The End of Jazz As We Know It?
Have you seen the latest controversy? Musician Nicholas Payton is leading a movement to get rid of the word “jazz.” His argument is that the term “jazz” is racist and that deeply embedded societal oppression of black Americans necessitates a reclassification of the music. Check out this article: A Controversial Proposal Would Redefine Jazz. At one point in his blog or in a tweet Payton states: “The j-word is dead. It died in 1959. Those who celebrate it are worshipping a zombie.” Not exactly sure why Payton chose 1959. That was the year of Kind of Blue. Coltrane hadn’t even recorded any of his masterpieces on Impulse. Think of all the Blue Note records we all love and enjoy post-1959. Anyway. Payton advocates that the music we know of as “jazz” be reclassified as Black American Music. He uses the acronym BAM. Does this mean I have to change my site to BAM Collector? And sell my Bill Evans, Stan Getz, Zoot Sims and Tal Farlow records? Something about that doesn’t seem quite right. I’m sure this audience will have some opinions on the topic, no?