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42 Music Jazz, Pure and Simple HAT with getting rid of Upton Close and abolishing the unwrit- ten law which forbids mentioning an- other network by name, the Mutual Broadcasting System would appear to be on something of a progressive kick. And the fact that Mutual is the only major web to give a half-hour show of pure jazz from coast to coast doesn’t in any way diminish this effect. The program is called “This Is Jazz, and I men- tioned it a few weeks ago when it au- ditioned on ‘For Your Approval,” a show which presents new ideas and lets listener response determine whether or not the idea remains on the air. “This Is Jazz’ has been in busi- ess for neaely two months now, and everyone, including the network, the listeners, the musicians and producer- director-writer Rudi Blesh, seems quite happy. The other night I went to Mu- tual to see and hear the show in the * studio, and had a relaxed half-hour. I heard a small New Orleans band which featured Muggsy Spanier, Georg Brunis, Albert Nicholas, Pops Foster, Joe Sulli- van and Baby Dodds. They put their teeth into about five numbers, including a slow blues not recommended for lis- teners who were expecting maybe the Champagne music of Lawrence Welk. The old team of Spanier and Brunis brought back memories cf the things they did on the Bluebird label back in 1940. It's -been a long time since I’ve heard Muggsy play that way. But enough of this love-making—the show was good all the way through. I bearded Rudi Blesh right after it and ‘asked him if he had any complaints. He said no, except that he looks forward to the time when Mutual will give the program a regular spot. (At this writing it’s been jumping back and forth be- tween Saturday and Monday. It will be more than wotth your while to keep an eye on your local radio page for the day and time.) He told me that he in- tends to preserve his present band intact, breaking the nucleus only occasionally to make room for a guest. In addition, he plans to stick very. closely to the New Orleans-early Chicago idiom, be- cause it represents to him the best in undefiled jazz. This is too bad. Blesh, in other words, represents a school in a field that needs anything but schools to stimulate its de- velopment. The attention given to New Orleans music creates a situation not unlike the result of a hypothetical sym- phony conductor’s decision to perform nothing but Palestrina. I respect the * work Blesh has done on his show, and his taste, but I point out that jazz is bigger than one style. I’m very fond of the exciting music that came from New Orleans before the First World War. Yet I'm equally fond of the stuff that Count Basie brought from Kansas City. And cf the music of Benny - Goodman and Jess Stacy and Jack Tea- garden and Bobby Hackett and a dozen other jazz artists who don’t play the New Orleans style. It occurs to me that in being the only producer selling pure jazz to American listeners, it’s almost Blesh’s duty to let the other styles be heard, However, I’m not panning the show. Finer hot music can’t be heard on any network today, and Blesh is entitled to say, “I told you so” to the skeptics who thought that non-commercial jazz couldn’t go over on a naticnwide scale. HE patrons of New York’s Ruban Bleu are as boorish a collection of nudnicks.as ever assembled in a pub- NEW REPUBLIC lic place. I’ve seen floor shows in my time, but never has it been’so difficult to hear as it was the night I dropped in here to throw away some expense-ac- count money. The only time the cream of New York society closed its col- . lective yap was when a stunning girl named Marian Bruce came out and sang with the warmth of Balie Holiday and. the subtlety of Mildred Bailey and just a touch of the extrovert that was in Bessie Smith. Miss Bruce is relatively,’ new in the business, but with a little training in mike technique, she should become one of the best girl singers in the country. She hasn’t recorded yet. OX of the most satisfying of the current albums is a Commodore: showcase featuring the clarinet of Ed- mond Hall and the piano of Teddy Wilson. They're backed by bass, guitar and drums, and the result is a collection of numbers which are ideal for non- jazz people who like to dance and for jazz People who wouldn't be caught dead rolling up the rug. Teddy Wilson’s deli- cate, imaginative work is fairly familiar to most listeners; but the album. should ‘be a particular treat for those unac- quainted with the unusually rhythmic clarinet which makes Hall's work so dis- tinctive. ACK in the early thirties, Wingy Manone, a wild man with a trum- pet and a voice that frequently made one think of Louis Armstrong, turned out some of the best small-band jazz ever recorded. Most of these sides were for the Vocalion and Bluebird Jabels, and the band was the nucleus of the great Bob Crosby outfit, including Eddie Miller (tenor sax), Matty Matlock (clarinet), Nappy Lamar (guitar), and Ray Bauduc (drums). These records have become almost impossible to find, but they're worth the trouble. People with- out the time or inclination can listen to Manone in a new album: put out by Davis. There’s a lot of the old Wingy in these offerings, and although the supporting band isn't too impressive— particularly in the rhythm—the album is worth buying for those interested in hearing a real jazz artist who never got the recognition he deserves. CHARLES MILLER a