As I prepared to teach a jazz history class at FAU in August 2008, I realized I needed to answer this question for myself. It's still working for me...
The struggle to define jazz has gone on for decades.
Ask lots of folks, you’ll get lots of different answers.
When asked for a definition of jazz, Louis Armstrong famously replied,
“If you gotta ask, you’ll never know.”
Some say jazz is music that swings, man.
Some say it has a bluesy sound.
Some define it by its syncopated rhythms.
Some say it’s jazz when there’s improvisation included.
Some say that jazz is NOT the music of Kenny G.
Then there’s an old musician’s joke about jazz being “better than sex, and it lasts longer.”
During the 20th century one style followed another, from blues, ragtime, Early New Orleans and swing to bebop, cool jazz, modal jazz, hard bop, avant-garde jazz, funk, fusion, post-bop...
Why not simply acknowledge each style separate unto itself?
Why do we use the term “jazz” to encompass it all?
As a jazz musician, I personally need an answer for this question.
So here’s what I’m thinking.
I’m thinking it has something to do with our primal need to know where Home is.
Jazz is Home.
All the different styles that have emerged are related,
like parents and siblings and cousins.
All the different styles come Home to Jazz.
And so we say,
All these different styles belong to Jazz.
Because there are so many styles that fall under
the realm of jazz, the Home of Jazz,
the musical vocabulary of jazz, the language of jazz,
is a profoundly rich one.
As a result, jazz is an extraordinarily expressive language.
Jazz allows for conversation.
You can have an easy, how ya doin’ kind of exchange.
You can have a formal, structured sort of conversation.
You can have a soulful, or sensual, or spiritually ecstatic conversation, beyond words.
I like to believe that most jazz musicians are grateful to be able to play the music.
We have a way to communicate our deepest feelings with others in this world
that transcends the limitations of verbal language.
As we study the music of those musicians who came before us,
as we honor them,
we keep the music, and the traditions upon which it is based, alive and growing.
Because it is born of a fabulous mixture of cultures and traditions
Because so many different styles have emerged during the past hundred years
Jazz is a tolerant language.
Jazz is a tolerant language because, from the beginning,
it has allowed for individual expression through improvisation.
And because it is a tolerant language,
Jazz embraces change.
It enjoys being used in familiar ways
and, inspired by past innovators,
supports exploration of new paths of expression.
Always, it welcomes revisiting its home, its roots.
Jazz is Home.
...home for great musical offerings - jazz, bopHop! and otherwise - based in Carrboro NC, also fondly known as Paris of the Piedmont.
We've been around the block and crossed the ponds a few times and we're just getting started, folks, so come visit us in person or at this site often to check out our ever-increasing offerings. We're having great fun and we want to share it all with you...
no two gigs are the same...
There is NOTHING like music live, in the moment. Click here for more details regarding all upcoming events, from delightful duos to hot quartets and more!
mahaloJazz: stoked for smokin' jazz!
mahaloJazz 4+ continues to hold forth on Sundays evenings at The Station at Southern Rail in Carrboro; our next visit will be on 2/12 and 2/26 at 5:00pm or so. We LOVE playing here, it has a real comfortable vibe for everyone, with good drink and food. Check out our brand new video slide show to hear some of the fun we had this past December, with photos by our great friend Barbara Tyroler! Hope you'll come by and hang with us here!
In trio (mJ3) or quartet (mJ4) fashion, mahaloJazz takes the fabulous bebop tunes of Charlie Parker, Clifford Brown and Bud Powell (among others) and fuses them with funk/R&B/New Orleans rhythms. This music is meant for folks to be dancing to great jazz music once again! Check out our video by Beery Media!
We love doing house concerts, as performers and listeners are much more engaged with the music together. For the magical we-put-it-together-in-nine-days concert in February 2011, we've got a video slide show, video snippet 1 and video snippet 2 (fabulous photos and video by the awesome Nic Beery). Recordings of this performance, as well as for three of our four CottonWood Farm performances, can all be found here (scroll down to mahaloJazz 4 + more).
VIDEO PERFORMANCES
January 2010: Alison and Randy joined Chloe Dolandis at Upstairs at The Van Dyke.
November 2009: tenor saxophonist Rochelle Frederick invited Alison to join her for a Lauderdale Jazz Series performance, sponsored by the great folks of Women in Jazz South Florida.
October 2009: mahaloJazz 3 (Alison, Bill, and Matt) and Chloe Dolandis offered up two sets' worth of jazz standards and Chloe's original jazz•soul•pop tunes at The Orange Door in Lake Park! Check out video clips 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,and 10!
July 2009: mahaloJazz 2 (Alison and Bill) accompanied Chloe Dolandis at the Willow Theater in Boca Raton!
Gratefully, weekday afternoon/evening lesson spots are just about filled for Spring 2012! If you have some flexibility, late mornings/early afternoons are possible, along with bi-weekly evenings. Give a shout and let's talk about how we can help bring more music into your life!
Jazz is Home.
the next chapter.
So, so much has happened since the last post at the beginning of the year, most of it wonderful. In May, Alison completed the masters of arts program at FAU, with a focus on composition. So much fun. Sad to take leave of dearest family and friends in Florida, and thrilled to be back as of July in Carrboro NC, a small town filled with an extraordinary creative spirit. CottonWood Jazz 3 was a great success, thanks once again to our most generous hosts Neal Jones and Dianne Ford, musicians Louis Sawyer, Ben Palmer and David Shore, and the 70+ plus people who came to enjoy the intimacy and excitement that comes with a Jones/Ford house concert. studioMahalo is now set up and offering piano, improvisation and composition lessons to anyone interested. Performing in September at the Hillsborough Jazz Festival and the Carrboro Music Festival was a blast! And for Halloween, Mahalo Arts is so proud to present a very special showing of the cult silent vampire movie, Nosferatu, with Vamplifire, a very, very fine musical quartet performing pianist Peter Estep's original score. SO music is happening with old friends and new; you can expect to see more folks joining the mahaloFriends page. We're just getting warmed up here, so check in often for what's happening!
new works now available for your listening pleasure
Following up on her first two suites, last summer Alison completed Suite No. 3: L'Chaim, and then last month Conversation #1, her first orchestral piece. Both works are now posted on the original music page. These recordings are computer realizations of the scores, but you get the idea! (Best to listen using headphones or decent speakers if possible). We're hopeful that Suite No. 3 will be performed informally this spring at FAU. Please take a listen and give us your honest review!
Chloe Dolandis and mahaloJazz 3 on Sunday, October 4th!
We're keeping a good thing going following the fabulous Spanish River Library event! 200 folks came out to enjoy our renditions of jazz favorites, so we're moving on to The Orange Door in Lake Park, with a pit stop earlier in the morning at the CBS 12 (early) morning news show!
Chloe Dolandis and mahaloJazz 3 on Sunday, September 13th!
Alison, Bill and Matt are SO excited to be performing with our friend and fabulous vocalist Chloe at Boca's Spanish River Library, which has become a fantastic venue for live music! Hosted by the multi-talented arts impressario Lisa Mansell, this event is not to be missed! It's free, come early, and enjoy some great jazz music!
