Crazy Rhythm

William Wolfson

"Crazy Rhythm" is a thirty-two-bar swing show tune written in 1928 by Irving Caesar, Joseph Meyer, and Roger Wolfe Kahn for the Broadway musical 'Here's Howe.' It has since become a jazz standard, inspiring at least 15 jazz albums named Crazy Rhythm, often with the song itself included. "Crazy Rythmn" can also refer to the music and dances of the Jazz Age.

William Wolfson depicts a nightclub, probably in Harlem, New York, at the end of the roaring 20s, during the Harlem Renaissance. The African-American band, it could be Lloyd and Cecil Scott at the Capital Palace, throws itself into the music as the dancers move to the beat, bathed in a circle of light.

The patrons, seated at tables, enjoy the show. They are, with one exception, all white, while the staff is all African-American. Wolfson adds to the action by adding a waiter, entering the composition from the left, hurrying to deliver a drink and snacks.