1946 Part Two – That’s All Right For You Centuries of Sound

At Centuries of Sound I am making mixes for every year of recorded sound. The download here is only for the first half-hour of the mix. For the full 3-hour version either see below for the Mixcloud player, or come to patreon.com/centuriesofsound for the podcast version and a host of other bonus materials for just $5 per month. This show would not be possible without my supporters on there, so please consider signing up or sharing this with someone who may be interested.
 

 
Mixcloud player with full mix – or listen on the Mixcloud website.


 
1946 Part Two – That’s All Right For You
In the popular imagination the late 1940s is poorly represented. In the 1930s there’s the great depression (which is also somehow the golden age of Hollywood), then WWII takes place, then [SCENE MISSING], then there’s the 1950s, rock & roll, teenagers, fashion, Hollywood glamour, the beat poets, Rosa Parks, the golden age of TV, and you know I could keep on just listing themes here but I’ll stop. These signifiers make the decade easy to get a grip on, and have been constantly revisited on TV, in films and – of course – in music ever since. For anyone under the age of 66 or so, this mythologised version of the fifties is the only fifties you’ve ever known. The late 40s on the other hand have had no such treatment – I can think of only a handful of films set in the period, all fairly obscure.
How can we begin to transition from one era to another then? The soldiers arrive back from the second world war, everyone settles down to keep quiet and do nothing for five years, then BOOM here we are in the modern age? Well, of course that’s not how it’s going to be. Those cultural threads spread out wide, and as our main concern here is music, the headline here is that the musical movements associated with that later era are not being anticipated in 1946, they aren’t starting to get underway, they are in fact already in full bloom. The headline could even be “1946 – The Year Rock & Roll Started!” – but for reasons I will surely go into later, there is no easy start date.
Though the majority of this mix is rock & roll in all but name, plenty does not fit that pattern. Some is in fact quite traditional pop music, but with artistry and production seemingly years ahead of its time. Jazz selections have been picked with a general feel of bubbling excitement. These songs are not so concerned with dreaming or looking into the future as in part one, but they push into the future by being (for the first time in a long time) fully able to immerse into the now. Most of this mix is dance music, though there are also plenty of calmer breaks.
One final thought before I say “just listen” – the reason many of these performers disappeared in the rock & roll era (as we know it) is that many were simply not around anymore. Big Maceo Merriweather had a severe stroke in 1946, and died in 1953. Sonny Boy Williamson I would be killed in a robbery in 1948. Albert Ammons would survive to play Truman’s inauguration in 1949, but then died later that year. Cecil Gant made it no further than 1951. A disappointing truth is that these are still very tough years, and this small sampling of joy tells just one story from many. I could say the same for any mix, of course, but it seems more important to point it out here.
Ok, so if I haven’t ruined it, just listen. And if you want to chat as you do so, you can join the conversation on discord here – https://discord.gg/jw5vZcN8
 
Tracklist
0:00:00 Charles Mingus and his Orchestra – Shuffle Bass Boogie
(Clip from Notorious)
(Clip from Wacky Weed – Andy Panda)
July
(Clip from Television Is Here Again)
0:03:10 Sonny Boy Williamson I – Shake The Boogie
0:05:53 Big Maceo – Chicago Breakdown
(Clip from The Story of Menstruation)
0:08:48 June Christy – Willow Weep For Me
0:11:43 Dizzy Gillespie Big Band – ‘Round Midnight
0:15:25 Bob Wills & His