Early Jazz, a paperback book by Fumi Tomita, has as its subtitle “A Concise Introduction, from Its Beginnings through 1929.” Tomita conceived of his book as an overview of the early days of jazz (which he considers neglected in most jazz history classes) and a modernization of Gunther Schuller’s late 1960s work which was also called Early Jazz. It states on the back cover that it is “the first book on early jazz history in over fifty years.” Since I wrote Classic Jazz in 2001 and a few other books by others covering similar topics have also came out during the past few decades, this is one of several inaccuracies in this well-intentioned work.
In Early Jazz, Tomita does a good job of summing up pre-jazz (including ragtime and the blues), the Chicago and New York jazz scenes in the 1920s, the development of stride piano and New York dance bands, Louis Armstrong in the 1920s, the Chicagoans, and Bix Beiderbecke. He includes brief summaries of many soloists and bands, some of which are rarely mentioned in jazz history books. He goes out of his way to be even-handed about the contributions of African-American and white musicians and tips his hat to the often-overlooked female jazz players. He even includes a brief chapter on Jazz Around The World which, along with mentioning Americans who played in Europe, has a bit on jazz in Asia.
The text overall is quite readable and Fumi Tomita clearly loves this subject. Along the way he adds some listening guides that go into detail about particular classic recordings. However it is surprising that, while he ends the book with an 11-page bibliography, Tomita did not include a recommended list of CDs to acquire because that would have helped listeners to find some the music that he discusses.
I wish that someone with a strong knowledge of early jazz history had proofread Early Jazz because there are a few unnecessary errors that could have easily been corrected. James Reese Europe was not shot but was stabbed, King Oliver and Jelly Roll Morton recorded their two duets in 1924 not 1925, and Bix Beiderbecke and Red Nichols are sometimes mentioned in this work as being trumpeters rather than cornetists. Louis Armstrong’s first vocals are said to have been with the Hot Five but he took a brief and eccentric vocal on the alternate take of “Everybody Loves My Baby” with Fletcher Henderson a year earlier. One learns that “May Aufderheide was the most popular and prolific female ragtime composer,” Tomita states that her first rags were published in 1909 and her last ones in 1911. But how prolific was she in just a two year period? Wilbur Sweatman’s late-1916 recording of “Down Home Rag” is cited as the first jazz recording by an African-American while the Original Dixieland Jazz Band’s “Livery Stable Blues” and “Original Dixieland One-Step” from several months later are accurately called the beginning of recorded jazz. And I am not sure how the author surmised that King Oliver was not at his playing prime anymore in 1922 when he sent for Louis Armstrong. Since there are no recordings of Oliver before 1923, how would he know that?
Those reservations aside, Early Jazz (available from www.sunypress.edu) succeeds at being a first step for readers who are curious about the beginnings of jazz. Hopefully it will lead some to fully explore the rich musical era.
Early Jazz
by Fumi Tomita
Hardcover: ISBN-9781438496382; 240 pp., $99
Paperback: ISBN-9781438496375; 240 pp., $33
SUNY Press (sunypress.edu)
