THE BIRTH OF JAZZ

Waipa Post, Volume 41, Issue 3220, 1 November 1930, Page 3

THE BIRTH OF JAZZ

ORIGIN,OP RAGTIME AND THE BLUES.

(By Desmond Robinson.) Jazz is an ancient form of music. The connection between the modern dance orchestra and the ingenious musicians who -provided the accompaniment for the African devil dances is obvious. The jazz drummer is the successor of the warrior, deep in a tropical jungle, beating monotonously upon a tom-tom with a human shinbone. 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 whirls 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 (United States). 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 done as being unworthy of serious discussion. There are no statistics to prove it, but probably 90 of every 100 persons in New Zealand 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 bars of it. I honour them for their tastes, although I cannot claim to be one of them — quite. Many fanciful derivations have been suggested for the word "jazz," but its origin is reasonably clear. It was a somewhat disreputable verb in common use among the negroes of the southern States of America even in the nineteenth century. It had several meanings, one. of which was to "speed up." In that sense the word, used as an adjective and applied to modern ragtime music, is a misnomer. Much so-called jazz music, especially that of the " blues " pattern, is anything but fast. Ragtime and syncopation are more appropriate terms, for both suggest the abnormality of accent, which is the essence of all negro attempts at self-expression. Jazz has long been characteristic of the religious and secular music of the Amercian negroes. The spirituals, now commonly suns by fruity tenors as if they were English love ballads, were originally given to the accompaniment of a banjo. Fifty years ago the negroes of Southern America filed down the mouthpieces of brass instruments to increase the range, played cornets into buckets and " durby " hats, and introduced devastating effects wtth the help of cow-bells, and " bones." These bands were highly competitive. Each musician strove 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 be 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 the 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 uses the invention of Herr Adolphe Sax has 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, the Charleston, and the blues ? All modern jazz is based on the " blues " rhythm. For that we may (if we feel that way) thank Mr W. C. Handy, a negro orchestra leader of Memphis, -Tennessee, who, with the_ spirit of his ancestors strong within him, composed "Memphis Blues" in 1910. " Blues " had been popular with lowerclass negroes long before that year, but it was Handy who "made them sweet." " Memphis Blues "' was remarkable for the flattering 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,"hot" and " sweet," 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 clarionet, a cornet, a trombone, dx-ums, 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 sousaphone has come. Jazz is played in London and Paris, in Berlin and Vladivostock, and at the annual dance of the Young People's League at Trenowethawantagong (in N.S.W.) It is played at concerts and interminably over the wireless. MiGeorge Gershwin has adapted its idioms to larger music and forms, and has composed " Rhapsody in Blue" —an extraordinary composition, but definitely recognisable as music, and far removed from such early efforts as "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 " adaptations" of classical and grand opera music. One may dance to the strains of " jazzedup " " Rigoletto." Othef things have been perpetrated that might be called by a less pleasant name, as anyone who can play the piano may discover if he plays any jazz tune in ordinary time, and searches his memory for the source of the composer's "inspiration." There is nothing hew under the sun—not even jazz.