Journal 1 – What is Jazz?
Watch the What is Jazz? video. So many interesting definitions of jazz were put forth. Reflect on your favorite definition of jazz given by a musician in the video. You can also mention the musician’s name.
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I really resonated with John Edward Hesse’s definition that jazz is like love and that it is something we recognize when we encounter it. I think this is a wonderful definition as it emphasizes the immense amount of emotion in the music as well as the fact that there are so many variations of jazz just like love and this makes it so that there is no one way to distinctively define it. Jazz has key characteristics such as commonly used musical instruments just as love has common behaviors and characteristics but it cannot be defined easily or unanimously. In my opinion, one of the most intriguing and exciting aspects of jazz is how many variations are present and how it has evolved throughout the course of time. I found it particularly interesting when Meg Salocks described how other musical genres originated and were inspired from jazz music.
Jazz to me is a multitude of feelings and emotions expressed. The use of various musical instruments, and vocalizations combined were able to blend together a feeling unmatched by any other. Amazingly Like Cab Calloway, he had an ambition, from humble beginnings, to never taking his eyes off the prize of becoming a jazz artist, not only was he able to achieve this, but was an excellent dancer, vocalist, and band director. The late 1970’s bought jazz into my life while stationed on the East German Border. I found a nice little jazz cafe nestled away in the city where jazz stayed on the menu. Jazz to me reflects the inner soul, and from its earliest form until now it still brings people together.
I watched the What is Jazz video twice. The first time, I immediately loved the initial definition: Jazz is love. However, by the end of the video, I realized I had stopped truly listening and processing the other perspectives on what defines Jazz. I’m glad I watched it a second time because my favorite definition of Jazz became a blend of two examples shared in the video: Jazz is love, and Jazz is a conversation. I appreciate these two definitions because, in my opinion, Jazz music deeply relies on both the band members and the audience to feel whole and complete. The conversation doesn’t end—it simply pauses. This exchange fills both the player and the listener with emotions, even in moments of sadness. From what I have read and witnessed in my own family, Jazz ultimately leaves you full of love and appreciation.
Honestly, throughout the whole video, the one definition that really struck me was from James K Zimmerman. He said that Jazz was like a conversation, you could make a piece, and then someone could respond with a new one, thus making a conversation. This idea that you’re able to talk and communicate without using any words is incredible to me. As cheesy as it sounds, communicating in this way transcends race, creed and religion. Being able to talk and express your feelings to someone you’ve never met by simply responding with a new musical piece is just incredible.
James K. Zimmerman made the statement “One of the hallmarks of jazz is ‘Improvisation’”. I one hundred percent agree with this. With the little knowledge that I have with the music genre, I’ve learned that there is a style of jazz called a “Blue’s Riff”, which is a fully improvised way to play jazz. You could play a jazz instrument with someone you just met who plays another instrument, and if you both know how to play a “Blue’s Riff”, it can turn into an actual song that sounds like they were reading music in front of them. I don’t know of any other modern musical genre that holds that fun fact.
There were two definitions that really stuck out to me in this video. The first one is that jazz is America, and also that jazz is still continuing and growing (paraphrase mine). I really resonated with those statements and believe both of those statements to be true. I think that with the birth of this country, the birth of jazz happened at the same time. It was an unfortunate time that involved slavery, and many slaves made up songs that had good beats and rythems, which is what jazz has, so in essence, even though it was a dark time, out of it, a beautiful musical style was born. Jazz is still continuing and growing, elvolving if you will into new and exciting things. The future is bright, and it involves jazz. Jazz will always be with us because jazz is lively, and in dark times, we need jazz and it’s liveliness.
My favorite definition of jazz mentioned in the video was by John Edward Hasse, where at the beginning of the video he said, “Jazz is like love, it’s something we recognize when we encounter it.” I like this definition because it simply states how complex jazz is and how many forms it can hold. It also describes how passion, in an individualistic sense, has affected culture through jazz just as love has/can (love for anything; person, place, thing, etc.).
