JAZZ DESCENDED FROM TOM-TOM.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19238, 27 November 1930, Page 11

JAZZ DESCENDED FROM TOM-TOM.

ROOTS EMBEDDED IN JUNGLE BARBARISM. Jazz is an ancient form of music. Tb» connection between the modern dance orchestra and the ingenious musicians who provided the accompaniment for the African devil dance is obvious. Tha drummer is the successor of the warrior, deep in a tropical jungle, beating monotonously upon a tom-tom with a human shinbone, writes Desmond Robinson in the Melbourne “Argus’* The saxophonist—blessed word—is of the same line as the tribal medicine man, piping upon an instrument contrived out of a reed and a piece of bamboo, as he in his dance of death before the sacrifice. The roots of jazz are embedded in barbarism. It came out of Africa by way of Memphis, Tennessee (U.S.A.). But it cannot on that account be dismissed with a curl of the lip and a contemptuous shrug. It would be fatuous to regard anything which has gripped the civilised, world as jazz has dona as being unworthy of serious discussion. There are no statistics to prove it, but probably 90 of every 100 persons listen to jazz with unashamed pleasure and admit it. Half of the others enjoy jazz, but refuse to admit it. The other five would rather walk four miles over broken glass in bare feet than endure two hours of it. I honour them for their tastes, although I cannot claim to be one of them quite. Jazft has long been characteristic of the religious and secular folk music of the American negroes. The spirituels, now occasionally sung by fruity tenor* as if they were English love' ballads, were originally given to the accompaniment of a banjo. Fifty years age the negroes of Southern America filed, down the mouthpieces of brass instruments to increase their range, plaved cornets into buckets and “durbv” hats, and introduced devastating effects with the help of cow bells and “bones.” These bands were highly competitive. Each musician strovft desperately to outdo the others in the production of extraordinary effects and startling variations of time. The result was pandemonium. The air, if any, could b« distinguished only by the trained Ethiopian ear. It was “hot jazz.” Since then Messrs Paul Whiteman and Art Hickman have taken this barbaric product, and have treated it in their own way. The saxophone and tha tenor banjo and the use of mutes in. the brasses have reduced the noise to something approaching a tune. “Hot jazz” has become “sweet jazz.” The saxophone, originally an instrument filling a humble place in German bands, is the acknowledged king of jazz. To what base use has the invention of Herr Adolphe Sax been put!, Poor Herr Adolphe; he probably drank good Rhine wine and waltzed respectably in his gayer moments. He must not be blamed. What did he know of the fox-trot, and the charleston and ♦.he blues? All modern jazz is based on the “ blues ” rhythm. For that may (if we feel that way) thank Mr W. C. Handy/ a negro orchestra leader of Memphis, Tennessee, who, with th» spirit of his ancestors strong within him, composed “ Memphis Blues ** in 1910. “ Blues ” had been popular with lower-class negroes long before that year, but it was Handy who “mad# them sweet.” “ Memphis Blues ’* was remarkable for the flattening of the seventh and third notes in the scale, suggesting the characteristic slurs and breaks in the untrained negro voice. Perhaps Mr Handy was not without imagination. These sudden flattenings and discords are peculiar to all jazz. They make it harsh and mournful and “blue.” “Memphis Blues” was a success. By 1915 there were several jazz bands, both “ sweet ” and 44 hot,” performing in New Orleans, and in that year a combination known as Brown's Band from Dixieland achieved sensational success in Chicago. This band consisted of a clarinet, a cornet, a trombone, drums and a piano. Not to be outdone, Mr Bert Kelly, an enterprising manager, competing with the promoter of Brown's Band, engaged several similar combinations, and in a moment of genius labelled them jazz bands. Since then the refinements of civilisation have had their effect. The day of the tenor banjo and the sousaphoe has come. Jazz is played in London and Paris, in Berlin and Vladivostok, and at the annual dance of the Young People's League at Trenowethawantagong (New South Waies). It is played at concerts and interminably over the wireless. Mr George Gershwin has adapted its idioms to larger music and forms, and has composed the “ Rhapsody in Blue,” an extraordinary composition, but definitely recognisable as music, and far removed from such early efforts as the 44 Memphis Blues ” and D. J. La Rocca’s “ Livery Stable Blues,” one of the most hideous compositions ever inflicted upon a defenceless world. There have been 44 adaptations ” of classical and grand opera music. One may dance to the strains of a 44 jazzed-up ” 44 Rigoletto.” Other things have been perpetrated which might be called by a less pleasant name. anvone who can play the piano may discover if he plays any jazz tune in ordinarv time, and searches his memory for the” source of the composer’s “ inspiration.” There is nothing.new under the sun—not even jazz.