Center for Black Music Research - Columbia College Chicago

Provocative Opinion: The Death of Jazz?

Author(s): Larry Kart
Source: Black Music Research Journal, Vol. 10, No. 1 (Spring, 1990), pp. 76-81
Published by: Center for Black Music Research - Columbia College Chicago and University
of Illinois Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/779536
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PROVOCATIVE OPINION:

THE DEATH OF JAZZ?

LARRY KART

"The old ones are going, and the young ones aren't growing." Fenced
in by a few qualifications, that little rhyme pretty much sums up the
state of jazz today.
The most important body of music yet produced in America, jazz is a
child of this century-an art whose component parts began to come together around 1900 and an art that grew with such remarkable speed
that in only 20 years it had produced at least three major figures (Louis
Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, and Jelly Roll Morton) and a number of undeniable masterworks. But as we near the end of the century that gave
birth to jazz, there are signs that this glorious music is about to pass
away from us-not for lack of popularity (at the moment, jazz is doing
better in the marketplace than it has for some time) but because the
music's artistic vitality is more and more in doubt.
Always able until now to renew itself from within, jazz seems to be
circling back on itself, forgoing its history of near-ceaseless invention in

the name of various kinds of re-creation and revivalism. Also in the air

is the related notion of a jazz fusion or blending-not so much with

rock anymore (the original idea) but with Western concert music and/or

musics from other cultures, with the result being a so-called "world

music."

In any case, quite a few observers believe jazz has entered its "neoclassic" phase, an era in which the music will devote itself, in the words
of critic Sam Freedman, to producing "personally stamped recombinations of existing knowledge."
There is nothing new about the neoclassic impulse, which first surfaced in jazz in the early 1940s, when Lu Watters and Turk Murphy tried
to recreate the music of such '20s masters as King Oliver and Kid Ory.
And one can see the logic in these and other attempts to revive the past,

Originally published in the Chicago Tribune, February 24, 1985. First reprinted in Black
Music Research Newsletter 7, no. 2 (Spring 1985):4-6. ? Copyrighted, Chicago Tribune Company, all rights reserved, used with permission.

76

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Provocative Opinion: The Death of Jazz?

77

for
for the
theevolution
evolution
ofof
jazz
jazz
hashas
been
been
so swift
so swift
that that
all sorts
all sorts
of fruitful
of fruitful
posi- positions
tions were
wereabandoned
abandoned
long
long
before
before
theythey
werewere
played
played
out. out.

What
What isisnew,
new,though,
though,
is the
is the
nature
nature
and and
extent
extent
of the
ofneoclassicism
the neoclassicism
that
that runs
runsthrough
through
so so
much
much
of jazz
of jazz
today.
today.
The
The first
firstgeneration
generation
of of
revivalists
revivalists
werewere
few few
in number
in number
and confined
and confined

themselves
themselvestotoearly
early
jazz
jazz
styles.
styles.
Now,
Now,
however,
however,
almost
almost
the entire
the entire
jazz
jazz
past
past has
hasbeen
beencolonized
colonized
byby
re-creators
re-creators
of one
of sort
one or
sort
another,
or another,
including
including
many
many who
whotry
trytoto
emulate
emulate
and,
and,
in some
in some
cases,cases,
tame tame
the music
the music
of John
of John
Coltrane,
Coltrane,Orette
Orette
Coleman
Coleman
andand
Albert
Albert
Ayler.
Ayler.

No
No one
onewould
woulddeny
deny
that
that
these
these
developments
developments
have have
produced
produced
some some

