JAZZ IN NEW ZEALAND

New Zealand Listener, Volume 35, Issue 893, 14 September 1956, Page 5

JAZZ IN NEW ZEALAND

Sir,- Because other listeners may be influenced by what Mr. L. D. Austin had to say on this page about jazz in New Zealand, and because The Listener’s new jazz policy ought to be encouraged to continue, I’d like to reply. Of course "a volume of pernicious trash" is broadcast (and must be, because a lot of people want it), but it is not jazz. The over-commercialised "Band of Gold," "Shifting, Whispering Sands" type, or anything noisy and with a rapid tempo is*still, here, thrown by many into a bin labelled jazz. What constitutes an art-form, however, must be defended; and when a singer or instrumentalist of good technical skill (and in jazz this reaches the heights) opens his mouth or works at his instrument sincerely to. express himself, that is art. He is giving something of worth to somebody. (We may say we don’t like his art-form and refuse to listen, but he must be allowed to continue for those who do. If you're not interested in pottery, sculpture, or architecture, you say so, and your own business it is too. But to say it’s rubbish would be both fantastic and outrageous. If I am an expert in one art field do I think I can condemn another?) To quote again from the same sad source as before, ‘there is really "nothing more to be said," in terms of justification; jazz being in "incontrovertible fact" an art-form, Consider-much of the jazz idiom is used in contemporary classical-music. writing. Many significant jazz writers and performers are not making money, because they value artistic expression more, and so keep to the only art-form they know. Far more significant and celebrated symphonic musicians than the one mentioned earlier study and execute serious jazz. For sheer technical brilliance, musical imagination in improvisation, cleverness of arrangement and orchestration, jazz demands attention, When I am deeply moved by a Beethoven symphony, or enchanted by an aria from Tebaldi or a) Scarlatti piece, I want other people to share it and feel sorry for those who can’t. This last feeling I also have about the Austins of the world when I hear certain jazz. One must find out for oneself what this certain jazz is. How often have you heard said to someone who doesn’t care for classical music, "If only you listened, and got to know it!" Well? It works both wavs.

DAVID

LITTIN

(Whangarei).

Sir.-L. D. Austin has shown commendable restraint in confining his latest attack on "jazz" to a single letter. Unfortunately, his passion for brevity has resulted-in my case-in several questions being unanswered. Does he consider it the duty of the NZBS to take sides in a (real or imaginary) battle between the forces of jazz and "musical refinement’? Does Mr. Austin suggest that a Member of Parliament should use his position as Minister of one department to influence the operation of an entirely different department under his control? One of the few liticians in the free world with a nktion’s broadcasting facilities directly under his control, Mr. Algie carries out his unenviable task fairly and with consideration for the varied tastes of the licence-holders for whom he is trustee. He would be betraying that trust if he denied a section of the community the kind of programmes it wanted because a smaller group labelled that kind of music "pernicious trash." Does your correspondent advocate a cultural dictatorship which will give us, not what we want but what it (or Mr,

Austin) considers is good for us? In what, if any, country, does such a broadcasting service exist? As a licence-holder and a voluntary subscriber to a broadcasting service, Mr. Austin is entitled to express a view on the material broadcast. Regardless of his undoubted experience in certain fields of music, his opinion on this issue is worth something less than one halfmillionth of the total and is exactly equal in value to the opinion held by a teenager who has a radio licence. While this state of affairs continues the majority of listeners will be well satisfied.

TOLERANT

(Wellington).