Comments on: Is Jazz the New N*gger?

By: John Murph

John Murph — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 04:08:51 +0000

I’m the author of the “Is Jazz The New N*gger” post on BET.com’s “Beneath the Underdog.” While I understand and sympathize with Mantana Robert’s initial reticence towards the article and it’s association with BET.com, I think that I should clarify that my post was a mini protest within the system. I was basically airing out my frustations of constantly fighting for jazz to be recognized, respected and trumpeted with the same regularity and incessance as hip-hop and R&B. And seemingly losing the battle yet again during Black Music Month.

And yes, I admit using “N*gger” in the title was alarmist. But I had to catch readers’ eyes, for better or worse. If I wrote something on the lines of: “Please listen to some jazz, pretty please,” it might not have gotten any response.

To my defense — and perhaps it’s a weak one — I’d rather had written a protest blog with an alarmist word in the title than another one of those glossy mainstream pieces arguing that jazz sucks, because Miles, Monk and Duke are no longer with us (remember the notorious GQ article a few years ago) or those frequent “Jazz Is Born Again,” pieces, because jazz never died.

By: DJStylus

DJStylus — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 08:09:13 +0000

I wasn't hip, Kevin. Thanks for the tip. I feel her (although she could be more succinct) and I don't feel that Murph's blog is any less valid.

By: kevin

kevin — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 20:46:10 +0000

DJS,
what do you think of saxophonist Matana Roberts’s video response?

By: Fierce

Fierce — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 23:28:03 +0000

its kinda weird how the 90′s era of hip hop was so big on cultivating that i even picked up on Roy Ayers, Cal Tjader, Chick Corea, Wes Montgomery, , etc. and really started researching records to find out who was who. Growing up, my parents played the Michael Jacksons, Diana Ross’, and Lionel Richie’s. I grew to love jazz without growing up around it and still appreciate to this day.

By: DJStylus

DJStylus — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 20:32:28 +0000

great comment, MIB. thanks.

and definitely no naivete over here about the motivations of the corporate machine.

By: MIB

MIB — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 20:21:35 +0000

There’s Jazz the art form — which will always survive — and then there’s Jazz the commodity. Like Blues and (now) Hip-Hop, Jazz the commodity has never been extensively developed or explored. I believe part of the explanation for this is Jazz, like science, doesn’t jibe well with mass production and commercialism. The downside of postmodernism is its demands upon producers to hew to set formulas as a hedge against risk. You can’t simply put inspiration on an assembly line.

Without active patronage, Jazz, Blues, and Hip-Hop are all doomed to reside in the dusty back shelves of museums, libraries, and (some of) our memories. If you’re waiting on corporate America to seed a machine for cultivating and exhibiting these genre, you’re naive. It’s incumbent upon those of us who really care to organize and maintain the types of vehicles — be they boutique record labels, media outlets, endowments, repertoire houses, etc. — that will lend the music a stage.

At that point, it’s left on the general public to discover for themselves. The main responsibility of leaders is to open the doors.