Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
JANUARY 29,
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW
1921
No one will doubt that the end of jazz is defi-
nitely at hand. The reader may or ;nay not ap-
prove, but his attitude will not make much dif-
ference, probably. When a general movement
starts the only important question is whether it
is justified by the logic of fact and whether it
represents an advantage. If it be a good move
in the sense of presenting some social, ethical
and economic value to the people at large, then,
even if some industry dislikes it, there is no valid
argument against it. But, in fact, the passing of
the highly jazzed roll is the passing of what can
only be called an unhealthy fad. There were
many reasons for this. No matter how nice it
was in the beginning the fact remains that jazz
became so wildly impossible a thing finally that
there was nothing worth preserving about it.
Hand Played Word Rolls
for FEBRUARY
57828 Somebody's Waiting:. Fox-trot (Sohoen-
berg)
Adam Carroll
57328 Isle of Paradise. Hawaiian Waltz
(Earl). .Adam Carroll and Adrian Ilollinl
57438 No Wonder I'm Blue.
Fox-trot
(Ahlert)
Adrian Kollini
57528 Mother of Pearl. Ballad (Ball),
Irene DiGiovanni
57628 With the Coming of Tomorrow. Bal-
lad Fox-trot (Creamer),
Adam Carroll and Adrian Rollinl
57728 Love in Lilac Time. Waltz Ballad
(Lensen)
Irene DiGiovanni
57828 I Want to Be the Leader of the
Band. Novelty Fox-trot (Gumble),
J. Milton Delcamp
57928 You Oughta See My Baby. Fox-trot
(Ahlert)
J. Milton Delcamp
58028 In the Heart of Dear Old Italy. Waltz
Song (Glogau)
Adrian Kollini
58128 If a Wish Could Make It So (Tickle
Me) Fox-trot (Stotbardt),
J. Milton Delcamp
58228 Good-bye (Lady Billy).
Fox-trot
(Levey)
J. Milton Delcamp
58328 Rosle (Make It Rosy for Me). Fox-
trot (Merker)
Victor Lane
58428 Everybody Knows. Waltz Song (Iu-
graham)
Irene DiGiovanni
58528 She Walks in Her Husband's Sleep,
Oue-step (Von Tllzer).. .Adam Carroll
58628 April Showers Bring May Flowers.
Fox-trot (Shllkret)..J. Milton Delcamp
58728 The Rose I Call Sweetheart. Ballad
(Burkhardt)
Irene DiGiovanni
58828 Becky from Babylon (The Passing
Show). Fox-trot (Silver)..Adrian Rollini
58928 My Heart at Thy Sweet Voice (Sam-
son et Delila). Ballad (Saint-Saens)
Irene XtiGiovanni
59028 Yokohama Lullaby. Fox-trot (Mon-
aco)
Adam Carroll
Instrumental
59118 Value ,Lente. Waltz (Delcamp),
'
J. Milton Delcamp;.
The taste of the people who bought that sort of
roll had nothing in common with any other
taste, so that if the jazz roll was to continue it
could only continue by driving out everything
opposed to itself, which meant, of course, nine-
tenths of the existing numbers. This could not
be, for it would have meant the speedy end of
the music roll business. This business depends
upon the normal taste of the people, as that
taste is manifested from year to year. It has
never yet been a highly educated taste, but it
has been a steadily improving taste and year by
year has become more healthy. Melody, simple
rhythm and snappy swing will charm a hundred
where jazz only attracts a rapidly assuaged
curiosity. Even from the strictly commercial
point of view the overjazzed roll was a poor
proposition as soon as the immediate fad had
passed. As a novelty it had its place, but as
soon as it ceased to be a novelty it became a
nuisance.
Like all reforms, this one must be left to take
its course. Nothing is to be gained by trying to
hasten the march of events. Little by little the
best brains of the industry will come to see that
the most secure foundation for our industrial
structure is the natural unstimulated taste of the
simple people. Fads, stunts and freaks come
and go, but the product which most nearly ap-
proaches to the natural simple wants of the
simple people goes on forever. In time, one may
hope, the best men will come to see that what
is most wanted in the musical field is more
familiarity of the people with pleasing melody,
simple harmony, and sincere musical utterance.
The vogue of jazz was a typical post-war vogue.
It was the sort of thing which only the reaction
from .a terrible war could explain. But we are
not trying to keep up the thoughts which filled
us at the close of war, nor are we trying to live
the hectic lives we led during those exciting
days. It is high time for us all, in fact, to settle
down to hard work, clean living, honesty and
sincerity, and to remember that the future of
our country, of civilization and of our own im-
mediate concerns depends upon our sanity and
wisdom just now. That is why we should wel-
come the passing of jazz as a recognized feature
of our national life. For it was the sign of a
peculiar episode. Jt existed because the world
needed, or felt that it needed, an extraordinary
amount of excitement and mad gaiety after the
strenuous sacrifice and labor of the war. So
jazz had its place. It came because the time
was ripe for it, or, rather, the thought of the
time hatched it. But that thought has changed
and men and women are thinking in other terms,
along other lines and for other purposes. We
of the music roll industry should accept grace-
.fully the passing of a craze which brought us
firiuch profit but which is no longer up to date.
£ It. r bag .be'ejti isiif prising and pleasant to note
?:that, in spife 0f ill complaints of high costs in
^manufacturing, 'the price of music rolls has
remained so steady during the worst of the cost-
peak period. The question of possible reduc-
tions in present retail prices may, of course,
come' up in time. Whether, however, it is going
PAUL B. KLUGH, Pres.
75th Street at Broadway
N. Y. CITY
to be possible profitably to produce a roll for
much less than the present retail price may be
regarded as questionable. The standard music
roll of the day is a hand-played production, with
words. To make such a roll a profitable product
at a retail cost of $1.25, including spools, flanges
and box, demands very large output. It is a
notorious fact that the roll industry suffers
from periods of overproduction. Mainly this
is due to the unscientific way in which the roll
men work with the other elements of the player
industry generally. So long as there is no fixed
system of educating the merchant on the roll
question, chiefly by showing him how to sell
the rolls when he gets them on his shelves, so
long in turn will the output of rolls be smaller
than it ought to be. In other words, to reduce
prices we must have greater output. When we
have secured greater output we can reduce
prices, which in turn will stimulate sales and
make the output still larger. It is a circle, but
not a vicious circle. The roll industry needs a
better general mutual understanding among
its elements. If all the members of the Music
Roll Association would think of these things
more as friends and less as competitors, the
probability is that more would be accomplished.
The outstanding fact, all the time, is that out-
put is too small. It will remain small so long
as the music merchants of the country are not
enthusiastic about rolls. To make them en-
thusiastic, we must first show them how to sell
to their retail customers. There is the key-
problem. Solve that and we solve our output
problem. Solve that, in turn, and we solve the
question of price.
AEOLIAN CO.
The February bulletin of the Duo-Art music
is notable principally for showing an array of
{Continued on page 12)
XJJJJ / ' / \ \ \ y y > X
CHICAGO
D. S. Player Rolls
Sell At a Profit
Only one grade
—the best.
Only one label
—the U. S.
The Best
Money and Brains
Can Produce
PLAYER-ORGAN-PIANO
WkMY
lllllllll!ll!ll!ll!!llllllll!lll
Republic Player Roll Corp.
11
A Specialty of Pneumatic Leathers
'
l UTTU'IlilC I « « 40 SPRUCE STREET
T . L
LUlluNo, Inc.
NEWYORK