Dancing Time

Radio Record, Volume VII, Issue 5, 11 August 1933, Page 12

Dancing Time

When

The Music is Playing

"Dancing time is just when the music is playing, When the stars are shimmering in the sky... -"

WE all know the rest-soft lights, gay frocks, cheery little parties in discreet alcoves round the dance floor, a blue haze of cigarette smoke wafting ceilingwards, laughter, and a perfectly-timed band simply asking one to get out on the floor and dance and dance-til dawn ; : So much for the romantic picture of a modern cabaret,,but on this occasion we are more interested in the orchestra and what it plays. Dance bands have come to mean more than just groups of musicians providing music for a dance. To-day they are interesting,

alive-and we are content to sit and listen to them for their own sake, realising that they are definitely . entertaining and important factors in the modern musical world. Dance music, too, is fascinating to collect, according to Mr. "Arthur Pearce, of Wellington, whose collection of recordings of dance bands all over the world is probably the largest in New Zealand. To a "Radio Record" representative this

week Mr. Pearce talked of the changes that have taket place in the musical world since jazz was first introduced. "The negroes of America were blamed for the introduction of jazz into the civilised world," he said, "but to-day some of the finest jazz bands in the world are negro combinations. Take Duke Ellington-his band is, without a doubt, one of the finest in existence to-day, black or white. Lambert, one of the big English critics, lauds Ellington as a master of his art. At the present time he is playing at the Palladium in London, and drawing the biggest audiences that that theatre. has known for years. For a concert organised by the English journal, ‘The Melody Maker,’ every seat was sold five weeks in advance. "T have close on 200 of Ellington’s records, and there’s no doubt about the perfection of his art. Next to Ellington, I suppose, the greatest creative negro is Don Redman. His ‘Song of the Weeds’ expresses all the tragedy and naivete of his race-he’s a composer whose work one day may be reckoned as expressive of the twentieth century. "American jazz has changed almost out of recognition. Rudy Vallee, well known by every wireless and gramophone fan, first gave a start to Will Osborne, who "3 now one of. Vallee’s closest rivals. _ When Osborne became so popular there was a split in the camp, and to-day these two men are the highest-paid and_ the most popular crooners in America. When, they first started their bands they played what is called sweet melody-that is, the band consisted chiefly of saxophones and violins. To-day Osborne has one of the finest brass sections in the States, and his methods have entirely’ changed." UT the latest American stuff has little interest for the dance bands of Australia and New Zealand. When -the Australian jazz king, Al Hammett, was in New York recently. Paul Whiteman asked him if he . was going to put over the latest American effects in Sydney cabarets. Hammett. replied No-the music that Whiteman is now giving the public is very soft and crooning, while Australians preferred their music to be stimulating and bright... American bands were exceptionally. sweet and pleasant to listen to, but the Australian and American temperaments are different, and.the Sydney cabaret-goers would not appreciate the soft-pedal stuff. Almost. the same applies to our New Zealand cabarets. One or two of the tunes played by our bands may be soft and crooning-"Paradise," for instance-but the majority of the dance music is snappy and stimulating. -In Mr, Pearce’s opinion: one: of the. best: dance

bands in this country is Mervyn Bree’s at the Peter Pan Cabaret in Auckland. There are others, however, that run it pretty close-the Bailey-Marston at the Winter Garden Cabaret in Christchurch, the Highhatters’ at the Mayfair in Wellington, the band. at Auckland’s Dixieland, and Tommy Stratton’s Band at the Majestic Cabaret in Wellington. But these bands could not hope to remain in popular favour in the Dominion if they featured the Paul Whiteman type of jazz to the exclusion of the "gingery" music that New Zealanders seem to prefer. An example of a well-balanced modern orchestra is Frank Crowther’s, which is heard over the air from 2YA each week. Paul Whiteman’s band consists of ‘about 20 pieces, and he has artists with him like the Mills Brothers, famous radio stars. These four negroes brought themselves before the radio public through their amazing vocal imitation of a jazz band. They jumped almost overnight from porters and bootblacks to the 3000-dollar a week class, but they have a sound manager and have kept their heads. They were the first coloured entertainers to win recognition on the American national network, Their season with Paul Whiteman is being remarkably successful because of the air fame that preceded them. Latest of the race to win fame in America was the trio known as the Three Keys. A broadcasting official in New York was one night "browsing around the dials’ when he tuned in to a small station in Pennsylvania which was broadcasting the playing of three coloured lads from a black-and-tan restaurant in Chester. He was interested and decided to give them a chance over the national network. It was not long before they had become popular broadcast stars from the big studio on New York’s Fifth Avenue. Their next step was to Broadway, where they were such a huge success at the Capitol Theatre that they stopped the show. But their fame was brief. To-day they are forgotten-the old. old story of life on New

York’s Great White Way. Theres no doubt that the jazz band of the present moment is much better than the band that played the first jazz music. The outstanding rhythm of modern -nce music is syncopation, and it is entirely wrong to say that musicians _-disapprove of this. Masters. like Brahms included this rhythm with excellent effect. It was, however, an incident’ in _their music and not the domi-

nating factor. The only unpardonable sin in. modern music is dullness. But the greatest. show band in the world, Mr., Pearce said, was probably Waring's Dannevivanians. with Jack

a ws hee » irs Hylton’s band a close second. Hylton is one of. the greatest figures in the London: dance world, and his stage shows are sights never to be ‘forgotten. There is talk of him bringing his band to Australia and New Zealand shortly-he would certainly be'a sensation. Henry Hall’s B.B.C. Dance Band is one of the finest radio combinations in the world, and is not unfamiliar to listeners in this part of the globe, for it has often been put on short wave from England. An air of quietness prevails at the ‘B.B.C. studios, even in the dance music ‘studio. But in the N.B.C. studios in New York the atmosphere is like the famous petrol advertisement-split-second starting. It is estimated that there is a continuous unseen audience of 39,000,000 to every programme put over by the cor-poration-something of a strain on the artist if he stops to consider the fact. But jazz is definitely getting more tuneful-the boop-oop-a-doop type of thing has had its day, thank heaven-and the latest numbers are both appealing and interesting. Dancing is as full of conventions as bridge, too. Any man who can dance always turns to the right, never to the left, particularly in the foxtrot; and this although he is going around the room ‘anti-clockwise. The waltz and the foxtrot are the main dances nowadays. The tango is practically not danced.. The chief reason is that the tango melody and rhythm.are not understood or appreciated by the majority of New Zealand ar Australian people. ‘In Paris and Nice every second

dance is a tango, played always by, a ‘spécial band. Another characteristic is. that, the tango must he played:slowly, ‘and. dancers need much more ability to .dance slowly. : Moreover, people think of it as essentially a flambuoyant . dance. They -have seen, say,. Rudolph _ Valentino danc.ing. it. in films; but, of ..course, their attitude is ‘quite wrong, They would need special .stage trainirig to'dance tangoes like that.