The author of Blues People, Le Roi Jones, is generally identified with the extremist wing of the Civil Rights Movement and his three plays – The Slave, The Toilet and The Dutchman – produced in New York in 1964 (ironically financed by Federal Funds under the Anti Poverty Bill) caused a furore by their militancy and anti-white propaganda. This book is not so much anti-white as anti-middle-class Negro and it is the controversial opinions expressed on this subject, amongst others, that make it such stimulating reading.
Without doubt, this is an important book. Not only is it to my knowledge the first jazz history to be written by a Negro but it is also an authoritative account of the music seen against the background of Negro socio-cultural history. To quote the introduction, ‘If the Negro represents or is symbolic of something in . . . American culture this should be revealed by his characteristic music.’ This theme is explored with the assurance that can only come from being part of this history. The progress of jazz from the blues, which form an integral part of the story, to the present day Free Form Movement, is unfolded relative to the changing social patterns in which the music was created. The chapters on slavery and slave music are the best writings on the subject that I have encountered. The later developments are well documented but at times the facts tend to get overshadowed by the opinions. However, Le Roi Jones’ opinions, though often disturbing, are worth more than cursory attention. Interesting ideas are expressed on the R&B Movement and his venomous contempt for white jazz generally and the white swing bands in particular, will certainly raise a few temperatures. I found his studies of early Classic Jazz and also the modern scene most intriguing, not least from the fact that the opinions are those of a non-white critic (far too much jazz criticism has been penned by European and white American writers).
It is dangerous and also presumptuous for me, a white English liberal, to dare to question the opinions of an American Negro on the problems of race relations and the path to equality in America but it seems to me that Mr. Jones seeks the answer in separation rather than integration, hence his scorn for the Negro middle class who have followed the latter path. I don’t feel that his road is the right one, no matter how long the alternative may take. This book is certainly not for the newcomer to jazz, but it is obligatory reading for all to whom jazz means more than ‘Good Time Music’ or collecting matrix numbers and I for one look forward to the publication later this year of Le Roi Jones’ first novel, System Of Dantes Hell (MacGibbon & Kee).
Blues People by Le Roi Jones (Jazz Book Club, 244 pages, 7s. 6d. plus postage).
