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?

Commented On Noah Rubin