"The words love and like both have 4 letters, but they're two different things all together" - Whodini (from One Love - 1986)
"Funk used to be a bad word" - Funkadelic (from Let's Take It To The Stage - 1975)
"Jazz is a 4 letter word" - Max Roach, Nicholas Payton and anyone else who can read, write and count.
The word jazz is a controversial term. It might be the new "N" word. It's meaning has gone through various changes, in the early 1900's jazz meant fornication. In an interview with The Harvard Crimson (2001) Max Roach, the legendary drummer, composer and activist, pointed out his distaste for the word most commonly used to describe the music to which he dedicated his life. In the article he used the example of the infamous Scottsboro Boys Trial, which took place in 1931 in Alabama. In the case, which eventually made its way to the Supreme Court, several black boys were accused of raping two white girls. During the trial a letter one of the alleged victims wrote to a friend was used to proved that no rape had occurred, in the letter the word jazz came up - she wrote "those boys didn't jazz me". Jazz it seems used to be a very bad word. So, in that context, one can see how using the word jazz to describe ones art would be an insult. Nonetheless, Jazz is word that we are left with. Jazz is 4 letter word, a word that inadequately describes such an important, exquisitley advanced and beautifully articulated African American musical artform.
Love it or hate it (2 more 4 letter words...) the Jazz label has now been so widely marketed and associated with this music that... it is what it is. I usually preface my descripition of this artform by calling it the "music we so lovingly call, Jazz". It's my attempt to lessen to the sting of our frought linguistic history. I'm not embarrassed or even against the jazz label, but I know it has a history of distain by many of the creators of the music. Miles Davis didn't like it, he suggested calling it social music, Roy Hargrove is on record saying the term means nothing to him, and Nicholas Payton hates it and has suggested it be relabeled BAM - Black American Music, right on brother!
My stance is thus, call it what ya like, all that really matters is what happens on the band stand and in between your ears. A groove, is a groove, is a groove and "jazz" is the groove that moves me, hopefully it moves you too - enough to shout out loud a couple other 4 letter words - "Yeah baby"
Enjoy,
Brian "katzpheno" Phoenix
featuring:
Jose James - What A Little Moonlight Can Do (2015)
Robert Glasper Trio - 59 South (2009)
Mark Egan - Summer Fun (2015)
Ben Williams - Moontrane (2011)
Luciana Souza - Backfile (2000)
Terence Blanchard - Him Or Me (2009)
Captain Black Big Band - Water Babies (2021)
Roy Hargrove Big Band - Roy Allan (2009)
Gil Scott-Heron - I Think I'll Call It Morning (1971)
Nicholas Payton - Jazz Is A 4 Letter Word (2019)
Christian McBride Trio - I Guess I'll have To Forget (2013)
Sep 9 20241 hr and 26 mins