Blog #5 - A Reflection

I came into this class not knowing what was in store. Signing up, my main motivation for taking it was the fulfillment of multiple requirements, and its ability to nicely fit into my schedule. The journey that I then go on was more than I could ever hope for. I can truly say that I did not know anything about Jazz before starting this class, besides the random name or two that would pop up in conversation. I never understood how influential Jazz was on everything from culture and music, as well as racial issues in general. Jazz has the ability to accumulate the ethics and cultures from numerous different groups and compose something beautiful that was previously unknown.

Some of the key aspects of jazz that I came to appreciate this year are its geographic dispersion, its ability to captivate racial issues, and it's overall sense of community. Jazz took off like a wildfire, and when it did it was able to encapsulate some of the biggest cities in the United States, and later the world. The way that people were so apt to come an listen made it apparent how excited they were about the new changes, as they transformed from classical to jazz and later to sub-genres of jazz such as bebop. It became a universal language that was accepted everywhere and people didn't have to talk to understand and appreciate.

The ability of jazz to overcome some of the original racial boundaries was a fantastic and courageous time. Places such as Leimert Park, where atrocious activities were taking place, showed how the community could come together to make something out of a terrible situation. 5th Street Dicks Coffee and Jazz emporium was a keystone that aided in the rebuilding of a damaged neighborhood. It was the introduction of jazz and an open mic that helped the community open up with each other and become whole again.

One of my favorite parts that I've come to understand this year is Jazz's appreciation for community. The music requires the artist and the audience to become a single unit and incorporate a "call and response" setting that is very unique to the genre and something that is highly memorable if you get to witness it. Miles Davis left the best musical school in the world, for what he called "the scene". "Right off the bat, I didn't like what was happening at Juilliard. The shit they was talking about was too white for me. Plus, I was more inter-ested in what was happening in the jazz scene; that's the real reason I wanted to come to New York in the first place, to get into the jazz music scene that was happening around Minton's Playhouse in Har-lem, and what was going on down on 52nd Street, which everybody in music called "The Street."" (Davis, 52). If the main man of jazz couldn't resist it, who are we to even try?

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Art + Community = Blog Post Four

Art and community are a common theme that go back decades, if not centuries. It's easy to form a mutualistic relationship between the two as they can easily build off of each other and develop to make each other stronger. Examples of this are make in New York with Thelonius Monk at San Juan Hill and in a current day Leimert Park in Los Angeles. The Film, “Leimert Park” and Robin Kelly’s, “Thelonious Monk” are golden examples of communities that worked together through hardships of violence, poverty and racial segregation to form a community that was greater than the single problems they faced and were able to create a musical background that projected them into a more cohesive unit.

San Juan Hill became a community hub for Thelonius Monk as he was able to perform for countless races and classes. He was surrounded by tremendous art and culture, and his artistic abilities were able to fully thrive in this expanded and diverse community. The Columbus Hill Community center was an epicenter where Monk was able to stage his performances and relatively commit as his basecamp. These opportunities in New York allow him to grow into the performer and artist that he later became as he was able to be influenced by numerous artists in the great New York area.

Leimert Park became significant for slightly different reasons. While it was still an artistic hub much like that of San Juan Hill. The people of Leimert Park became significant because they were able to rise up together against the segregation of the era and the outlying community. Even as the Race Wars worked their ways through the neighborhood, the people of the community decided that it was important to stand together to protect the artistic endeavors that they had accomplished so that it wouldn't be ruined by the misguided hatred of the wars. Dick's Coffee Shop became a place where people could come together and not have to worry about the terrors that lie outside of the neighborhood. People would stay up until very late hours, just listening to music or playing chess outside on the tables. This was a group of people that meshed together to create their own ideals of community and to tread the way for other neighborhoods to come.

The communities of San Juan Hill and Leimert Park were brought back to their full potential through the recreation of a strong art system and a community that worked to bring back everything the artistic community had to offer. While the styles slightly differed, with San Juan hill holding a "for profit" mojo and Leimert Park playing for the betterment of the genre and the self-fulfillment of the artist and the community, it was definitely an indicator of forward progress. Despite the distracting and dangerous outer communities that worked around these two neighborhoods, the people of San Juan Hill and Leimert Park were able to come together to symbiotically create a artistic mecca.

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