In the Swing

The jazz fans of Southern California owe a big vote of thanks to Charles Champlin, for his good job in covering the people’s jazz (“L.A. Classic Jazz Fest Greets a New Generation,” Sept. 6).

Other critics may busy themselves with fusion and avant-garde and new wave and free form and all that stuff, but Champlin had the temerity to go out and mingle with the common people and give us an excellent report on the L.A. Classic Jazz Festival.

Some of our critics look down their elevated noses at Dixieland or Chicago or New Orleans or swing or mainstream jazz, preferring to write sophisticated essays about sounds that never quite get to the real beat, never quite swing and seem to be sort of all cerebral and calculated and without heart. They ignore the fact that thousands of jazz fans flock to hear the real thing when they can.

So here’s to Champlin, the people’s swinger.

GARBER DAVIDSON

Long Beach