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<$12.20.2006$>
JAZZ AND GEORGE
| Another December is here my friends and the end of another year is upon us. It seems like yesterday that Underdog was flying high in the Macy's Day Parade but a look across town and one can see the Rockefeller Center tree is already set in place. The White House Tree is ready for decoration and somewhere in the nation Christmas trees are going up and down for the second time in a matter of days. It seems a disgruntled Rabbi was threatening to sue if his faith was not properly recognized during Chanukah with a publicly displayed Menorah. The compassionate Rabbi apparently didn't intend to cause such a stir; he's not suing and everyone is in the holiday spirit again. Planning is no doubt underway for a spectacular New Year's Eve bash in Times Square. Be certain that those plans include a mind boggling post nine eleven security presence. Twelve gritty months have gone by like a twelve bar blues in a smoky tavern; and in many respects it has been a year of blues. I'm reminded that we've been engaged in conflict in Iraq longer than we fought in World War II. More than three thousand American soldiers have been killed in Iraq and tens of thousands were wounded in action while there is little mention of Osama Bin Laden in the news. There are many who believe America is marching to the same tune as we did during the Viet Nam era. Citizens were led to believe then, as now, that all was well and as stewards of freedom throughout the world; we are on mission. You may recall a proud announcement from an aircraft carrier deck that the mission was accomplished. We may, however, in fact be embroiled in an Iraqi civil war with no end in sight. The 2006 mid-term election was perhaps more a statement of discontent with government in general than a vote of confidence in the Democratic Party. From FEMA to Foley this last year we made a mess of playing over the changes in America. Our timing is off and we just can't seem to get our axes in tune. Michael a.k.a. Kramer has demonstrated for the world that we in America are not yet free from a deep seated spirit of hatred and racism and everyone in the media seemed preoccupied with how he might salvage his career. Police officers continue to brutalize American citizens - on video tape and Sean Bell will never stand at the Altar and say "I do". Economics of a misguided foreign policy deepen the divide between the Haves and Have-nots. (Note: If you're holding shares of Halliburton you're a Have. If you're struggling to comprehend SSI, Medicaid and Medicare, part D; you may very well be a Have-not.) We're building a 700 mile fence across the southern border of America supposedly to keep out illegal Mexicans and terrorists. This after Ronald Reagan instructed Gorbechev to tear down the Berlin wall. The American justice system has succeeded in creating an invisible underclass society of what I refer to as 'career inmates' comprised primarily of African American males. We continue to send our poor to war but Congressman Charlie Rangel says reinstate the draft. Our children can't afford a decent education and our senior citizens are falling on hard times. Jazz which has always played a critical artistic role in American culture is also falling on hard times. It's virtually impossible for me to talk jazz without discussing America. Where are the voices of jazz through these challenging times? They've been smoothed! Jazz asks the tough questions. Jazz calls a spade a spade... that is if you can still call a spade a spade. Through good times and bad, Americans have danced to jazz and escaped to jazz, but this is a bad time in America for jazz. Jazz requires an environment of free expression where honest debates and disagreements take place in a free society. America has become an increasingly dishonest environment where George, as leader and decider, sets the tone. This writer is just amazed by George's uncanny ability to weave tales that make Clinton's "I did not have sex with that woman" seem plausible. The bottom line is George could not cut the muster in jazz. The John Wayne swagger does not pass for real rhythm. You simply cannot fool the changes. Try to trick the rhythm and you fall flat on your face if you have not mastered the principles of polyrhythm. No spin or bravado replaces talent, skill, intelligence and spirit. The next 21st century American president will have to have all of these qualities in quantity. The next esteemed Commander-in-Chief will have to have the best of every ethnicity; not just the old wild west bravado, a few Latin American pals and a woman of African descent holding down the 'pot tops' so they don't blow off. Jazz masters understand the importance of true polyculturism. Most of them spend a great deal of time traveling the world; much more than the average congressman or senator. My earlier references to blues it's with the understanding that blues and jazz are first cousins if not brother and sister. Common to them both is something called cycles. Cycles intrigue me in jazz and in life. Cycles are honest - predictable. Cycles are like math and in many respects the closest we get to truth. The moon, days, weeks, months, years are all cyclical. Women live out most or their adult lives by cycles. We all live by cycles. Musical