We should recall the social context in which such remarkable anxiety flourished. Some people were bothered by the bodily movements with which listeners responded to the new music. The listener behaved as impassively as the radio's microphone. Nothing in his manner indicated either a struggle for self-control or an absence of decorum. They call out the low and rowdy instincts.
Jazz is the very foundation and essence of salacious dancing.
So This Is Jazz . Ted Lewis made some good hot records that featured Fats Waller and Benny Goodman, but his vaudeville performing group was probably putting on the audience when the author witnessed the simulated ecstasy. What is significant in the writer's concern is the racial element. Black performers and their music were seen as threatening in many quotations of the period. Improvisation itself was condemned.