Jump to content

Are there any brothers up in here?


cannonball-addict

Recommended Posts

Not that it matters that much but jazz (especially the greazy kind that b-3er and organissimo play) was originally black music and from the "show us your picture" thread a while back, it seemed to me that we are all white males and females and many of us talk about jazz with all this authority and whatnot. But we only the fortunate inheritors and preservers of this great music.

Are there any African-Americans who post here? It would nice if some sort of black opinion was voiced here. At least it would make sense....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 92
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Yeah, we're white so we really don't matter.

I've been playing blues, jazz and r&b my whole life. However, I still get people telling me I'd be better off playing country since that's my 'heritage.' Well, you know what, I'm Irish (I guess) so I should really play Celtic music. Yes, let's all play what we are. Asians play asian music, blacks play black music, and whites play white music. Oh yeah, but what about Bix and Stan Getz and Chet and Lennie and Bill Evans...they should play other music because jazz is for blacks only.

And you should only listen to your country of origin's music. So no jazz for white people too. It's not your heritage.

Edited by Soul Stream
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest akanalog

being jewish i do not like to consider myself white. at least to me, being jewish is an ethnicity. well to my father as well, who taught me to think that way.

not that that would make jazz any more my music than white folks.

i think your post points to, well, not the trouble, but the state of jazz today

there are probably a zillion reasons for it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, we're white so we really don't matter.

I've been playing blues, jazz and r&b my whole life. However, I still get people telling me I'd be better off playing country since that's my 'heritage.' Well, you know what, I'm Irish (I guess) so I should really play Celtic music. Yes, let's all play what we are. Asians play asian music, blacks play black music, and whites play white music. Oh yeah, but what about Bix and Stan Getz and Chet and Lennie and Bill Evans...they should play other music because jazz is for blacks only.

And you should only listen to your country of origin's music. So no jazz for white people too. It's not your heritage.

I didn't say that jazz is for blacks only. All I said is it is a musical form born out of their struggle. Ain't nobody gonna tell me that no white boy thought up bebop. Or organ jazz. Sure there were white jazz guys along the way. But I'd like to know that the black people who still enjoy jazz today are getting a chance to know about this web forum and take part!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah, we're white so we really don't matter.

I've been playing blues, jazz and r&b my whole life.  However, I still get people telling me I'd be better off playing country since that's my 'heritage.'  Well, you know what, I'm Irish (I guess) so I should really play Celtic music.  Yes, let's all play what we are.  Asians play asian music, blacks play black music, and whites play white music.  Oh yeah, but what about Bix and Stan Getz and Chet and Lennie and Bill Evans...they should play other music because jazz is for blacks only.

And you should only listen to your country of origin's music.  So no jazz for white people too.  It's not your heritage.

I didn't say that jazz is for blacks only. All I said is it is a musical form born out of their struggle. Ain't nobody gonna tell me that no white boy thought up bebop. Or organ jazz. Sure there were white jazz guys along the way. But I'd like to know that the black people who still enjoy jazz today are getting a chance to know about this web forum and take part!

I'm struggling just as much as any black guy that picks up the instrument. What's the point? Like I've always said, I picked the one career where being white works against you.

Edited by Soul Stream
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest akanalog

i see what the original poster is saying.

the roots of jazz in america are in the blues. and white folk did not have the blues originally. so it is sort of a gross appropriation of someone elses protest music or form of expression.

however, these days i think american jazz is a part of american culture and we are all americans i guess so it is equally everyones art form at this point and eveyone is entitled to share in it, enjoy it and perform it.

and at this stage, i think jazz should be thankful for whomever, race or whatever, who picks up the torch to carry this form of music into the next century. start saying only certain people deserve jazz music and there wont be jazz music left.

(this doesn't mean i will listen to or respect ethan iverson, chris cheek, joe lovano or seamus blake however....)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey Cannonball:

Make sure you never discuss Shakespeare, or the Bible, or War and Peace, or try to understand the Mona Lisa.

They were done by white folks; and only white folks can really understand them.

But seriously...

The whole point about art of this kind is that it transcends the immediate, the topical, the parochial, and the racial. It can appeal to many in different ways.

It's open to all and everyone, brother!

:g

Link to comment
Share on other sites

O.K. I am neither white or black. When I started listening to jazz 7 or 8 years ago, I always thought jazz is black music. So, I almost never bought CDs or saw concerts featuring white musicians. However, my view has changed over the years. The origin of the music may be from black culture, but I now believe that jazz today is for everyone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A few months back I saw Andrew Hill at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo. Blacks in attendance, not counting Hill and band? Less than ten.

If you're asking whay more blacks don't hang out on this board, I haven't a clue. Maybe they have better things to do with their time. A better question might be: why so few balcks in attendance at the Hill concert. Was it the venue? A hoity-toity art gallery? The white man's province? (Tongue partially in cheek.)

Face it: if jazz had to depend on only the enthusiasm and financial support of Americans of African descent, it would now be dead -- as opposed to simply moribund, forever, it seems, an ICU patient. If only a small percentage of young blacks now listening to rap would embrace jazz... Pipe dream.

Anyway, at this point in time, jazz belongs to the world.

Edited by Chaney
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not that it matters that much but jazz (especially the greazy kind that b-3er and organissimo play) was originally black music and from the "show us your picture" thread a while back, it seemed to me that we are all white males and females and many of us talk about jazz with all this authority and whatnot. But we only the fortunate inheritors and preservers of this great music.

Are there any African-Americans who post here? It would nice if some sort of black opinion was voiced here. At least it would make sense....

The problem with your attitude, Matt, is that it implies that if there were black members expressing their opinions, those opinions are somehow more valid and correct, simply because they're expressed by a black person.

Its utterly bogus, and I would hope that deep down you know it is.

What would happen if a black guy showed up here to start telling us that Kenny G isn't a pentatonic fairy fucker but is in fact a great jazz musician? Are we all supposed to revise our opinion of the Gee Whiz? You yourself say that "black opinion ... at least it would make sense." :wacko:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

just for some historical perspective - in my opinion the further jazz has moved from it's folk roots, the less justified are we in calling in black music. It is not racially or ethnically specific. There's a great passage by Ralph Ellison in which he points out that the music is transmitted culturally, not genetically. Of course African Americans had some advantage intially in the development of the music, but mass distribution has largely taken care of that. Still, we musn't lose sight of the fact (and I'm not saying that we have, here ) that virutally all of the special quality of American vernacular music comes from the contributions of African Americans, at least initially. And I would add that I consider the African American cultural heritage part of my own heritage, as it is very specifically American.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is it wrong to hope that there were some Brothers (and even some Sisters) among us on the board?? That's a serious question.

After all, isn't diversity a good thing??

Maybe it's time to bump this thread up again...

Link: Race and Racial Interaction, in America and beyond, How to foster more/better communication?

Edited by Rooster_Ties
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Up in here.

Idiomatic English.

ah, I see. For a moment I thought this after hours club was up on top of the twentieth floor. I bet, it is even possible to make it into something like "what's going down up in here..." which would be synonymous to "what's up down here..."

right? the mind boggles.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

×
×
  • Create New...