Some time ago the question was raised—what would happen to Shanghai if one morning it woke up to find its Russian colony gone? Its world of music—and especially jazz-musie—would, at any rate, suffer a crushing blow. Authoritative sources state that there are no less than 40 places where Russian musicians play to all classes of the Shanghai public. Again, one orchestra often employs from 50 to 11 Russians, and if the figures involved be multiplied by each other, the result constitutes a small army. In addition there are those unpretentious bars where, for want of better employment, one or two Russian musicians can always be seen playing unpretentious music.
The most widespread combination of instruments for a Shanghai jazz band are: one piano, two saxophones, a trombone and a drum. Sometimes a band may boast three saxophonists—one of whom is also a violinist— a guitarist with a Hawauan repertoire, and a crooner. Most of them are Russians.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.