Jazz and the Soviet Union

Press, 23 April 1984, Page 14

Jazz and the Soviet Union

Sir,—M Creel, attacking A. K. Grant’s review, asserts that jazz is the property of wealthy corporate interests in the United States, and that it “promotes the cultural and ideological values of its ruling class oligarchy.” Jazz in the United States has always faced the dilemma of distribution and marketing by powerful and wealthy recording companies. It does not, however, follow that jazz is merely an ideological form disseminating ruling class values. One might argue that jazz has an egalitarian and Utopian content: it provides in musical form an image of communitarian participation. I suggest that M. Creel reads Sidney Finkelstein’s Marxist study of jazz, the sub-title of which is “A Music of the People.” M. Creel’s comments on jazz suggest that his “Marxism” is naive and vulgar, but what is worse, they also suggest (the one following logically from the other) that he is a killjoy. — Yours, etc., LEONARD WILCOX. April 18, 1984.