Have you ever heard of Maurice Rocco? Probably not, and I certainly hadn’t before receiving this book for review. But, look him up in the jazz discographies and there he is, playing piano and singing in 1940 and recording with Cozy Cole in 1946. (He’s also mentioned as “an old friend” in the autobiography of Duke Ellington.) Bangkok is in the book’s title because that’s where Rocco spent the latter part of his life and died, but his life and career, though fully traced, are only a basis for the book’s investigations (conveyed in the subtitle) into “Maurice Rocco, transnational nightlife and the making of cold war intimacies”.
There were three significant things about Rocco. He played the piano and sang while standing up (and was probably therefore the model for the younger and more famous Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard) and he was black as well as being queer, gay or homosexual (whichever you prefer). It’s the latter aspects which are crucial to the book’s trajectory as it moves from Rocco’s difficulties in the USA to his greater acceptance in Thailand. Inevitably the effects of the presence of American soldiers in Thailand during the Vietnam war and thereafter are part of the author’s investigation.
This book is extremely well written but is not primarily about jazz. For jazz enthusiasts however some important points are made about assessment of a “live” performance, with its visual impact, compared to the purely aural experience of listening to a record. Because films of Rocco exist, as well as records, it’s apparently possible, or likely, to find him more entertaining to hear and watch than to only hear. The converse would be a musician (like Paul Desmond perhaps?) who’s a delight to hear on record but unassuming, perhaps disappointing, in person. If you’re interested in the challenges faced in the USA several decades ago by black homosexuals (and currently returning) and how escape to Thailand could make life easier, this will be of interest but Rocco’s presence provides focus and framework rather than a central exploration.
Bangkok After Dark by Benjamin Tausig. Duke University Press, pb, 206pp and 44pp notes and index. ISBN 9781478031703.
