{"id":366,"date":"2011-01-09T11:50:15","date_gmt":"2011-01-09T16:50:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/2011\/01\/journalist_yes_jazz_journalist\/"},"modified":"2011-04-28T16:32:45","modified_gmt":"2011-04-28T20:32:45","slug":"journalist_yes_jazz_journalist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2011\/01\/journalist_yes_jazz_journalist.html","title":{"rendered":"Journalist, yes. “Jazz” journalist — why?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hank Shteamer, writer-on-music at Time Out New York<\/a> and blogger at Dark Forces Swing Blind Punches, writes “I am not a jazz journalis<\/a>t” in response to “The State of Jazz Journalism Now and Immediate Prospects” town hall meeting at the Jazz Journalists Association’s “New Media for New Jazz<\/a>” conference yesterday (Jan 8). He doesn’t deny that he loves jazz and writes about it, but considers putting the title off an insistence for diversity. I’m president of the JJA and a jazz journalist — among other things. My response to him follows; not meaning to be defensive or ghettoize myself (I’ll take assignments on anything! Anything<\/i>!) I hope to explain just why.<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

\n

Hi Hank, thanks for attending the JJA event and for this
\npost. I’d like to respond in a way that I hope clears up some misconceptions.
\nIn no way does the Jazz Journalists Association posit itself or its members as
\nhigh priesthood of jazz or jazz police.<\/p>\n

As an organization we do not define jazz — in our current
\neyeJAZZ.tv<\/a> initiative we stress to nascent videographers about their subjects
\n“if you think it’s jazz, that’s good enough for us.” And personally,
\nmost members have broad, eclectic tastes which they employ in their journalism.<\/p>\n

I’ve listened to for pleasure, interviewed and or written
\nabout everyone from gamelan and kora to Average White Band and Asleep at the
\nWheel to the Jefferson Airplane, the Lovin’ Spoonful, Captain Beefheart, Toots
\nand the Maytals, Eddie Palmieri and Aretha Franklin. I’ve edited Guitar World
\nas well as Rhythm Music (world music mag), love the blues especially, country
\nswing, electronic music, contemporary classical composition, Afro-Caribbean
\nmusic, American salsa, raga, Chinese music and psychedelic rock. I’m pretty
\nmuch out of the pop world these days, but I’m looking forward to hearing Prince
\nat Madison Square Garden next week. I play flutes and saxes, piano and my new Korg
\nMonotron for fun, without believing I have to conquer chord changes or know
\nstandards to do so. Heavy metal and most rap don’t interest me much except in a
\nclinical, analytical way, but I’m steeped in old pop, show tunes, etc. — and
\nhave enjoyed Missy Elliot, De La Soul, what I’ve heard of Taylor Swift. I feel
\nfree to refer to and comment on any of that when the inspiration strikes me. I
\nthink jazz-beyond-jazz (name of my blog) tries to make that point: It’s all
\navailable for us to absorb, embrace, utilize. That’s a genuine fundamental jazz
\nvalue. You hear it in the music of all the greats from Jelly Roll Morton to
\nthose you mention — Darcy James Argue, the Bad Plus, etc. — today.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, such inclusion is not so much allowed or
\nacknowledged in other genres, which has often worked to the detriment of those
\nof us associated with jazz. For musicians: Braxton among others in the AACM<\/a>
\ndon’t want to be ghettoized as jazz musicians, but with rare exception they
\nhave not been condoned by the contemporary classical world. This has had
\npractical ramifications for musicians seeking grants, performance opportunities
\nand educational positions, though many AACM members have by their undeniable
\ncreativity, determination, productivity and longevity transcended the problem.
\nWhat I admire about those musicians is that they deny boundaries, but do
\nidentify themselves with the historic culture of America that gave them rise.
\nButch Morris (not an AACM member, but friendly to them) does something that is
\nnot sound conventionally “jazz” with his conductions, and does not claim
\nto be creating jazz per se, but he continues to identify himself as a jazz
\nmusician, proudly, because he knows that’s what he comes out of and what his
\nmusic has grown from. He has no reason to deny it (and I think in talking to
\nBraxton or Threadgill or Roscoe Mitchell or George Lewis or Muhal — or if it
\nwere possible, Miles or the late George Russell — you’d find more nuanced
\nviews than a rejection of jazz as an identifier).<\/p>\n

