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.