Unter Kitschverdacht: „Just A Gigolo“
Even intellectuals like Theodor W. Adorno and Clement Greenberg could not conceal a weakness for the phenomenon kitsch in art. In his analyses of popular songs published in 1929, Adorno attributes to kitsch a homely lightness. Greenberg declared his weakness for popular music, despite his conviction that kitsch is effect without substance. Though critical distance is preserved in intellectual circles, jazz musicians discovered kitsch as equally valid a base for their music as the blues. The presence of kitsch in jazz is clearly shown in many versions of the “Schlager” “Schöner Gigolo, armer Gigolo”. Shortly after its appearance in Europe in 1929, “Just a Gigolo” (the English title) reached enormous popularity in the USA. There Louis Armstrong and Bing Crosby were the first in recording the sad fate of the hussar working as a gigolo after the war. Like the artificiality of the figure of the gigolo expressed in the text, the melody of the refrain with its uniform downward stepping tone repetitions creates an obvious nostalgic melancholy. Not just Coleman Hawkins and Art Tatum, but especially Thelonious Monk admitted to enjoying the kitsch of “Just a Gigolo” in the tone repetitions. In spite of the prejudices of intellectual European jazz lovers, musical kitsch represents one of the essential European contributions to jazz. To find the European origins of kitsch, one need but look at the early period of the Tin Pan Alley, dominated by the waltz.