‘Down with bebop—viva swing!’
Swing Club and the meaning of jazz in late 1940s Estonia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jazz.v4i2.95Keywords:
jazz, jazz group, late 1940s, Soviet Estonia, Swing ClubAbstract
The study focuses on one particular year in Estonian jazz history—1948. This year marked the start of the pivotal period in Estonian cultural history—the beginning of the most intense ideological pressure in the sequence of the ‘tightening the screws’, as it was referred to metaphorically. This year began a period of the lowest political tolerance jazz has ever experienced in its entire Soviet Estonian history. This study addresses the following questions with particular reference to the Estonian jazz group Swing Club: How was the socio-political turmoil reflected in Estonian jazz life? How did the musicians attune their musical weltanschauung to the creative space provided by this subversive historical moment? How did Estonian jazz musicians realize their creative potential in the conditions of this limited creative freedom?
References
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Atkins, T. E. (2003) ‘Towards a Global History of Jazz’. In Jazz Planet, ed. Taylor E. Atkins, xii–xvii. Mississippi: University Press.
Balina, M., and E. Dobrenko (2009) Petrified Utopia: Happiness Soviet-style. London: Anthem Press.
Chew, G., and M. Bek (2004) ‘Introduction: The Dialictics of Socialist Realism’. In Socialist Realism and Music, ed. Mikulaš Bek, Geoffrey Chew and Petr Macek, 9–15. Praha: KLP.
DeVeaux, S. (2005) ‘Core and Boundaries’. The Source: Challenging Jazz Criticism 2: 15–30.
Fitzpatrick, S. (2000) Stalinism: New Directions. London and New York: Routledge.
Fürst, J. (2006) ‘Late Stalinist Society: History Policies and People’. In Late Stalinist Russia: Society between Reconstruction and Reinvention, ed. Juliane Fürst, 4–36. London: Routledge.
Gabbard, K. (2003) ‘The Word Jazz’. In The Cambridge Companion to Jazz, ed. Mervyn Cooke and David Horn, 1–6. London: Cambridge University Press.
Gendron, B. (1995) ‘“Moldy Figs” and Modernists: Jazz at War (1942–1946)’. In Jazz Among the Discourses, ed. Krin Gabbard, 31–56. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Kojevnikov, A. (2000) ‘Games of Stalinist Democracy: Ideological Discussions in Soviet Sciences, 1947–52’. In Stalinism: New Directions, ed. Sheila Fitzpatrick. London and New York: Routledge.
Kreegipuu, T. (2005) ‘Nõukogude kultuuripoliitika printsiibid ja rakendused Eesti NSV-s aastatel 1944–1954 kirjanduse ja trükiajakirjanduse näitel’. Magistritöö. Tartu ülikool. http://dspace.utlib.ee/dspace/bitstream/handle/10062/1026/kreegipuu.pdf?sequence=5.
Lauk, T. (2008) ‘Jazz Eestis 1918–1945’. Doctoral dissertation, University of Tallinn.
Lott, E. 1995. ‘Doule V, Double-Time: Bebops Politics of Time’. In Jazz Among the Discourses, ed. Krin Gabbard, 243–55. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Lõhmus, M. (2002) ‘Transformation of Public Text in Totalitarian System: A Socio-Semiotic Study of Soviet Censorship Practices in Estonian Radio in the 1980s’. PhD thesis, University of Turku. http://www.hot.ee/loehmus/Kirja.PDF.
Mertelsman, O. (2003) ‘Hariduse ja kulturi ekspansioon süsteemi stabiliseerijana. Eesti 1940–1956’. Kultuur ja elu 3: 16–18.
Ojakäär, V. (2008) Sirp ja saksofon. Tallinn: Kirjastus Ilo.
Oswald, I., and V. Voronkov (2004) ‘The “Public-Private” Sphere in Soviet and Post-Soviet Society: Perception and Dynamics of “Public” and “Private” in Contemporary Russia’. European Societies 6(1): 97–117. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1461669032000176332
Reimann, H. (2011) ‘Ideology and the Cultural Study of Soviet Estonian Jazz’. In The Jazz Chameleon, ed. Janne Mäkelä, 23–35. Turku: Uniprint.
Ritter, R. (2010) ‘The Radio—a Jazz Instrument of its Own’. In Jazz Behind the Iron Curtain, ed. Gertrud Pickhan and Rüdiger Ritter, 35–56. Berlin: Peter Lang.
Slonimsky, N. (1950) ‘The Changing Style of Soviet Music’. Journal of the American Musicological Society 3(3): 236–55. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/jams.1950.3.3.03a00040
Starr, S. F. (1983) Red and Hot: The Fate of Jazz in Soviet Union. New York: Limelight.
Stites, R. (1992) Russian Popular Culture: Entertainment and Society Since 1900. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Other sources
Almanac of Swing Club. Unpublished document. Preserved at the Museum of Estonian Theatre and Music.
Author’s interview with Uno Loop, 1 October 2011.
Author’s interview with Kalju Terasmaa, 12 October 2011.
