Sonneck Society for American Music
Bulletin, Volume XXIII, no. 2 (Summer 1997)
Reviews of Books
Edited by Sherrill V. Martin, University of North Carolina at Wilmington
Jazz Veterans: A Portrait Gallery
Text by Chip Deffaa. Photographs by Nancy Miller Elliot and John and Andreas Johnsen. Fort Bragg, CA.
Cypress House, 1996. ISBN 1-879384-28-0. Pp. xii, 259. $44.95
Balancing photographs and text, this volume celebrates jazz musicians born no later than 1920. Along the
way, it also salutes a few impresarios, writers, and people in radio and film who have befriended and
loved jazz. There are other coffee-table jazz books that probably deliver more value at forty-five
dollars, yet Deffaa's sincerity is not to be doubted. He shares more personal impressions than
usual and he reports worthy nuggets here and there, but his writing is only marginally more artful
than a postcard.
Many of the photos are scarcely more composed than snapshots, but some provide precious glimpses
of their subjects: reclusive and wispy Ken Kersey seated on a park bench in a posture calculated to
make himself even skinnier; a worn and pensive Jo Jones remembering -- what? (How one wishes to
know!); Jabbo Smith perched on the steps of a brownstone, with a curly-headed moppet peering intently
into the bell of Jabbo's horn; and brothers Percy and Willie Humphrey at Preservation Hall, alert and
poised for a night's work only weeks before Willie died at age 93.
The book closes with a profile of Wynton Marsalis who, while born long after 1920, has restored early
jazz musicians to respectability among the new generation of black players. Marsalis, however, has also been
sharply criticized by Gene Less and others for practicing an reverse discrimination in his selective
remembering and honoring of the past. Deffaa scrambles half-heartedly onto this bandwagon; his gentle
chiding certainly will not burn any bridges for the (now Pulitzer-winning) trumpeter and composer,
but, by shining a penlight on those issues at the back of the book, Deffaa undermines the tribute
that is the avowed purpose of Jazz Veterans, and unwittingly becomes part of the problem.
--Robert Bamberg, Producer/Host,
Hot Jazz Saturday Night,
WAMU-FM, Washington, D.C.
John Cage Writer
By Richard Kostelanetz (ed.). New York: Limelight Editions, 1993. ISBN 0-87910-163-6. Pp. xviii, 281. $30.00.
Musicage: Cage Muses on Words Art Music
By Joan Retallack (ed.). Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1996. ISBN 0-8195-5285-2.
Pp. xlvii, 360.
Over the years, John Cage's sizable prose oeuvre has been handed down in a somewhat peacemeal and disordered
fashion. His own collections from the 1960s, for example, incorporate many of the seminal essays; however, they are
also assembled in a decidedly non-chronological manner, thwarting any clear impression of his creative evolution.
Beginning in the 1970s, Richard Kostelanetz significantly enhanced the availability of Cage's prose by editing his
own compilations of previously unpublished writings. John Cage: Writer is the most recent of
these; presumably, it will also be the last large collection of Cage's prose. The first hundred pages of this volume
fill the gaps left by its predecessors, featuring isolated works scattered anywhere between the late 1930s through the
1960s. The remainder of the book however, is unique as an assembalge of Cage's writings from the last twenty years of
his life and includes not only essays, articles, and lectures from this period, but also examples of the "mesostic,"
his preferred poetic form. The prose works clearly testify to Cage's expansive interests in later years--not only the
creative arts, but in mushrooms, Marshall McLuhan, and macrobiotics. His summations of his own
compositions since 1933 also appear in their entirety in this volume, while the 1989 essay, "An Autobiographical
Statment," constitutes the skeletal framework for what is now regarded as "Cagelore." Like the other compilations of
Cage's prose, this collection does not constitute and cohesive totality in itself; instead, it serves
as the last installment in a series of source books best used in conjunction with one another. Thanks largely to
the efforts of Kostelanetz, in future, scholars may manipulate these volumes, tackling their contents chronologically
and thereby gaining a more accurate sense of Cage's dymanmic development.
In addition to Cage's prose, hundreds of pages of his interviews have been published in both journals and compilations.
In many cases, though, these interviews are largely redundant, essentially rehashing the elements of the Cage
mystique, yet not necessarily challenging this myth critically. Joan Retallack's Musicage: Cage Muses on Words
Art Music is therefore a refreshing departure from the standard Cage interview in many ways. Her own lengthy
opening essay -- part personal reminiscence, part scholarly research -- is particularly insightful, and those
frustrated by the inexplicable lack of cross-referencing in most Cage publications will also appreciate the healthy
index that accompanies this volume. Each of the three sections of this interview collection is reinforced with other
documentation. The poetry section, for example, is preceded by a sample mesostic, while approximately fifteen
black-and-white illustrations of Cage's visual works supplement his remarks on art. The appendices related to
music include materials ranging from Cage's chance-generating computer programs of choice to selected manuscripts
or worksheets for his later compositiosn. Retallack conducted these interviews at Cage's loft in New York City
during the last two years of his life, and she attempts to convey this ambiance through minimal editing,
indicating not only moments of Cage's laughter but instances of interruptive phone calls and other distractions.
Unlike most interviewers, who prefer to remains discretely outside of the spotlight, her presence in these
interviews is obvious; indeed, the book would be much smaller were all of her remarks excised. However -- and
fortunately -- in taking the time to press a point, she successfully moves beyond the superficial level of the
typical Cage interview, and in goading him into an unusual specificty and depth, Retallack has created a volume
of inarguable value to contemporary Cage scholarship.
