Dangerous Rhythms: Jazz and the Underworld
Book by T. J. English
DETAILS
Publisher : William Morrow (August 2, 2022) Language : English Hardcover : 448 pages ISBN-10 : 0063031418 ISBN-13 : 978-0063031418 Item Weight : 1.59 pounds Dimensions : 6 x 1.43 x 9 inches Best Sellers Rank: #44,015 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #47 in Organized Crime True Accounts #82 in Criminology (Books) #111 in Popular Culture in Social Sciences , From T. J. English, the New York Times bestselling author of Havana Nocturne , comes the epic, scintillating narrative of the interconnected worlds of jazz and organized crime in 20 th century America. "[A] brilliant and courageous book." —Dr. Cornel West Dangerous Rhythms tells the symbiotic story of jazz and the underworld: a relationship fostered in some of 20th century America’s most notorious vice districts. For the first half of the century mobsters and musicians enjoyed a mutually beneficial partnership. By offering artists like Louis Armstrong, Earl “Fatha” Hines, Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Lena Horne, and Ella Fitzgerald a stage, the mob, including major players Al Capone, Meyer Lansky, and Charlie “Lucky” Luciano, provided opportunities that would not otherwise have existed. Even so, at the heart of this relationship was a festering racial inequity. The musicians were mostly African American, and the clubs and means of production were owned by white men. It was a glorified plantation system that, over time, would find itself out of tune with an emerging Civil Rights movement. Some artists, including Louis Armstrong, believed they were safer and more likely to be paid fairly if they worked in “protected” joints. Others believed that playing in venues outside mob rule would make it easier to have control over their careers. Through English’s voluminous research and keen narrative skills, Dangerous Rhythms reveals this deeply fascinating slice of American history in all its sordid glory. Read more
REVIEW
English is a good storyteller. He writes in a page turning style. But what he presents as a grand thesis -- the rise of jazz was inextricably tied to organized crime -- is more correlation than causation. Many of the stories fade in and fade out. English is prone to colorful turns of phrase that are lacking. For example, he talks about how Mo Cohen, fearing some rival, got in good with an up and comer in the mob. "Check and Checkmate". The problem is that we never find out who that supposed rival was, and we never see details of the end game. And how do we know why Mo Cohen got tight with the future mob boss. We don't, since Mo Cohen almost never shared his thoughts and there is no evidence from wiretaps, other participants, etc. Dozens of statements are passed off as facts when they are little more than English's educated guess. This is picky, but there must have been a dozen instances where a phrase or word was chosen so carelessly that it became distracting. At one point he English writes "to coin a phrase" somebody was "in the pocket" of a particular mobster. Really? English coined the phrase to be in someone's pocket? On one page he notes that the Royal Roost was the first club to have a peanut gallery (a section of the club where no alcohol was served so young people could attend without being subject to the two drink minimum.). That was very interesting. Later on the same page he writes that Birdland "unlike the Royal Roost" instituted a peanut gallery. It is a very interesting point of lore regardless of which club did it, but having contradictory statements made me go back and reread to see if I was misremembering or had not understood. Clearly the author knows the mob side of the story very well and frequently he gets into the mechanics of how the skim worked. In the case of casinos it is clear who is doing the stealing, but what isn't clear is from whom. Basically the management is taking cash out of the profits before the cash hits the books and distributing that cash to politicians, police and the mob owners. Are they stealing from other partners or just from the taxman? Much is made of the early clubs being places to launder money. Did that mean the clubs didn't have to make a profit to be useful? I finished the book unclear about the economics of jazz clubs. It seems like most didn't last long. Why did the mob keep investing in more? The author certainly has his likes among jazz musicians and is most sympathetic to what they had to put up with and how badly most got screwed. And he makes a good case that the major music companies today are less thuggish than the mob but no better for the musicians. And that while the mob could be brutal, the cops were as bad and likely more feared by some musicians. I don't think English's knowledge of music goes as deep as his understand of the mob. One example: he talks about Charlie Parker bringing new chords to jazz. Um, no. Saxophones don't work that way and much of Parker's innovative melody lines were set down over changes from older songs. Yes, there is a 'bird blues' containing an innovative chord line. But that was not the genius of Parker. The mob is part of the story of jazz and jazz is part of the story of the mob. Did either really change the trajectory of the other? I'm guessing a lot less than the author argues.
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