attractive
attractivemusic.
music.
But
But
oneone
wonders
wonders
about
about
the well-being
the well-being
of an art
of an
that
art that
has
has so
so totally
totallydevoted
devoted
itself
itself
to re-examining
to re-examining
its past,
its past,
especially
especially
when when
this
this trend
trendcoincides
coincides
with
with
a series
a series
of events
of events
that that
may have
may had
have
much
had to
much to
do
do with
withinspiring
inspiring
it-the
it-the
passing
passing
from
from
the scene
the scene
of more
of more
and more
andof
more of
the
the first-,
first-,secondsecondand
and
third-generation
third-generation
creators
creators
who were,
who were,
in effect,
in effect,
the
the
music's
music'sliving
livingtradition.
tradition.
"I
"I think
thinka alot
lotabout
about
my
my
buddies
buddies
thatthat
left,"
left,"
said drummer
said drummer
Roy Haynes
Roy Haynes
a few
few years
yearsago,
ago,
and
and
thethe
litany
litany
of loss
of loss
he was
he referring
was referring
to has to
indeed
has indeed
become
becomeoverwhelming.
overwhelming.
In
In the
thebebop
bebopera,
era,
when
when
thethe
useuse
of drugs
of drugs
was widespread,
was widespread,
one came
onetocame to
expect
expectthe
theearly
early
deaths
deaths
that
that
robbed
robbed
us of
usCharlie
of Charlie
Parker,
Parker,
Fats Navarro
Fats Navarro
and
and so
somany
manyothers,
others,
long
long
before
before
their
their
time.time.
Then
Then there
therewere
were
further
further
shocks,
shocks,
as such
as such
young
young
and middle-aged
and middle-aged
mas- masters
ters as
asClifford
CliffordBrown,
Brown,
Booker
Booker
Little,
Little,
Lee Morgan,
Lee Morgan,
Scott Scott
LaFaro,LaFaro,
John John
Coltrane,
Coltrane,Eric
EricDolphy
Dolphy
andand
Albert
Albert
Ayler
Ayler
died died
whenwhen
their their
creativity
creativity
still
still
was in full flower.

But time itself has taken over now, and in recent years we have (to
name only a few) said farewell to Count Basie, Thelonious Monk, Earl
Hines, Erroll Gamer, Charles Mingus, Vic Dickenson, Art Pepper, Sonny
Stitt, Al Haig, Wilbur Ware, Kenny Clarke, Blue Mitchell, Kenny Dorham, Bobby Hackett, Lennie Tristano, Grant Green, Russell Procope,
Cozy Cole, Budd Johnson, Ray Nance, Bill Coleman, Shelly Manne,
Hampton Hawes, Bill Evans, Don Ellis, Larry Young, Paul Desmond,
Red Garland, Joe Venuti, Mary Lou Williams, and Barney Bigard.
But why can't jazz continue as it always has, generating vital new
artists to take the place of those who are gone? And why should there
be any doubts about this neoclassic phase, since paying homage to its
past would seem to be one of the healthiest things any art can do?

To answer those questions (or at the very least to speculate about

them) some historical background has to be sketched in.

In its earliest days, jazz was three kinds of music in one-a folk

music, an entertainment (or popular) music and an art music.

It was folk music because it was invented by a "folk" (i.e. black

Americans) and met that particular group's social needs. It was an en-

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BMR Journal

78

tertainment
tertainmentmusic
musicbecause
because
it had
it had
thethe
power
power
to delight
to delight
large large
numbers
numbers
of
of
people
people who
whodid
didnot
not
belong
belong
to to
its its
original
original
folkfolk
audience.
audience.
And it was an art music because-unlike a folk or entertainment

music but very much like the music of the Western classical traditio
jazz had an inherent need to transform itself, building on its own di

coveries and producing works that could withstand and reward c

templation.

Almost without precedent in the history of art, this harmonio

three-way blend gave jazz a great deal of its initial thrust. Imagine,
instance, how exhilarating it must have been to work at the limits o
one's artistic capacities while one also fulfilled the needs of those close
to you and gave pleasure to the world at large.
But this balance, epitomized by the early career of Louis Armstron
soon began to break down.
An "art for art's sake" approach first cropped up among some whi
jazz musicians in the 1920s. While the relationship between black
artists and the black audience was mutually gratifying for at least a
other decade, that came to end in the mid-1940s with the advent of

bebop-a music of undeniable power but one whose aura of emotional

tension and extreme rhythmic and harmonic virtuosity made it very dif-

ficult to take as entertainment.

From that point on, then, the audience for jazz has consisted of "fans"
of one sort or another, groups that expanded or contracted as a particular style of the music met or failed to meet their social and artistic needs.

While it was still possible for jazz musicians of major stature to be

popular, too, the time when that was the norm was over. And with the
advent of rock, which transformed the music industry into more of a
bottom-line affair than it had ever been before, it became increasingly
difficult for jazz artists of any sort to make their music available to those
segments of the public that might want to hear it.

