Miss Ruth Slenczynska before and after—"the ghosts of the fabulous automaton had vanished for good."

concerts in Europe and the U.S. I heard Miss Slenczynska's 1952 Car­ negie Hall recital. Her performances were innocent of Einy evidence that RUTHIE, IN WORD AND DEED the child prodigy had grown into an enlightened artist. A little over a year ago Miss Slenczynska began to at­ By ABRAM CHASINS complex came to the fore," to use tract nationwide attention, first Miss Slenczynska's delicate phrase­ through TV and radio appearances, HE devastating impact of a ology. then through feature stories in maga­ neurotic father on Ruth Slen- It is a pitiful tale indeed. Yet it is zines and the daily press, and now Tczynska's personal and pianistic but the extreme version of a very through this book—all of which cast career is the central theme of her old story—that of the talented young­ her in the role of an uninhibited de­ book, "Forbidden Childhood," as told ster whose parent sees in him the nunciator of her vicious father. Things to her collaborator, music-critic Louis fulfilment of frustrated ambitions. being what they are today, this BiancoUi (Doubleday, $3.95). It ap­ Offhand, I can think of few artists naturally resulted in a renewed pears coincidentally with new record­ who have not had to overcome tre­ managerial and public interest in Miss ing that typify her present pianism. mendous odds, who did not have to Slenczynska which could never have Josef Slenczynski had it all worked face family conflicts and tyrannies of resulted from anything so dull or ir­ out long before that January day in one sort or another. relevant as artistic distinction. 1925 when Ruth was born. He would Ruth was obviously unable to over­ Of her name-studded book (with­ have a child who would be a musician. come the frightful odds against her. out an index) three-quarters is con­ Not just a musician but a world- Papa never left her side, never per­ cerned with repetitious accounts of beater. Ruth became his victim. Liv­ mitted her to develop in any way, the impressions little Ruth made on ing vicariously through his daughter except digitally. She was created and the public and on some very distin­ from her infancy, the father first maintained in his image. The day of guished musicians and on blow-by- enslaved her, then exploited her; not reckoning had come. At fourteen Ruth blow descriptions of her cruelly merely as the means for attaining and her career collapsed. "My father mangled youth. The last pages strike prestige, power, and profit, but also didn't care whether I lived or died." a confident note, on hopes and con­ as the expression of a sadistic passion She fled, went to school, took odd victions which crystallized in Miss in its own right. jobs, and married, with her father's Slenczynska's mind at a recital she Prodded mercilessly to practice day curses still echoing around her. Out­ gave in Cologne a few years ago. and night, led toward all the sensa­ wardly she had rebelled against papa. Her hopes we share wholeheartedly. tional aspects of pianism, Ruth soon But she was not ready to relinquish Her convictions, however, are fairly became a world renowned prodigy, him. She merely replaced him with disquieting. "The ghosts of Josef commanding astronomical fees. Papa a husband who first urged, then de­ Slenczynski and his fabulous autom­ was swollen with pride and possession, manded that she return to the plat­ aton had vanished for good . . . With pushing Ruth and her career. Any form. Her father died. every note, I knew I was on the right hint that she was not superlative in For about five years, from 1951, track at last . . . Deep down, I knew every way drove him to maniac out­ Miss Slenczynska attempted to stage I would never need anyone or any­ bursts. "Father's nasty inferiority a "comeback," playing hundreds of thing else again. I had reached a PRODUCED 2005 BY UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED 45 point where instead of absorbing from This is still true though it is no One can only hope fervently that others, I could make others absorb longer a question of age. Miss Slen­ Miss Slenszynska will finally seek and from me." czynska has clearly failed to examine see the light. If she eventually wins With such statements and many properly her own share in the diffi­ out, it will be an inspiring example. others, Miss Slenczynska declares her culties of her life, to understand it But I fear her decision to travel the independence and maturity as woman and apply her insight to the develop­ road alone. She needs help, a good and artist. In revisiting her youth, ment of her art. Her present desire deal of unselfish help, for the capac­ she shows little of either, and none to