By the way, the problem affecting musicians who work with
\njazz values in transformative music is not restricted to black Americans. John
\nZorn at the start of his career was understood as having something to do with
\njazz even if he was turning it on its head — but the classical world would
\nhave nothing to do with him. Improvisation was and still is not understood and
\nlargely verboten in even contemporary classical circles, even though many many
\nmany fine experimentally-oriented contemporary composers — Steve Reich, Terry
\nRiley, Tania Leon, Phill Niblock come immediately to mind — love, listen to
\nand draw from jazz.<\/p>\n

To return to journalism: The JJA tries to identify itself
\nfirst and foremost as journalists<\/i>. The organization strives to uphold and
\ninstill professional journalistic standards and we are trying to develop new
\napproaches to using new media for music journalism. Those approaches have value
\nacross music genres. We have never turned down anyone for membership due to
\nwhat they cover. We assume every member is interested in good music, as they
\nhear it. Most of the members enjoy learning from each other, and the majority
\ncover anything they can get assignments for: rock, pop, country, gospel on and
\non. . . <\/span><\/p>\n

To call ourselves the “Jazz” Journalists
\nAssociation is more than an easy convention, however. It is in part that, the need
\nto put some sort of label on what we do, the challenges we face and the way
\nmany of us think because we love and deal seriously with jazz<\/i> <\/span>that members of Rock and Rap
\nConfidential <\/a>or the Music Critics Association of North America <\/a>decline to
\ninvolve themselves in. Many years ago I was co-chair of a music writers’ caucus
\norganized by the National Writers Union. It aimed to be non-genre specific, but
\nquickly focused on issues specific to those critics involved with covering
\nrock-pop (it was the height of punk and beginning of riot girrrl era). Rather
\nthan find ground common for all journalists, the caucus marginalized those who
\nweren’t interested in the stuff that those who were reporting on pop music had
\nto say. I think if you listened closely to the talk at the JJA town hall (and I
\nthink you <i>did<\/i>, re your mention of David Adler<\/a>‘s comments)
\nyou did not hear anyone say we shouldn’t pay any attention to the rest of the
\nmusic world. We should indeed realize where the music we love fits into the
\nlarger framework. That’s the best knowledge that journalists can arm themselves
\nwith if they intend to cover jazz or other “fringe” music that is
\nconsidered outside the mainstream, non-commercial, un-pop, un-classical, new
\nand unusual or identified with minority “under-represented” American
\npopulation groups.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

But as Alex Rodriguez<\/a> of WBGO and the Newark Times Ledger
\nsaid yesterday, we shouldn’t be ahistorical about our music, either. Let us not
\ndeny the extraordinary culture of jazz that informs almost all forms of current
\nmusic, not only in America but increasingly around the world. Let us not bow to
\nthose who dismiss jazz as old-fashioned, out-of-it, yr parents’ music, etc.
\nJazz values virtuosity, individual statement, group interaction, meritocracy,
\nrhythmic energy, emotional expressivity, exploration, inclusivity. Not all
\nforms of music do.<\/p>\n

I’m not willing to limit myself to jazz — I teach courses
\nin the Roots of American Music and World Music as well as jazz and blues. I’m
\nabout to write about Jimi Hendrix for a Ukrainian magazine. I wrote liner notes
\nthis year for an album by the Imani Winds Quintet (albeit playing compositions
\nby “jazz” composers). One of the best shows I heard last year was
\nBobby McFerrin’s VOCAbuLarieS <\/i>with a choir singing music that defies strict
\ndefinition. I’ve argued in print with Wynton Marsalis back in the day when he
\nwas espousing jazz “purity.” I’ve gotten into tiffs with other critics
\nabout this. I’m a listener, writer, editor, blogger, broadcast producer, videographer,
\nadjunct professor and journalist. I belong to the Authors Guild<\/a>, but few other
\nwriters’ or journalists organizations have much to offer me. So I preside over
\nthe JJA, working with freelancers and staffers alike to raise the profile of
\ngood, smart, entertaining and enriching music of today and some from the past,
\nwhich has enduring value not just as curiosities or artifacts, too.<\/p>\n

Be a member of the JJA — as you are – and partake of our
\nvideo initiative eyeJAZZ.tv, our hashtag campaigns, our mentoring services,
\npanel discussions, Town Halls, interactions with groups like APAP, the NEA and
\nthe Future of Music Coalition. (Many of these activities are open to people who
\nare not dues-paying members, though the organization does need dues-paying
\nmembers to keep its activities going). Don’t worry about whether you’re a
\n“jazz” journalist or not. Members recognize and practice
\nmultiplicity; it comes with the jazz territory. I’m afraid that given your
\nmultiplicity you may not find such understanding and acceptance elsewhere.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n


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