Because both my parents are artists, I have always been taught to love art. I've been playing jazz trombone since I was ten years old, and since that time, I have been fortunate enough to perform with several renowned jazz artists: Byron Stripling, Wycliffe Gordon, Wessel Anderson, Terrel Stafford, and Fred Wesley, among others. I can tell you the importance of fundamentals from my extensive playing experience, but more than that, I can illustrate the importance of fundamentals from my even more extensive listening experience.
I like what The Tufts Daily is attempting to do in their installment, "So, you wanna get into jazz?" I understand that this is intended to focus on Jazz since Charlie Parker, but in the end, I think that rather than broadening the campus' artistic palette, starting at that point in the history of Jazz is counterproductive, and works against its own noble mission.
By introducing the Jazz of the 1950s and 1960s - a period generally characterized by a style called Be Bop - to those that are unfamiliar with it, the article ignores the first 50 or 60 years of what Jazz is. It can't be emphasized enough how important the roots of Jazz are to understand and appreciate Be Bop, Cool Jazz, and subsequent styles.
Though it is infinitely indebted to its ancestors in Latin America, Africa, and Europe, Jazz is, as the writer correctly pointed out, a purely American art form. To see the synthesis of those three cultures into something that is uniquely ours as Americans is really exciting; and it should specifically strike a chord with Tufts students because of our adamant pride in cultural acceptance and our large international student population.
The article recognizes this, and includes a recording of Dizzy Gillespie. Gillespie is one of the best, and most important trumpet players of all time, and he is renowned for his inclusion of Latin American musical elements in his own playing and composition. But he wasn't the first-Duke Ellington would be able to clearly demonstrate that cultural diffusion before Gillespie.
Louis Armstrong, the father of every jazz musician since him, needs to be heard in order to even understand what comes after him. Jazz is an art form that builds upon itself in a number of ways. In the same way that American musicians in New Orleans at the turn of the century built upon the ideas of Latin America, Africa, and Europe, every Jazz musician today uses concepts of musicians before him, and in that way shows his respect and tribute to those musicians.
Because it builds upon itself, if you don't start at the beginning, you might feel lost, and you definitely won't get as much out of it as you can. Don't misunderstand my opinion as one against Be Bop, or Cool Jazz, or the artists that represent those periods. Indeed, those mentioned in the article, every last one of them, are supreme artists.
It would be useful to understand Blues and Swing before being introduced to Be Bop in the same way that knowing a little European History is useful before the study of American History. This way, both American History and Jazz fit into a broader context, and make more sense. Without that context, American history might seem a bit formidable and even frustrating: "Who is that Spain character anyway? How do those 'French' people have a claim to this land?" the examples are ad infinitum. In the same way, with an appreciation of Louis Armstrong and Sidney Bechet, you can set yourself up to enjoy the suggested Be Bop recordings that much more.
Jazz can be the most spiritual, expressive art form there is. This idea manifests itself into jazz dance, as well as jazz music - but we know that they're one in the same anyway, anyone who thinks otherwise is just kidding themselves. Be Bop and Cool Jazz are really expressive, but in more subtle ways than Blues and Swing. In order to hear what those musicians are trying to express, you have to understand the language they use for expression.
Musicians like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Sidney Bechet, and Ella Fitzgerald define that language; they communicate their feelings to us through their own vehicle of expression - whether the pure human voice, or the amplified human voice that is the horn, piano, drum or string. They cry, shout, moan, pray, growl, provoke, sing, make babies, and in turn, make us do the same things.
If you really "Wanna get into jazz" then, I suggest that you walk with Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Ella Fitzgerald before you run with Diz and Bird, Miles Davis, Charles Minus and Oscar Peterson.
- Jonathan Silver is a freshman who has not yet declared a major.
