Responding to the article linked here:
https://truthout.org/articles/white-supremacy-tried-to-kill-jazz-the-music-triumphed/ Jazz has been my musical heart and soul from age 14 and onward.. It took me abut 16 years of trial and error hard core personalized study to master my craft after 8 years of semi-formal piano lessons in the home based on learning the rudiments not of jazz, but of playing the piano using classical techniques, Without the contribution of white aficionados, sponsors, and supporters of the music, it would never have gotten 0ff the ground. Therefore, I take issue with the character of this book (not yet read by me) but can agree with most of the ground floor contentions connecting it to the kind of America it grew up in. From the review: "Why was the international reception of jazz so markedly different from the way it was received domestically, particularly by white audiences in the U.S.?"
https://truthout.org/articles/white-supremacy-tried-to-kill-jazz-the-music-triumphed/ Jazz has been my musical heart and soul from age 14 and onward.. It took me abut 16 years of trial and error hard core personalized study to master my craft after 8 years of semi-formal piano lessons in the home based on learning the rudiments not of jazz, but of playing the piano using classical techniques, Without the contribution of white aficionados, sponsors, and supporters of the music, it would never have gotten 0ff the ground. Therefore, I take issue with the character of this book (not yet read by me) but can agree with most of the ground floor contentions connecting it to the kind of America it grew up in. From the review: "Why was the international reception of jazz so markedly different from the way it was received domestically, particularly by white audiences in the U.S.?"
"Your query is harder to answer than it appears at first glance. My previous work has argued that contrary to consensus opinion, the formation of the U.S. in 1776 occurred not least because of a fervent desire to evade the logic of abolition that was growing in London (the 1619 Project just published by mostly Black journalists in the New York Times echoes this thesis). As such, slavery and its complement — hysterically hyperbolic “anti-Negro sentiment” — flourished in the republic and was hardly squashed by the Civil War. Dexter Gordon in Copenhagen; Art Farmer in Vienna; Randy Weston in Morocco; Yusef Lateef in Nigeria; Miles Davis in Paris; Ron Carter in Tokyo — all found more receptive audiences than what they encountered in their homeland, along with more respect for their artistry. The tangled history of the U.S. complicated the republic’s ability to emulate these global trends."
My continuing commentary:
There is much controversy as to when the "Birth of Jazz" occured in America, but there is no doubt that established white musicians performing the music in an official context were an indelible part of the history. The legendary Paul Whitman Concert of 1924 introducing George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" has been crowned as the Birth of Jazz in America because of the strong white support and attendance as well as media coverage.
I can't share this article without acknowledging the legitimate artistic and theoretical contributions of white musicians as well as blacks. If anything, the races were brought together in the creation and establishment of the music as it continues today, to be a collaboration of Black, White, Oriental, and European musicians extending to musicians from all over the world. This article is more focused on the ofttimes unruly business of jazz handled, of course, mostly by white entrepreneurs above and below the table of human decency and normalcy. I reject the title used but understand its meaning. There is no need now to demonize the music by confusing it with the ongoing drama of white supremacy currently sweeping the media.