What is jazz? They mentioned in the video that jazz was originated from Black churches the style of singing that would be done during Church service influenced the original genre of jazz, jazz originated in more black communities, but of course, ventured shortly after and brought people together. A couple of important figures that come to my mind would be Coltrane and Trombone Shorty. I don’t think they were mentioned in the video but as someone who loves jazz, they were some of the reasons I got into it. I think we all have to think jazz because without it, we would not have the amazing genres of music we have today, such as rock ‘n’ roll. I like that they ended up talking about the history of jazz, but they only did a short part of that history. They like to say how it brought people together, but sadly they didn’t talk about the parts of jazz that had to include the struggles and how hard people had to work to make their art her to the world.
What is jazz? They mentioned in the video that jazz was originated from Black churches the style of singing that would be done during Church service influenced the original genre of jazz, jazz originated in more black communities, but of course, ventured shortly after and brought people together. A couple of important figures that come to my mind would be Coltrane and Trombone Shorty. I don’t think they were mentioned in the video but as someone who loves jazz, they were some of the reasons I got into it. I think we all have to think jazz because without it, we would not have the amazing genres of music we have today, such as rock ‘n’ roll. I like that they ended up talking about the history of jazz, but they only did a short part of that history. They like to say how it brought people together, but sadly they didn’t talk about the parts of jazz that had to include the struggles and how hard people had to work to make their art her to the world.
I thought the last person saying that Jazz is America and America is Jazz was interesting. They previously described all the similarities between Jazz and America and it made me think that the two are very similar. For example, they referred to jazz as “constantly experimenting” and that made me think about the common phrase “The American Experiment.” Both the U.S. and Jazz give a voice to all those involved as well. In a more literal sense, Jazz influenced aspects of American culture and therefore became part of America. The video was very interesting and makes me excited for the course.
The definition of jazz that resonates the most with me is Kennith Kimery’s definition that jazz is all about inclusivity. From my current understanding and experiences with jazz, I believe that the most revolutionary aspect of it for music is its rich diversity that allows all people and ideas to contribute in a meaningful way. Prior to jazz, music was largely gatekept and inaccessible for many individuals. Music was also tied very closely to social class and status. The rich freedom, diversity, and inclusivity of jazz helped dismantle a lot of these social barriers that were previously bolstered by other forms of music. In jazz, everyone is seen as equals, and everyone has the opportunity to be their unique self.
My favorite description has to be “jazz is like love, you have no idea what’s coming,” By James Edward Hasse. It’s very accurate for anyone who has listened to jazz.
The musician who gave my favorite definition of jazz was Meg Salocks. I liked how she stated that jazz was essentially the gateway that led to so many different genres. The genres included R&B, rock and roll, and even some songs we can hear on the radio today. Her comment on how jazz is our history but is still happening was also very powerful. I think it is important to realize jazz is still being played today and recognize its history.
I liked John Edward Hasse’s definition of jazz. He talked about how Jazz represents American values like “freedom, risk taking, cultural diversity, innovation and collaboration”. He relates Jazz to democracy because everyone has a voice. I like the idea that jazz was created for everybody to enjoy it.
My favorite definition of jazz comes from John Edward Hasse, as he talked about jazz as being a form of freedom of speech, which allows anyone to have a powerful voice. This freedom makes jazz a creative outlet for any who have the passion to express themselves, which makes for so many unique perspectives on jazz.
…”[Jazz] isnt music of the past, its music of today, its music of the future.”
That stuck out to me as a really good quote, and it’s true. Even jazz that is 50 years old or older feels incredibly fresh. Combine that with the fact every good jazz musician usually has a couple of different studio and live takes of any given song, even the same musical piece played by the same people can feel incredibly different based on when it was played. That’s not even mentioning that tons of great Jazz artists hit the scene every year. In that sense, it’s inarguably the music of today.
My favorite definition of Jazz was by James K. Zimmerman. His definition of jazz stated that it was a conversation. I think it’s important that they use conversation as a definition because it can resonate with anybody. You can relate it to conversation in a way such that, you don’t have to say the right things perfectly to have a good conversation. Conversation is natural, it’s very complex, certain people like to hear certain things, and most importantly, you can respond. Very frequently, jazz is not incredibly planned out, there might be guidelines such as modes, scales, etc., but true jazz comes from the soul at the end of the day, and its up to the musician to respond.
I had two favorite definitions of jazz from the video. My first would be “jazz is like love its something we recognize when we encounter it.” The second “jazz is America and America is jazz.” The musician mentioned in the video was Duke Ellington. The thing I appreciate about jazz is that is extremely unique compared to other music styles.