JAZZ MUSIC.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 142, 17 June 1926, Page 12

JAZZ MUSIC.

CRITICISM PREMATURE. TIME THE TEST. Jazz music should not be criticised until time has tested its enduring power, in the opinion of Prof. Burlingame Hill, member of the music department of Harvard University and one of America's foremost composers. Snap-fire judgments being passed daily on modern music were described as "premature" by Prof. Hill, who said jazz might eventually find a lasting place in the world of music. "The world-wide influence of jazz and the keen appreciation of its qualities by European composers of note," said Prof. Hill, "have stimulated discussion as to the possible utilisation of jazz style by serious American composers. "Dance forms have always played an important role in the history of instrumental music. The eighteenth century suite consisted of contemporary dances. The minust and waltz have entered the sanctuary of the symphony, and in chamber music the polka has figured. "Symphonic or chamber music works may gain in piquancy from the inclusion of jazz style. Such works do not please the lover of jazz because they seem artificial. The composer of jazz is balked in his ambition to write 'highbrow' works because of technical inexperience in the larger forms. "Since both the symphonic and the jazz composer are limited by their relative ignorance of the other's field, it is questionable whether hybrid works of distinction can be produced by either for some time to come."