[Dixielandjazz] Maxim Gorky on Jazz was Sartre

[Stephen G Barbone]

Sartre liked jazz. On the other hand, Russian writer Maxim Gorky (a  
leader in Soviet revolutionary literature) followed the party line.  
Circa 1928 or so, Joseph Stalin reversed the Russian state position on  
Jazz and Gorky published the party line that Jazz was a poison spread  
among blacks in America by American Capitalists to keep their minds  
(and bodies) occupied, diverting them from realizing that they were  
economic slaves to a corrupt system. Jazz and Jazz Dancing were now  
anti Soviet  and persons caught playing jazz records could be put in  
prison for up to 6 months. here is Gorky's classic description of jazz:

 From "The Music of the Gross" - 1928 - 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. Bestial cries are heard, neighing horses, wild screaming,  
hissing, rattling, wailing, moaning, cackling. The insulting chaos of  
insanity pulses to a throbbing rhythm. Listening to this screaming  
music for a few minutes , one involuntarily imagines an orchestra of  
sexual maniacs led by a man-stallion beating time with an enormous  
phallus.  The monstrous bass belches our English words; a wild horn  
wails piercingly, calling to  mind the cries of a raving camel; a drum  
pounds monotonously; a nasty little pipe tears 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."

So what is jazz?  "Screaming music played by a group of sexual  
maniacs, led by a man stallion with an enormous phallus"  Damn, I knew  
it. No wonder Louis said if you had to ask, you'd never know. <grin>

And who is the audience? "A group of moaning, hissing fleshy hipped  
swayers with heavy feet."

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband