Presentation Transcript

1. Tin Pan Alley

2. "Tin Pan Alley" was the nickname given to the street where many music publishers worked during the period of 1880 to 1953. In the late 19th century, New York had become the epicenter of songwriting and music publishing, and publishers converged on the block of West 28th Street between Broadway and Sixth Avenue in Manhattan. There are several stories about how the block got its name. One that is often repeated tells of a reporter for the New York Herald who was hired to write about the new business of sheet music publishing in the city. As he walked down 28th Street toward the publishing offices, he heard the dissonant chords and strings of competing pianos through the open windows. The sound, he remarked, sounded like a bunch of tin pans clanging. Tin Pan Alley
3. Never in the history of American popular music were so many genres centered in one area. Through the 1880s and into the early 1900s, the European operettas were a heavy influence on American songs. This period is referred to as the golden age of the ballad. Between 1900 and 1910, more than 1800 "rags" had been published on Tin Pan Alley, beginning with "Maple Leaf Rag" by Scott Joplin. In 1912, W.C. Handy introduced popular music to the underground sound of the Blues. Tin Pan Alley
4. By 1917, a recording by a new musician, Louis Armstrong, took over Tin Pan Alley and the 1920s were dedicated to the playing and recording of Jazz. Theatre, which had remained the entertainment of choice, fused all preceding stage shows--minstrel, vaudeville, musical comedy, revues, burlesque and variety--to create the spectacular Broadway production. By 1926, the first movie with sound came creating a new outlet for production music. Folk and Country Music was introduced to mainstream audiences in the mid-1930s. Big bands and swing music defined the 1930s and 40s, introducing new accompanying vocalists such as Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. In the early 40's, publishers imported Latin American sound from Brazil, Mexico and Cuba and English lyrics were adapted to foreign themes. Tin Pan Alley
5. At the close of World War II, instrumental big bands faded behind the popularity of vocal groups and the new modern sound called "be-bop". Tin Pan Alley
6. In the beginning of the 1950s, radio play and disc jockeys became more prominent, and records were being produced for sale to the public-mostly targeted toward teenagers--rather than sheet music created for adults who bought music for their home. Publishers were no longer in charge of the promotion of a song, and from 1953 to the present, rock and roll dominated the charts. Tin Pan Alley
7. The collaboration between publishers, songwriters and songwriting teams created the greatest popular songs of our country's musical history. While obsolete now, Tin Pan Alley remains synonymous with the most prolific and diverse period in American popular music. Tin Pan Alley
8. Located at 1619 Broadway in the heart of New York's music district, is a name synonymous with an approach to songwriting that changed the course of music. The Brill Building
9. The Brill Building sound came out from the stretch along Broadway between 49th and 53rd streets. The Brill Building (named after the Brill Brothers whose clothing store was first located in the street level corner and would later buy it), was at 1619 Broadway. With its many offices, one can only imagine the office cleaning NYC had to do to accommodate the reams of paper and ink that were used writing those brilliant songs. After its completion in 1931, the owners were forced by a deepening Depression to rent space to music publishers, since there were few other takers. The first three, Southern Music, Mills Music and Famous-Music were soon joined by others. By 1962 the Brill Building contained 165 music businesses. The Brill Building
10. The Brill Building in the early '60s was a classic model of vertical integration. There you could write a song or make the rounds of publishers until someone bought it. Then you could go to another floor and get a quick arrangement, lead sheet for $10, get some copies made at the duplication office; book an hour at a demo studio; hire some of the musicians and singers that hung around; and finally cut a demo of the song. Then you could take it around the building to the record companies, publishers, artist's managers or even the artists themselves. If you made a deal there were radio promoters available to sell the record. The Brill Building
11. Don Kirshner, son of a Bronx tailor, masterminded the takeover of rock by the songwriters A native New Yorker, Don Kirshner spent most of his late teens in East Orange, New Jersey where he attended Upsala College. While working as a bellhop in the Catskills one summer, Kirshner wrote his first song, and while carrying bags for Frankie Laine, tried to sell it to the popular star. Laine turned it down, but explained where and how to get a demo made. Kirshner followed his advice, had the song published six months later, but it was never recorded. Don Kirshner and Aldon Music
12. Kirshner was working around the industry when, through a mutual friend, he met Robert Casotto at a candy store in 1957. After hearing Cassotto play and sing his original material, Kirshner decided they should be a team. It took a year for a deal to come their way, and the first few records went nowhere, but Casotto, known professionally as Bobby Darin, would soon develop into a highly creative and successful recording star. Don Kirshner
13. In the early years, 1956-58, Kirshner wrote some forgettable songs like "Go To School" and "Warm Up To Me Baby." With Darin, the songs improved slightly, but failed to catch the public's imagination. During this time Kirshner and Darin decided to go door to door, offering to write commercials for shops and businesses. On some of those commercials was one ConcettaFranconero, a New Jersey friend of Kirshner's . Later as Connie Francis, she would help Kirshner more than he could imagine at the time. Kirshner
