Who is Jazz?

            Coming into this course, I had a pretty clearly defined idea of what jazz and it’s history was to me. I was completely and utterly wrong. My skewed view may have come from me being a relatively sheltered child. While most jazz musicians experienced a mixing of peoples and cultures when they were younger, I got a very binary view of the world. There was my culture, and ‘their’ culture. Not to say that I view cultures separate to mine as inferior only that they were not at the forefront of my development.  

            Before this class, I, just like Miles’ teacher at Julliard, thought that “black people played the blues was because they were poor and had to pick cotton. So they were sad and that's where the blues came from, their sadness” (Miles, 59). I didn’t think that white people, or anyone outside of the American south in particular, wanted anything to do with jazz or the blues. Obviously this was a very inconsistent perspective on Jazz history and culture.      

            As we learned over this quarter, jazz was the product of many cultures. French, Mexican, and African just to name a few. Jazz was a brand new aesthetic brought about by a collaboration of cultures spurred on by the rise in technology; had it not been for the advent of the steamboat, New Orleans’s Jazz would not have evolved the way it did. One reason people play the blues is steam, not cotton.

            Not only was jazz a union of cultures in the American south, but it spread far and wide throughout America. New Orleans, Chicago, New York, as well as Kansas City and California left lasting impressions on the history of jazz. The audience of jazz spread far beyond these cities as well. The radio made sure that every corner of America has their jazz fix.

            Prior to this course, I believed that jazz and its history were entirely black. Once again though my assumption proved flase. Through out the course, we have seen people of many races play crucial roles in jazz. The Eighth Regimental Mexican Band who changed the face of New Orleans forever, the white jazz bands in Chicago who emulated their black predecessors to make the first jazz recordings, and the white executives who presided over the spread of jazz as an American craze collectively break the all-black paradigm I had prescribed to the history of jazz.

            The error in my assumptions and notions of jazz and its history can be summed up in a single question: Who is Jazz? Ten weeks ago, I would have very foolishly said that jazz was something that poor, black people from the south played; a creation of racism and slavery. Above, I tried to briefly outline the truth: Jazz was created and consumed by people of all colors and cultures, rich and poor, across the globe.

            Art and culture are tied tightly to the people and cultures that create them. Thus, to truly understand jazz, we must understand who made it, and who continues to make it. Before this class, my limited understanding of jazz, its history and its culture did not allow me to enjoy nor analyze jazz as an aesthetic. Now, because of this course, I have a better understanding of who, and consequently what, jazz is.

Comment: Jacob Weverka

A Violent Kind of Genius

            According to Kelley, the single biggest influence on Monk’s early development was his time spent in the Columbus Hill Neighborhood Center.  While this center allowed kids to take athletics, art and trade classes, it also became the center of social activity for kids on the West Side. This social activity gave the kids in San Juan Hill a sense of community in the face of the violence that plagued the neighborhood.

            This sense of tight-knit community not only affected Monk in the center, but also at home. In the early 1900’s, just before Monk’s arrival, San Juan Hill had a mass exodus to Harlem. This migration brought a mixture of other peoples onto the Hill. The subsequent mixing of cultures influenced Monk’s childhood as he learned music from the Caribbeans and West Indians that lived in his building. “With the music cuisine, dialect and manners of the Caribbean and the American South everywhere in the West 60’s, virtually every kid became sort of a cultural hybrid. Thelonius absorbed Caribbean music” (Thelonius Monk, p.23).

            San Juan Hill also boasted the biggest collection of Black musicians before the Harlem Renaissance. This within the strong community of the Hill brought music and culture to the forefront of Monk’s formative years. His mother “did what she could to introduce her children to the city’s rich cultural life” including bringing a piano into their apartment which Monk immediately learned to play (Thelonious Monk, p.22).

            This is what people mean when they say that jazz is New York. Jazz and art is the product of individuals like Monk, but these individuals are the product of the unique culture that is New York City. The same can be said for the music and art coming out of other tight-knit communities like Leimert Park.

            Both Leimert Park and San Juan Hill are known to be violent places to live. San Juan Hill was known to be one of the most violent neighborhoods in Manhattan. Police expected “at least one small riot on the Hill…each week” (Theolonius Monk, p. 17). This culminated in a ‘race war’ that happened in 1905. Leimert Park in South Central Los Angeles was the site of the Race Riots following the exoneration of the police offers accused of beating Rodney King after a routine traffic stop.

            Leimert Park had other things in common with San Juan Hill during the rise of their artistic production. They had community centers that displayed art, such as 5^th Street Dicks Coffee House and The World Stage. They also have a strong cohesive sense of community that allows them to overcome the violence of their locality. This mutual connectedness was exhibited during the Rodney King riots when a museum of African Artifacts was in danger of burning down and people were rushed to move all the pieces across the street until the danger subsided. Not a single piece of art was stolen that day because, like the people of San Juan Hill, the art and culture was tied to their sense of community. This made the art coming out of Leimert Park more powerful and influential.

            People are products of their communities, but not always in the same vein. Violence, Drugs, and Gangs can draw one person in and force another person to move far away. Similarly, jazz musicians and their community are intertwined. Whether they grew up there, or merely performed there, each community has an impact on the style and mood of a musician’s jazz. To me, there is an inseparable causal relationship between an artist and their community, and jazz is no exception to this rule.

Comment: Neel Sabnis