scales are cycles. You know about scales. Major, minor, augmented and diminished are all scales; they are also all cycles. Aeolian, Dorian, Locrian, Lydian and Mixolydian modes are scales too. They are also cycles, as are cycles of fourths and fifths. These are all tonal cycles based on half steps and whole steps like the black and white keys on the piano, but there are also temporal or time cycles like a bar or measure of four beats. Most western pop music has four beats to the bar. You count, one, two, three, and four in even intervals called tempos (fast or slow) and start again at one. If you're wondering why you should care about cycles or scales or any of this technical music babble, it's because these are the things that make you hum along while you're driving with the radio blasting, "Jamaica Funk... that's what it is..." Measures and beats are what make you tap your feet or dance. Imagine the last time you saw someone dancing with no rhythm and remember how hard you laughed. The cool thing about a bar or measure is that you can have as many beats as you like but when you hit that number you start the cycle again at one. You can have six, seven or eight but when you hit the number you have to start again at one. It's a perfect system. Every culture on earth, (that I'm aware of) trusts beats and rhythms. I don't know if you can trust a world leader who has no rhythm. It doesn't seem natural! There are also time cycles that are based not on beats but on how many bars to a cycle, solo or phrase. For example, four, eight, twelve, sixteen or thirty-two measures are all cycles. What intrigues me about cycles in jazz is that they create a sense of symmetry or order. In jazz, as 'out' as you can take the melody line, you can always return to the 'head'. Play around with the time or tempo and you can return to the one - right on time. Order is always present in the mind of the player, even if it's not apparent to the listener. One of the most exciting aspects of jazz is the listener wondering how the player will get back from way out there. Cycles create a sense of grid or matrix in and around us in which all types of creative play can take place tonally and rhythmically. Mastery of jazz is the ability to maneuver through the multi-dimensional grid tonally and rhythmically with ease, agility and creativity. It's all good and all works as long as proper regard is given to the matrix. As long as you remain cognizant of the grids you remain true to the jazz. Learn the rules so you can break them. Learn the route so you can explore. Climb the mountain because it's there. The grid keeps you honest. You can't fake the funk so to speak - or the jazz. I suspect George has been faking the funk. America is less hip than before him. Jazz reminds me of the commercial for the chemical company that says 'we don't make the helmet; we make the helmet stronger.' 'We don't make the paint; we make the paint brighter.' Well, jazz makes everything around it hipper. Jazz even makes hip-hop hipper. It's the infusion of cool. Jazz could even make George W. hipper. It would make him more honest - honest! You can't lie to the music because jazz exposes you. Jazz masters have always connected with their audience because of an absence of pretense. Jazz music is honest. You may love it or hate it but know this... the player of the music couldn't care less because their objective is to be true to the music. George W. is credited with an election victory that was at best questionable. He is said to have misled the American public about Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq. Powell couldn't deal with it. He had too much rhythm in him to deal with deception at that level. He had to split. Seventy-two months into his presidency and George is beginning to look like a prize fighter in the sixteenth round of a fifteen round bout. I recommend some Dexter Gordon or Sarah Vaughn. When the ensemble of Bush, Chaney, Rumsfeld and Rice started to miss cues and dropping the beat, I would have suggested the Modern Jazz Quartet or Four Play. Well as we come to an end of this twelve month cycle and begin anew, I do have good news to report. Rumsfeld is out. I don't know if the new guy can play but it may be too late for this quartet anyway. Clear Channel has been sold and the Smooth Jazz plantation is being shut down in major markets all across the country. Hopefully this means smooth mind control has come to an end. Remember... 'Keep it together' (Kit Ramsey, Bowfinger). Most of us with a cell phone have a video cam feature so we can shoot video of law enforcement officers doing their thing - at their best and worst. Most important is that we begin a new cycle of the groove. The groove is not lost - we are. So, whoever it is you pray to, pray for our young and our old. Pray for our soldiers. Pray for our disease stricken. Pray for our incarcerated. Pray for our poor and our victims of natural disasters who tend to be forgotten weeks after the headlines die down. Even pray for George. After all, he's got the band for twenty four more months. Let's get a fresh start and catch the changes we missed the last time through and for George, everyone send jazz cd's to the White House for Christmas. Peace! For more madness visit: www.milesjaye.com Article also published in Black Men's Magazine Feb/Mar 2007 |
