{"id":1679,"date":"2014-08-02T10:36:57","date_gmt":"2014-08-02T14:36:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/?p=1679"},"modified":"2019-09-12T15:48:15","modified_gmt":"2019-09-12T19:48:15","slug":"most-scurrilous-unfunny-new-yorker-humor-re-jazz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2014\/08\/most-scurrilous-unfunny-new-yorker-humor-re-jazz.html","title":{"rendered":"Most scurrilous, unfunny New Yorker “humor” re jazz"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m aghast at The New Yorker’s rip-off of Sonny Rollins’ good name and great heart to slag jazz in the guise\u00c2\u00a0of “humor.” A\u00c2\u00a0Daily Shouts\u00c2\u00a0piece, bylined “Django Gold” (surely a pseudonym) purports to be “Sonny Rollins: In His Own Words” and controverts\u00c2\u00a0the very essence of the art form this grand hero\u00c2\u00a0has embodied for more than half a century\u00c2\u00a0— without raising a chuckle (at least from me). See for yourself <\/a>— then\u00c2\u00a0write the editor a letter saying “This ain’t funny.” Not that jazz is sacrosanct, but this ain’t funny.<\/em><\/p>\n

Ok, call me sensitive. I was read “The Talk of the Town” as an infant by my parents trying to put me to sleep. I saved my copy of The New Yorker issue containing S.J. Perelman’s last story, as well as Salinger’s “Hapworth 16, 1924” and In Cold Blood<\/em><\/a>. I’ve always wanted to write something that The New Yorker would publish. As a reader and later budding jazz journalist, I admired Whitney Balliett’s interviews and sopped up the front-of-the-book squibs on who was playing where. The magazine’s neglect of jazz since Balliett retired in 1998 has been regrettable, but all too consistent with mainstream media’s treatment of America’s world-renown cultural signifier.<\/p>\n

I have often been amused by The New Yorker’s satires and cartoons. But appropriating and subverting the persona and image (photo by David Redfern) of the NEA Jazz Master\/National Medal of the Arts honoree in order to scoff at what he and hordes of other performers do (mostly for self-satisfaction: It’s not like even the best-selling jazz musicians make the big bucks flowing to visual arts stars, major film directors and actors, globte-trotting orchestra conductors, etc.) is nothing to laugh at. The “joke” is based on everyone who stumbles on this realizing it’s the opposite of Rollins’ life and purpose, but yet turns on\u00c2\u00a0the seed of punkish \"\"<\/a>resentment sophisticates presumably harbor against the music.<\/p>\n

“The saxophone sounds horrible . . . Jazz may be the stupidest thing anyone ever came up with . . .I hate music. I wasted my life.” Oh, yeah, Django, those are real corkers!<\/p>\n

To know what Rollins really thinks about things, check out Mark Jacobson’s 2013 interview<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0or view any of a Bret Primack’s video posts<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0with the man.<\/p>\n

And what’s really wrong about this is that due to the mechanics of search engine optimization, henceforth “Sonny Rollins: In His Own Words” will likely score high in\u00c2\u00a0Google searches for Sonny, maybe for jazz, so that unsuspecting readers will be led to think (at least for a moment) that this wonderful, selfless 84-year-old human being actually has come to the conclusion that everything he’s poured his mind, soul, energy into — for decades in the face of society’s bigoted and snooty dismissal, commercial disregard and evidently continuing “intellectual” non-comprehension — has been for nought.<\/p>\n

Shame on The New Yorker. What would Balliett, Robert Gottlieb (TNY editor 1987 – 82, editor of Reading Jazz<\/a>), or such\u00c2\u00a0immortal\u00c2\u00a0TNY humorists as Robert Benchley, James Thurber, S.J. Perelman 0r Donald Barthelme, author of a genuinely silly New Yorker-published spoof, “The King of Jazz”<\/a> say? For shame, for shame. Not that jazz is sacrosanct, but “funny” must be funny<\/em>.
\nhowardmandel.com<\/a><\/p>\n