So jazz, which always had been an art music in the most positive

sense, now became an art music in another sense, too. Able to address
the human condition with a unique intensity and depth, jazz found itself, for that very reason, ill-equipped to survive in a marketplace that
was geared toward the needs of adolescents.
(Of course, the same could be said of the symphony, the opera or the
ballet, but the audience for those arts has the social standing and eco-

nomic clout to subsidize its tastes.)

Meanwhile, on the creative front, jazz was passing through its most
tumultuous upheaval to date with the advent in the early 1960s of "free

jazz," which dispensed with many of the music's most familiar harmonic and rhythmic signposts and often ventured into realms that were

as abstract and sonically violent as the more extreme products of the

classical avant-garde.

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Provocative Opinion: The Death of Jazz?

79

Hailed
Hailedby
bysome
some
andand
dismissed
dismissed
by others,
by others,
free jazz
free
splitjazz
thesplit
jazz comthe jazz community
munityasasnever
never
before,
before,
and almost
and almost
everything
everything
that hasthat
happened
has happened
since
since
can
can be
beseen
seen
as as
a response
a response
to that
to that
event.event.
On
On one
onehand
hand
there
there
waswas
whatwhat
might
might
be called
be the
called
"pastoral
the "pastoral
reaction," reaction,"
the
the harmonically
harmonically
suave,
suave,
impressionistic
impressionistic
approach
approach
that wasthat
pioneered
was pioneered
by
by
pianist
pianistBill
Bill
Evans
Evans
andand
thatthat
led to
led
Gary
to Gary
Burton,
Burton,
Keith Jarrett
Keith and
Jarrett
Georgeand George
Winston.

Embraced by a host of players who were put off by free jazz, this
music allowed its practitioners to feel they were still moving forward. In
one sense they were, conquering in the name of jazz the territory that
previously had been explored by Debussy and Ravel.
The implicit dreaminess of this music is a problem, though. Before

this, jazz had always been an art of emotional realism-a music whose

most intoxicatingly joyful artists (say, Armstrong or Erroll Gamer) did

not take their audiences away from the actual world but instead spoke
of those things in life about which one could, indeed, be joyful.
By contrast, today's neoclassicism is anything but dreamy, as it seeks
to revive the values of warmth, soul and forthright swing that once
were the hallmarks of jazz. In the process, it tries to reach out to a wide
audience in the same uncompromising way that Armstrong, Basie and
Ellington were able to do.
Trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and saxophonist-composers David Murray and Arthur Blythe are among the key figures in this trend, and listening to them one finds much to admire. Marsalis, in particular, is an
artist of great technical and intellectual gifts, capable of realizing any
idea that comes to mind. And one also has no doubt that his heart is in

the right place.

Lurking behind the neoclassical enterprise, though, there is a lingering sense that it is more a willed event than a natural one, despite its
eagerness to restore to jazz those qualities that were natural to the music
before free jazz came along.
Warmth, soul and swing certainly are among the hallmarks of a Ben
Webster or a Dexter Gordon, but for them these things seem not to be
sought after in themselves. Instead they are an inevitable by-product of
the act of playing jazz, virtues that arise as a matter of course when one

makes musical and emotional contact with the material at hand.

It is this sense of contact with the material that seems to be lacking in

so many of today's neoclassicists, perhaps because the medium of lineagainst-harmony that their predecessors found so usefully resistant no
longer provides them with the same kind of challenge.
In David Murray's case, it is logical that this should be so, for he once
was a fervent disciple of the most radical free-jazz saxophonist, Albert
Ayler. As critic J. B. Figi said of another young neoclassicist, Murray
"fills roles rather than playing from self," and one can hear the differ-

