Blog #5: The Legacy and Future of Jazz

It was no surprise to me that music continually changes over time, and jazz was no exception. It was predictable to see the changes in the genre’s style as time progressed, and at the same time surprising to see how variations developed in such a short time span. However, it is more difficult to understand that jazz does not have distinct lines historically, and it was only from past contributions that innovated and refined American music. I learned that jazz is a continuous dialogue between communities, musicians, and society as a whole. It is an interpretation of social and cultural dimensions that are often difficult to find, yet builds off of and learns from its predecessors in a way that transmits even the most ancient information. This discovery changed my view of jazz entirely, and began to see it as more than simply a form of entertainment.


Jazz is more than simply a conveyor of information, but a response towards both history and present society through its practitioners. Miles Davis could not be a more apparent role in the history of jazz, and through his interactions with leading figures in the music’s history, it is apparent that the dialogue never truly left America’s consciousness. In his autobiography, Davis states, “She introduced me to the music of Jimi Hendrix—and to Jimi Hendrix himself—and other black rock music and musicians. She knew Sly Stone and all those guys, and she was great herself. […] The marriage only lasted about a year, but that year was full of new things and surprises and helped point the way I was to go, both in my music and, in some ways, my lifestyle.” (Davis 290). Not only was Miles Davis in contact with Charlie Parker and his famed quintet, but the future generation of artistic expressions as well. To separate jazz from its place in history inherently eliminates part of its significance that shapes and forms a dialogue in America today. Rock and Roll, while appearing to present itself as a fundamentally new art form, always had origins in jazz due to the proximity of time. I learned from this course that a music genre is never in isolation with others, neither spatially nor culturally, and while all musicians contributed to the legacy of jazz we have today, it is the elite that transmit core values, specifically African traditions in the case of jazz, that make music so appealing. 

Although jazz was in a perpetual dialogue with musical forms in both the past and present, I learned it was especially unique as an artistic expression due to the historical significance of its era. It differed from other genres in igniting and evolving the discussion of race in America, and served to address racism through both pure entertainment and intellectual performances. Miles Davis notes, “Look at what's happening to our kids, how they have gone so far into drugs, especially black kids. One reason for this, at least among black kids, is that they don't know about their heritage. I think the schools should teach kids about jazz or black music.” (Davis 405). Relating jazz as an important cultural background to African American culture, Davis believes that the music genre can not only uncover an important part of America’s history, but provide hope and optimism to a demographic that often feels out of place from society. As all music forms are dialogues with society, jazz was a much needed one that provided optimism, courage, and rebellion to those facing discrimination. I believe that this ultimately makes the genre most crucial to the history of African Americans, and not only provides proof of black cultural heritage, but asserts that it has always been a crucial component of our nation’s history. Without a doubt, I believe jazz needs to be recognized as a catalyst for a discussion of race and inequality, and that it left an immense legacy on racial discussions, affecting us even today. 

I am neither a creative person nor someone who can really tell what defines “art”. My views of jazz were simply that it was a music style that changed every so often, sometime during the 20th century, and had little to do with our nation’s history, let alone persisting racial discrimination. After taking this course, I realized the deep-rooted ancestry of jazz does more than simply assimilate, but interpret and transmit social realities to society through a stylistic medium. Jazz was not the only medium, as blues generally preceded it and rock and roll generally followed it, but had the most profound impact on the United States because its variety and diversity could transmit African cultural heritage and roots to anyone willing to listen. It permeated American culture and expressed the plight of the black minority that continued to suffer discrimination long after slavery. It were these concepts that fundamentally changed my view of jazz, and as I continue college, I hope to see its important legacy survive in the present.




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Blog #4: The Harmony and Voice of Jazz Communities

Evident from its transitions throughout America’s history, jazz is more than simply sound coming from instruments. It evolves, refines, and ameliorates itself as a result of its founders’ interpretations of their community, and possibly American society as a whole. Thelonius Monk did not become a pioneer of the intellectual aspect of jazz without his unique circumstances, and although one can draw multiple parallels between his environment in New York as a young child and other multiracial communities, such as that of Leimert Park, it is evident that New York was spatially distinct. This distinction is what made Monk inherently talented at his profession, and cannot be exactly found in any other city in America. Although Leimert Park and other communities share similar traits of hidden artistic expression not recognized by mainstream society, it is apparent that San Juan Hill shaped Monk in a way that ultimately created an intellectual and imposing dialogue on the jazz community.

By no means was Leimert Park a community disconnected from modern jazz. With multiple global influences, the area brought all members of the community into a variety of cultural influences. Jazz was no exception, and as one resident states, “Jazz is the heartbeat of the community that brings all of us together.” (Leimert Park). With a primarily black population, jazz could reach even the farthest corner of the United States in Los Angeles, and ultimately created a positive dialogue within the community that fostered virtue. The relationship to jazz was that of a communal avenue to interpret events, such as the Rodney King verdict, and was not a competitive or contentious form of art in the area. Even when riots nearly destroyed many of the most important cultural establishments, the majority of the community demonstrated a sense of caring and trust that is often overlooked by the media in favor of examining violence. The dialogue between the residents of Leimert Park and jazz was to express a response to the rest of the world, and an attempt to prove that artistic expression and communal values were not absent in the ethnically diverse region of Los Angeles.

New York’s San Juan Hill appeared similar to the Los Angeles suburb in more traits than its association with jazz. It was a global community where people from Eastern Europe, the Caribbean Islands, and southern United States shared a common spatial dimension that inevitably incorporated jazz into its region. However, Thelonius Monk and musicians did not use jazz as a relationship to the community in a similar way that citizens of Leimert Park did. In Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original, Robin Kelley notes, “Battles were not only limited to black and white, or between Caribbean and Southern blacks.” (Kelley 20). With such a large influx of immigrants from various countries, there was ultimately a lack of communal identity and sense of values that allowed jazz in Leimert Park to represent positivity. Monk, growing up in neighborhoods where he saw more than simply white versus black, saw jazz as an outlet for himself as an individual, rather than for his fellow San Juan Hill residents. Along with a rapid rate of people leaving San Juan Hill for Harlem, it is evident that the community would never become as unified or solidified as Leimert, and as a result, Monk’s style of jazz represents a break from the global influences due to his past conflicts with his international neighbors. Thelonius Monk’s style of Bebop was able to transcend the conformity of society simply because the musician was raised to fight against external influences as a whole, entirely in contrast to Leimert Park’s encouragement of a unified “heartbeat”. Jazz was in effect, a dialogue for Thelonius Monk alone, and did not aim to provide for entertainers but to better express the experiences he faced in a racially charged environment growing up.

While both areas of Leimert Park and San Juan Hill share traits of being neglected by mainstream society, San Juan Hill could not promote a homogeneity of beliefs that fostered positive community values in Leimert Park. It instead taught its residents, one of whom was Thelonius Monk, a more individualist worldview that cannot be shaped by mass media nor one’s own neighbors. Monk evolved jazz by adding his harsh experience as a child to demonstrate that a dialogue often speaks the loudest if there is only one speaker, and rather than blending global influences further, jazz can evolve by refining itself in an intellectual realm. San Juan Hill in New York brought a harsher, self-centered jazz into the American music community, but through Monk’s contributions, demonstrated its worth as an art form by relentlessly transcending conformity always present in our society.

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