[Dixielandjazz] Cartoon Music one more time

[Stan Brager]

Steve;

I believe the reason why people keep on dissing you about cartoon music is
that you always referring to some music in cartoons differently than others.
In other words, you are the one who's confused the issue. You listen to the
music of the "Figaro" cartoon and say that it's not cartoon music. It an
opera by Mozart. Then, you listen to a Loony Tunes cartoon which presents a
10 second quote from a jazz (in my opinion) recording and call that
composer's music cartoon music.

You can't have it both ways. Either it's cartoon music or you go back to the
source and declare it to be what it is.

Yes, Carl Stallings and others have adapted music from the jazz, classical,
popular etc. fields. If you like, you can label Stallings' musical collages
as cartoon music. As a general rule, cartoon music is subordinate to the
actions of the cartoon characters on the screen. In the theatre, they'd call
it incidental music.

Therefore, to make a statement like referring to Raymond Scott's
"Powerhouse" snippet as cartoon music while "Figaro is not is preposterous.

You may not think that "Powerhouse" is jazz - that's fine by me. I think it
is jazz The musicians who recorded "Powerhouse" thought it was jazz (from
Dave Harris and Raymond Scott).  Many of Scott's contemporaries also thought
it was jazz.

I don't seek to change your opinion of "Powerhouse". I do hope that you
would be consistent in your appraisals.

Stan
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Steve Barbone" <barbonestreet at earthlink.net>
To: <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 23, 2007 1:40 PM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Cartoon Music one more time


> "Robert S. Ringwald" <robert at ringwald.com>
>
> > Steve Barbone wrote, regarding "cartoon music":
> >
> >> Gee Whiz guys, you unfairly paint Wiggins and me as dissing cartoon
> >> music, (snip)
>
> > Steve,
>
> > As an advertising man, you must see that classifying really good 1920s
Jazz
> > as Cartoon Music could be construed as demeaning.
>
> Yes, I can see that, but only with those folks who classify "cartoon
music"
> as a demeaning genre. (for reasons which escape me) Point being I don't
see
> it as demeaning and have said so more than once.
>
> > Sure, it was used as background music in cartoons but to call it cartoon
> > music belittles it.  It was good Jazz that just happened to be used to
back
> > up cartoons.
>
> It was music that happened to back up cartoons in some cases, and in
others
> it was specifically written for cartoons. Some is good jazz, some is not
> good jazz and some is not jazz. If, as you say, it is good jazz, then why
do
> you think "cartoon music" as a description "belittles" it?
>
> > By the same token, Scott Joplin's "The Entertainer" written in 1902 and
some
> > other of Joplin's compositions were used     in the 1973 film "The
Sting."
> > But you would not classify Joplin's music as movie music or film music.
>
>
> That presents an interesting discussion point. Many people who saw The
Sting
> call the theme song "The Sting". To them it was indeed movie music. The
> Movie was a period piece and Joplin's music was perfect for it as far as
> Marvin Hamlisch was concerned, even though not accurate historically
because
> the movie was set in the 1930s (maybe late 20s) and ragtime was well past
> its popularity peak by that time.  If memory serves me right, Hamlisch,
not
> Joplin, won an Oscar for the music in the Sting.  That would seem to make
> his "adaptation" (or rip off) of Joplin's music, "Movie Music". Hamlisch
> probably also took co-composer credit since he was not faithful to the
> original score of "The Entertainer."
>
> What do I call Joplin's music? "Good music". Like Ellington, he is
> impossible to categorize in a single genre. He wrote Marches, Rags, Operas
> and Waltzes to my knowledge. After his early works were published, he
> specialized in Ragtime, probably because that's where the money was.
>
> Cheers,
> Steve Barbone
>
> PS to Charlie Suhor. If you were not imprinted with cartoon music at say
> ages 6 to 12, then you are either the exception that proves the rule, or
did
> not go to the movies back then, or you've forgotten about it. I didn't say
> you had to like it, only that it was probably your first exposure to jazz,
> pre jazz, jazzy, (or what ever you wish to call it) music. :-) VBG.
>
>
>
>