Given that the saxophone is arguably the most popular instrument in the world today, it’s hard to believe that that’s not always been the case. No, far from it—and I’m not talking about the Nazi party banning the instrument in Germany either.
Despite the sax-happy 20s, or maybe because of them, the saxophone had its fair share of detractors right here in North America as well. One such detractor was Alfred L. Dennis, President of the Bach society of New Jersey.
According to an article in the November 3, 1938 edition of The Milwaukee Journal, Dennis penned a letter to the federal communications commission. In this letter, he advocated for very stringent penalties against radio stations that played swing versions of Bach, and other classical composers.
Dennis wrote about what he calls:
…the “distress” to [classical] music lovers when a classical composition is submitted to the “slurring saxophone” and the “jungle discords of the clarinet.”
Dennis’ remedy for such a high musical crime? For the first offence a radio station would have its license suspended. A second offence would see the license revoked.
These are pretty serious penalties for what on the surface seem like minor offences. However, if you think about the 1920s style of saxophone playing, and then imagine that playing Bach, maybe I can see his point. 😉
I don’t see how Mr. Dennis managed to get himself so bent out of shape about the clarinet. Does he not realize that it’s been a staple in the orchestra nearly since its invention? Mozart liked the instrument enough to write compositions for it.
Really though, it’s obviously not the clarinet that Dennis doesn’t like per se. It’s what’s being played with it: swing music. Then how come Dennis didn’t rile about trumpets or trombones?
In any event, I suspect that Benny Goodman must have been on the top of Dennis’ hate list. This must have especially been true when Goodman played Carnegie Hall.
Benny Goodman at Carnegie Hall 1938
Oh well, you can’t please all the people, all of the time. This is clearly a case of Mr. Dennis just not being an aficionado of swing music.
I wonder if Dennis was alive to see Elvis the Pelvis performing gospel music. I can only imagine the letters he would have written about that. 😈
Thanks for sharing this classic video of Benny Goodman performing. I always wished to live in the ’30s. I really enjoyed this post!
what he did for jazz is what we are all about,people that cant see that need to go back to basics,i do understand the concept why do we play swing if you are a lucky one ,only for a short time us other ham and eggers go out and ply a 4 hr gig with every thing ,and by the way sinatra call elvis a really great voice go figurewho are we to judge?i grew up playing the dorsey book,actually look back and understand he was a great sax player.my concept is if you play then play,never stop someone is always listening,isnt that great. 😯
One of my favorite books is the Jimmy Dorsey Saxophone Method: A School of Rhythmic Saxophone Playing Edited by Jay Arnold. I find it’s a really good work out over the full range of the horn. A friend of mine turned me onto this book a few years ago. I know it’s been around for years, but the fact that it’s still published decades later, tells you that it’s a great resource/method book.
I tend to naturally swing everything I play, and have to pay attention when playing straight time pieces. My natural swing-o-meter kicks in if I’m too busy paying attention to notes (sight-reading). When I was playing in bands that didn’t play swing, I was fine, but now that I’m playing a lot of shuffle beats again, I find myself sliding back into my old swinging habits. 8)