SWING

You either dance to jazz music or you listen to it, or both. That's what it's for. And it can be something very minor in your life. Like going to the movies or skiing. Most people take it that way and they're probably just as well off. But there are some of us to whom it means a little more than that. Why, I'm sure I could never explain, although your jazz aesthete will tell you that it's the only art from that America can call her own, and they will go on to say that it's a kind of musical commentary on a great intellectual movement with all sorts of social implications thrown in. Be that as it may, and whatever jazz might represent, it's certainly deserving of more dignity than a few phoney press releases loaded with leg art.

I personally feel that our two major swing magazines have so far proved inadequate to the task of putting jazz music on a respectable level with the other so-called "lighter arts," and that's why I'd like to mention two very minor publications whose editors have performed some excellent pioneering work in the field of jazz, criticism. Neither of these, to the best of my knowledge, has a circulation of over five hundred, yet their general content is far superior to and much more interesting than the comparatively immature stuff you read in the big commercial magazines.

The first of these is called the H.R.S. Rag, and is published by the Hot Record Society of New York. Its editor, Heywood Hale Broun, is a collector and critic whose work has included the tough assignment of going to New Orleans and recording the music of some of the oldest jazz artists in the country. Besides this he's a budding newspaperman (sportswriter on PM) and has the right idea on how to put a paper together. Every issue contains record reviews and feature articles by critics and musicians who were all listening to this stuff back in the days when you and I though Casa Loma played hot music. In addition, there are cartoons by John Groth, whose work you know from Esquire and the New Yorker, and photographs by Charles Peterson, who is recognized as the leading photographer of swing musicians in the country.

The other is called Jazz Information, and it's also published in New York. Editor Gene Williams, a Columbia graduate, writes his own record reviews, and has done much valuable work in the field of record collecting, bringing to light obscure yet excellent musicians, and the like. Contributors have included George Avakian, who is responsible for Decca's Chicago Jazz Album and many of the Columbia reissues, George Frazier, who is more or less responsible for Bobby Hackett, and a number of other well-known critics, musicians, photographers and artists. Each issue carries a comprehensive news column with complete information on where your favorite bands are and for how long and whatever else you might want to know. Finally, subscribers are entitled to a free record every now and then, and the selection is always excellent.

Both magazines are photo-offset jobs, both have extremely good formats, both cost fifteen cents, and both can be bought at Briggs and Briggs. I've devoted a column to them because I feel that they're worth the space. I also feel that you'll get a lot of fun out of them, as well as a deeper appreciation of jazz music and the men that play it, particularly if you're sick of reading handouts from band leaders press agents.

NEWS AND NEW RELEASES. Novelty of the week: Artie Shaw and the Gramercy Five on Dr. Livingstone, I Presume. Nick Fatool plays some very fancy drums, and Billy Butterfield takes a muted trumpet chorus in the Cootie Williams tradition. The boys wind up with a lot of whacky riffs which give Shaw opportunity to show a little technique if nothing else. Reverse is called When the Quail Come Back to San Quentin, and Scarlatti would have appreciated what harpsichordist Johnny Guarneri does to some of his own ideas (VICTOR)...Benny Goodman's latest twelve inch recording, Superman, is another elaborate Eddie Sauter orchestration, and features Cootie Williams pyrotechnics all the way through. There's also some tenor sax by Georgie Auld, who gets the same dirty tone out of his horn that Benny likes to use (COLUMBIA)... Metronome's 1941 All Star band has recorded One O'Clock Jump and Bugle Call Rag for VICTOR. Coupling can't help but be good, but unfortunately they have to squeeze in a chorus for everybody. Consequently, one man will just be getting in the mood, when he's through. However, Cootie Williams and Coleman Hawkins make the date outstanding... Earl Hines' distinctive barrelhouse piano is graced by an exceptionally good rhythm section on In Swamp Lands. Reverse is called Everything Depends on You, ideal dance number featuring Madeline Green on vocal, backed by "the boys." The lyrics are swell, the background harmony very tasteful, and finally, there's a long gooey tenor chorus which seems to fit in with the mood (BLUEBIRD)