227 – Jazz

Click the video above for several minutes of background waves while reading.

I like to walk on the beach. It is good for the mind, body, and soul – and refreshing on my feet. 

I write this during Mardi Gras season here on the northern Gulf Coast. I also chuckle at the thought because it’s a 4-to-5 week season here, whereas Mardi Gras at home is a one-day event.

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Many Americans associate Mardi Gras with New Orleans (Louisiana), but Mobile (Alabama) claims the first Mardi Gras – but I don’t know who is right, and it doesn’t matter to me. Besides, we forget about other Carnival celebrations, such as in Venice and Rio de Janeiro.

Thinking about New Orleans leads me to my topic to ponder today – jazz. After all, linking the city to its music is like associating hands and gloves. 

I think about the many forms of jazz – such as Bebop, swing, Dixieland, ragtime, big band, improv, gypsy jazz, and more – including its roots in blues. Besides the local, regional, and national forms, let’s also include the smooth jazz of commercial radio. Jazz can also intertwine with other music forms into a fusion.  

I think about a jazz trio at home that I’ve seen multiple times in recent years. They are world-class musicians, so I listen, watch, and think. It’s those experiences with them that stimulate today’s thoughts.

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I think about the last time I saw the trio because two regular members were absent. On this day, the trio included one person having played with the other two on separate occasions – but the two not only never played together, but they also met for the first time shortly before performing. Amazingly, they made it work – seamlessly and flawlessly – but that’s jazz.

I think of jazz musicians as storytellers. As I listened, they seemed to be having a conversation with each other that the audience could hear and interpret. A conversation without words – but through the language of jazz. I can tell they are listening and reacting to each other with a high level of trust – so they are acting as one – speaking to the audience with one voice through different tones.

I think about how each member has a role in their storytelling. The pianist is the moderator in setting the framework. The bassist is the stage manager setting the tone and serving as the homeostatic heartbeat while the drummer works at the intersection of delicate and intricate. As a collective, each knows when to support, when to lead, and when to back away – and all this is done by reading eyes and reacting to rhythms. That’s jazz.

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I think about jazz as a story with give and take through a framework and improvisation (improv). The framework is the timing, melody, and chord progressions. Improv is the individual’s spontaneous interpretation based on the framework. Improv shapes the music without breaking it. Improv like bending metal while retaining its strength because the framework is intact.

I think that while the improv performer plays off the framework, the other musicians and the audience listen. Then, improv passes to another performer to tell the story through their eyes – their improv – their story not to be duplicated because the improv is not written. That’s jazz – and a sign of the jazz musician’s talent. 

Whenever I see this trio, I realize that improv is a freedom to compose in the moment with the freedom to embellish and/or elaborate before passing the progression to the musical neighbor.

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I think about jazz being a shared language that invites others. As the trio played that night, I watched our church’s music director get his trumpet, and then spontaneously join the trio in song. It was unplanned – unknown to the trio – but I watched them smile to show acceptance of a fourth musician. That’s jazz. 

Jazz is a conversation – a give and take – a connection and communication between musicians through a rhythmic language that touches souls without being philosophical.

Jazz is like a long stretch of beach of endless sand without a beginning or an end. Jazz is the freedom of a beach walk – a friend to go where the feeling takes you – a way to enjoy.

Jazz is like the steady rhythm of the waves, but it isn’t as predictable, methodical, or messy. 

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Jazz is like walking along the waterline and adjusting each step with the waves of the moment. 

Jazz is the intersection between the conscious and the unconscious – just like the horizon I see.

Jazz is an inherent expression with endless variations on a theme – just like my daily walks on the beach – an interaction of waves, sand, wind, and sun – but in the form of improv because I never know what I’m going to get. Yes – jazz is all that jazz – and a reason I enjoyed thinking about it is because I like to walk on the beach. It is good for the mind, body, and soul – and refreshing on my feet.

I’m linking to Jo’s Monday Walk takes us to three nearby islands. Tell her I sent you.

See what other bloggers have posted about Jazz

• Jiving Beats (a poem by a visitor here)
• Jazz: America’s Classical Music (an essay)
• All that Jazz (a photo essay of a mural by a visitor here)
• Healey: the jazz and blues wizard (an essay to a Canadian artist)
• The Artwork of British Jazz (an essay)
• Ella Fitzgerald, American Jazz Singer (an essay)

Next Post: Hope – Saturday 4th May @ 1 AM (Eastern US)