Evening star., 1948-07-27

Ihere are times Wnen q man leelS
that the whole world is, if not
against him, at least out of step with
him. One of the times, if he is a
writing man, is when he attempts to
get the word Localities" meaning
the residents of this city, into print.
That always turns out to be "locali-
ties" meaning places, when it gets
into the paper. The man who
writes 1t is sure, after few tries,
that not only all of the printers but
all of the people in the world are
convinced there is no such word as
"localites.' (And if localities has
not been turned to localities" In
the above, it is only the exception
that proves the pointo
Another time when a man begins
to suspect that either he or the
rest of the world is wrong Is when
what seems like the rest of the world
Is sounding enthusiasms for
Katchaturian's Sabre Dance
That's great music, the people say.
That's music? the man we're think
ing about asks. Well, If you've been
feeling uncomfortable in the pres
ence of the Sabre Dance" ruined
hv the thought that this is some
thing akin to being beat on the
head with a hammer. because II
feels so good when it stops, we nave
reinsurance for you today. you're
okay. Don't worry.
The other night we were oroWs-
ing through the personal belong
ines of Sande Williams, who was
the Shoreham Palladian Room S
orchestra leader before it closed Tor
the summer. In pile OF sneet
music we came upon a SABRE
Dance" orchestration. Each instru-
mental part was labelled with the
terse warning, Mote: Dlssonances
In this arrangement are necessary
to create the proper effect"
This is sort of going around IN
circle. but anyone who tried to play
the Sabre Dance" and make 1t
sound like music would undoubted-
" make Katchaturian feel ike a
man trying to get "localitS" into
print. Anyhow. if you've been
growing that the work is a piece
of dissonant nonsense, you are not
q man with whom the world Is out
of step. The man who published 1t
seems to think so, too.
But what. daddy. is the proper
effect" of the Sabre Dance hun?
x * x
Not long ago we promised to let
vo,l know, as soon as we found out.
how the music of Boston band
differed from the music OF other
bands. A publicity release had
come along announcing that Jack
Edwards, the Wardman Park Met
ronome Rooms new band-leader
had in 1941 organized a Boston
band" Chicago bands. we had
heard about, and Kansas City bands,
New Orleans bands old German
bands, Army Air Force bands, rumba
bands and Marine Corps bands
But no Boston bands.
All of this leads to nowhere, be-
cause Boston bands, If that Is what
Mr.. Edwards really has one of at
the Metronome Room, do not sound
anv different from New York bands
Washington bands or Cincinnati
Ohio, bands designed for polite
hotel rendezvous. The Edwards
music, we would say off hand, is an
improvement at the Metronome
Room. Melodies are recognizable
and set upon solid rhythm that
any one-well, almost any one
should be able to dance to.
MI. Edwards doesn't play an in
strument which doesn't mean he
can't; he majored in trumpet and
voice at Duke University. He con-
tents himself with seeing that re-
quests are filled (out of vast
repertoire of old favorites) and con-
ducting-juSt like Stokowski, with
no baton. The Wardman's leader
got his basic training in the orches-
ira business playing in Johnny
Longs orchestra, after his gradua-
ton from Duke After five years
of that, he organized that Boston
band in 1941 after becoming stu
dent at the New England Con-
servatory of Music.
Like a number of other people
Mr.. Edwards took a few years out on
account of war, starting In 1943
and came back to his music just a