Louis Armstrong and Paul Whiteman: Two Kings of Jazz [Hardcover] Review

Hey, look, I'm for the Post-Canonical approach to criticism and history as much as the next guy...MORE than the next guy. But this book is over the top. It is certainly well researched. But all of its scholarship only serves to conflate and confuse Cultural History and Musical History...not to speak of the beating it gives to poor Aesthetics. It talks about "relegating Whiteman to the position of a marginal figure". Well, Joshua, in terms of Cultural History, Whiteman is not a marginal figure. But musically he is!!! I'm sorry, but that's true!!! Bix is amazing and a genius, Challis' arrangements are incredible, even if often really, really dated. Trumbauer is certainly worth studying and and listening to, even if he's ultimately quite disappointing. Some of the things Whiteman commissioned (besides Rhapsody in Blue) are interesting and worth knowing. But none of this comes close to making a case for studying Whiteman as a parallel figure to Armstrong! Armstrong's MUSIC requires patience. I don't think it necessarily reveals itself IMMEDIATELY to the modern listener. But still!!! Once you get it, it requires no special pleading, no historical excuses. And this is just not not true of Whiteman. Some of the records are really special, and I do appreciate Berrett's analysis of the famous recording of Washboard Blues. There are a few of these moments, both in the book and in Whiteman's career, and certainly there needs to be recognition of such moments. Gunther Schuller certainly went a long way in his writings on Whiteman in his book Early Jazz. And I also agree that Armstrong's career situates itself within the general history of American Popular Music, and not in some rarefied realm of Afro - American Demotic Art Music. And that the more writing that explores that, the better. But Berrett's thinking is so messy and so unclear. He makes Richard Sudhalter look like a great Philosopher/Historian like George Steiner !!! At least you always know that Sudhalter's passions, even if lopsided, come out of a genuine and informed LOVE for the music he writes about. Here, I'm not always sure...And one more thing: this is the Worst - Edited Book I've seen in a long time!!!! Whole passages return, over and over, like some kind of incantation. It is so padded that it's unbelievable. Forget about Post-Modern critics - let's train some editors!

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