Music Trade Review

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52
THE
MUSIC
TRADE
REVIEW
JUNE 25, 1921
Another Smashing Hit
"Do You Ever
Think of Me"
Successor to "Whispering"
Sweeping the country from Coast to Coast.
To be had on all records and player rolls.
Published by
Sherman Hay & Co.
San Francisco
Other Big Hits
Are
"Whispering"
"Coral Sea"
"I'll Keep on
Loving You"
"Wandering
Home"
"My Wonder Girl"
"Idling"
"Louisiana"
SOME NEW DITSON CO. ISSUES
SOPHIE TUCKER DEFENDS JAZZ
"MUSIC OF THE PILGRIMS"
Piano, Violin and Vocal Music Just Published
by the Oliver Ditson Co.
Prominent "Coon Shouter" and Vaudeville Art-
ist Declares That Jazz Is Real Rhythm
Booklet Descriptive of the Psalm-melodies by
the Puritan Ainsworth Published by Ditson's
Among the recent publications of the Oliver
Ditson Co., of Boston, are included a Mass in F
for two voices (with tenor and bass ad lib.)
by Luigi Bordese; C. L. Hanon, the Virtuoso
Pianist in Sixty Exercises, three books, trans-
lated from the French by Arthur Westbrook;
Six Sonata-s for Violin and P'ano, by George
Frederick Handel; and the following selections
for the piano: A Blue Sunbonnet, The Bounc-
ing Ball, The Broken Promise, A La Tarantella,
A Tender Thought, Charles Huerter, composer:
La Graciosa, Autumn Gold, Birthday Song, by
Louis Adolphe Coerne; From Norway, by Gas-
ton Borch; Serenade, by Victor Herbert: March
Winds, by Eber C. Hamilton; Slumber Song, by
Heinrich Gebhard; Butterflies, by H. Alexander
Mathews; A Dream, by J. C. Bartlett; Whisper-
ing Hope, by Alice Hawthorne; Melodie-Valse,
by Edouard Schuett, and Meadow Brooklet, by
Heinrich Gebhard.
Sophie Tucker, the well-known "coon shouter"
Last year's tercentenary of the landing of the
and exponent of jazz, came out strong in de- Pilgrims at Plymouth, with all its affiliated sub-
fense of jazz music in a special story in the jects of interest, is doubtless responsible for the
New York Globe published recently. Miss Tucker booklet just issued by Oliver Ditson Co., en-
took exception to some comments on jazz made titled "The Music of the Pilgrims," by Waldo
by Oscar Seagle in the Globe, and said:
Selden Pratt, of the Hartford Theological Semi-
"There is just as much intelligence and train- nary. This interesting effort is descriptive of
ing necessary to sing syncopated melodies as the Psalm-book brought to Plymouth in 1620
Mr. Seagle has devoted to perfecting himself in by Henry Ainsworth, who probably stood high-
his own art. And who would expect him to est among the religious exiles from England as
sing jazz? Every man and woman should stick a compiler of psalm-melodies. The thirty-nine
to their own forte, and confine their criticism melodies comprising the booklet were designed
to the field they are most expert in.
to be sung in unison, led by the men's voices,
"Opera lacks rhythm, whereas real jazz is since the airs are set for the tenor. In each
syncopation, and syncopation is rhythm. You case they are accompanied by some single
cannot sway to an opera, but you can to a jazz stanza of the words regularly used. For con-
venience's sake they are transcribed in modern
tune. Doctors recommend dancing as a health
ful exercise, and the American public prefers notation, using the G-clef instead of the C-clef
to dance to jazz syncopation rather than the and substituting the modernly formed musical
old-fashioned 'Blue Danube' and other waltzes. note for the old-style formation.
Just because Mr. Seagle cannot understand the
With each tune a few brief notes are sub-
present-day American idea of pep and rhythm joined, recalling points about its derivation and
is no reason why he should condemn jazz as a previous usage or- emphasizing features in the
deadly poison. I have never heard of a physi- melody which are worth observing. The thirty-
cian prescribing doses of opera for his patients. nine specimens of tunes are all indicative of the
Take the German operas, for example. They Puritan's high place as an author of this type of
are long-drawn-out and induce the same lassi- rel'gious musical writing, despite the fact that
tude as overeating.
his "vogue" was almost entirely confined to
"Jazz music in a measure has filled the void Plymouth—never barely reaching Boston—and
caused by prohibition. The American public that by 170O only one of his tunes remained
craves pep and stimulation, and it is now get- to be sung by his Plymouth constituency.
ting it through dancing to jazz melodies and
syncopation. The sale of America's popular
songs in many instances runs into millions of
copies. The opera has yet to be written the
sale of whose score will even approach these
figures. Why do the great majority of Ameri-
cans sing and whistle popular tunes in preference
to operas? Because the melodies are easy to
remember and the lyrics understandable.
"Jazz is the present American music, just as
ballads and ragtime were a few years ago. Prob-
ably Mr. Seagle takes exception to it because of
his foreign training. The public never has been
overenthusiastic over foreign melodies, whereas
in a number of cases popular American songs
have become the rage in London, Berlin and
Paris. In London nowadays American songs
are more liked than those of the British writers.
"In conclusion, I wish to state that I occa-
sionally enjoy hearing a good French or Italian
opera, but as a steady diet it would be impos-
sible. However, as the great American public
at present seems to favor my style of singing in
preference to opera, I am not going to worry
much about the latter. I doubt if anyone would
ever expect me to sing opera, but if they do
I'll revamp and syncopate the score and jazz
it from the first note to the last."
Jack Mills, Inc., has accepted for publication
a new song, entitled "Fascination," the work of
lohn Hoffman and Al Sherman.
Charley Straight and Roy Bargy's
Fax-trot Ballad Success
Published by
McKinley Music Co. " -
1
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