Perth Amboy evening news., 1922-03-29

would be more likely 10 sil aiouhu
and drink. Jazz goes through al
classes of our national life ana L
think it is here to stay. 1t is a god
send for both upper and lower class
es."
This opinion is echoed by Mrs.
Charles Tiffany. prominent New
York matron, who says: 1T seems
to me that dancing has done
good than harm. Older people ex-
ercise as they never did before.
People are more sociable, more hu-
man. And after all, jazz affects only
a fraction of the population. E1gh-
teenth century drawing-rooms were
Just as shocked by the waltz ana
other so-called round dances as we
are today by the ultra-modern steps
that accompany jazz music"
A nerve specialist quoted by a
| New York newspaper considers jazz
very bad for the world In general,
while a we'll known priest declares
that it Is rotten, leading to all
sorts of lascivious dancing and de-
stroying whatever taste for good
music there might be-"
Irving Berlin. who has made a
fortune in composing jazz hits, nat
urally defends the product. 1--WE
live in a jazz age" he points out,
land il you don't like jazz you are
out of tune with the times. And a
majority of people must like it or 1t
wouldn't be universal throughout
America, as 1t most certainly is.
Music reflects the thoughts and hab-
it's of the people. There is more
freedom in social customs now.
Young women go about alone.
everyone is more independent and
all this is duly reflected in the music
Of the day"
Better Than Scntinlentality
At least one serious composer also,
Miss Rebecca Clark. q young woman
whose compositions for the viola
have attracted favorable attention.
takes a generous view OF Jazz. Il
like it for its rhythm" she says,
"and / consider 1t better than the
lish ballads. At the last analysis,
jazz is only primitive rhythm and in
a way that is it's trouble. 1t makes
a primitive appeal. Harmony COM
bined with rhythm gives us some
thing else to respond to and brings
out emotions of a different kind"
In Europe, jazz is much more
highly regarded than in this oun
try, although it's widespread popu-
larity has not been viewed by the
bourgeoisie without a storm OF
scared protest. Over there, how
ever. it has aroused much interest
among serious musicians who at
least respect originality. And that
jazz Is an American product, in spite
Of its SUPPOSED jungle origin, cannot
be denied.
But" says one European author
ity, "if your serious American COM
posers, through excess culture, con-
tinue to ignore or sneer at jazz, they
may miss a very valuable opportun1-
ty-the opportunity of initiating the
next great revolution in music. We
may discover over here that jazz
| will furnish to European music. thai
infusion of new blood and strength
that is now so necessary to its very
| life. In that event it may return
to you Americans disguised as mod
ern music with the stamp of Euro
pean approval which-pardon me
seems so necessary to your cultured
classes in the United States. II
other words, what you now despist
and reject as vulgar. cheap and con
temptible, your musicians may &C
| claim when eventually it reappear!
under a European label"
How jazz Started
Meanwhile, jazz Is undergoing
reform in this country. 1t started
out In California a few years ag'
when a young musician in the Sal
Francisco symphony Orchestra de
cided that he wanted to get married
and that in order to accomplish tn
feat he would have to have q large
income than his symphony salary
There was only n thing for him !.
do-to take up dance music. HI
did; and since then jazz has neve
been the same. AS a trained an
highly accomplished musician, h
began taking all the popular blues
songs and skillfully arranging then
for orchestration.
The average popular song con
sists OF merely one melody which
simply repeated owe and owe
again. Occasionally. at very rar
intervals, a popular song writer ma
grow extravagant and combine
couple OF melodies, but this Is re
garded as unnecessarily wastefu
The one melody of the popular son
is the same as the theme of classi
cal music. Paul Whiteman was tn
first to conceive the idea Of takin
this one Jazz melody and filling !