Blog 5: It's Bigger than just Music

            Miles Davis emerged as a leading jazz musician in New York in the 1950s and 60s.  His predecessors Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie became Davis’s main “influences and teachers” and contributed to his development into one of the premier black musicians of the 20^th century.  At this time, racism was alive and present in American culture and in Miles Davis’s life.  Like many black musicians of the time, music was their outlet from racism.  Many of these musicians realized the unfair disadvantages that being black presented them with in the music industry.  Davis’s wife recalls him saying, “if I had been a white Miles Davis I would have been much further ahead” (Stewart lecture).  These social and economic disadvantages influenced the development of the jazz art form, which saw massive stylistic changes in clubs such as Minton’s, aka the “black capital of the world” (Davis 53).  The importance of this music to black society in Harlem as well as black society in the United States as a whole was something that this class has taught me.  

            Coming into this class, my assumptions of jazz were that it was simply a source of musical entertainment.  I had listened to Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis and a few other artists we discussed in lecture, but I never considered the context of the music they played.  I did not understand the complexity of the art and the importance it held in the progression of African American culture in mid 1900s society.  No longer do I think of a jazz tune as just music on a sheet of paper.  Instead, this class has taught me to think critically about the social context of the artists and analyze how music is often times used as a vehicle for musicians to address their social surroundings. 

            Musicians like Miles Davis, who were recognized and listened to by a wide audience, had the ability to cast a wider net of influence then a normal person in society.  Miles Davis recognized this power and did not take it lightly.  He states in his autobiography, “knowledge is freedom and ignorance is slavery,” and with his knowledge Miles was able to create a dialogue between himself and his listeners (Davis 61).  Davis, who was unpopular among many white critics, despised the idea of having to rely on the good reviews and acceptance of white males.  In reference to performing as an entertainer, Davis wrote, “I wasn’t going to do it just so that some non-playing, racist, white, mother-fucker could write some nice things about me” (Davis 83).  Miles displayed his negative disposition towards the relationship between black and whites that was getting tense in the wake of the civil rights movement.

            Overall, this class has taught me that jazz is merely a creative process for turning poison into medicine.  Though black society was plagued by oppression, musicians like Miles Davis, continued to empower the black community by providing an outlet from the common struggles of the their lives as well as by providing a platform for social issues to be addressed.  Jazz is much more than music on a sheet of paper.           

Blog 4: Harmony in the Community

            Both Robin Kelley’s biography on Thelonious Monk and the film, Leimert Park show the relationship that exists between art and the community that surrounds it.  San Juan Hill and Leimert Park shared similar characteristics such as the violence that corrupted the streets, as well as the tight community that was created among the residents.  The dialogue between the community and the artists of the area shaped their music as we see reflected in Leimert Park as well as in Monk’s music as they respond to the social issues that haunted both of these areas.  In both San Juan Hill and Leimert Park, we see jazz serving as an outlet to the community trying to escape violence and reestablish a healthy cultural identity. 

            San Juan Hill “earned the dubious distinction of being one of the ‘busiest crime areas in New York City.’”  While much of the focus of the white community was on the violence that wrecked havoc in the area, residents utilized the “rich musical culture” as an outlet (Kelley 19).  Monk’s outlet came when his family received a piano as a gift when they moved to a new apartment complex.  Throughout Thelonious’s entire childhood, his community of friends congregated to his house to play music.  “The Monk’s apartment was a popular hangout for many of the young neighborhood musicians” (Kelley 32).  This is similar to how 5^th Street Dick’s served as a place for artists to express themselves in a safe place in Leimert Park.  In this sense, the saying “Jazz is New York” is reflected by the influence San Juan Hill and Leimert Park had on Monk as well as other local artists.

            Throughout the short documentary, Richard Fulton, the owner of 5^th Street Dick’s discusses the importance of having harmony amongst a community.  When violence was disrupting Leimert Park and San Juan Hill, the residents found harmony among their music.  Though Thelonious was a “big guy,” the daily violence that existed in San Juan Hill “haunted him for many years to come” (Kelley 18).  His piano, as well as the Children Center served as a sanctuary of harmony amiss the continued violence. 

            San Juan Hill presented Thelonious with many opportunities that had a major influence on his career as a pianist.  The piano the Monk’s received, inspired Thelonious’s passion and began his musical career, and San Juan Hill’s community, populated with a “surprising number of musicians,” provided Thelonious with resources to develop his art.  These included his first piano instructor, Simon Wolf who was “highly regarded among the parents who hired him,” and instilled classical training from “works by Chopin, Beethoven, Bach and Mozart” (Kelley 26).  Thelonious’s next mentor was a local jazz musician Alberta Simmons, who “was able to make a living playing ragtime and stride piano in the tiny speakeasies.”  The local church also proved important in Thelonious’s musical development as he became “steeped in the sacred music of the black Baptist tradition” (Kelley 27).  Thelonious’s local friend group developed in the Columbus Hill Community Center, and in 1933 Thelonious and two other kids formed their first band.  The trio competed in local “Amateur and Audition Nights,” and “Thelonious won so many times, for five or six weeks the Apollo became a steady source of income” (Kelley 36).  These beginning jazz influences not only jumpstarted Thelonious’s abilities but were the beginning to a long and legendary career.

            Though San Juan Hill and Leimert Park are in areas that were traditionally plagued with violence, both communities found harmony through the power of jazz.  The art provided an outlet for the creative minds such as Thelonious Monk to prosper.  Jazz music formed a community in the same way that the community allowed for the development of the genius within Thelonious’s.