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I’m aghast at The New Yorker’s rip-off of Sonny Rollins’ good name and great heart to slag jazz in the guise\u00c2\u00a0of “humor.” A\u00c2\u00a0Daily Shouts\u00c2\u00a0piece, bylined “Django Gold” (surely a pseudonym) purports to be “Sonny Rollins: In His Own Words” and controverts\u00c2\u00a0the very essence of the art form this grand hero\u00c2\u00a0has embodied for more than half […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1680,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1679","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-main","8":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/rollins-not-plased.jpeg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1i3CL-r5","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":118,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2008\/08\/sonny_rollins_in_chicago.html","url_meta":{"origin":1679,"position":0},"title":"Sonny Rollins in Chicago","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"August 29, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Sonny Rollins at 78 is still a saxophone collosus, as he demonstrated leading his touring sextet Thursday night to open the Chicago Jazz Festival. His bent posture, shock of white hair and strong features give him the air of an Old Testament prophet, and his stamina may not be all\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Chicago Jazz festival\"","block_context":{"text":"Chicago Jazz festival","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/tag\/chicago-jazz-festival"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":338,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2010\/09\/sonny_the_sax_king.html","url_meta":{"origin":1679,"position":1},"title":"Sonny the sax king","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"September 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"At age 80, Sonny Rollins is indisputably the greatest living jazz tenor saxophonist, proved last night throughout a 2-hour set at New York's sold-out Beacon Theater in which harmolodic sage Ornette Coleman sat in, backed by drummer Roy Haynes and bassist Christian McBride, on \"Tenor Madness.\"\u00a0\u00a0\"Sonnymoon For Two\". Rollins was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":537,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2011\/09\/congrats-to-sonny-rollins.html","url_meta":{"origin":1679,"position":2},"title":"Congrats to Sonny Rollins","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"September 7, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Saxophonist supreme Sonny Rollins turns 81 today, and was announced as recipient of 2011 Kennedy Center honors. He really deserves it: he's been a beacon of robust, smart, honest American music for more than 60 years.\u00c2\u00a0Surfing for clips, I found this of \"Alfie's Theme\" from 1982, but there are many\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":339,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2010\/09\/sonny_beacon_bootlegged_video.html","url_meta":{"origin":1679,"position":3},"title":"Sonny @ Beacon bootlegged video clip","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"September 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"A bootlegged video excerpt of Sonny Rollins at the Beacon Theater, 9\/10\/2010 is available on youtube -- the sound doesn't do him justice, and I don't intend to encourage unauthorized video, but it is out there to give the world a brief idea of last night's concert.\u00a0On the other hand,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":320,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2010\/06\/_why_give_jazz_awards.html","url_meta":{"origin":1679,"position":4},"title":"Why of the Jazz Journalists Assn’s Jazz Awards","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"June 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Why give Jazz Awards? See my new column in City Arts re the event Monday 6\/14 at City Winery in NYC, produced by the Jazz Journalists Assoc.\u00c2\u00a0 (Full disclosure: I'm deeply involved -- as left, last year presenting Kurt Elling his statuette for Best Male Vocalist, photo by Enid Farber.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"HM-and-Kurt-Elling-jazz-awa.jpg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/HM-and-Kurt-Elling-jazz-awa.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":343,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2010\/09\/jazz_elders_cast_giant_shadows.html","url_meta":{"origin":1679,"position":5},"title":"Jazz elders cast giant shadows","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"September 17, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Why isn't the amazing current generation of creative (jazz) musicians better known? Maybe because major artists of the not-so-distant past are practicing the art form at splendid peaks, overturning clich\u00c3\u00a9s about dwindling powers of octogenarians. Read my column in City Arts New York for a report that touches on Sonny\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"muhal.jpeg","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/assets_c\/2010\/09\/muhal-thumb-275x183-17303.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1679\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}