--David Patterson,
University of Maryland at College Park
Notes in Passing
Sherrill V. Martin, University of Carolina at Wilmington
Hymnology: A Collection of Source Readings
By David W. Music. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1996. ISBN 0-8101-3148-1. Pp. xix, 235. $38.00.
David W. Music, Professor of Church Music at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, states that his purpose in compiling
Hymnology is "to help modern students, leaders, and singers of hymns view the history of congregational
song through the perspective of its original writers, leaders, singers, and commentators" (p. xiii). The readings are primary
documents from a wide range of sources: letters, diaries, periodicals, treatises, prefaces to hymnals and tunebooks, books,
pamphlets, and deliberations of church councils. Beginning with early Greek and Latin hymnody, Music continues with
Pre-reformation vernacular hymnody, the Lutheran chorale, Reformed psalmody, English hymnody from the sixteenth to the
twentieth century, and American hymnody in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. An introduction prefaces each selection or
group of selections, contributing basic information necessary for an understanding of the readings; additional sources on
people and topics are provided at the conclusion of the volume.
This welcomed addition to the study of hymnology would be suitable for courses in hymnology, as a reference for ministers
and church musicians, or for nonprofessionals interested in the history of church music.
Broadway Sheet Music: A Comprehensive LIsting of Published Music from Broadway and Other Stage
Shows, 1918 Through 1993
By Donald J. Stubblebine. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1996. ISBN 0-7864-0047-1.
Pp. vi, 449. $75.00.
In this single comprehensive reference work, Stubbletine lists the published songs in every Broadway show from 1918
through 1993. Each of the 2,562 alphabetical entries includes the show's title, the year the musical opened,
and how long it ran, a listing of all songs in the production with composers and lyricists, the stars of the show,
a description of the cover of the sheet music, and a one-line synopsis of the plot. Some musical stage
productions that closed before reaching Broadway are also included.
Stubbletine succeeds admirably in making this a "user-friendly" reference work: he lists collector's groups
capable of providing information on how to locate any of the listed songs or musicals; he includes a limited
bibliography; and he provides an index for lyricists and composers, as well as an index for song titles.
Ethnic and Vernacular Music, 1898-1960: A Resource and Guide to Recordings
By Paul Vernon. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1995. ISBN 0-313-29553-0. $75.00.
Vernon provides detailed information on many ethnic and vernacular music recordings from numerous countries
in this seminal work. He gives the original company names, prefixes and numerical blocks of issued 78 rpm records
for each country, region or ethnic group; reissues on compact disc, cassette, and vinyl; and a bibliography
of published works. In addition, he includes an extensive lexicon.
Although Vernon has chosen to exclude much of the detailed information about ethnic and vernacular music in the
United States, he does include bibliographic references to previous publications. He also lists additional
information about the music of the Native Americans, Hawaiians, and Inuits.
Ethnic and Vernacular Music is a significant contribution to scholars, students, archivists,
and individual record collectors and dealers.
Northern Haida Songs
By John Erico and Wendy Bross Stuart. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1996. ISBN 0-8032-1816-8. Pp. xiv, 519.
John Erico and Wendy Bross Stuart describe the musical culture of the Northern Haida Indians in this volume of the series,
Studies in the Anthropology of North American Indians. The Northern Haida Indians are composed of two closely
related dialect groups from Graham Island, British Columbia, and Prince of Wales Island, Alaska. The book, based on
recordings compiled from contemporary and historical sources, is divided into three parts: Part I provides a lengthy ethnographic
description of Haida musical genres; Part 2 consists of the transcriptions of 128 songs, representing twenty genres; Part 3
presents a detailed linguistic and musical analysis of the songs in Part 2. "The integration of descriptions
of these two facets of song--music and language--is the particular goal of this study" (p. i).
The First Hollywood Musicals: A Critical Filmography of 171 Features, 1927 Through 1932
By Edwin M. Bradley. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., 1996. ISBN 0-89950-945-2. Pp. xii, 386. $65.00
Edwin M. Bradley's critical filmography of 171 early Hollywood musicals includes such classics as Hallelujah!,
The Love Parade, and Sunnyside Up, as well as failures such as The Lottery Bride and
Howdy Broadway. For each entry, he lists the studio, premiere dates, New York Opening, cast and credits,
songs or songs/musical numbers, running time, recordings, Academy Award nominations and winners, and availability on video and laser disc.
Bradley also provides a plot synopsis, an analysis of the film's role in the genre's history, extensive
notes as well as a bibliography, and numerous photographs.
Otto Klemperer: His Life and Times, Vol. 2: 1933-1973
By Peter Heyworth. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1996. Pp. xiv, 486. $39.95.
This second volume of Peter Heyworth's acclaimed biography of Otto Klemperer begins on 5 April 1933 when
Klemperer, a Jew, was forced to flee Nazi Germany. After a short engagement as conductor of the Vienna
Philharmonic, Klemperer came to the United States on 2 October 1933 as conductor of the Los Angeles
Philharmonic. Although he became a guest conductor of other orchestras, including the Philadelphia and
the New York Philharmonic, his years in America were frustrating and unhappy. Heyworth carefully documents
the fluctuating fortunes of the troubled emigre in the United States until he returned to Europe in 1946.
In addition to profound personal and professional difficulties and disappointments, Klemperer suffered
severely from manic depression that constantly threatened his career and livelihood.
This scholarly volume brilliantly illuminates the state of orchestral music in the United States during Klemperer's
tenure here and chronicles his impact as a conductor; the music that he chose to introduce to the American public;
his interpretations of standard repertoire; and his role as a champion of new music. Heyward includes
voluminous notes, a biographical glossary, an index, and a complete discography.
Updated 9/22/97