The record changer (Jan-Feb 1945)

whether he knew that tune. Sure, Zutty said, it's a jazz classic. He then turned to 6ry and asked him whether we was familiar with Muskrat Ramble. All Ory could say, in amazement and indignation, was "Man, I wrote it." * * * The second edition of the Esquire jazz concert will take place in Los Angeles and New Orleans in a few days. We don't know how the famous critics and international authorities (among whom, we assure you, you will not find Jazzbo Brown) voted this year. Having seen the names of the voters, however, we are unfortunately most positive that the catastrophe of last year will be repeated. Williams and Russell will be in splendid isolation against the forces of take another, Trummy and blow that thing, Roy. Because of this state of affairs, we would write the following letter to Arnold Gingrich, editor of Esquire magazine, if we knew him : "Do you realize, Mr. Gingrich, how much you can accomplish for jazz? We don't question the sincerity of your intentions, nor your admirable desire to make the people of this country more jazz conscious and more proud of their national music. We also respect your tastes in jazz. In fact, it seems to us that your feeling for jazz is much more profound than that of the two specialists who write regularly in your magazine. This was shown by the list of your favorite records. There are, in the very city where your jazz concerts will be held, a number of great musicians who not only deserve to reveal their artistry to a large audience such as your concerts will have, but whose appearance under your auspices would honor you and make you one of the best liked figures among those whose interest in jazz music is sincere. By presenting on the same program representatives of modern swing such as Ellington, Tatum and Hawkins, and the great New Orleans jazzmen, you would immeasurably v/iden the appeal of your concert and give your audience the opportunity to judge for themselves which phase of American popular music is more admirable. Surely you are aware that your concert last year offered a very incomplete picture of the state of jazz music in this country ; your audience was able to hear only a few styles of jazz interpretation, all more or less "modern," and New Orleans music was completely ignored. 1 appeal to you in the name of hundreds of jazz followers and ask that this error not be repealed. Allow me to remind you that these great New Orleans jazz musicians are now living and play ing in Los Angeles : Kid Ory, Mutt Carey, Bud Scott, Ed Garland, Minor Hall," Zutty Singleton, Wade Whaley, Buster Wilson and several others. In New Orleans you have Bunk Johnson, George Lewis, Jim Robinson. Many other exponents of the New Orleans style are active in other parts of the country. There is Baby Dodds and Sidney Bechet and Omer Simeon and George Mitchell and Paul Lingle and Ellis Home and Turk Murphy. To many of us these are the great men of jazz, these are the great instrumentalists people should knowmore about. We are confident that a band composed of some of these musicians would receive at least as much applause as any group of modern swingmen. Some of us also believe that" if the public had the possibility to hear the New Orleans style interpreted by its great masters, very revolutionary changes would occur to its taste. The important thing, however, is that you have the power to bringNew Orleans music to the attention of an entirely new and unsophisticated audience. By doing so you would make an essential contribution to the cultural consciousness of this country. Give the followers of jazz music the opportunity to decide for themselves whom they like more, Kid Ory or Jack Teagarden, Mutt Carey or Roy Eldridge, Bunk Johnson or Cootie Williams, Baby Dodds or Cozy Cole." Minstrelsy (Continued from page 8 ) the earliest days of its childhood, jazz developed not like one being but like twins of whom the one became a prophet and the other a demagogue. It is up to us, the lovers and critics and collectors of jazz, to decide which of the two we will support and which of the two we shall conquer. REFERENCES 1 Vide Mendl : /o~~. 2 The Charleston has remained practically unaltered since its origin anions: the West African Ashanti some hundred years hack. It has also survived in the West Indies and in Dutch Guiana where it was interpreted as a manifestation of spirit worship when a motion picture of it was shown. This was a wholly correct interpretation: the original meaning of the dance was that of ancestor worship. Cf. Kerskovits, op. cit. p. 257. 3 1 owe this information to Mr. R. Emmet Kennedy. 4 I owe a great deal of my information on ragtitne to Mr. Roy Carew whose letters have corrected numerous misunderstandings in m\ first ''raft of this analysis. •"> Cf . Mendl: Jazz, for many of these references. (i George Rlckhanov : An ,ui,l Svcicty: (rilio Group Series, No. 3, N. V., p. 5.