Holding the Torch for New Orleans

There are very specific reasons living in the American South has its drawbacks. One only had to ask Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, or Thelonious Monk why their families moved them early in life north to larger more metropolitan areas. It is fair to say the feeling found in their music was forged in the South. One cannot escape the strong historical influence of “The Bible Belt.” The black church is unique in the South, and its roots in the blues are unmistakable. Hence Gospel, the Rhythm and Blues of both the Mississippi Delta and Memphis, and the jazz roots of New Orleans are all a part of the music of Bebop. Still these jazz greats did not hone and practice their art in the American South. They had to migrate north to Philadelphia and New York much like the burgeoning jazz musicians of New Orleans who traveled north on the Steamboats up the Mississippi River to St. Louis and Chicago. Those of us with homes in other areas of the South face a similar challenge if involved in the profession of music. While jazz music on a small scale does exist in college towns, it is scant in most Southern cities. We should applaud Branford Marsalis for relocating to Durham, North Carolina with a connection to Paul Jeffries at Duke University. Likewise Thelonious Monk’s son has been shopping the American South for a suitable place for his Monk Institute. The Arts do exist in some form in the South, but Jazz is not a major component of it. It reclusively hides in academia shelved for the examination of aspiring students. Why is this? Why is it our only truly American art form born in New Orleans from the sweat and blood of transplanted African-Americans, slaving to the sounds of street marches, funeral dirges, and Zydeco, is not appreciated on its native soil? There are reasons for this, and they are a major distinguishing characteristic of the American South. When one thinks of the differentiation between North and South or the demarcation of the Mason/Dixon line, one usually thinks about “Yankees” and “Confederates.” Unfortunately the Confederacy over the years has been ascribed negative connotations resulting from the Civil Rights Movement. Any geographical location that was the breeding ground for the Ku Klux Klan is going to hold tough memories for African-Americans. While social evolution has occurred, the tenants of slavery will remained etched in the soul of America because they created Jazz music. Would jazz exist without slavery? Most art is a survival instinct for an intelligent body of people. Jazz is no different, and the harsh realities of slave life miraculously transform into happiness via the vehicle of Jazz. Jazz represents freedom at its most base level, and that is why it is important to America. Without this quintessential representation of American freedom, society becomes lost. We are lost today, and a reexamination of jazz music could shore up our core philosophy of life in the United States. New Orleans was a metropolitan city of diversity. French Creole plantation workers from the Caribbean islands along with migrating Acadians from Nova Scotia made their home in this Louisiana port town. Hundreds of miles away from the guiding light of New York's Statue of Liberty New Orleans opened her doors to future citizens of the United States. One can imagine the excitement felt from the opportunities of prosperity, work, and freedom. Unfortunately the rural geography of the South is not suitable for such occurrences. What is was suitable for was the tradition of growing cotton and other staple crops necessary to sustain life in the U.S. Without an urban infrastructure upon which to grow, Jazz music cannot exist. Luckily man’s oldest profession provided this necessary foundation in the Red Light District of New Orleans. Many people do not know the basis of the American entertainment industry the Minstrel Show. Minstrel Shows were traveling emporiums of entertainment based upon the hypocrisy of slavery. Characters such as “Zip Coon” and “Jim Crow” were created to vent frustration over blatant violations of Civil Rights which occurred during the Slavery Era. Slavery is not only a precursor to Jazz but a precursor to our modern entertainment industry. When the country as a whole loses sight of these roots, our future becomes jeapardized. What specifically about rural life does not promote a feeling of freedom? The concept of private property as represented in the American South dilutes the prospect of fraternization. If wealthy landowners hold monopolies on real estate, it is difficult for any new seed to grow because there is no place to be planted. As one drives into the elegant town of Pinehurst, North Carolina a difficult paradox presents itself. Because it is located in a rural area far away from any metropolitan area, it could be difficult to construed it as such. Is an exclusive resort really metropolitan if it is isolated from the very things that make it so? It is possible to be exclusive and not metropolitan, and that seems to be the definition of the South. If a group decides to be exclusive then the possibility exists that their connection with and representation of the philosophies of American life may become jeopardized. This most likely is occurring in modern day America as simple wealth becomes more powerful. When faced with the vacuum that only is survival of the fittest, where does art go? If purely monetary value becomes the only qualification of life, then the essence and soul of America are lost. Even if wealth, looking into the darkness of the abyss, wanted to fill it with enlightenment how would they? It is impossible, because only those interested in art can do so. It takes in interest in, the study of, and the subsequent creation of art to sustain humanity and enlightenment. That is why Jazz music and New Orleans are crucial to the survival of America. If we as a nation cast New Orleans into the wind like media has abandoned tradition, then we are destined for the same fate, a soulless, selfish, superficial society of heathens. How can it be a youthful generation in a few short years have all but destroyed the models of broadcast media? Radio, Music Television, and News are but dim shadows of what they once were and represented in America. It can’t be fathomed that the population of America has been stricken with a plague that has rendered them mindless and soulless. More plausibly it has been the dramatic shortcomings of television production that have short-changed the American people.