Broadcast, Siis kui džäss ja pop olid põlu all (When jazz and pop were under disfavour), 11 August 1990, Estonian radio archive.
Krutob, Herbert. Personal notes, Minu muusikutee (My way to music), 1 September 2003. Personal possession of Uno Loop.
Milovski, S. ‘About Jazz Music’. Sirp ja Vasar, 19 October 1946.
Atkins, T. E. (2003) ‘Towards a Global History of Jazz’. In Jazz Planet, ed. Taylor E. Atkins, xii–xvii. Mississippi: University Press.
Balina, M., and E. Dobrenko (2009) Petrified Utopia: Happiness Soviet-style. London: Anthem Press.
Chew, G., and M. Bek (2004) ‘Introduction: The Dialictics of Socialist Realism’. In Socialist Realism and Music, ed. Mikulaš Bek, Geoffrey Chew and Petr Macek, 9–15. Praha: KLP.
DeVeaux, S. (2005) ‘Core and Boundaries’. The Source: Challenging Jazz Criticism 2: 15–30.
Fitzpatrick, S. (2000) Stalinism: New Directions. London and New York: Routledge.
Fürst, J. (2006) ‘Late Stalinist Society: History Policies and People’. In Late Stalinist Russia: Society between Reconstruction and Reinvention, ed. Juliane Fürst, 4–36. London: Routledge.
Gabbard, K. (2003) ‘The Word Jazz’. In The Cambridge Companion to Jazz, ed. Mervyn Cooke and David Horn, 1–6. London: Cambridge University Press.
Gendron, B. (1995) ‘“Moldy Figs” and Modernists: Jazz at War (1942–1946)’. In Jazz Among the Discourses, ed. Krin Gabbard, 31–56. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Kojevnikov, A. (2000) ‘Games of Stalinist Democracy: Ideological Discussions in Soviet Sciences, 1947–52’. In Stalinism: New Directions, ed. Sheila Fitzpatrick. London and New York: Routledge.
Kreegipuu, T. (2005) ‘Nõukogude kultuuripoliitika printsiibid ja rakendused Eesti NSV-s aastatel 1944–1954 kirjanduse ja trükiajakirjanduse näitel’. Magistritöö. Tartu ülikool. http://dspace.utlib.ee/dspace/bitstream/handle/10062/1026/kreegipuu.pdf?sequence=5.
Lauk, T. (2008) ‘Jazz Eestis 1918–1945’. Doctoral dissertation, University of Tallinn.
Lott, E. 1995. ‘Doule V, Double-Time: Bebops Politics of Time’. In Jazz Among the Discourses, ed. Krin Gabbard, 243–55. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Lõhmus, M. (2002) ‘Transformation of Public Text in Totalitarian System: A Socio-Semiotic Study of Soviet Censorship Practices in Estonian Radio in the 1980s’. PhD thesis, University of Turku. http://www.hot.ee/loehmus/Kirja.PDF.
Mertelsman, O. (2003) ‘Hariduse ja kulturi ekspansioon süsteemi stabiliseerijana. Eesti 1940–1956’. Kultuur ja elu 3: 16–18.
Ojakäär, V. (2008) Sirp ja saksofon. Tallinn: Kirjastus Ilo.
Oswald, I., and V. Voronkov (2004) ‘The “Public-Private” Sphere in Soviet and Post-Soviet Society: Perception and Dynamics of “Public” and “Private” in Contemporary Russia’. European Societies 6(1): 97–117. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1461669032000176332
Reimann, H. (2011) ‘Ideology and the Cultural Study of Soviet Estonian Jazz’. In The Jazz Chameleon, ed. Janne Mäkelä, 23–35. Turku: Uniprint.
Ritter, R. (2010) ‘The Radio—a Jazz Instrument of its Own’. In Jazz Behind the Iron Curtain, ed. Gertrud Pickhan and Rüdiger Ritter, 35–56. Berlin: Peter Lang.
Slonimsky, N. (1950) ‘The Changing Style of Soviet Music’. Journal of the American Musicological Society 3(3): 236–55. http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/jams.1950.3.3.03a00040
Starr, S. F. (1983) Red and Hot: The Fate of Jazz in Soviet Union. New York: Limelight.
Stites, R. (1992) Russian Popular Culture: Entertainment and Society Since 1900. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Other sources
Almanac of Swing Club. Unpublished document. Preserved at the Museum of Estonian Theatre and Music.
Author’s interview with Uno Loop, 1 October 2011.
Author’s interview with Kalju Terasmaa, 12 October 2011.
Broadcast, Siis kui džäss ja pop olid põlu all (When jazz and pop were under disfavour), 11 August 1990, Estonian radio archive.
Krutob, Herbert. Personal notes, Minu muusikutee (My way to music), 1 September 2003. Personal possession of Uno Loop.
Milovski, S. ‘About Jazz Music’. Sirp ja Vasar, 19 October 1946.
Published
2012-03-28
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Reimann, H. (2012). ‘Down with bebop—viva swing!’: Swing Club and the meaning of jazz in late 1940s Estonia. Jazz Research Journal, 4(2), 95-121. https://doi.org/10.1558/jazz.v4i2.95
