[Dixielandjazz] Jazz & Mental Health redux.

[Stephen Barbone]

Of course, ALL musicians improvised in the early days before mankind
developed a written language, no? So what's the big deal about Buddy
Bolden improvising?

And who said Bolden "invented" jazz?

Besides Ken Burns? ;-)

I prefer the Russian description of Jazz from the 1928 Pravda article,
"The Music of The Gross" by Maxim Gorky

"There are rumblings, wails and howls like the smarting of a metal pig,
the shriek of a donkey, or the amorous croaking of a monstrous frog.
This insulting chaos of insanity pulses to a throbbing rhythm. Listening
for a few minutes to these wails, one involuntarily imagines an
orchestra of sexually driven madmen conducted by a man-stallion
brandishing a huge genital member. The monstrous bass belches out
English words, a wild horn wails piercingly, calling to mind the cries
of a raving camel; a drum pounds monotonously; a nasty pipe years at
ones ears; a saxophone emits its quacking nasal sound. Fleshy hips sway,
and thousands of heavy feet tread and shuffle. The music of the
degenerate ends finally with a deafening thud, as though a case of
pottery had been flung down from the skies."

That sounds like Barbone Street all right., except for the man stallion
part. ;-)

Cheers,
Steve

PS. Sometimes when we have a really great night club audience of young
people, I'll ask if they are Jazz Fans. When they all stomp and cheer, I
take out a card and read Gorky's description. Then they cheer twice as
loud. Especially the "fleshy hipped" ones. ;-)