Gabriel Dowdy-Terracciano Jazz Outside the United States Prof. Tanya Kalmanovitch November 14, 2013 “A dualistic view of jazz in cultural, social, and political terms within the USSR from 1922 – 1936 as reflected in the 1934 movie, “Happy Fellows”. I. Introduction To write this paper, I will be looking at the time frame of 1922 through 1936, or from when jazz was first played in the Soviet Union through when the first major Soviet crackdowns on, and exiles of, jazz musicians began to take place. I plan to explore the overall contradictory Soviet policies on jazz as beginning in 1922, and reaching a point of cultural preservation in “Happy Fellows”, which contains many references and examples of how jazz was seen as both good and bad, communal and individual, sophisticated and idiotic, bourgeois and proletarian, therefore creating arguments to both preserve and dispose of the art form. With Russia’s first filmed musical comedy being a smash hit, Tanya Kalmanovitch ! 12/20/13 12:29 PM Comment: Lots%packed%into%this%sentence.% Break%it%down.%Try%something%like%this:%“I% starring an actual jazz musician (Leonid Utesov), it exists as both a significant piece of plan%to%explore%contradictory%Soviet%policies% on%jazz%from%1922D1936%through%examining% Soviet cinema, and a film that unquestionably had a huge social impact. the%film,%“Happy%Fellows”,%which…”% I intend to explore this topic from the perspective of a historian looking into this particular time period as it relates to jazz in the Soviet Union, but using “Happy Fellows” and analysis of the film as a way to explore the social attitudes and public faces of jazz as seen through a mass media production. This will be done especially through extracting Tanya Kalmanovitch ! 12/20/13 12:29 PM Comment: Avoid%passive%voice.%Instead:%“%I% will%do%this%through…”% key themes relating to jazz from the movie, and fleshing them out with research done on the musical climate of the era. My thought is that a portrayal such as this one must have Tanya Kalmanovitch ! 12/20/13 12:31 PM Comment: Make%a%stronger%claim.% “Cultural%products%such%as%film%both%reflect% catered somewhat to the public psyche, and contained familiar reminders of the jazz and%articulate%the%social%and%political% circumstances%surrounding%their%creation.% conundrum facing the USSR during this pivotal artistic time. In its portrayals of jazz as As%I%will%show%in%this%paper,%Happy%Fellows% catered%to%the%public%psyche%and…”% both the music of the proletarian and the preferred music of the bourgeoisie, the movie contains distinct references to the inconsistency and volatility of Soviet policy on jazz, especially in a satirical and comedic fashion. The resolutions of these dualistic views Tanya Kalmanovitch ! 12/20/13 12:32 PM Comment: It’s%worth%pointing%out%that% satire,%absurdism%and%comedy%have%a%place% resulting in the naturalization of jazz into the Soviet Union by usage of common images in%Russian%artistic%production.%Think% Bulgakov’s%“The%Master%and%the%Margerita”,% and themes also speaks to the movie’s power as both a piece of cinema and as a cultural Shostakovich,%etc.%% Tanya Kalmanovitch ! 12/20/13 12:33 PM snapshot. Comment: Not%so%much%the%naturalization% of%jazz%into%the%Soviet%Union,%but%the% Sovietization%of%jazz.%A%subtle%linguistic%shift,% II. Jazz Comes to Russia but%it%makes%a%difference.% Tanya Kalmanovitch ! 12/20/13 12:33 PM % The%first%Russian%exposures%to%jazz%were%not%through%the%music%itself,%but% Comment: Great%sentence,%and%a%solid% conclusion.% through%dances%familiarized%with%the%genre.%%In%response%to%a%severe%famine%affecting% Tanya Kalmanovitch ! 12/20/13 12:33 PM Comment: associated% Russia%in%the%early%1920s,%the%Hoover%administration%authorized%the%American%Relief% Administration%(ARA)%to%travel%to%the%country%in%order%to%assist%with%food% distribution%and%famine%relief1.%%Not%only%did%the%American%workers%assist%with% famine%conditions,%but%in%1921%they%also%brought%along%a%new%kind%of%dance,%the% Foxtrot,%in%1921%that%sparked%a%dance%craze%throughout%the%country2.%%The%musical% component%of%jazz%came%shortly%after.%%The first performance of jazz in Russia is dated Tanya Kalmanovitch ! 12/20/13 12:34 PM Comment: Jazz%performance% to precisely October 1, 1922, and was created by a dancer and poet named Valentin Tanya Kalmanovitch ! 12/20/13 12:35 PM Comment: Not%created,%so%much%as% produced.% Parnakh3. Having heard jazz in Paris while studying at the Sorbonne, Parnakh decided to bring the music he had heard back to his home country. He proceeded to create the “First Eccentric Orchestra of the Russian Federated Socialist Republic,” a band based on the %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% 1"The American Relief Administration in Soviet Russia | Hoover Institution," Hoover Institution. Stanford University, n.d, Web. 15 Nov. 2013. <http://www.hoover.org/library-and-archives/exhibits/27238>. 