JAZZ IN NEW ZEALAND
Sir.-In his letter to The Listener (September 7) Mr. Varian Wilson betrays his feelings of inferiority by the manner in which he defends what he calls "the living music of the people." He very patently feels it needs defending, which suggests that it cannot stand on its own, and his defence is conducted in an intemperate orgy of name-calling which will probably lose the support for his cause of the people who share his views but do not feel inferior about them. Then another intemperate person, Mrs. D. M. Mitams, accuses The Listener of becoming a "rather cheap jazz-sports weekly," and goes on to say that "the English Listener, on the other hand, is always dignified and never offends against good taste," which, of course, is an evasive way of saying that Mrs. Mirams knows what good taste is. It makes me wonder whether she holds the views she does because she wishes to be considered dignified and to possess good taste (whatever it is) and all the pompous self-approving correctness which goes with it. Here, I’m. sure, lies the truth. Neither is soAnterested in their respective brands of music as their letters superficially proclaim. They are more interested in grinding their axes; the one for the common people, the other for dignity. Everything Mrs. Mirams_ says, both stated and implied, proclaims her support for what is considered nice and acceptable in genteel society. Mr. Wilson displays the shortness of temper so characteristic of people who are sick and tired of being treated like a speck of dust on the superior one’s immaculate business suit, and by his very loss of temper confirms the nice person's opinion that he is superior to the herd. ' But all the same, both deserve congratulations for bothering to write their letters at all, It is the people who are quite content to concern themselves with events which affect them only in the most direct manner, who fail to realise, or are too lazy to realise, that the radio incessantly thumping sentimental pap into their slothful minds, newspapers pushing emotion-laden, "authoritative" news down their throats, off whose tongues such clichés as "they (some rfemote, almighty authority accessible to them only through the propaganda mediums) know best" or "it’s not for us to decide," and so on, who ought to be berated. Maybe specialisation in vocation nowadays is necessary. From these two correspondents’ letters one feels that specialisation in musical taste is equally essential. Why? Can not these intolerant defenders of their music each find something acceptable in, s ob the Concerto for Clarinet, composed and played by Artie Shaw, who has also played clarinet solos with dignified orchestras: or in the Tchaikovski originals from which many of our popular tunes are adapted and improved upon so that they have become living musical entertainment of the people? The ‘living music makers of the people do not share Mr. Wilson’s views about "tones synthesised under rigid. mechanical rules by musicians who were ignoramuses compared with the veriest amateurs of today.’ They are so in agreement with such ignoramuses as Mozart, Beethoven and Tchaikovski that ‘they pirate their music and convert it into three-minute ditties in which the word love and all the heart-rending icaments stemming from this state, are reiterated until emotional dishevelment must, one feels, result. If we believe Mr. Wilson, ‘masochism, heartbreak, and adolescents around juke-
boxes are factors of living reality and. just because of that require glorification. I hope he is wrong. Stan Freberg: puts the contemporary pop tune in its place with his amusing satirical parodies, He is a breath of humour in the world of pop-tune heartbreak and serious music’s remoteness.
J. MICHAEL
D'ATH
(Hamilton).
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 35, Issue 895, 28 September 1956, Page 5
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618JAZZ IN NEW ZEALAND New Zealand Listener, Volume 35, Issue 895, 28 September 1956, Page 5
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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