2320  The Tango in the United States – A Review

Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2004 13:23:31 -0500
From: John Gleeson <john.gleeson@COMCAST.NET>
Subject: The Tango in the United States – A Review

The Tango in the United States – A Review



A few months ago, someone (I forget who it was, my apologies) posted a notice in this forum about the book “The Tango in the United =
States”, by Carlos G. Groppa.



Followng that note, I purchased the book. This is a review (by an admitted amateur). I am also curious as to whether anyone else has read =
this book, and what are their opinions about the literary quality.



Firstly, in my opinion, the book is grammatically extremely bad. It is full of incorrect and/or missing punctuation and replete with bad verb =
tenses. If the book is a record of the quality of Senor Groppa’s command of the English language, he is to be highly commended. I would =
be happy if my Spanish was only half as good. However, this an English-language publication, by an established publishing firm and, as =
such, it should be 100% grammatically correct, as far as is possible. That’s why publishing houses have editors. There is no excuse for the =
extremely poor editing.



Secondly, the book is full of inaccurate and misleading statements. Some examples:



1.. On pp 53, 58, it is inferred that James Reese Europe was the founder of jazz.
Page 53 states that “. . . he quickly became a figure of weight in NY musical circles . . . he soon developed a type of music which later =
would evolve into jazz”.
Page 58 states that “. . . the seed that James Reese Europe sowed grew into a new musical form called jazz”.
James Reese Europe was born in 1880/1881 and moved to NY in 1904. What was the type of music that Europe created, and when did the evolution =
take place? While Europe was still undergoing his musical studies, long before he moved to New York, Buddy Bolden was already playing a form of =
early jazz in New Orleans, in 1895-1900. The well-known and noted authority on Jazz, Leonard Feather states that “while James Reese =
Europe had several jazz musicians in his orchestras, he had no direct relationship to jazz”.


2.. On pp 66-67, in discussing the relationship of jazz to tango, it is stated that “. . . the only known recording of the tune Egyptian =
Fantasy was not made until . . .”
Using the phrase “the only known recording” implies that extensive research has been conducted. Yet, I have a recording of this tune by a =
well-known Boston jazz group, specializing in early jazz styles, and recorded in 1979. This recording would be known to many people and =
authorities interested in “early jazz styles”, and would easily be uncovered with just a little research - such as a search of the Library =
of Congress public library files.


3.. Similarly, on pp133, it is stated that “Cheating Muchachita (Amargura)” was never released commercially. I have a recording of the =
tango, on a compilation set!
Further, on pp136, the book states that “Mary, Peggy, Betty, and Julie” are the four women referred to in the song “Cheating =
Muchachita”. Absolutely not true – they are the famous blondes in the Carlos Gardel song “Rubias de Nuevo York (Blondes of New York)” =
!


4.. On pp80-81, the chapter discusses the movie “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse”. Although the movie is not completely faithful to =
the book as he states on pp 81, Senor Groppa leads one to think that he is describing the movie, not the book. In describing the movie, the =
description is totally wrong. He states that there are two daughters and that each one had a male son (are there any other kind?). In the movie, =
one had a son; the other had three sons. He says that the landowner dies without a will and his fortune is divided between the two grandsons. =
Again, not true. In the movie, the landowner’s fortune is divided between his two daughters. And lastly, Senor Groppa says that Julio (one =
of the grandsons and the main character) moves to Paris to visit his father. Once more not true – the father is living in Argentina with =
the wealthy landowner, but after his death, takes his wife; her inherited money; and the son (Julio), and moves back to his original =
homeland (France).


5.. On pp163, it is stated that “Agustin Magaldi could not have met Eva Peron, since he died when she was a child”.
Evita was born on 5/17/1919 and was definitely not a child when Magaldi died (in 1938). Both of the noted biographers, Alicia Dujovne =
Ortiz and John Barnes state unequivocally that Magaldi and Evita met, just after her 15th birthday. Whether she was actually Magaldi’s =
mistress, as claimed in the Andrew Llloyd Webber musical “Evita”, is open to debate – however there is no disputing that she was old enough =
to have met Magaldi, and that she more than likely did.


6.. And lastly, on pp185 Stan Getz is described as being “in 1976, one of the growing hot tenor saxophonists in jazz”. This is totally =
ludicrous.
Stan Getz was born in 1927, and became famous in the late 40s when he joined Woody Herman’s band, making up one quarter of the famous =
“four brothers (Getz, Zoot Sims, Serge Cahaloff, and Herbie Steward)”. He was already so famous by the 50s that he was a featured =
musician in the movie “The Benny Goodman Story” (1956) with Louis Armstrong.
While the book is very interesting for the photos included therein, the quantity of significant errors uncovered in just one reading of this =
book leads one to wonder how accurate any of the information in the book really is, and to wonder whether Senor Groppa conducted extensive =
research in preparation for his writing, or whether he was content with only superficial research before he put “pen to paper”.



I would be interested in other comments/reviews on this book. But please – this is not a personal attack on Senor Groppa, just a review of his =
book. I would request that comments and/or any refutations be confined to the quality/content of the book and to the points listed above, and =
not digress into discussions of personalities.



John G.