REIGN OF JAZZ

Evening Star, Issue 22687, 29 June 1937, Page 12

REIGN OF JAZZ

QUARTER CENTURY DEVELOPMENT Music-loving Britain has withstood a barrage of jazz for a quarter of a century. For, call it what you willsyncopation, rag-time, or jazz—it is one and the same, says John O’Leith, in the ‘ Weekly Scotsman. 1 ‘ Alexander’s Rag-time (Band ’ is generally considered to have been the precursor of that never-ending spate of songs which flowed from America. But actually the first hot melody bore the title ‘ Yiddle on Your Fiddle, Play Some Ragtime.’ This song evoked no great enthusiasm in those who were quite unable to appreciate the terms “ chocolate baby ” and “ sweet potato ginger-snap..” The arrival of Alexander, however, infected the public with a veritable epidemic of finger-snapping and shoulder-shrugging. Who Alexander might be was of no import. But the silent beats, broken rhythm, and doggerel lines associated with his identity aroused the country from John o’ Groats to. Bornemouth. Concert parties, jnusic hall “ stars,” and bands united to blaze the trail of jazz, and the devil did anyone care for the lost dignity that accompanied infection of the germ. Almost immediately was syncopation established through the medium of the immensely ipopular revues—‘ Hallo. Rag-time!* ‘Come Over Here, 1 and ‘What Ho, Rag-time!’ Popular artists—Ethel Levey, Gaby Deslys, and the American Rag-time Octette —introduced song after song, every one a “ hit,though as speedily forgotten again in successive crazy melodies. Not for the crooner were those robust ditties, sung with healthy vigour by pig-tailed flapper and gouty old colonel in his morning bath. Let us draw hack the curtain of time to recollect and hum again the greatest song hits of this century or any other. ‘ Hitchy Koo ’ created a furore. Mad—quite mad in words and music—but no more so than ‘ Mysterious Rag.’ Another broadside to score effectively was ‘ How Do You Do, Miss Ragtime? ’ and ‘ Everybody’s . Doin’ It’ contained more than a grain of truth in its title, as did ‘ Get Out and Get Under ’—which dwelt on the unreliability of the early automobiles. Not even the great Henry Ford could suppress those words about the “ darned old engine is missing.” Then the news went round. that somebodv, unspecified, was ‘ Waiting on the Levee.’ Waiting on whom? Why, Robert E. Lee, of course. Robert knew not the virtue.of punctuality, so

we passed on to the adoration of a certain unknown charmer whom we greeted in the sublime phrase, “ Oh, you beautiful doll.” From Hymen’s realms wo short-cir-cuited to that “ high-faintin’, shootin’, scootin’, son-of-a-gun from Arizona— Rag-time Cowboy Joe.” Nothing of the poor old Joe about this fellow whose very horse was “ syncopated-gaited,” in addition to which “ there was such a funny metre to the sound of his repeater.” Another—was it dedicated to young mothers?—suggested that they might try ‘ Ragging the Baby to Sleep'.’What a hope! Until now the composer of the moment had shown an originality quite unique—indeed, startlingly so. ‘ The Wedding Glide,’ however, possessed a reminiscent flavour that reminded us of something else. Exactly the beginning of Mendelssohn’s March ’ —two bars of it cooly purloined. It might have been intended as a compliment to the greater composer, or, more likely, a case of sheer “ brass neck.” ‘‘ I wanna be way home in Dixie” conjured up a delightful domestic picture of “ hens being doggone glad te lay hard-boiled eggs in the new-mown hay.” Scores of vocalists had a ll go ” at this one, but all were stumped when they come to reassure us of their destination—namely, “ D—I —X—l don’t know how to spell it.” Still they came in an unbroken serie* of remarkable successes. The inanity of ‘ Snooky Ookums ’ provided contrast to “ You made me love you, I didn’t want to do it.” In ‘ Rag-time Violin,* the “ fiddle-up, fiddle-up on your violin ” was immediately parodied by the wits into “ rub it in, rub it in on your double chin.’ The thousands of syncopated song* published since 1911 have, been based, more or less, on ‘ Alexander's Rag-time Band.’ Romantic enough that from it we should ' now have radio, gramophone, and dance band all contributing to the spirit of jazz. But doubly so when we consider that the originator of ragtime was unable to write a note of music.