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80

BMR Journal

ence
enceon
onthe
the
version
version
of "Body
of "Body
and Soul"
andthat
Soul"
appears
thatonappears
Murray'son
most
Murray's most
recent
recentalbum,
album,
Morning
Morning
Song (Black
Song Saint).
(Black Saint).
Sticking
Sticking
to to
thethe
harmonic
harmonic
pattern
pattern
of the tune
of the
untiltune
he ends
until
his he
warmends his warmtoned
tonedsolo
solo
with
with
an Ayler-like
an Ayler-like
squeal, squeal,
Murray leaves
Murray
one leaves
with the
one
feeling
with the feeling
that
thathis
his
relative
relative
orthodoxy
orthodoxy
is veryismuch
verya matter
much of
a matter
consciousof
choice
conscious choice
and
andthat
that
hishis
decision
decision
to play
to "Body
play "Body
and Soul"and
in this
Soul"
way
inought
this to
way
be aought to be a
cause
causefor
for
congratulations.
congratulations.
In
In fact,
fact,toto
thethe
degree
degree
that the
that
solo
the
hassolo
any has
emotional
any emotional
content, it lies
content,
in
it lies in

that
thatsense
sense
of of
choice,
choice,
in Murray's
in Murray's
eagerness
eagerness
to gratifyto
hisgratify
and his his and his
audience's
audience's
desires
desires
to experience
to experience
in the present
in the apresent
way of playing
a way jazz
of playing jazz

that
thata ashort
short
while
while
ago seemed
ago seemed
to belong
to only
belong
to the
only
past.
to the past.
But
Butaside
aside
from
from
his his
needneed
to please
to please
us in this
us manner,
in this who
manner,
David Murwho David Murray
rayisisremains
remains
a mystery.
a mystery.
This isThis
odd, is
because
odd, the
because
style Murray
the style
seeksMurray
to
seeks to
emulate
emulatewas
was
oneone
thatthat
calledcalled
upon the
upon
soloist
thetosoloist
declare to
anddeclare
explore his
and explore his
identity
identity
in in
every
every
notenote
and phrase.
and phrase.
Besides,
Besides,back
back
in 1940,
in 1940,
Ben Webster
Ben Webster
was playing
was all
playing
that he all
knew,
that
testhe knew, testing
inghimself
himself
andand
his chosen
his chosen
style to
style
the very
to the
limits.
very
Butlimits.
when today's
But when today's
recreators
recreators
paypay
homage
homage
to an to
older
an style,
olderthey
style,
must
they
try to
must
ignore
try
or to
for-ignore or forget
getsome
some
of of
what
what
theythey
know-namely
know-namely
the harmonic
the harmonic
and rhythmic
and
vorhythmic vocabulary
cabulary
ofof
moder
moder
jazz-which
jazz-which
is why is
their
why
music
their
often
music
has an
often
aura of
has an aura of
caricature
caricature
or or
hollow
hollow
theatricality.
theatricality.
And
Andeven
even
when
when
re-creation
re-creation
does work,
does the
work,
player's
theactual
player's
situation
actual
is situation is
quite
quitedifferent
different
from
from
that of
that
theof
artists
the he
artists
is trying
he to
is emulate-for,
trying to emulate-for,
again,
again,

there
thereused
used
to to
be no
be conflict
no conflict
between
between
playing within
playing
thewithin
jazz tradition
the jazz tradition
and
andfully
fully
expressing
expressing
one's one's
own artistic
own artistic
personality
personality
and point ofand
view.
point
As of view. As

poet
poetRobert
Robert
Creeley
Creeley
once once
said: "A
said:
tradition
"A tradition
becomes inept
becomes
when inept
it
when it

blocks
blocksthe
the
necessary
necessary
conclusion,
conclusion,
[when] [when]
it says 'others
it says
have
'others
felt more,
have felt more,
we have felt less."'

Some neoclassicists are very aware of these problems and have come
up with intriguing solutions. In particular, there are the slyly ironic
Henry Threadgill and Chicagoan Edward Wilkerson, a genuine roman-

tic whose involvement with the materials at hand is never in doubt.

But Threadgill and Wilkerson may only be neoclassicists in disguise,

artists whose jousts with the music's past really have more to do with
the issues that were raised by free jazz and that still need to be dealt
with if the music is going to become something more than a museum
that mounts a series of jazz-tinged puppet shows.
I am afraid, though, that this is what jazz may have in store for it, as
the creators for whom the making of the music is not a self-conscious
act continue to pass away and the younger generation keeps trying to
evoke the spirit of the past by trying on its outward forms.

In the words of Igor Stravinsky, who certainly knew what neoclassicism was all about: "The borrowing of a method has nothing to do with
observing a tradition. A method is replaced; a tradition is carried for-

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Provocative Opinion: The Death of Jazz? 81

ward in order to produce something new. It appears as

heritage that one receives on condition of making it bear fr

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