put herself completely into her ity of any human being to analyze of the understanding and calm com­ work and beliefs is a worthy goal. such problems, solve them, and learn passion she condemns her father for But this can only be approximated to from them is limited. denying her. But one should turn to the degree that she succeeds in facing Musically, Miss Slenczynska cer­ an artist's work to find the best part reality and resolving her problems, tainly needs help. To what extent not in substituting new ones for old of the person. Unhappily, Miss Slen- perceptive and patient guidance could ones. czynska's playing and recent record­ undo the artistic damage of the past ings do not substantiate her convic­ As a child she was a victim of ex­ is anyone's guess. One thing is sure: tions either. ploitation. She still is, but now she the question will remain forever un­ is the cooperative agent, unable or answered until Miss Slenczynska can J-iET US consider Miss Slenczynska's unwilling to recognize that her cur­ let a time that is dead remain dead, recent recordings of Chopin's Twenty- rent activities derive less from artistry until she ceases to mistake potentiali­ four Etudes and four Impromptus. than from publicity. ties for achievements. (Decca DL 9890-91). The fleet, strong, and clean fingers of her childhood re­ main. So do all her musical follies and intellectual limitations. As I listened to the first few pieces, I began to notate specific examples of har­ monic confusion through blurred pedaling, flagrant textual disregard and rhythmic distortion, and the in­ ability to attain expressivity without destroying the structure or to reveal phrase-lengths or meter without ac­ centual thumpings. It wasn't long be­ fore I had to abandon all attempts to categorize explicitly, for the re­ grettable fact is that nowhere is Miss Slenczynska's mechanical facility complemented by a comparable mu­ sicianship. Virtually every work serves to keep in perspective the sad fact that she is still very far from a significant interpreter. But, one may well ask, how is this possible with a pianist who, according to her book and the record sleeves, "studied with Petri, Schnabel, Cortot, and Rachmaninoff"? [EDITOR'S NOTE: Also with Chasins.l You have me there. I don't know. Perhaps the answer may lie in Miss Slenczynska's placement of this distinguished tute­ lage during the heyday of her career as a WunderkiTid, at a time when she was neither free from her father's paralyzing influence nor free enough from concert commitments to indulge in any concentrated study. But that was a long time ago. Some­ where along the line Miss Slenczynska should have remembered Rachmani­ noff's comments when ship-reporters in 1934 asked his opinion of the prodi­ gy. Shaking his head sadly, Rachmani­ noff said, "All these public appear­ ances are bad for her. It is too bad, too bad . . . And I told her father so, I warned him that she should not play so much. She should practise, prac­ tise, practise, all the time through these years. All the pieces she plays —Culver. are too big. She is playing things she can't afford to play at her age." Ruthie at ten, on her way to Europe aboard the President Roosevelt. PRODUCED 2005 BY UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED 46 limited in scope; but if the album is THE JAZZ MAINSTREAM absorbed in sections from time to time, "Primitive Pianists" can serve as a direct, unsweetened introduction to the urban descendants of the itin­ erant blues pianists-singers of the Tributes and Tributaries last quarter of the nineteenth and the initial decades of this century. Like AS THE hagiology of jazz grows— quite personally satisfying. There is their country predecessors. Speckled L\ with a companion increase in an admirably afloat rhythm section of Red and the others in this collection -^ •*• the need for new album ideas— Ed Thigpen, drums; Earl May, bass; are taking from—and giving to—the occasional "tributes" to distinguished Joe Puma, guitar; and Billie Holiday's rolling autobiographies that have be­ jazz creators are being recorded by regular accompanist, Mai Waldron, a come the collective body of the blues. admiring contemporaries. There is, for pianist-composer of unusually dis­ A roughly moving blues-wanderer and quite an influential singer-guitar­ example, "A Salute to Louis Arm­ ciplined and moving sensitivity. ist (Leadbelly and T-Bone Walker strong" by Teddy Buckner and His Waldron is also distinctively con­ were among those who learned from Dixieland Band (Dixieland Jubilee sistent in "Earthy" (Prestige 7102), him) was the late Blind Lemon Jef­ DJ-505) on which ten songs, either an "all-star" seminar involving Al ferson. Twelve of his 1926-29 record­ Cohn, tenor; Art