A few Sunday sessions ago, I checked out this book lent by Connie Richardson and promised a book report. As a side referent, I did 151 book reports in the 6th Grade and wrote a 50-book annotated bibliography to win 1st prize ($250) as a grad student at UCSB for best book collection. I read a lot. 400 pages later, here is my report...a book summary of "Shining Trumpets" by Rudi Blesh (1946).
Considered even today as one of the best books ever written on jazz, "Shining Trumpets: A History of Jazz," was written in 1946, chronicling the history of jazz at an early age, prior to bebop, cool jazz, modal jazz, free jazz, and other variants. I wondered what author Rudi Blesh would have thought of Mingus, Coltrane, or Eric Dolphy. The book was filled with song references and comparisons, written music, and some harsh commentary on the state of jazz in America...far better than the Ken Burns documentary (IMHO).
What I found most interesting was the distinction of traditional (or trad) jazz made by Blesh. Jazz is not swing. Jazz is not the blues. Jazz has a lot to do with New Orleans and can best be differentiated by two main factors: (1) polyharmony; and (2) polyrhythms. In other words, traditional jazz is exemplified by dynamic melodies and rhythms.
Polyharmony reflects multiple lead instrument parts, usually a clarinet & trumpet in the traditional sense...Imagine two melodies going on at the same time. For example in Dixieland music, the clarinet often plays the role of a countermelody, often down a third, in conjunction with a stated main melody. This contrapuntal effect can be seen as a main differentiation in traditional jazz. According to Jelly Roll Morton: "You've got to keep the melody going somewhere at all times" (p. 255). Good advice.
The second factor, polyrhythms, stems from African beat and can be heard via rhythm shifts or stop time in a tune, as led by the rhythm section with a key linking role in the piano. Ferdinand "Jelly Roll" Morton was a key founder in jazz and his music personifies Blesh's ideal of what jazz should be. Morton learned and played piano in the brothels in NO from the early greats from the origins & heyday of Storyville. His style was lewd and bawdy, but he orchestrated tunes that reflected jazz chords, voicings, rhythms, & countermelodies. He purportedly wrote the first published jazz tune, "Jelly Roll Blues," in 1915. As a pianist, Morton deftly drove the rhythm and harmony with his left hand with a very clean stated melody in his right hand. His frequent use of stop time allowed for rhythmic breaks in a tune, allowing the soloist(s), usually the clarinet, to shift the pace of a tune. The role of Jelly Roll and Fats Waller, according to Blesh, "...kept the piano subordinate in the ensemble; in their hands it became sort of a liaison agent between the rhythm section and the polyphonic melody section" (p. 318). Cool.
On the other hand, Blesh was extremely harsh in his criticism of some jazz greats such as Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, later Louis Armstrong, and (insert) any white jazz musician. He particularly disdained Ellington, of whom he claimed wrote syrupy European riffs that set back the development of jazz 10-20 years. Henderson's brand of Manhattan Swing was inferior in its orchestration & arrangement and noted for its butchering of traditional jazz tunes.
One of the best ways to read the book, 70 years after it was first printed, is to compare the music cited on YouTube (lucky us). In the following two examples, Blesh illustrates the difference between Manhattan Swing & Traditional Jazz:
(1) Fletcher Henderson vs. Jelly Roll Morton: "The Chant:"
(2) Fletcher Henderson vs. King Oliver: "Sugarfoot Stomp/Dippermouth Blues:"
In comparing two such tunes, Blesh distinguishes the countermelody effect, the use of sections to state one melody, and the stark difference in rhythm shift. This illustrates a shining instance where, Blesh claims, Jazz African roots are shunned - where the rhythm and melodies become relatively static. Compare the above two YouTube examples if you have the time...a tune can tell a thousand words.
While documenting some of the classics, Blesh demonstrated with music examples of how traditional jazz was defined in its historical context. He concludes: "Jazz music relates equally to the concepts, the discoveries, the motivations of our time. For one thing, its ceaseless movement and it's free melodies in combined variation are analogous to pure movement in time and space. Like a natural process, jazz has no real beginning, no real end" (p. 340). :)
A great, yet laborious, read...I can now turn the book in for someone else to explore. Very educational! As the new newsletter editor, I plan on writing a jazz book report every month because I read fast. Stay tuned! Long live (trad) jazz!
