookings over the course of this period. And 1913, Europe began making the first of a series of phonograph records for the Victor Talking Machine Company.
With the emergence of World War I, Reese joined the New York Army National Guard as a private before later being commissioned as a Lieutenant. He was assigned to the regiment known as the Harlem Hellfighters, an all-black U.S. Infantry group. Aware of his musical chops, his commanding officer, Colonel William Hayward, asked him to form a military band to accompany his combat unit.
This group known as the Hell Fighters Band entertained troops and citizens in cities throughout the world. Reese led the band at an Allied conference in Paris where they received a warm, positive reception from the crowd. The response was so great that they were invited by both American and French officials to stay and perform for eight additional weeks.
On February 12, 1919 Europe and his band returned to New York. A brief time after, they began a tour of U.S. cities while recording studio songs. In exposing Americans to ragtime, he popularized Black tunes in the music and dance worlds nationally.
Tragically, Europe’s musical achievements came to an abrupt end during a final performance in Boston, Massachusetts when one of the percussionists Herbert Wright had an angry outburst directed at Europe, viciously attacking him with a knife during intermission. Unable to survive the attack, Europe died on on May 10, 1919 38 years of age. He was buried with military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.
Here are a couple of other resources related to the life of James Reese Europe that might resonate with you tied to:
A Life in Ragtime: A Biography of James Reese Europe (Hardcover) by Reid Badger
The Product of Our Souls: Ragtime, Race, and the Birth of the Manhattan Musical Marketplace by David Gilbert
An Invitation from Diamond-Michael Scott
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