RIPMJAZZ
photo of journal cover for MTR.png

Metronome

Metronome was the first jazz-centered periodical to be published in the United States. Begun in 1885 as a journal devoted to bands, orchestras, and the instrument trades, it pivoted towards dance and popular music in the 1920s under the editorship of Gustav Saenger, previously editor of The Musical Observer (1907-1931). As observed by Ron Welburn, Metronome’s editorial change can be observed following the introduction of a Saxophone Department. [Welburn 1987] Dorin Antrim, appointed editor in 1932, completed this pivot to a focus on jazz, specifically swing, and appended a new subtitle: “Modern Music and its Makers.” RIPM Jazz Periodicals contains the years 1932 to 1961.

Metronome’s success owed much to the central presence of the critic George T. Simon (1912-2001), whose enthusiastic, engaging record and dance band reviews set Metronome apart from other early jazz magazines, including its primary competitor, Down Beat, which in its early years focused on sensationalism. As recounted in an interview with Welburn, Simon approached criticism as a musician, especially in his early years, focusing on technical aspects of performance such as intonation, sectional cohesion, and solo creativity. [Welburn 1983, 284] Simon employed various pseudonyms in his writing, including Gordon Wright, Peter Embre, Joe Hanscom, and Henry S. Cummings, in addition to ghost writing columns published under the names of musicians, such as Harry James and Gene Krupa. Simon’s writings anchored Metronome through much of its run, where he began as a staff writer in 1935 before serving as Assistant Editor (1939) and Editor (1940-1955).

Simon’s partner for much of the run was Barry Ulanov (1918-2000), who began contributing to Metronome in 1941. Like Simon, Ulanov was a native New Yorker with an Ivy League education (Columbia for Ulanov, Harvard for Simon) and both had musical backgrounds: Simon was an occasional drummer and Ulanov was a violinist whose father was concertmaster for Arturo Toscanini.  During the Second World War, Ulanov became Editor while Simon served in the US Armed Forces. Ulanov took a more progressive stance, writing on and advocating for bebop, cool jazz, and west coast jazz, and helped to redefine Metronome’s coverage after the war. Like Simon, Ulanov left Metronome in 1955 but contributed to Down Beat for three years after.

Other notable contributors to Metronome included the English jazz writer and critic Leonard Feather, who began in 1936, initially as the London correspondent. Feather later wrote articles on diverse topics, introducing the “Blindfold Test” interview which he would later popularize in Down Beat, when he departed Metronome in 1951. Nat Hentoff began contributing in 1957 following his departure from Down Beat, while serving as editor for his own The Jazz Review (New York, 1958-1961).

With the departure of Simon and Ulanov in 1955, the next few years were overseen by new editor Bill Coss and associate editor Jack Maher, during which Metronome went through a period of turmoil. While the magazine format established by Simon and Ulanov in the mid-1950s was retained, an attempt was made to broaden the content scope. Metronome’s publishers Ned and John W. Bitner founded a side project, Jazz Today (New York, 1956-1957), as a publication with pure focus on jazz, presumably to generate additional subscription and advertising revenue. After thirteen issues, Jazz Today was merged into Metronome, and shortly thereafter retitled as Metronome: Music USA from January to October 1959. Metronome then went on hiatus from November 1959 to May 1960.

Following its sale to a new publisher, Harvey J. Shotz, publication resumed with the June 1960 issue. Shotz installed David Solomon as Editor with the December 1960 issue with an intention to reorient Metronome for a more youthful and broader readership, bringing the young Dan Morgenstern on as Associate Editor, along with an impressive collection of new writers and critics, including Stanley Dance, Humphrey Lyttleton, Ted White, Martin Williams, LeRoi Jones, A. B. Spellman, Ralph Berton, and William S. Burroughs, leading to a very short-lived second ‘golden age’ for the journal.

However, a fateful choice would bring an end to Metronome. Solomon’s decision to feature a photograph of a Coney Island stripper on the July 1961 cover, with an accompanying three-page photo spread inside the issue, led to a subscriber revolt. As related by Morgenstern, a wave of subscription cancellations followed. [Morgenstern 2018] As a reader noted in a published letter to the editor: “You must be out of your collective wigs. What on earth would possess you, purportedly a jazz magazine of the loftiest intentions, to devote space to such tasteless exhibitionism as the burlesque?” [Barr 1961] By the October issue, Morgenstern replaced Solomon as editor. However, the cancellations could not be overcome, and when combined with previous deficits, Metronome ceased with the December 1961 issue. Many of its editors and writers would help establish the new journal Jazz (New York, 1962-1967) under Morgenstern’s editorship, which would debut some ten months later.

Metronome was an often-pioneering publication, introducing reader’s polls in the 1930s, the annual yearbook in 1950, and constructive criticism. The quality of its contributions, along with its long run and New York headquarters, established its place as one of the major jazz journals of the twentieth century.

Related publications:

Jazz Today (1956-1957, merged into Metronome in 1958)

Metronome: Music USA (1959)

Jazz: The Metronome Yearbook (1950-1959)

Sources cited:

Barr 1961. Jeffrey Barr,  “Readers Forum. Wigs and Strippers.” Metronome 79, no. 9 (September 1961): 2.

Morgenstern 2018. Phone call with Benjamin Knysak, 2018.

Welburn 1983. Ron Welburn, American Jazz Criticism, 1914-1940. Ph.D. Dissertation, New York University (1983).

Welburn 1987. Ron Welburn, “Jazz Magazines of the 1930s: An Overview of Their Provocative Journalism.” American Music 5, no. 3 (Autumn 1987): 258

"Founded in 1881, Metronome magazine became indispensable during the swing era, when it switched its focus to jazz. For decades, it was the best publication for reviews, features, and show listings of the era's foremost music genre."

Jordan G. Teicher, "Rare Photographs of Jazz Icons From the Archives of Metronome Magazine" (2015) (URL, accessed 25 April 2019)

Music Pedagogy Recording Industry Music Technology Entertainment Industry