Blog 5

Coming into the course I had few assumptions concerning jazz especially the history behind the music. In regards to the musicians themselves, I visualized older, black men performing in low-lit jazz clubs for cigar smoking, wine drinking audience members. While there are some commonalities between my assumption and reality, I was mistaken by the fact that there is no atypical jazz musician. Jazz can be played by a Chicagoan in the heart of the city or by a white man in Mile Davis’s band. Miles discussed the struggle to break from the popularity of melody and predictability, and spotlight the diversity of performer and audience creating a diverse sound filled with life and creative expression.

The birth of jazz had never crossed my mind before this course. I had known that New Orleans fostered its growth; however, the breeding of different sounds, styles, and genres that created jazz were unknown to me. Professor Stewart has taught us that, “jazz is not a style or genre, but a creative process that had existed in other music.” Jazz grew from the inter-mixing of different musical genres. Cities such as New Orleans, Chicago, and New York, African musical tradition, and the contribution of musically gifted and brave individuals willing to push social and creative boundaries in the music industry all combined to create jazz.  Miles Davis speaks on the struggles he faced in breaking America’s popularity of rock music and the melody. He expressed how, “just a few years back the music [they] were playing was the cutting edge, was getting real popular and finding a wide audience, all that started to stop when the critics—white critics—started supporting the free thing” (Davis 271).  The “free thing…didn’t have no melodic line, wasn’t lyrical, and you couldn’t hum to it,” artists like Davis struggled to display the diverse and fluid characteristics of jazz. Jazz was not confined to rules or fossilized instead improvisation was key and the form was constantly evolving and changing (Davis 270).  The American audience failed to evolve past melody and embrace improvisation and evolving art.

Jazz’s connection to social growth, along with its ties to white and black controversy is another element that I was unaware of. I largely assumed that white artists did not contribute or participate in the growth of jazz, however their involvement can be greatly constituted to stealing and copying from great, black jazz artists.  As popularity for jazz grew, many white artists began to mimic the black sound catching the ear of record companies. This lead to a nationwide production and release of their recordings. Although black artists began to lay their songs on records shortly after, it was white privilege that allowed for white musicians to break these grounds easier and quicker.  Miles expressed his anger towards, “white people [trying] to take credit for something after they discover it” (Davis 55). There was a tendency for white artists to copy the evolving jazz sounds and because of their skin color they would gain greater access to bigger audiences and media attention grabbing the spotlight.

This class opened my eyes to jazz, not only as an art form, but as a social and cultural movement. Jazz is not based on fixed rules and notes, but instead is a living and evolving art that resurrects freedom to break restrictions and guidelines making each piece different than the one before.  Jazz is representative of African roots, musicians playing in back room clubs in New Orleans, Chicago, New York, and the struggles, accomplishments and feelings that filled the minds and souls of black artists.

Blog 4

            Music and art can rise from the rubble of violence and cruelty. The development of jazz and black culture in both San Juan Hill and Leimert Park both came from a place of social unrest and racial prejudice. Thelonious Monk was exposed to this unrest at a young age; he grew up fighting against prejudice and used music as an escape from these sufferings developing his own style and finding peace on stage. Community brings people together nurturing a sense of culture and connection between its individuals; this connection in society produces art as a byproduct of the group’s struggles and victories.

            San Juan Hill was one of the largest black communities in New York during the early 1900’s. Due to its high black occupation, urban city center, and inherent prejudice by the non-black population a strong sense of community developed between the black populations. With this community came a sense of culture and political structure prompting upheaval against white injustices. San Juan Hill became a melting pot of cultures, from the Caribbean to the black South. Church was the glue that held San Juan Hill together and organized religion was incredibly important to the development of the San Juan Hill community. This blending of cultures helped to bring different characteristics to the community through music, art, and ideas. Jazz and Thelonious Monk’s music paralleled this hybrid community through his blending of cultural sounds and his reputation as the “High Priest of Bebop” (Kelley 232).

            San Juan Hill shaped Monk’s music in many ways. His incorporation of bohemian sounds and his connection to authentic, black culture helped to develop and tune his unique and lasting sound. “Monk’s brand of thinking comes from the soul and the blood rather than the mind, tapping into a well of racial memory that keeps the music pure, authentic, and black” (Kelley 233). Growing up in a strong, black community kept Monk loyal to the racial sound that filled the streets and paralleled traditional black sound. Monk brought an air of colloquialism to the jazz scene; between songs and sets he would dance and drink, “approaching the bohemian art world with a sense of humor and curiosity” (Kelley 233).  As a child, Monk was surrounded by music. This allowed him to feel at home while performing and explains his casual nature at time and ability to freely explore his musical expression and abilities. Monk’s mother would routinely expose her children to music of the city, “ frequently [taking] them to Central Park in the summer to hear Edwin Franko Goldman sixty piece orchestra perform classic works by European and African composers” (Kelley 22). Growing up in the metropolitan city of New York helped to nurture Monk’s passion and talent for music. His early exposure fostered a mastery of sound for New York jazz. Coming from a place of violence and opposition—fighting as a black child against white oppression— Monk believed there was “no reason why [he] had to go through that Black Power shit now” (Kelley 19). Monk separated himself from this political activism and instead embodied happiness and musical innovation and genius. He made music for its musical quality incorporating styles from different races and creating sounds that made him a renowned artist to this day. Jazz embodied the New York man; it was a cultural hybrid of sounds demanding to be heard and acknowledged.

            As San Juan Hill grew from political unrest to a hub of cultural expression Leimert Park followed a similar growth. The growth of both urban centers parallel each other beginning with social unrest and race riots progressing to become a center of cultural expression and art. Leimert Park began as a white-dominated neighborhood and eventually gave way to one of the largest black middle class cities in the United States. In response to this transition, many white citizens acted violently and cruelly eventually leading to racial unrest and the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Rising from the violence came the development of Leimert park as an iconic center of jazz; to this day the 5^th Street Dick’s is known for their hot coffee and even hotter jazz performances and poetry slams. With the development of businesses and groups that helped to foster music and jazz in Leimert park led to its revolution as a center of violence and racial conflict to a hot spot for jazz and art.

            Community plays a large role in the development of jazz musicians. The musician’s adolescence can shape their talents and goals as an artist. Many artists are known to bring their social and cultural struggles from their life into their music expressing their beliefs on cultural and social struggles. In addition, a musician’s economic status can help or hinder their growth as an artist allowing them to receive professional training and exposure to music and art at a young age. A community can hinder or nurture the growth of an artists; it is through the growth from childhood to adulthood that individuals gain experiences, talents, and opinions on the world. A community can be the spark that ignites an individual’s musical genius or mitigates its growth.