The glorious victory of WWII again called for an occasion to celebrate, but jazz was not to be there this time. As the Cold War began, the big chill settled upon jazz; it was now labeled 'the song of the enemy.' Many prominent jazz musicians like Eddie Rosner, Leonid Piatigorskii and Alexander Tsfasman were arrested, sentenced to prison camps or stripped of the right to perform. Even saxophones became suspect in this time of trouble. One day in 1949, jazz musicians in Moscow were ordered to bring their saxophones to the State Variety Music Agency. Upon arrival there, those 'despicable instruments' were confiscated by state officials (Starr 1983, 216). A similar wave of confiscation soon followed throughout the Soviet Union. In this way, jazz disappeared from official discourses except when it was called up for criticism. Indeed, its rehabilitation did not come until the end of the Stalin era.
Hyung-min Joo University of Chicago
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