Abstract
Emanuel Ugge (1900-1970) ranked among the most influential Czech writers on jazz in the first half of the 20th century. This study charts his impact on the reception of jazz in the Czech context, and draws parallels with Western exponents of purist approaches to jazz, including the likes of Hugues Panassie, Rudi Blesh or Charles Edward Smith.
The text also challenges the oversimplifying narrative about the strictly repressive character of the communist regime's attitude towards jazz: himself a diehard Marxist, Ugge loved jazz and publicly defended it not just in the 1930s, but as a member of the Czechoslovak Communist party still after the communist coup of 1948. He was convinced that the new order, and the country's nationalized recording industry, would finally make possible the definitive triumph over "commercial concoctions", and "pure jazz" would emerge as an authentically revolutionary force in the service of the proletariat.
Ugge's influence on subsequent generations of jazz writers was essential, and his arguments continued to serve for a long time as a theoretical basis in dealing with music production organizers and censors.