Freedom, humanity and justice: The enduring legacy of jazz

Since the end of the 19th^th In the 20th century, art forms created in America have become powerful tools for bringing about social change by challenging racial segregation, promoting equality, and fostering cultural understanding.

As jazz continues to develop in the 21st century^st Century retains its capacity for social commentary and activism according to Sullivan Fortner, a three-time Grammy-winning jazz pianist who spoke to UN News at the Village Vanguard jazz club in New York ahead of International Jazz Day which is celebrated on April 30.

“Jazz means freedom. Jazz means America. It means humanity. It means love,” Fortner said, emphasizing that “as long as artists continue to create it, it will always be relevant to the times we live in.”

The annual celebration of jazz music highlights its role as a universal language of freedom, creativity and peace and provides an opportunity to foster a greater appreciation, not only for the music, but also for the contribution it can make in building a more inclusive society.

“He [about] emotional transmission and communicating those emotions and feelings to each other. Jazz is 100 percent about that, about the good, the bad and the ugly, all in one,” Mr. Fortner said before a performance at the famed Village Vanguard.

The club in Manhattan – which claims to be the world’s oldest continuously operating jazz club – is arguably the most visible representation of the powerful legacy of this sometimes underrated art form.

From poets to trumpeters

Passing through the Village Vanguard’s bright red doors, you descend a narrow staircase into a low-ceilinged, triangular room that hasn’t changed in decades; this gives the impression that jazz belongs to a bygone era.

On stage, a huge double bass is sandwiched between a Steinway piano and a stripped-down drum kit. Opposite, a row of antique tables and chairs with their occupants stretches back, past photographs of famous artists over the years – including Miles Davis and John Coltrane – to a colorful mural on the back wall.

“We try to keep it simple here,” says owner Deborah Gordon.

But when the Sullivan Fortner Trio came through the back door onto the stage, the band started to improvise and the room jumped from nostalgia to something very lively. We are entering unexpected territory with them.

Unity through jazz

The Village Vanguard used to welcome all kinds of artists from poets to calypso dancers to folk singers and was “a platform for showcasing all kinds of cultural and political events”, Ms. Gordon.

In 1957, the club decided that jazz was the best way to provide that platform and became the exclusive medium on stage.

Apart from a brief period after the Second World War, when jazz entered the mainstream, “jazz has always had a kind of fringe, specialized audience that it has attracted,” Ms. Gordon.

“There are a lot of gray people like me, and there are a lot of young people like you too, the people are diverse” he said.

Melodies and messages

As Sullivan Fortner and his trio continued to perform, changing melodies, there was an undercurrent that took over the room.

“It’s like energy flowing from the music, from the stage to the people. And back…it’s a circular thing…and you can really feel the unifying power of what music can bring,” Ms. Gordon.

Evolution and revolution

It was this unifying power that made it a tool of empowerment and social change for the marginalized black community in New Orleans, where jazz music first began.

“The way music started was out of sheer protest… we were born out of a rebellion of artists trying to take a stand,” Fortner said.

Later artists such as Bille Holiday protested racial injustice and promoted integration through her music as jazz became the soundtrack to the Civil Rights Movement in the United States.

Today, jazz continues to change, “It combines different types of music from different places throughout time,” Ms. Gordon.

“Jazz is more than just notes and rhythms. It’s a language. It’s a way people talk. It’s a way people gesture to each other.” Mr Fortner added.

As jazz took on new instruments and forms of expression, it retained its capacity for social commentary and activism.

We have to remember that this is street music and it should be accessible to people who don’t necessarily have shoes

Don’t forget the roads

Talking about her place in music today, Ms. Gordon says: “It’s still kind of peripheral music in the culture. And I’m fine with that, because to me, that means the music will last. It’s not just a flash in the pan. It’s solid. And in that solidity, it changes and evolves.”

Although many people today view jazz as a high art form, like classical music, musicians say jazz music should not forget its roots.

“Sometimes we’ve gotten so deep intellectually that we forget to reach out and take the gutter with us. I don’t think we can forget that this was born on the streets, that this was born in the whorehouse,” Fortner said.

“We have to remember that this is street music and it has to be accessible to people who don’t necessarily have shoes,” he added.

“We have to keep that in mind and bring those guys with us whenever we play or whatever we play.”