The Dallas express. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1893-1970, 1921-08-06
DECLINE IN POPULARITY
OF JAZZ AND DANCE OR
CHESTRAS.
BIZ LUcIEN H. WHITE.

q
petion with white musicians in tn,
matter of orchestral playing. Thi
statement does not refer to sym
phonic orchestral playing, becaus,
in that sphere there is simply NJ
comparison as yet, nor has there
eyer been. OF course there have
been some ambitious effort by race
musicians that attained meritorioui
results, but they were individual OF
local and do not affect the genera
application contained in the afore
going statement.
But the Negro musician has hat
ample opportunity for development
in the matter of orchestra playing
from the standpoint of amusement
furnishing and for the followers Of
Terpschore. And 1t is a lamentablt
declaration, dictated though 1t bt
by candor and honesty, that is con.
tanned in the expression He has
not held his own" It would not be
true to say that he did not make
good. The Colored musician did
make good at first, and for awhile
he was so greatly in demand thai
the supply could harry be met.
Casting back through the past
few years, the records show thai
besides the innumerable temporary
and single engagements, requiring
for furnishing entertainment and
dance music the services of from
one or two musicians to orchestras
of twenty-five to fifty men, or more
there were some twenty or thirty
permanent engagements being filled
by Negro musicians. These com
prised not only cafe and restau-
rant entertaining, but Roofs, Gar
dens, hotels and theatres as web,
the list including some of the most
sUmptuous establishments in Am
erica--and that, of course, means
the entire world.
At least lat two New York thea
tres--the SelYin and the Fulton
there were at one time Negro musi-
clans occupying the orchestra pit
for the regular theatrical perfor-
mances. There were several in
stances in which artists appearing
on the vaudeville stage used their
own orchestras composed of Ne
gro musicians under q Negro di-
rector, either augmenting or dis.
placing the regular theatre orches-
ira for their particular acts. Per-
haps the most notable engagements
of this nature was filled by the Or
chestra led by the late James Reese
Europe, which accompanied the fam
Gus Castles on trans-country
tours
New York's most noted restau-
s-Delmonico's, Sherrys, Rec
tors, Shanley's, Churchill's, and OF
hers, employed at one time COlored
orchestras to play for the enter
tainment of their guests. The Hotel
Plaza, Hotel -McAlpin, Martinique
and Marlborough Hotels, famous
throughout the country for their eX-
clusiveness, used musicians of the
race. and this was true of hotels in
other cities than New York, some
of the most notable being the Copley
Plaza, Boston the Ten Eyck, AL
bany, and the Hotel Stratford, Phil
adelphia.
One OF the established features of
New York's night amusements was
the Ziegfeld Roof, atop the New
Amsterdam Theatre. For a number
of years the music dispensed by a
Negro Observation-Disclosures Or
chestra-has been one of the at
fractions offered its patrons. The
Roof was closed some weeks ago
permanently, it was said at the
time. But recently announcements
have appeared that Mr.. Ziegfeld has
reconsidered and will open the Roof
again--but it also rumored that
when this is done the Colored must
clans will be missing.
Race musicians have performed
under permanent season contracts
at the Strand Roof, the Winter Gar
den, at Reisenwebers, at Healey's
Golden Glades, at Hotel Shelburne,
Brighton Beach, at Tappan's, Sleeps
head Bay. at the Dance Carnival,
West 66th street, and, incidentally,
at DeLisles' French Restu urant, AL
laire, N. j., not so familiar to Goth
antics, perhaps, but a place of dis
tinction over in Jersey.
Now this a pretentious list of en-
gagements, one of which any par
ticular body of musicians might well
be proud. But the list is almost
completely wiped out today. Cues
lions to one of the races leading
music purveyors, a man in constant
touch with the entertainment and
dance information that less than a
half-dozen aggregations of Negro
musicians are now being employed.
To be precise, he mentioned Rel
senweber's as continuing to use a
race body OF players-and in that
case II is the Roy Smiths Sympli-
onic Orchestra from Detroit, Michi-
gan, that is filling the position. Tap
pans Villepigue at Sheepshead Bay,
and the Dance Carnival on West
66th street, are also put on the
roll, but further than that the in
formation does not go.
or course there lis a reason. The
playing of the Negro musician was
so appreciated at one time as al
most TO be considered prominent
Why did it not maintain that high
altitude? There are several rea-
sons. For one thing, the Negro mu-
stefan has never seemed to take his
work seriously. He has been con-
tent to acquire certain digital dex-
terity, sufficient to enable him to
meet the immediate demand, but
future advancement and develop
ment las not entered into his cal
advancement and de-
meant serious applicAb-
ton and hard work. He failed to
realize the connection between men,
tality and musicianship
1t was evidently in his mind that
the vogue which carried him to the
top of the wave ~ popular success
would be permanent thing-it was
about as permanent as are>waves Of
the ocean. He should have looked
upon il as a ladder, the climbing
of which entailed effort and peris-
A..A Al. -.