Coming into this class, I had
listened to some of the greats of jazz that people will refer to when their
mind initially approaches the genre, including Miles Davis, John Coltrane,
Charlie Parker, and Louis Armstrong. For white jazz musicians, I knew of Glenn
Miller, Benny Goodman. However, there was obviously a slew of musicians that I
had never even heard of, including Dizzy Gillespie, Fats Waller, Bix
Beiderbecke, Fletcher Henderson, and I will even admit Duke Ellington.
When I thought of jazz, I assumed it held more than just a
musical form, but was seen as an art that embodied the entire lives of those
devoted to it, seen in every outlet of people’s personality. Jazz musicians in
my mind always had that stereotypical sharply dressed look, with a pinstriped
suit and slanted fedora. For instance, in Davis’s early career, he “started
caring about the way I looked, trying to look hip and everything…” (Davis, 32).
I had
also assumed (which was reinforced through the class) that New York played a
critical role in the success of jazz as a music industry from a commercial
perspective. Numerous artists after the 1920ssaw New York as a mecca for
opportunity, including Davis, who claimed “I had learned all I could from
playing around St. Louis, knew it was time to move on. So I packed up my
stuff…took a train up to New York City…” (Davis, 50).
Another
key aspect reinforced in this class was the role of improvisation. I thought
jazz was inseparable from this description, but did not realize the oscillating
effect it held in its history, between its diminishing presence in swing to
full force seen in bebop. Davis highlights its importance in his music, as he “didn’t
write out the music for Kind of Blue,
but brought in sketches for what everybody was supposed to play because I
wanted a lot of spontaneity…Everything was a first take, which indicates the
level everyone was playing on” (Davis, 234). Separately, I did assume a clear
understanding of the inevitable social influence jazz held on racial tensions.
I had a good prior understanding of the music’s necessity for survival through the
struggle of slavery with instances such as the Congo Square, but did not know
it possessed such similar parallels across time, with systems like the
contracts of Chicago nightclubs reminding some of plantation life. On top of
that, New York’s migration down Manhattan in Davis’s eyes showed these
conflicts, as “a lot of white people, though, didn’t like what was going on on
52nd Street. They didn’t understand what was happening with the
music. They thought that they were being invaded by niggers from Harlem, so
there was a lot of racial tension around bebop” (Davis, 68). I did not realize
(for jazz specifically) that parallels of this cultivation through social
conflict could be drawn to modern times events like Leimert Park.
Most
importantly, though, I had never thought of jazz from a geographical
perspective in terms of its history. I knew that New Orleans, Chicago, and New
York were all key players in its cultivation and transformation to a worldly
stage, but never viewed them from a chronological perspective. On top of that,
I had no idea of the eye-opening role Paris held as a reverie for greater
equality and tolerance compared to the United States at the time. My understanding
of the history of jazz was fundamentally changed by this new perspective.
Commented on Steven Bennett’s blog: http://stevenbennettblst14.blogspot.com/
"I also found remarkable new facts on the roles of Juliard and classical teachings and their effects on jazz. I think your evidence pointing to Miles Davis hits that point with good support well. The contrast to that and the presence of mainstream cultivating from hole-in-the-wall settings further drives that ironic contradiction well."
"I also found remarkable new facts on the roles of Juliard and classical teachings and their effects on jazz. I think your evidence pointing to Miles Davis hits that point with good support well. The contrast to that and the presence of mainstream cultivating from hole-in-the-wall settings further drives that ironic contradiction well."