Another not to secret side to me is that I've been a fan of Jazz longer than I've been of blues. (Nothing preference wise but I had heard Jazz first.) I love jazz and a early figure for me in Jazz is Wynton Marsalis. In elementary school music class I remember watching his videos and I completed in a Jazz competition in High School to play with him at Lincoln Center (turns out our band was ineligible). While I had always had a great respect for the man I didn't think it could get any higher, till now. I present to you an interview he did last month with
CNN about his music and blues music as a whole.
CNN: What led to the compartmentalization of these kinds of music, that came from the same roots?
MARSALIS: Money and racism. I don't know which one came first.
CNN: Why was blues not regarded as something of value in this country?
MARSALIS: It came from who we didn't like. That's what it was -- it wasn't that we couldn't see it. Who it came from, we did not like them.
CNN: So do you include African-Americans in that? So black people didn't appreciate it?
MARSALIS: They didn't appreciate it. They don't now. That's part of the whole kind of self-hatred that comes from that type of slavery that the black American still labors under. That racism was heavy.
The legacy of it -- it wasn't just 50 years. It was seven generations, and if a generation is 33 years, ... seven or eight [generations]. That's a long time. And to recover from it has proven to be very difficult......
Marsalis in unapologetically blunt, as he should be. Looking at my school campus lately I have been thinking about racism . You see while my school, George Mason University touts diversity as a drawing factor I've been amazed at how self segregated the school population is. Nearly every group you see is racially homogeneous, next to no one hangs out with people of other races. While I may hang out with a diverse crowd I've been shocked lately by everyone else. What I needed is a little reminded from Marsalis about how racism effects American life and more specifically something I love, the blues. The article interview is incredibly insightful and a great read that I heartily recommend.
I read this piece a little while back. Very interesting interview. It's good to hear someone of Wynton's calibre give the blues it's due.
I still get rolled eyes in my band when I say Jazz is just blues with chords.
Maybe you should show them the article. You better have some serious chops if you're going to roll your eyes at Wynton:)
Sorry to hear this about GMU. Back in 66-70, when it was just GMC of UVA, it was a different, and pleasanter, world. As for the blues, I still say they can stand on their own!