George Avakian on discovering "this strange music"

NOW, A JAZZ MOMENT...

MUSIC:

Yes We Have No Bananas (Louis Prima)
CD: Jazz For Kids: Sing, Clap, Wiggle, Shake
2004 Verve Music Group

George Avakian: I didn't like what I heard on the radio, most of which was like, "Yes, We Have No Bananas" and so forth...

AS A YOUNG EMIGREE FROM ARMENIA, NEA JAZZ MASTER GEORGE AVAKIAN WAS INITIALLY UNDERWHELMED BY AMERICAN RADIO... THAT IS, UNTIL HE STUMBLED UPON A NEW KIND OF MUSIC...

MUSIC:

East St. Louis Toodle-oo (Ellington)
CD: The Okeh Ellington
Columbia C2K 46177

George Avakian: I'd gotten interested in this strange music that I heard on the radio late at night which reminded me a little bit of the folk music records that my parents had brought over ? Armenian folk music ? lively, peppy dances and beautiful melodies.

MUSIC:same ? up for a phrase

(cont'd) And I discovered that it was some people with strange names like Duke Ellington and Fats Waller and, of course, Louis Armstrong.

MUSIC:

Hear Me Talkin' To Ya? (Armstrong)
CD: Louis Armstrong: The Ultimate Collection
2000 Verve Music Group

And I didn't realize that I was listening to a better class of American music -- JAZZ.

MUSIC:same - up and fades

THIS JAZZ MOMENT WITH LEGENDARY WRITER AND PRODUCER GEORGE AVAKIAN WAS CREATED BY THE NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS.