Evening star., 1946-10-06
Qbe 9uniol Star
| lust Between
Yourselves ...
.By Philip n. Love-

A Gonzag6 dlgn ScnoO1 stuuent
writes:
IT read your column. Just Be-
tween Ourselves (September 15),
and sort Of agree with your state
ment that there is q change from
swing music to sweet among the
people Of America. But swing and
jazz are still requested by teen
ayers and jazz fans. The latter
may not constitute popular opinion,
but swing records are still being
made by the top jazz bands, Woody
Herman, Count Basic, Lionel
Hampton, Dizzy Gillespie and
others. Tex Beneke, leader Of the
Glenn Miller Orchestra, says that
swing Is not dying out. He should
know fine musician, . great
leader"
Ny correspondents lets call him
Joe, since that isn't his name-goes
|on to list some OF the other
musicians who are, as he says, "for-
warding jazz: Illinois Jacquet,
Shadow Wilson, Howard McGhee,
Charlie Venture and Norman
Grar1z. To Mr.. Granz, "a promoter
Of Jazz in concert FORM" he at
tributes the statement that the
concert stage will attract thousands
of people, who will have q good
time and whose listening standards
will be raised, and jazz, which has
been an italicized art, will attain
capital definition and stature"
\ + +
OF course. swing is still requested
by teen-agers and jazz fans; I
didn't say it isn't. And, Of course,
swing records are still being made
|by top jazz bands; I didn't say
they aren't.
I recognize that swing will always
have its following and that good
recordings by top jazz bands VIII
always be collectors items. But all
that is beside the point. The point
Is that among radio listeners and
dance-goers In general the popu-
larity OF swing seems to be on the
wane. Here are q few straws in
the wind:
The same Woody Herman who,
as Joe says, Is still making jazz
records has, according to Time
magazine, instructed his musicians
to mute their instruments.
The same Tex Beneke quoted by
Joe as saying that Swing is not
dying out" has, nevertheless, added
dozen stringed instruments to
the Glenn Miller Orchestra-which
formerly had none.
The day after I wrote the column
which prompted Joe to take pen in
hand q dispatch from Hollywood
quoted Gene Kelly, dancer and
movie actor, as saying that jazz
is rapidly losing favor with the
general public.
At recent dance given by the
Young Peoples Club Of the Church
Of st. Thomas the Apostle, which !
chaperoned (and which, incidental
ly, Joe attended), only two couples
did the kind of dancing that goes
with swing music. AL the others
preferred to dance straight" And
when the four jitterbugs took the
floor to cavort to jazz tunes the
other couples retired to the side
lines.
Benny Goodman, who led swing
to the peak Of its popularity, said
recently Of his fellow jazz macs
tros:
"The trouble is they just play
too darned loud"
Among the new pupils at Little
Flower School, Great Mills, Md, Is
Eugene Purcell, S. On opening day
he stayed In the classroom only a
few minutes before asking to be
excused. When he didn't return
within q reasonable time the
teacher-a nun-went looking for
him. She found him in the school,
yard. playing.
"Come, Eugene" she said. You're
supposed to be In school"
"But, sister," Eugene, grinned,
"I've already been to school once
today!"