The Washington times., 1920-09-06

You hobbie. you wobbie, you walk-the-dog
and ball-the- jack
You slap your hands and go way back:
You-srab hold your partner and then hold
&c, orsa nsr ss,ly' sy yous DO side the Frisco glide
You get on the money and then you do the
esgle-rock,
You rag 'em, you drag 'em.
You keep your time Just like clock,
You do the toodle-oo. then you twist ore
knee,
You buza ell around like a buzzing bee;
You shimmie, dance all around the hoor'
That's jazz-dance repertoire.
That's one Of the latest jazz songs
and is typical of the class.
1t is this sort of thing that is today
acute musical indigestion In
Washington.
Straight" musicians contend that
stun like that and the noise that
goes with it can't be called music In
any sense OF the word.
And the jazz defenders come back
with hot words. It's quite fracas
Musical discord has been producing
sour notes and mean harmonics in
Washington for the last six days.
LAWSUIT STARTS DIsCORD.
The discord, you remember, began
with the discharge of Mario Armellini
from the post of orchestral leader at
the Wardman Park Inn, because he
couldn't play jazz" and the subse-
quent filing sby him Of suit for
$1,000 for alleged breach of con-
tract, against Harry Wardman, pro-
prietor OF the inn. The suit was filed
last Wednesday.
The next morning the leader of one
of the "swellest" dance orchestras in
Washington noticed that significant
phrase about jazz Promptly he arose
and ht fly heaping hornful of
cruel notes at jazz and jazz musicians.
"You can't call this jazz stuff
music" he said. And Immediately
after he had turned this dictum loose
in the local musical circles a jazz
musician raised his head in the east,
and, with baleful CLEANS in his eyes,
roared: THAT is lot of silly prattle."
zone thing is certain" he said,
jazz is music. Whether you like 1t
is another thing, but 1t is music, all
right"
LIKE MATCH IN POWDER.
And so it is that Washington's mu-
steal peace was shattered. Where for
merly musicianly souls gathered in
sweet content, now harsh discord
reigns. One jazz enthusiast in
a match in a powder factory, more
than enough to start trouble.
The meeting. at first placid enough,
soon begins to boil and bubble, then
explodes violently, with a
bombardment of broken
chords and similar musical debris.
Into this whirlpool OF musical dis
cord half the musicians in town have
been drawn, willy-nilly. With them
have gone few lawyers, a flock of
critics, and quite a respect
able collection of clergymen.
out of the resulting mess, from
time to time charges and counter
charges, with a liberal sprinkling of
Jazzy sound, have been elected.
Today. with a terrific outburst, hos
tiIities began afresh.
BUREAU FIRES BROADsIDE.
The international Reform Bureau,
the Rev. Wilbur Crafts, superinten-
dent, at the helm, swept into the fray
and fired a broadside into the flank of
the jazz cohorts.
JAR ugh," snivered DR.. Crafts.
THE very best I can say for Jazz Is
tha' II is a wicked waste of time. l
have just read over the chorus OF
late jazz song and more brain empty
ing stun than that l cannot imagine.
Think OF feeding that rot to our
growing children! It's atrocious.
"But that is not the worst THING
about jazz. Jazz, / believe, Is but part
OF a wide system OF exploiting sex.
Jazz music, with its wild rhythm and