12 December 2022
Article on Time Out
It is the summer of 1959, and jazz enthusiasts are gathered at the Music Inn, a music venue in the heart of the pastoral Berkshires region in Western Massachusetts. The event is the Jazz Roundtable, a series of talks and discussions about music, founded by professor Marshall Stearns in the early 1950s. Dr. Willis James is on the stage, demonstrating an African chant. James is an authority of African folksongs and their connection to the tradition of jazz. At the end of his performance he asks the audience ‘Can any of you tell me what time signature that was in?’ The audience, including notable musicians of that era, is silent. James follows: “That was an American work song. It was in five-four time, and the Dave Brubeck Quartet is on the right track.”
The opening paragraph on a very good article on
Time Out included in the Jazz Blog site The Music Aficionado ©. Click
here .
