More UnPC Jazz observations
2. “Jazz was exclusively invented and innovated by African-Americans.”
In light of the whole Imus fiasco, with so much sanctimony and hypocrisy floating around (Al Sharpton as a moral leader - please), I wade delicately in here. For the record, Imus is a bizarre mix of social progressive, humorist, sexist and racist. He has become the sacrificial lamb, and if it means we start calling the thousands of Black men to account who casually call each other "nigger" and call women bitches and hos, I shed no tears for the radio host who wanted it both ways. If he can redeem himself and create a better consciousness, and if we can clean up the rampant misogyny in the hip hop world, so much the better. I shed no tears for Imus, but there are far worse offenders on all sides of the racial and political charade. I am also prompted to post this in part by my objection to the last acceptable racist slander in my progressive set (along with bashing Israel, while being conspicuously silent on such paradises as Sudan and Zimbabwe): The contemptuous phrase "White males". Since both Hitler and Einstein were "white males" I find it as simplistic and bigoted a term as any other, and no more universal.
As for jazz and race, a hot button here. Run for the hills, man, run for the hills. I can understand why many Blacks have laid claim to jazz as their cultural birthright, and it is certainly true that the healthy majority of the great innovators in jazz until the 1960s were indeed Black. However, jazz was a meeting ground, a stew, a mixture of cultures from its earliest times. New Orleans jazz was a blend of Black, Caribbean, Spanish, French and European musicians, influences and bands, and of course the Creoles insisted on their uniqueness from their darker-skinned cousins. Jelly Roll Morton rejected attempts to describe him as black, and by the 1920s some of the most important and influential jazz musicians on the scene were white (Beiderbecke, Teagarden, Trumbauer, the Dorseys, Django) and that has been the case ever since. Richard Sudhalter’s book “lost chords” does an excellent and irrefutable job of laying out the case for the considerable influence of Whites on early jazz. I will repeat, just so no one misunderstands, the substantial majority of great jazz players all the way through the 1950s were Black, no question. However, there has always been a highly significant contribution by Whites (interestingly enough largely Jewish and Italian) since the beginning. Jazz prior to 1960 without Beiderbecke, Teagarden, Shaw, Goodman, both Dorseys, Getz, Gil and Bill Evans, Sims, Cohn, Desmond, Shearing, Mulligan, Baker, Konitz, Tristano, Rodney, Pepper and yes, even Brubeck, would have sounded vastly different than it did. Of course, once we get to the 1960s, with Evans in his prime, Haden, Bley, Jarrett, Corea, Motian, Holland, Mclaughlin, Corryel, Lloyd, Brecker, Liebman, Sanborn and so on and so on, it is clear that the music became truly color blind, even if the audience and industry haven’t. Today, many of the most creative jazzers are not even American, from Nguyen Lee to Richard Bona to Jean Michel Pilc.
So this is my standard disclaimer. Anyone who has read what I wrote on the institutional racism in basketball or checked out my general political orientation will know that I am appalled at the unequal obstacles faced by Blacks at the hands of Whites in almost every aspect of society. Until they find out I am Jewish and that I object vehemently to racist comments, many whites casually spew their bile about blacks (and often about Jews) to me. Oh, and news flash. Stop lumping in Jews with other "Whites", since we have never been wholly accepted by the club. I know the deal here, and it is sickening that so many folks still think in such reductive and scientifically indefensible ways. Race is a social construct, invented to stratify and justify slavery, and is biologically invalid. There are 6 genes out of 40,000 that make up skin color, so I utterly reject any biological deficit or asset being assigned based on race. Also, as a Jew, I am in the unique position of being viewed as white by many in the black community and being viewed as NOT white by many in the white community. This status as an outsider gives me a rare chance to look at it a little less impassionedly. Still, I stand by my main point. Jazz, from its earliest recorded evidence, has always been a mix of cultures, never the exclusive province of one ethnic group.
My son has turned me onto a wonderful social critic and humorist named John Safran. I think his scathing and brave visit to the KKK speaks eloquently to the utter blind alley of race I have written about today.
