Jazz Notes

From being original Afro-American music, fuelled by Black slavery and the resilience and indomitable spirit of that race, honed and nurtured by other fellow Americans and immigrants who poured into America, jazz became the musical voice embodying the free spirit of that nation and exemplifying the spirit of freedom that had started to blow there.

Jazz was played in brothels, at funerals, in dance saloons and clubs, at concerts and festivals, and even at classical soirees, just everywhere.

Jazz, the eternal chameleon, was delighting audiences everywhere. From a basic three chord harmonic cycle of a twelve bar structure, it has evolved into a more sophisticated art form,appealing to the grass roots listener for its earthy and soulful quality and to the discerning ear for its harmonic and melodic complexity and brilliance.

Jazz makes great demands on its practitioner because of its inherent musical configuration and improvisitory character. The demand for a degree of technical expertise is a basic requisite to play good jazz. Yet, technique is not the be all and end all requirement to play good jazz. The essence of jazz is soul and swing. A musician can capture this with one note or with a thousand notes.

But the crux is that either you have it or you don’t… A jazz expression cannot be written down. As somebody very rightly said, “If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn.” The technique of jazz can be taught but the essence, soul, the spirit and the swing has to come from within.

I see a parallel of this in our own Indian Classical music. And a mix of these two free spirits can work only at a very high level of understanding and expertise. When it works,it is a new magical and spiritual experience.

Just imagine the experience of having a masala dosa and a T-bone steak together in one plate and relishing it. Think about it! (just kidding!)

This spellbinding musical force is a universal language now, more so than ever. It is a great binding, bonding and barrier-breaking force, bringing people of the world together. For example, just imagine a jazz saxophonist from Norway, a guitarist from Japan, a bassist from Alaska, a trumpeter from Nairobi, a pianist from Nepal, a trombonist from Djarkarta, a drummer from Frankfurt, a violinist from Vienna can meet at any point of time and without any rehearsal, play great jazz together, communicating perfectly through music. This is its beauty, power, magic and essence.

Jazz is the future of music. All you have to do is listen!