"All Jazz is Not of Equal Merit"

Radio Record, Volume VIII, Issue 27, 11 January 1935, Page 7

"All Jazz is Not of Equal Merit"

To the Editor Sir,-If Mr. Parkin is the discerning critic we are to assume-he is, I fail to comprehend his obvious. inability to distinguish between "commercial" and "hot" jazz. Typical of all the opponents of jazz (and some of its supporters) he lumps all modern dance music into one mass, and labels it "jazz." Has it not occurred to. Mr. Parkin that: all jazz, like other types of music, is not of. equal

merit? If Mr. Parkin were trying to prove Elgar’s significance as a composer, it is safe to assume that he would not illustrate it by "Salut d’Amour" or by "Land of Hope and Glory," and although’ it is convenient, when one dislikes jazz, to lump crooning, and jazz. together ut ~ one time, and to separate them at another, it would be more. reasonable to be explicit as to the type of jazz disliked. When I say I like Beethoven I mean his symphonies and quartets, and not his ‘Minuet in G." Similarly when I say I like jazz. I mean the best type-‘‘hot" jazz. Presumably Mr. Parkin dislikes it all, and although, as he says, much of it is ‘poor, his outlook seems rather narrow, and his manner selfish, when he suggests it should be kept strictly within the confines of the damee sessions. As the dance.tunes are also the popular songs of to-day it would be robbing the public of its greatest pleasures, to say nothing of taking material from the already harassed programme organisers. If something which mirrors contemporary life (and Blgar’s music doesn’t) is objectionable to Mr. Parkin, he has my sympathy, but he should realise. that progress. ("retrogression," Mr. Parkin would say) is inevitable, and that jazz will remain in spite of what he docs or would like to do. The remarks concerning Elgar are amusing. I myself read this year, in an article by another friend of his, that he liked the best jazz. Is it not possible he has altered his views since Mr. Parkin knew him? In. any ease, his opinion is certainly not the final word, and now that there are so many musicians of equal standing who delight in good jazz, I am convinced that the question is more a matter of outlook than of music. As regards "evil in music." I would quote the appropriate if somewhat hackneyed, "honi soit qui mal y pense."-I-am. ete,

ORPHEUS

Rangiora.