14. In 1958 at the age of twenty-one, Kirshner met Al Nevins, a successful composer, musician and recording artists, who had many pre-rock era hits as a member of The Three Suns. Kirshner sold Nevins on the idea that publishing new material for teenage record buyers could be an extremely profitable venture.On May 1958, Aldon Music was born. While literally unpacking furniture at their new office at 1650 Broadway, across the street from the famed Brill Building at 1619 Broadway, Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield walked in looking for a publishing contract. They preceded to play six songs for Kirshner "Stupid Cupid," "The Diary," and "Calendar Girl," along with a few others. Kirshner/Aldon Music
15. Sedaka already had plenty of performing experience, from singing at high school dances with his group the Tokens, to singing at Catskill resorts. Kirshner wanted to sign them a long-term contract, but Sedaka and Greenfield only wanted to give Aldon eight songs over a three month period. If one charted they would sign. A few days after the contract was signed, Kirshner took Sedaka to New Jersey to play his songs for his old friend Connie Francis, who already had two Top Forty hits. She picked one for her next single, and by October, 1958 "Stupid Cupid." written by Sedaka and Greenfield and published by Aldon Music, reached #17. Sedaka and Greenfield signed with Aldon, and in less than a year had two more hits with Francis, "Fallin'" (#30) and "Frankie" (#9). Brill Writers
16. By 1962, there were eighteen writers on staff many forgettable. The bulk of Kirshner's hits were generated by his three star teams; Sedaka/Greenfield, Goffin/King, and Mann/Weil. When the other writers had a hit it was usually in collaboration with one of these teams. Kirshner hired Carole King and her lyricist husband Gerry Goffin in 1960, on a tip from King's old high school boyfriend Neil Sedaka. Their first song "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" went to #1. Kirshner favored them, not only because of their commercial successes, but more importantly because of their adaptability and willingness to write commercial teen material. They wrote hundreds of charted hits for Kirshner, as well as running his Dimension label and producing most of its hits. Brill Writers
17. Barry Mann had written songs with Greenfield, Goffin and others, including a few hits. After marrying Cynthia Weil, the Mann-Weil team cranked out fifty hits in the next few years, many of them classics. Kirshner's West Coast Office was headed by Lou Adler, who would manage Jan and Dean, head Dunhill Records and other labels, and be a movie producer (The Rocky Horror Show). In 1962, Kirshner began his own record label Dimension. Distribution was handled by Amy-Mala. Artists on the label included the Cookies, Little Eva, and Carole King. Dimension had ten hits out of thirteen releases in its first year. Brill Writers
18. Aldon Family
19. On April 12, 1963, Kirshner shocked everyone by selling the entire operation to Columbia Pictures-Screen Gems for a two million dollars and Columbia stock; Kirshner was named Executive Vice President in charge of all Columbia Picture-Screen Gems publishing and recording activities; and Al Nevins was named as a consultant. The writers were included in the deal, but didn't see much of the money. Under the deal, Kirshner headed up Screen Gems, a larger publishing company and its Colpix label, with offices on both coasts. The companies focus was on film and TV music. Colpix's records consisted mainly of uninspired actors Brill
20. Songs were written, placed, records produced, new writers groomed. An effort was made to upgrade Colpix, though it was hopeless. Colpix became little more than a proving ground for an expanding stable of writers/producers, especially in California. As Kirshner was settling into his job at Colpix things were changing. In January, 1964 the Beatles came to America. The British groups were writing their material, the girl groups were fading , the number of indie labels had been depleted an d those that remaining took fewer chances. In 1965, the regional scene appeared, with an estimated fifty thousand groups playing teen clubs, teenage fairs, battles of the bands, and armory dances. Out of this grew a new culture, one that defined itself as "hip" and sneered at production line pop. Kirshner was now seen as a symbol of everything phony. Brill
21. His response was the Monkees. With Brill Building songs, they appealed to millions of young girls. The ten year old sisters of those that rejected him. Though he kept the Brill Building tradition alive through the Sixties, his market moved away from him. Today Krishner reflects on the Brill Building era saying..... Brill
22. I believe that after I'm gone, my grandchildren will be whistling these tunes. Whether they know that I published them or not - they will be whistling these tunes the same as they do songs from My Fair Lady and Camelot, and these tunes will be part of American culture - they'll be used in movies and so on. Of all the legacies that I have given, personally to me it's very important that I was able to come out of the streets of Harlem, out of my dad's tailor shop, and have the ability to create an environment where this sound will be part of American and international culture forever." ....... Don Kirshner Brill
23. This young married couple, still in their teens, shared an instinct for classic pop song construction, but it was Carole's lifelong desire for a career in music that convinced Gerry to give it a try. High school friend Neil Sedaka got them an audition with Don Kirshner, and the rest was history. Their songs were always impeccably structured. Their music was for teens and dealt with themes of love, rejection, and jealously and teenagers dealing with them on their own terms. Carole's heart tugging melodies and Gerry's lyrics captured the tone and the vernacular of their audience's inner experiences with uncanny accuracy. Carole had a gift for arrangement, knowing how to build a song to the hook through subtle chord manipulation and instrumental counterpoint. To help sell her songs, she began low cost demos to demonstrate her ideas to the producers . These demos were so good that often the producer only had to copy them with the proper instrumentation to have a hit record. Carole King and Gerry Goffin