LET ME OFF UPTOWN by GENE KRUPA WITH ANITA O’DAY AND ROY ELDRIDGE

(OKEH, 1941)

This interpretation of this artifact can be as simple, or as complicated as one cares to make it. You can frame it as an anthem of solidarity, or as just another example of cultural appropriation. I choose the former. 

Granted, here you have an all white swing band, led by the theatrically energetic trapster Gene Krupa, featuring the pert suggestiveness of jazz songbird Anita O’Day in her debut at 22 years old - already displaying uncanny timing, and the horn section all genuflecting to the sole black member of the ensemble, the incomparable Roy Eldridge, who effortlessly blows the roof off the joint with his trumpet.

The song celebrates the mythical Shangri-La of Harlem - the place where any aspiring hipster needs to visit to “get groovy”. The rhythm cuts deep, but takes its time to chug and build to an explosive finish by way of Roy’s ascending wails of sound. 

But fundamentally, there is a winking humor to this recording (and “Soundie” video, too) that undergirds a message of brotherhood, and the shared reverence for the music. It hints that we have more in common than what divides us, and advises any non-believers to spend some time “uptown”.