‘In this book,’ writes Parsonage
in her preface, ‘I have attempted to take
a critical view of the history of jazz in
Britain in order to offer explanations of
why the music evolved and developed the way
it did, rather than documenting its presence.’
And already the tone is set. This isn’t simply
a bland list of jazz acts that played in front
of British audiences, but a thorough, detailed
and academic study of the music’s development
there. Drawing on a massive range of sources
- from news reports to letters to critical
texts from the period - Parsonage sets out
to ‘evaluate the place of jazz in society
and in the history of art.’
It is, in fact, this understanding
that jazz does not exist in a vacuum - that
it must be considered within the context of
culture as a whole - which makes the book
so thoroughly readable. Clearly, attitudes
to race, for example, were influential in
this time period, and, in exploring the issue,
Parsonage does well in resisting the temptation
to generalise. Sticking purely to documented
evidence, she takes us through a fascinating
journey from the early minstrel shows - which
captivated audiences with the ‘strangeness’
of blackface performances - to the time of
‘hot jazz’ when white performers where treated
by critics with scepticism, to the days when
jazz was at last considered on it’s own merits
as a genre.
Parsonage is equally astute
in her analysis of critical receptions to
jazz - which was initially viewed as light-hearted
dance music, diametrically opposed in its
aims to the high-brow world of classical.
Gershwin, she tells us, helped to blur this
distinction, with large-scale works like Rhapshody
in Blue that didn’t slot neatly into either
category, and challenged existing preconceptions.
In her wonderful chapter on Armstrong and
Ellington, she deals in greater detail with
the theme. While Armstrong divided the critics,
she notes, Ellington received unanimous praise
- for not only was he a gifted performer,
but also a truly ingenious composer, whose
works reject the formulaic in favour of lively
innovation.
Overall, Parsonage’s book
is a great contribution to our knowledge of
jazz, and a much-needed text as far as Britain
is concerned. Important as America was, and
still is, in the development of the genre,
Britain’s history is a fascinating one. And
this serious, important, well-researched book
is surely the best way of learning it.
CD Reviews
Ashgate Popular and Folk Music Series.
2005. 301 pages. £50 post-free
