Hot Jazz and Jazz Dance: Roger Pryor Dodge: Collected Writings, 1929-1964

Dodge, a ballet, vaudeville and jazz dancer who died in 1974, began in the 1920s to write critical essays assessing jazz and its place in the history of American music for periodicals such as Jazz Magazine, Jazz Monthly and Record Changer. This collection, edited by his musician son, spans 35 years of his writings and contains his thoughts on the condition and status of jazz, the prospects for its future development, the performers, the merits of various jazz critics and the relationship of jazz to dance. A few observations on classical music, appreciations of dancers (such as Markova, Alonso and Nijinsky) and a selection of his record reviews are included. Pryor was at his best in essays on musicians he admired, such as James ``Bubber'' Miley, Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. He was outspoken in his scorn for those he felt degraded the true ``Negro Jazz,'' denouncing the interpretations of the form by Whiteman, Gershwin and Berlin as ``bogus.'' However, much of Dodge's writing is labored and dry, and these dated pieces will appeal mostly to students of jazz criticism. Photos not seen by PW. (Aug.)