2%Gregory Frieden. "Bolshevik Jazz," The New York Review of Books, 7 Mar. 2003, Web. 01 Dec. 2013, <http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/jun/06/bolshevik- jazz/>. 3%"FAQ: Is There Jazz in Russia, Really?" Jazz.ru. Ed. Cyril Moshkow. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2013. <http://www.jazz.ru/>. framework of a traditional American “Dixieland” or New Orleans jazz band, including the use of saxophones, trumpets, banjo, plucked bass, and drums4. Evidently, even after these first performances and exposures to jazz, critics were quick to condemn the new Tanya Kalmanovitch ! 12/20/13 12:35 PM Comment: I%think%you%can%strike%this.% 5 “Critics%were%quick%to%condemn…”%is%a% style of music, one even saying that, “Jazz needed to be stopped before it was too late. ” stronger%sentence.%% % American%jazz%itself%first%found%its%way%into%Russia%in%1926%with%tours%by%Sam% Tanya Kalmanovitch ! 12/20/13 12:36 PM Comment: …performers%first%found%their% way…% Wooding%and%His%Chocolate%Kiddies%along%with%Benny%Peyton%and%His%Jazz%Kings.%% Peyton%may%have%met%a%better%reception%with%his%brand%of%“Hot%Jazz”6,%but%Sam% Wooding%and%his%“Sweet%Jazz”%was%the%first%American%performer%to%influence%people% such%as%Alexander%Tsfafsman,%Leopold%Teplitsky,%and,%perhaps%most%importantly%to% this%paper,%Leonid%Utesov.%%Tsfafsman%went%on%to%form%his%own%jazz%band%(the%AMA)% Tanya Kalmanovitch ! 12/20/13 12:37 PM Comment: to%influence%Russian% performers%who%would%become%significant% and%cut%the%first%jazz%record%in%the%Soviet%Union,%a%radio%recording%of%this%hit%song% figures%in%Russianjazz:%Alexander% Tsfafsman…% “Hallelujah”%by%American%composer%Vincent%Youmans7.%%Teplitsky%was%so%inspired% Tanya Kalmanovitch ! 12/20/13 12:37 PM Comment: Spell%out%acronyms%when%you% that%he%himself%travelled%to%the%United%States%in%order%to%receive%more%musical% first%use%them.% training,%and%then%returned%to%form%a%jazz%orchestra%in%Leningrad8.%%%Leonid%Utesov% gravitated%towards%creating%his%own%jazzDinfluenced%revues,%and%eventually%starred% in%many%motion%pictures,%including%“Happy%Fellows.”%%It%was%obvious%that%the%jazz% bug%had%bitten%Russia%after%initial%exposure,%with%Sam%Wooding%himself%describing% %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% 4%S. Frederick Starr, Red and Hot: The Fate of Jazz in the Soviet Union, 1917-1980, New York: Oxford UP, 1983, 95. 5%Martin Lücke. "Vilified, Venerated, Forbidden: Jazz in the Stalinist Era," UCSB Department of Music. University of California at Santa Barbara, 2007. Web. 15 Nov. 2013, <http://www.music.ucsb.edu/projects/musicandpolitics/archive/2007-2/lucke.pdf>. 6%Ibid.% 7%"FAQ: Is There Jazz in Russia, Really?" Jazz.ru. Ed. Cyril Moshkow. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2013, <http://www.jazz.ru/>. 8%Henry Martin and Keith Waters, "1920s Jazz in New York and Europe," Jazz: The First 100 Years. 3rd ed. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning, 2010, 126, Print. % his%band’s%Russian%engagements%as%“the%best%in%all%Europe.9”%%Jazz%had%enjoyed%a% fairly%successful%introduction%into%Russia%and%Russian%popular%culture,%but%Jazz%was% Tanya Kalmanovitch ! 12/20/13 12:38 PM Comment: Weak%modifier.%If%it%was%less% than%successful,%or%a%mixed%success,%say%that.%% not%without%its%critics%however.%%It%would%quickly%turn%from%an%art%form%loved%by%the% Tanya Kalmanovitch ! 12/20/13 12:39 PM Comment: Two%modifiers!%Use%one%or%the% public%to%an%act%of%degradation%as%seen%from%the%perspective%of%the%literary%and% other,%but%not%both.%% Tanya Kalmanovitch ! 12/20/13 12:41 PM intellectual%proletarian.%%% Comment: Not%an%“act%of%degradation”%but% rather%a%“degraded%art%form”%or%an%art%of% degredation%in%the%eyes%of%the%literary%and% III.#Maxim#Gorky,#the#RAPM,#and#Jazz#Under#Attack# intellectual%community.%Also,%can%you%say% there’s%such%a%thing%as%a%“literary%and% % In%1928,%jazz%received%perhaps%its%most%vigorous%condemnation%from%the% intellectual%proletariate”?%At%first%reading,% these%appear%to%be%exclusive%to%one%antoher.% This%merits%some%explanation.% proletarian%Bolsheviks.%%Maxim%Gorky,%the%most%outspoken%literary%voice%of%the% Tanya Kalmanovitch ! 12/20/13 12:42 PM Comment: It%would%be%a%good%idea%to% Bolshevik%community,%published%a%piece%in%Pravda%magazine%entitled,%“On%the%Music% explain%terms%such%as%“Bolsheviks”%and% “proletarian”%when%you%first%use%them.%An% understanding%of%this%will%help%to%support% of%the%Gross.”%%In%it,%he%describes%someone%listening%to%jazz%as%envisioning,%“an% the%idea%of%why%Gorky’s%criticism%was%so% impactful.% orchestra%of%sexually%driven%madmen%conducted%by%a%manDstallion%brandishing%a% huge%genital%member.10”%%Jazz%was%not%so%much%a%form%of%music%as%much%as%the% “rumblings,%wails%and%howls%like%the%smarting%of%a%metal%pig,%the%shriek%of%a%donkey,%