Europe, James Reese

February 22, 1881
May 9, 1919

Born in Mobile, Alabama, composer and conductor James Reese Europe spent his formative years in Washington, D.C., where his father held a position with the U.S. Postal Service. The family was unusually musical; his brother, John, became a noted ragtime pianist, and his sister, Mary, was an accomplished concert pianist, choral director, and music teacher in the Washington public schools. James Europe attended M Street High School and studied violin, piano, and composition with Enrico Hurlie of the Marine Corps Band and Joseph Douglass, grandson of Frederick Douglass. Other musical influences included Harry T. Burleigh (especially his arrangements of African-American spirituals), organist Melville Charlton, and composer Will Marion Cook.

Like Cook and Burleigh—who had both studied with the celebrated Bohemian composer Antonín Dvorák while he was directing the Prague National Conservatory of Music—Europe accepted Dvorák's assessment of the importance of African-American folk music as a basis for an American national music. He did not believe, however, as did many at the time, that popular forms of musical expression were necessarily vulgar or lowbrow and therefore lacked potential musical value. He was a consistent champion of African-American music and musical artistry at every level and in any form, including those (like jazz) that had yet to emerge fully.

After moving to New York City in 1903, Europe established himself as a leading composer and music director in black musical theater, contributing to such productions as John Larkins's A Trip to Africa (1904), Ernest Hogan's Memphis Students (1905), Cole and Johnson's Shoo-fly Regiment (1906–1907) and Red Moon (1908–1909), S. H. Dudley's Black Politician (1907–1908), and Bert Williams's Mr. Lode of Koal (1910). In April 1910 Europe and several fellow professionals (including Ford Dabney, William Tyers, and Joe Jordan) formed the Clef Club, a union and booking agency that substantially improved the working conditions for black musicians in New York City. Europe was elected president and conductor of the club's concert orchestra, a 125-member ensemble whose unusual instrumentation (consisting primarily of plucked or strummed instruments) he felt to be better suited to the performance of authentic African-American music than that of the standard symphony orchestra. The orchestra's 1912 Concert of Negro Music at Carnegie Hall was a historic event, and Europe and the orchestra repeated their appearance on New York's most famous stage in 1913 and 1914.

In addition to developing "an orchestra of Negroes which will be able to take its place among the serious musical organizations of the country," Europe realized the practical importance to black musicians of taking advantage of the increasing demand for popular music to support the expansion of nightlife. From 1910 to 1914 he built the Clef Club (and later, the Tempo Club) into the greatest force for organizing and channeling the efforts of black musicians in New York, providing musicians for vaudeville orchestras, hotels, cabarets, and dance halls, as well as for private society parties and dances. In 1913, as a result of his success in providing dance orchestras for the eastern social elite, Europe was recruited as musical director for the legendary dance team of Vernon and Irene Castle. Between them, they revolutionized American social dancing by making the formerly objectionable "ragtime" dances (turkey trots and one-steps, which had been derived from traditional African-American dance practice) widely acceptable to mainstream America. The most lasting of the Castle dances, the foxtrot, was conceived by Europe and Vernon Castle after a suggestion by W. C. Handy. Europe's association with the Castles led to a recording contract with Victor Records, the first ever for a black orchestra leader.

Late in 1916 Europe enlisted in the Fifteenth Infantry Regiment (Colored) of New York's National Guard and was commissioned as a lieutenant. Largely as an aid to recruitment, he organized a regimental brass band that became, when the Fifteenth was mobilized and sent overseas, one of the most celebrated musical organizations of World War I. As a machine-gun company commander, Europe also served in the front lines and was the first black American officer in the Great War to lead troops into combat. Upon his return to the United States in early 1919, he was hailed as America's "jazz king" for incorporating blues, ragtime, and jazz elements into his arrangements for the band. He received another recording contract and embarked upon a nationwide tour. During a performance in Boston, however, Europe was cut in a backstage altercation with a mentally disturbed member of the band. The injury did not appear serious at first, but his jugular vein had in fact been punctured, and he died before the bleeding could be stopped. Europe's funeral was the first public funeral ever held for an African American in New York City; he was buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery.

Although Europe was not a composer of major concert works, his more than one hundred songs, rags, waltzes, and marches include several ("On the Gay Luneta," "Castle House Rag," "Castle Walk," "Hi There," "Mirandy") that exhibit unusual lyricism and rhythmic sophistication for their day. But it was as an organizer of musicians, as a conductor who championed the works of other African-American composers, and as an arranger and orchestrator that his genius was most pronounced and his influence the greatest. In this regard Europe may properly be seen as an original catalyst in the development of orchestral jazz, initiating a line of development that would eventually lead to Fletcher Henderson and Duke Ellington. Among the many individuals who acknowledged his pioneering influence were Eubie Blake, Noble Sissle (whose epoch-making 1921 musical Shuffle Along helped restore black artistry to the mainstream of American musical theater), and composer George Gershwin.

See also Blake, Eubie; Burleigh, Harry; Jazz; Musical Theater

Bibliography

Badger, R. Reid. "James Reese Europe and the Prehistory of Jazz." American Music 7 (1989): 48–68.

Badger, R. Reid. A Life in Ragtime. New York: Oxford, 1995.

Harris, Stephen L. Harlem's Hell Fighters: The African-American 369th Infantry in World War I. Washington, D.C.: Brassey's, 2003.

Welborn, Ron. "James Reese Europe and the Infancy of Jazz Criticism." Black Music Research Journal 7 (1987): 35–44.

r. reid badger (1996)
Updated bibliography