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Tuesday September 25, 2001
The first jazz was recorded in 1917 by, surprisingly, a group of white guys. They called themselves The Original Dixieland Jass Band because they played the music known as jass. But they weren't getting big turnouts to their gigs because, invariably, kids would erase the letter j on the band's promotional posters revealing: Saturday Night's Big Show! Original Dixieland Ass Band to play at 9 o'clock"
Unsurprisingly, no one was very interested in "ass" music, and the band was forced to find a way to remedy the situation. The solution? Drum roll please-"JAZZ." It is unfortunate that so few students in the United States know this legend.
In fact, outside of Music 231: The History of Jazz here at the university, only a select number of musicians and fans are aware of the legend. It is a bad time too to feel ignorant about jazz because, for the past week, you have been left out in the cold. Tucson, a haven for jazz, has the largest jazz organization in the country. The Tucson Jazz Society built this week up to a high climax, culminating Sunday night with a huge tribute concert downtown.
The dedication was to the late great John Coltrane, who would have celebrated his 75th birthday Sunday.
A tenor saxophonist, Coltrane, or just "Trane" as he was often called, dominated the jazz era in the early 60s; he transformed both himself and the music repeatedly throughout the decade - a decade that was itself in constant upheaval. Until his death in 1967, he remained at the top of the whirlwind that the 60s represented.
National Public Radio (NPR), which is actually blasted from KUAZ981-FM out of the basement of the Modern Languages building, devoted the week to nightly broadcasts called "Tell Me How Long Trane's Been Gone" that broke down the jazz-man's career moment by fascinating moment. But one brief segment stood out from the rest like a solo spot during Friday night's program.
The tribute paused for a moment to interview Mr.Vandertak, an elementary school teacher in Philadelphia. Mr. Vandertak teaches second and third graders and has developed a way in which to integrate music, specifically jazz, into his core curriculum. The audience listened to a rather bizarre but admittedly cute variation on "A Love Supreme," a Coltrane tune, sung by a group of 8-year-olds banging tambourines. The reason why NPR decided to add this portion into the Coltrane segment is threefold.
First and foremost, "Trane" is amazing. Second, Mr.Vandertak does not teach in Philadelphia's public school system. He teaches at a private Quaker school. Third, the situation is unique. It would be difficult to find other elementary educators devoting as much energy to music, let alone jazz, and it's not because they don't want to - it's because they can't.
Understandably, it is difficult to teach a complete understanding of jazz to 8-year-olds. An explanation of jazz without, well, sex would be remiss. In fact, like the music itself, jazz is a complicated, complex and down-and-dirty subject. How does one begin to explain jazz without getting embroiled in the entire shameful explanation of slavery?
But this is no excuse. Our educational system robs us of an important field of study from the age of five when we should be learning a sense of time, a sense of tempo, a sense of that little important thing known as rhythm. Time and again, when budget troubles occur, it's music that gets thrown out of the curriculum, and we're all left with inept brains. Can you rub your belly and pat your head at the same time?
There is a world known as jazz, waiting to be discovered by our generation. We don't know enough about it, we don't buy enough of the records, and we don't hit up the clubs where it is playing. Our education has, so far, failed to show us the importance of discovering that which is truly American - jazz.
It's not too late! Use your time here at the university to discover the music department and what it has to share, even if you are a business and basket-weaving student. As Warren Leight wrote for his show "SideMan," "Jazz isn't the greatest thing; it's the only thing."
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