The Soul of Jazz Is Tolerance

I found a really cool article from the Winnipeg's monthly Jazz Magazine ( for freelol)

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The Soul of Jazz is tolerance by Steve Kirby

Think of Louis Armstrong, he difines the spirit of inclusion. When he'd come off the road, all the little kids flocked to his feet and he'd buy them all ice cream and he'd play for them, that's the kind of guy he was. You'd go to hear him play because you felt he was your friend. Even somebody as dark as Miles Davis played with everybody: white guys, black guys, rich guys, poor guys. Dizzy Gillespie? He'd walk into a room and make you feel like family. He was into everybody's methodology, which is why he was able to come up with this huge contribution to jazz, the Afro-Cuban bebop language.

All people want to live in a tolerant world, they want to be tolerate, acceppted, valued. So much of our society is based on the politics of exclusion. When artists are exposed to all that oppresion and suppression and segregation, it's not natural for their spirit... it icreats a pain and a hunger and a need.

The most important element in the making of japp is tolerance. There's poetic justice for you! Jazz emerged as an expression of the world's protest to segregation and intolerance. White players refused to play only with other white players, black players refused to play only with other black players, and right across the board - Latino players, Egyprian players, everybody threw something into this pot of gumbo that is jazz, and a music was born that extolled the powers of tolerance.

The earliest jazz musicians refused the distortions that came from the pressure to segregate. They needed to check each other out, they needed to hear one another's art forms, they were intrigued. The syncopated sweet music they invented was very improvisatory, and suddenly all these people all over the planet who were living the improvisatory life of the oppressed and unappreciated and disenfranchised, all those people could relate to that form.

Without tolerance, you don't have that spirit of community that's necessary to hear what's going on around you and respond to it. I've noticed that in commiunities whre the jazz players are really good, they're also really friendly. It may be for business reasons or whatever, but they've learned something that comes through the music. They belong to their communities.

In New York, ron Carter walks into Cleo's Needle. George Benson walks into the Zink Bar. Wynton Marsalis will sit in at the Up Over. James Carter will sit in at Nick's Pub - it's all you cando to be in that neighborhood, it's so dangerous. Milt Hinton walked into Small's when Milt Hinton shouldn't have been walking anywhere anymore! These guys come in there because they heard about this guy or thatguy, they're checking out everybody.

Jazz world be nothing without classical music, or African rhythm language, or the world's folk songs, or the blues. If every jazz musician was too cute to play the blues, this music would be wooden. If every jazz musician was too hip to practice scales, then the technical aspects would be out the window. you can't be an older musician and only listen to younger musicians. I'll take it a step further and say that if you're trying to perform this art form but you find that you're intolerant with others or their cultures, it's gonna directly affect your performance.

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Wow, it took 10 minutes to type all these I am hungry, have to go home