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196 THE INSTRUMENTS, THE SOUNDS, THE PERFORMERS
transcribing to print of Dixieland arrangements. In 1922 some of his most durable compositions first appeared in print, among them Farewell Blues and Bugle Call Rag. "Three-part harmony was only featured in the large orchestras at that time," Schoebel recalls. "As far as the real Dixieland arrangements were concerned, this was done very much in the same way that you hear them now-very flexible and not too fixed, with many spots completely ad libbed.
"In addition to introducing the first real Dixieland arrangements in print, I transcribed all of Jelly Roll Morton and Joe Oliver's tunes from the early *20s on."
Concerning the contrast between white and Negro styles in the early years he comments: "There wasn't any particular interchange of ideas as there simply weren't enough arrangers. However, they mixed plenty and played together when they had a chance."
The use of jazz arrangements took a more ambitious step forward in 1926-8, when Don Redman provided a series of orchestrations for some of the first white groups that were then experimenting with large-scale jazz, among them the Paul Whiteman and Ren Pollack orchestras. Meanwhile Fletcher Henderson, after Redman had quit the band, began to contribute more actively to his orchestra's library.
Henderson Stomp and King Porter Stomp were in essence embryonic treatments of fuller voiced arrangements that were later to earn him a belated reputation with the general American public through his work for the Benny Goodman orchestra.
Henderson, before forming his band, had worked as a house pianist and writer witli companies that published music or phonograph records; it was not a lack of capability, but the laissez-faire streak in his disposition, that prevented him from assuming a larger share of the writing responsibilities with his orchestra. Hendersons work had a great deal in common with Redman's; he made superlative use of the comparatively limited instrumentation at his disposal.
The catalytic efforts of Henderson and Redman stand out in sharper relief when contrasted with the contemporaneous works of other composer-arrangers attempting to present jazz in or- |
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