Farmer, trumpet; written by or long associated with ings, seven of them not previously re­ Hal McKusick, alto; Kenny Bur- Armstrong, are played by Buckner, a leased on the Riverside label are now forty-eight-year-old trumpet player rell, guitar; Teddy Kotick, bass; Ed available in "Blind Lemon: Classic who is a disciple and friend of Arm­ Thigpen, drums; and Waldron. The Folk-Blues" (Riverside 12-125). As strong. Buckner's career, in fact, has title selection is in rather self-con­ the notes admit, ". . . Blind Lemon's been unique in that after several scious (I mean the title, not the blues are not easy for the present- years in swing era bands like those of music) acknowledgment of that qual­ day listener to understand; the harsh, Lionel Hampton and Benny Carter, ity of deep-rootedness in the jazz nasal voice and the heavy layer of his tastes moved back in time and he loam ("funk" is the more common dialect that leave few verses totally joined (at Armstrong's suggestion) synonym) to which an increasing decipherable . . ." But if you're at all traditionalist Kid Ory in the late number of young modernists aspire. drawn to this kind of dusty, prickly Forties. Ever since, Buckner has An essential membership require­ blues, the effort is rewarding, some­ played a contemporary adaptation of ment is the ability to feel and play times startlingly so. It is unfortunate, the early classic jazz developed in the blues. All those present are aptly however, that Riverside does not pro­ part by New Orleans emigrants to the of the earth; and unlike many an­ vide for a set like this a separate Midwest in the Twenties. He and his other "all-star" hopscotch game, there booklet of texts as Elektra does in the colleagues, however, have not been is a cohesiveness of line and spirit in folk field. It would admittedly be a untouched rhythmically and in me­ this album. In addition, most of the difficult project, but something of the lodic conception by the swing period various originals, while slight, are sort would have been a particularly and do not, therefore, try to make more arresting and thoughtfully instructive complement to this album. their performances unbearably "au­ drawn than is usually the case. The —^NAT HENTOFF. thentic" in the manner of some final fourteen-minute "Dayee," how­ younger traditionalist groups. Buck­ ever, might have benefited, as often ner's associates in this set are not uni­ happens at Prestige, by an extra take formly luminous, but they project a or three and by more writing to frame relaxed, collective savor in their cele­ the monologues. brations; and there is particularly the Earthy without even minimal self- strong, singing, economically expres­ consciousness concerning the subject sive trumpet of the leader. are the four blues-born pianists, Even more intriguing an addition ranging from fifty-one to sixty-five, to recent recorded tribute literature contained in "Primitive Piano" (Tone is "For Lady" (Prestige 7106). Lady Records 1, 7114 Freret, New Orleans, Day is the sobriquet of BiUie Holiday Louisiana). The recordings were made among some musicians, and this al­ over a period of three years by a New bum collects four songs fiercely iden­ Orleans high school teacher and Tu- tified with her ("Strange Fruit" and lane student, Erwin Heifer, who sim­ "God Bless the Child" among them); ply felt these people had better be one she recorded with Teddy Wilson recorded while time remained. in 1937; and an original, "The Lady," "Speckled Red" (Rufus Ferryman), by the leader of the date, 25-year-old the best known, hasn't recorded for trumpeter Webster Young. The salute perhaps more than fifteen years. He's is entirely instrumental, and the two now a porter and sometime pianist in horns present are rather intriguingly St. Louis. Billie Pierce is in New Or­ matched. Young is a brooding, mod­ leans and has been recorded pre­ ern lyrical player much influenced by viously by William Russell on his in­ Miles Davis. Tenor Paul Quinichette, valuable American Music label. James a Count Basic alumnus, is of the swing "Bat the Hummingbird" Robinson era but with a message that is also made some records in the Thirties, primarily lyrical. Quinichette, who spent his last years in St. Louis, and had been in limbo for a time, has re­ died of tuberculosis. Doug Suggs, a gained and in fact, added to his former rent party regular in the Chicago of warmth and fulness of tone; and while the twenties, is a porter by trade he remains inescapably reminiscent of these decades in the same city. Most Lester Young, he can on occasion be of the material in the set is rather Billie HoUiday—"fiercely identified.' PRODUCED 2005 BY UNZ.ORG ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED