ANNOUNCEMENTS
(notes provided by the erudite Mary Hodson)
The Holiday party will be held during our December 18 meeting. Our RYE, Antonia Rivera, will be attending, along with her new host parents, the Miller’s. Antonia will also be speaking to the club on January 22.
Robb announced that we have reached our $10,000 goal for the fruit sale. Please turn your money in as soon as possible. Members who did not sell fruit are asked to make a donation to the CU Sunrise Rotary Foundation.
Molly announced that there will be a “Savory Pie Party” fundraiser for CU Schools Foundation on January 29 at Jennifer Shelby’s house.
Jennifer announced that she is negotiating the purchase of the Ford dealership in Hoopeston. She is also the executive producer of a documentary on Ebert Fest.
PROGRAM
Bob introduced Sam Reese, Associate Professor Emeritus of Music Education at the University of Illinois. Sam was a public school music teacher and school administrator for 24 years before joining the Illinois faculty for 11 years. He is the author of numerous publications and a frequent presenter at national and international conferences. Sam’s OLLI and Rhoades Scholar tours to the Chicago Jazz Festival are very popular.
Sam’s topic was “Jazz in Chicago, Yesterday and Today”. Chicago has been home to hundreds of jazz musicians of renown, including Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Nat King Cole, Jelly Roll Morton, Bix Beiderbecke and Marion McPartland.
Sam explained the reasons that Chicago became a jazz center. The inventions of the McCormick reaper and John Deere steel plow created an agricultural economic boom. Between 1830 and 1900, the population grew from 100 to 1,700,000, the most rapid rate of urban growth of any city in the U.S.
The fire of 1871 left a blank slate for architects. By 1900, Chicago had the world’s greatest concentration of high rise buildings.
The Colombian Exposition of 1893 made the world aware of Chicago. One third of all Americans alive at the time attended the Exposition. For the first time, people hear Rag Time music performed by Scott Joplin.
By the 1920’s, Chicago had become the Jazz capital of the world, due to the influences of the African American migration and Prohibition. A half million African Americans fled the Jim Crow South for jobs in industries such as farm equipment, the stock yards and steel mills. They brought with them their music tastes and skills. At the same time, new European immigrants were arriving in Chicago, creating a cross fertilization of European harmonies and Blues rhythms and harmonies. A good example of the blend of influences would be the clarinet music of Benny Goodman.
Prohibition, from 1920 to 1933, created a surge in illegal alcohol. by 1925, fifteen Chicago breweries were operating at full capacity. A profusion of speak easies, cabarets and dance halls created a golden age for musicians. Each had a band. In 1922, the most celebrated of all Chicago jazz musicians, Louis Armstrong, was called to Chicago by his mentor, Joe “King” Oliver. “King and Louie” performed at Lincoln Gardens on 459 E. 31st St.
Between 1925 and 1928, “Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five” and “Louis Armstrong and His Hot Seven” made 89 jazz recordings, introducing people on the coasts and even Europeans to jazz. Initially, many whites saw jazz as a black cult and a corrupting influence on young people. But Benny Goodman changed attitudes and brought jazz into the lives of middle class white Americans.
There are still great jazz clubs in Chicago such as “Jazz Showcase”, “Andy’s Jazz Club” and “The Green Mill Cocktail Lounge”. In July and August, there are free concerts on Thursdaynights and on Labor Day weekend, there is a Jazz Festival at Millenium Park.
Sam also said great jazz can also be heard every other Wednesday at the Iron Post in Urbana.
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| Dec 18th | Jan 8th | Jan 15th | Jan 22nd | |
| Introductions | Holiday | Rod Roberts | Jen Shelby | Lou Simpson |
| Invocation | Party | Alan Chalifoux | Neal Chamberlain | Reuben Chambers |
| Greeters | means | Rod Roberts | Jen Shelby | Lou Simpson |
| Chuck | Bryan Bradshaw | Keith Brandau | Alan Chalifoux | |
| Song Leader | wears | Harold Adams | Curt Anderson | Laura Auteberry |
| Notetaker | red | Hodson | Lintner | Conforti |
| Rotary Minute | jacket | Jen Shelby | Lou Simpson | Kris Young |
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UPCOMING SCHEDULE
December 18th – C-U Sunrise Rotary Holiday Party – don’t forget your fancy clothes!
December 25th – No meeting, beware of men in red suits
January 1st – No meeting, beware of Y2K chaos
January 8th – Cloydia Larimore, Cunningham Children’s Home and Richard McGuire as Judge Joseph Cunningham
January 15th – Karen Pickard will speak about The Daily Bread Soup Kitchen
January 22nd – Antonia River, Rotary Youth Exchange (RYE) student from Chile
January 29th – TBD
February 5th – TBD
February 12th – TBD
February 19th – Dr. James Leonard, CEO of Carle Hospital, will discuss the challenges with health care in the future
