Josh White

After moving from one hotel to another for a period of two years, Storyville has finally settled down in a pleasant little cave beneath the Hotel Buckminster. Carefully directed by its founder, George Wein, it has stuck by its original purpose of bringing the best in native music to appreciative Boston audiences.

There is an obvious difficulty in presenting a program of sensitive music night after night, year after year. For perfection each piece should carry with it the freshness which comes with deep feeling, the excitement which comes from the realibing that a song is emotionally genuine. For these reasons the music of Bessie Smith, the early Billie Holliday, and the always original Sidney Bechet have achieved a permanent place in American musical history. They are spontaneous, always active in an original sense.

Josh White is the latest in the long line of visiting specialists to offer his wares at this popular spot, and his performance is something to hear. Offering a well balanced program of American ballads and blues, White can hold an audience spellbound for more than an hour at a time. And sometimes he does.

When he sings House of the Rising Sun or John Henry, he does something to his story that gives it personal significance. Perhaps it is a plaintive wail in his voice, perhaps it is the way he takes a note and releases it as though it were a word that carries a meaning for the first time. Certainly it has something to do with the way he handles his guitar, an instrument which brings an important supplementary voice to his work.

White is at his best in the bitter lament, Strange Fruit, with the power that only this type of singing can achieve. The room is dark except for the lone spotlight which shines from above. The audience is quiet with an intense silence. White finishes the song, the spot goes out, and there is no movement for almost a minute. And then applause.

But there are other times in the program when White is a blues singer--a pretty good one, but just another blues singer. He is clever, warmly humorous, a crowd pleaser. He sings One Meatball and the audience laughs; he sings Jericho and the audience claps in rhythm and joins in the chorus. He is an entertainer with a job to do.

White finishes his present engagement at Storyville this week, but according to impressario Wein, he will be back before the school year is over.