[Dixielandjazz] "Oriental" jazz

[Anton Crouch]

Hello all

Dave Richoux raises an interesting matter here. My first thoughts were that
the phenomenon in jazz was a follow-on from the WW1 experience for many
Americans, when they discovered that there was a world outside the
continental USA.

But, no - the "oriental" seems to have been essentially middle eastern and
was in evidence at least as early as 1917 - the ODJB's 'Sudan' ('Oriental
Jass'). The ODJB seems to have had a few such numbers in their repertoire -
'Sphinx' and 'Palesteena' for example.

By 1921 orientalism had swept the country (Rudolph Valentino and 'The
Sheik') and Carter's discovery of Tut's tomb in 1922 cemented the
phenomenon in the American psyche.

All the best
Anton