Hi folks. Long story short: today (Monday the 24th) I'll be hosting a show called JPJ (Justified Progressive Jabber? nah, Just Plain Jazz) on KRUU, our totally wack community radio station in Fairfield, IA, from 2 to 4 this afternoon and y'all are invited to listen on-line. In my own small way, it's my contribution to the conversation on race that Sen. Obama invited the nation to participate in. But very specifically it's my reaction to the media-idjits who seem determined to turn Rev. Wright and his comments into The.. Story... of the CENTURY!!! What's it going to sound like? How I like my coffee- strong and black.
Short story long: below the fold. (Ari Berman will have his show from 1 to 1:30, so tune in early!)
After an absence of, oh, 3 decades more or less, I returned to my old hometown from Illinois to do the volunteer thing for Sen. Obama the week before the Iowa caucuses last January. Of course it was a marvelously gratifying experience (Obama 45.5%, Edwards 36.4%, Clinton 16.4% for Jefferson County), but it also led to my renewing ties to some old, dear friends who suggested I might want to consider moving back. To Fairfield Iowa? A town of barely 10,000? From the 100,000+ community in Illinois where I was semi-happily living? Sure!
A typical Iowa town in the Southeast corner, Fairfield ain't. Home to the Maharishi University of Management (yes, the late founder of Transcendental Meditation Maharishi), the Stephen Sondheim Center for the Performing Arts (does he know somebody yanked his name?) and a grass-roots, community based, open source and Creative Commons powered radio stain, KRUU (click here to listen to some of The Nation's Ari Berman's past radio offerings); these are just a few of the "unique" features this little burg has to offer.
Enough with the community "boosterism" - I like jazz (and every other stripe of music, for that matter). I used my high-powered, big-city fancy-talk to bully my way into hosting a show (reviews from both (!) listeners last week ranged from "tentative" to "fabulous") and today I'm going to (metaphorically) take aim at Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Pat Buchanan and all their "moderate" enablers and let 'em have a double-load of what creative genius the black jazz musician has given back to this country.
Now, I'm inviting y'all to participate in this conversation on race as well. Am I guilty of "reverse racism" by focusing solely on black musicians for 2 hours? Isn't part of the glory/story of jazz that white musicians have participated "equally" in the development of this music? (For the record, there are plenty of white performers in "sideman" roles on today's show) Doesn't "balance" dictate an equal amount of airtime for white jazz performers? (Also for the record, I think I'll put together a 2 hour show featuring only European jazz musicians sometime in the future- I'm all whimsical that way) And finally, shouldn't I just be playing what I like, regardless of the race of the performer?
My personal position? Jazz was created by black musicians. In the over 80 years of its development, white musicians have indeed made major (and minor) contributions. In this enlightened year 2008, I could give a sh*t what color a musician's skin is, I care about what they're playing, but...ignorance of history/cultural context is precisely what the moronic chattering classes are guilty of in their vapid blather over the Wright/Obama "controversy". Is this my culture? Hmmm. I'm white, I've got black nieces, nephew and brother-in-law... I've studied jazz to the extent that I may "know" more about its history/context than random black person "X" (ha..) who hasn't "studied" it, but I'm only too aware of the history of colonialization/appropriation of black music by white performers in this country. At the end of the day, I'm a fan. An enthusiastic, opinionated fan. Ignore the between song "patter"; hope you like the music.