In light of the whole Imus fiasco, with so much sanctimony and hypocrisy floating around (Al Sharpton as a moral leader - please), I wade delicately in here. For the record, Imus is a bizarre mix of social progressive, humorist, sexist and racist. He has become the sacrificial lamb, and if it means we start calling the thousands of Black men to account who casually call each other "nigger" and call women bitches and hos, I shed no tears for the radio host who wanted it both ways. If he can redeem himself and create a better consciousness, and if we can clean up the rampant misogyny in the hip hop world, so much the better. I shed no tears for Imus, but there are far worse offenders on all sides of the racial and political charade. I am also prompted to post this in part by my objection to the last acceptable racist slander in my progressive set (along with bashing Israel, while being conspicuously silent on such paradises as Sudan and Zimbabwe): The contemptuous phrase "White males". Since both Hitler and Einstein were "white males" I find it as simplistic and bigoted a term as any other, and no more universal.
As for jazz and race, a hot button here. Run for the hills, man, run for the hills. I can understand why many Blacks have laid claim to jazz as their cultural birthright, and it is certainly true that the healthy majority of the great innovators in jazz until the 1960s were indeed Black. However, jazz was a meeting ground, a stew, a mixture of cultures from its earliest times. New Orleans jazz was a blend of Black, Caribbean, Spanish, French and European musicians, influences and bands, and of course the Creoles insisted on their uniqueness from their darker-skinned cousins. Jelly Roll Morton rejected attempts to describe him as black, and by the 1920s some of the most important and influential jazz musicians on the scene were white (Beiderbecke, Teagarden, Trumbauer, the Dorseys, Django) and that has been the case ever since. Richard Sudhalter’s book “lost chords” does an excellent and irrefutable job of laying out the case for the considerable influence of Whites on early jazz. I will repeat, just so no one misunderstands, the substantial majority of great jazz players all the way through the 1950s were Black, no question. However, there has always been a highly significant contribution by Whites (interestingly enough largely Jewish and Italian) since the beginning. Jazz prior to 1960 without Beiderbecke, Teagarden, Shaw, Goodman, both Dorseys, Getz, Gil and Bill Evans, Sims, Cohn, Desmond, Shearing, Mulligan, Baker, Konitz, Tristano, Rodney, Pepper and yes, even Brubeck, would have sounded vastly different than it did. Of course, once we get to the 1960s, with Evans in his prime, Haden, Bley, Jarrett, Corea, Motian, Holland, Mclaughlin, Corryel, Lloyd, Brecker, Liebman, Sanborn and so on and so on, it is clear that the music became truly color blind, even if the audience and industry haven’t. Today, many of the most creative jazzers are not even American, from Nguyen Lee to Richard Bona to Jean Michel Pilc.
So this is my standard disclaimer. Anyone who has read what I wrote on the institutional racism in basketball or checked out my general political orientation will know that I am appalled at the unequal obstacles faced by Blacks at the hands of Whites in almost every aspect of society. Until they find out I am Jewish and that I object vehemently to racist comments, many whites casually spew their bile about blacks (and often about Jews) to me. Oh, and news flash. Stop lumping in Jews with other "Whites", since we have never been wholly accepted by the club. I know the deal here, and it is sickening that so many folks still think in such reductive and scientifically indefensible ways. Race is a social construct, invented to stratify and justify slavery, and is biologically invalid. There are 6 genes out of 40,000 that make up skin color, so I utterly reject any biological deficit or asset being assigned based on race. Also, as a Jew, I am in the unique position of being viewed as white by many in the black community and being viewed as NOT white by many in the white community. This status as an outsider gives me a rare chance to look at it a little less impassionedly. Still, I stand by my main point. Jazz, from its earliest recorded evidence, has always been a mix of cultures, never the exclusive province of one ethnic group.
My son has turned me onto a wonderful social critic and humorist named John Safran. I think his scathing and brave visit to the KKK speaks eloquently to the utter blind alley of race I have written about today.
posted by Michael Zilber at 4:27 PM
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