Search - Various Artists :: Oriental Illusions

"East is east and West is West, and never the twain shall meet." So it was said, and perhaps even believed, until the Jazz Age, when suddenly no old-fashioned cultural barrier was safe. Since the turn of the century, when the American empire first crossed the Pacific Ocean to Hawaii and the Phillipines, Americans had cast a fascinated eye toward the Orient. From a distance, its cities were run by gangsters, its countryside by warlords. Here was a land, like the old West, where fortunes cound be made and then lost in casinos that never closed. It was exotic, mysterious, and best of all, a bit wicked. These were the elements of jazz itself. Already blending African and European musical styles, American jazz musicians had little trouble adding yet another ingredient to the mix. Throughout the 1920's and 1930's, they capitalized on the country's fascination and topics to their music, until the reality of World War II brought an end to these "Oriental Illusions."