JAZZ: A MISUNDERSTOOD ART FORM THAT HEALS THE SOUL, UPLIFTS THE SPIRIT, AND SENSITIZES OUR INNER MISSION

(April 15th, 2020)

AS PRESENTED FOR THE OFFICE OF DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION BY

DR. RONALD ZEIGLER, DIRECTOR NYUMBURU CULTURAL CENTER, APRIL 15, 2020

What is Jazz?

Jazz is a kind of music in which improvisation is typically an important part. In most jazz performances, players play solos which they make up on the spot, which requires considerable skill. There is a tremendous variety in jazz, but most jazz is very rhythmic, has a forward momentum call “swing,” uses “bent” or “blue” notes, and syncopation to help make the music “swing.” Also, you can often hear “call-and-response” patterns in jazz, in which one instrument, voice, or part of the band answers another. For example, you can hear Ella Fitzgerald and Roy Eldridge do “call and response” in Ella’s Singing Class.

The Nature of Jazz!!

Moreover, in JAZZ and other types of music, you can express many different emotions, from pain to sheer joy! In JAZZ, you may hear the sounds of freedom-for the music has been a powerful voice for people suffering unfair treatment, because of the color of their skin, or because they lived in a country run by a cruel dictator! (American Museum of History, 2018) Jazz is about making something familiar—a familiar song—into something fresh. And about making something shared—a tune that everyone knows, into something personal. Those are just some of the reasons that Jazz is a great art form, and why some people consider it “America’s classical music” (American Museum of History, 2018) Jazz impacts our societal values!

WHAT ARE SOME SIMILARITIES BETWEEN DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION AND JAZZ MUSIC?

• Jazz teaches teamwork and cooperation as does “true diversity” teaches social justice.

• Jazz teaches inclusion of people on different dimensions (i.e., race, gender, nationality, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, mental or physical disability, and more). Diversity embraces difference.

• The history of Jazz, like the history of our country, is riddled with inequality! Within ‘diversity work’, there are inequalities towards Black cultural centers, immigrant families, LGBTQ communities, marginalized communities, etc.