“People used to think of jazz musicians as white men”
What people? Who thought that?
The same people who think we need a daily dose of nazi apologia
Jazz is a Black American artform but just like all Black American music whites took over and became the face of it.
I literally said “what?” when I read that. Like they just gonna ignore history like that
They’ll be saying that about rap and R&B one day.
What people? Who thought that? Get outta here! The roots of jazz are in West African drum music (like most so-called Latin music in the Americans is also) which was incorporated into Jazz–a uniquely Black American form of music– developed within the African-American community of the city of New Orleans. There is tons of information on this easily available in both popular and academic venues.
A lot of context is being lost by not linking to the full article here :
They are talking about London in the UK. Obviously the origin and history of jazz lies among Black Americans, and I doubt any British jazz musician would ever claim otherwise. Jazz came to Britain with black American troops in WWII : a lot of white British people had never encountered it before, and they picked up the exciting new transatlantic trend with great enthusiasm. I read a great account from one of the local archives here in Cornwall from a local kid, from a poor mining family, of the black Americans who came here during the war, before the D-day landings, and brought chocolate and jazz music. They were the first black people he had ever seen, and he thought they were very exciting (and generous with their sweets).
At that time, in the 40′s, the audiences for the shiny new American jazz bands here were largely white, and they took up the music because it was new and exciting and they wanted to join in. Those people who heard jazz then as kids are now old and (relatively) prosperous, and so jazz here became associated with that older white generation. (I was in a big band playing jazz when I was a kid in Swansea because my jazz-loving dad took me along: and most of that band was middle-aged and white.)
London has a hugely diverse population now, of course, but not that many people who are of black American jazz-playing origins. Black Londoners are more likely to be of Caribbean or African descent, and have other music traditions than jazz. Not many of the early black American jazz-players stayed here: they fought the war and went home.
So, the article is saying that a new generation of black Londoners has taken up jazz, which over the last sixty-odd years in Britain had been played and listened to mostly by older white people. People who may revere the music’s roots, but who aren’t entirely connected to them. (Not exclusively, of course. But I’ve been to a couple concerts by black American jazz musicians here, and the audience for them has been pretty much entirely white.)
Jazz used to be inaccessible too – partly because you need instruments like saxophones and trumpets that are a bit harder to get hold of and find out how to play than say singing. So, I think the idea is that young black drummer had thought of jazz as ‘not for him’ partly for that reason.
But there are now some education programs that focus specifically on teaching jazz, and this has resulted in a new flowering of jazz among people who didn’t traditionally play it here. That’s the story.
A lot of context is being lost by not linking to the full article here :
Thanks! I will re-blog to share that context. However, I would note that the cut appears to have been chosen by The New York Times itself. They should be more alert and informed as to the impression they give. The grammar is terrible. (I hate headline writing myself as a former journalist–it is not easy–all the more reason to pay attention.) It’s garbled and misleading in this case. So I am not apologizing for getting on my high horse over it.
“People used to think of jazz musicians as white men”
What people? Who thought that?
The same people who think we need a daily dose of nazi apologia
Jazz is a Black American artform but just like all Black American music whites took over and became the face of it.
I literally said “what?” when I read that. Like they just gonna ignore history like that
They’ll be saying that about rap and R&B one day.
What people? Who thought that? Get outta here! The roots of jazz are in West African drum music (like most so-called Latin music in the Americans is also) which was incorporated into Jazz–a uniquely Black American form of music– developed within the African-American community of the city of New Orleans. There is tons of information on this easily available in both popular and academic venues.
A lot of context is being lost by not linking to the full article here :
They are talking about London in the UK. Obviously the origin and history of jazz lies among Black Americans, and I doubt any British jazz musician would ever claim otherwise. Jazz came to Britain with black American troops in WWII : a lot of white British people had never encountered it before, and they picked up the exciting new transatlantic trend with great enthusiasm. I read a great account from one of the local archives here in Cornwall from a local kid, from a poor mining family, of the black Americans who came here during the war, before the D-day landings, and brought chocolate and jazz music. They were the first black people he had ever seen, and he thought they were very exciting (and generous with their sweets).
At that time, in the 40′s, the audiences for the shiny new American jazz bands here were largely white, and they took up the music because it was new and exciting and they wanted to join in. Those people who heard jazz then as kids are now old and (relatively) prosperous, and so jazz here became associated with that older white generation. (I was in a big band playing jazz when I was a kid in Swansea because my jazz-loving dad took me along: and most of that band was middle-aged and white.)
London has a hugely diverse population now, of course, but not that many people who are of black American jazz-playing origins. Black Londoners are more likely to be of Caribbean or African descent, and have other music traditions than jazz. Not many of the early black American jazz-players stayed here: they fought the war and went home.
So, the article is saying that a new generation of black Londoners has taken up jazz, which over the last sixty-odd years in Britain had been played and listened to mostly by older white people. People who may revere the music’s roots, but who aren’t entirely connected to them. (Not exclusively, of course. But I’ve been to a couple concerts by black American jazz musicians here, and the audience for them has been pretty much entirely white.)
Jazz used to be inaccessible too – partly because you need instruments like saxophones and trumpets that are a bit harder to get hold of and find out how to play than say singing. So, I think the idea is that young black drummer had thought of jazz as ‘not for him’ partly for that reason.
But there are now some education programs that focus specifically on teaching jazz, and this has resulted in a new flowering of jazz among people who didn’t traditionally play it here. That’s the story.
A lot of context is being lost by not linking to the full article here :
Rose Mallinger, who was killed at the Tree of Life Synagogue yesterday, was 97 years old. 97 years. She lived through the Holocaust, was on this earth, a young woman as 6 million Jewish people were killed for being Jewish. Spent her whole life surrounded by people who looked at the atrocities of the Holocaust and said “never again.” Lived 97 years and died at the hands of a gunman who killed her for being Jewish.
“People used to think of jazz musicians as white men”
What people? Who thought that?
The same people who think we need a daily dose of nazi apologia
Jazz is a Black American artform but just like all Black American music whites took over and became the face of it.
I literally said “what?” when I read that. Like they just gonna ignore history like that
They’ll be saying that about rap and R&B one day.
What people? Who thought that? Get outta here! The roots of jazz are in West African drum music (like most so-called Latin music in the Americans is also) which was incorporated into Jazz–a uniquely Black American form of music– developed within the African-American community of the city of New Orleans. There is tons of information on this easily available in both popular and academic venues.
So, I’ve been playing around with the concept that the Ainur really didn’t know a whole lot about the appearance of the Children of Ilúvatar outside what they glimpsed in the Music, as evidenced when Aulë created the dwarves. Reminiscent of a human/elven design, but not quite… accurate. Well, at least not completely accurate. As such, I like to imagine that in baited anticipation of the Children, each Ainur took on the shape of what they personally believed the Children would be like–influenced by their own interests and perspective. This is why the elves were so afraid of Oromë when they first met. It wasn’t just Morgoth torturing the elves and making them afraid of the Ainur, or the Ainur being giant god-like creatures. It was probably also because the Ainur didn’t have a full grasp on human/elven appearance, and the elves were like “Nope Nope Nope”
Heartofoshun's place 