The Stubborn Traditions of the American South

I was not interested in attending the "concert."   I was told it was going to be the Fayetteville Symphony.  The catering company did not show up.  We watched four Caucasian men play jazz in the dark outside.  I guess no longer I am a viable patron of the arts.  Was I at one time?  I used to relish hearing live music in Columbus, Ohio.  In high school I used to relish hearing Clarence Palmer play the Hammond B-3 organ at the Fayetteville Jazz Plaza.  I used to enjoy hearing and playing jazz music when it was real.  This particular outdoor concert at the Fayetteville Botanical Garden to me represented everything about the music industry I despise.  This opinion is not intended to say that the music lacked integrity or its patrons were disappointed.  Conversely the people in attendance enjoyed the music immensely.  I did not.  Partly I believe it was because I was not in the mood for cocktail jazz.  That entity, the happy-go-lucky music for wealthy patrons, this particular evening was not in my repertoire.  I tried to enjoy the music, and perhaps I did.  What I did not enjoy was the pretense.  Because I myself am a doctoral level composer and an accomplished jazz pianist, perhaps being a patron this particular evening was not in my cards.  My mother suggested that it was "sour grapes," because I was not performing.  That was not true, because the pretentious offering of the concert turned my stomach.  The music was fine.  What was amiss starkly represents  the short comings of southern American musical culture.  It always has been this way, and now I remember.  I remember having attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, that while jazz music was appreciated as cocktail music for society, we had to play "shag" music as well.  The combination was effective.  Extremely it was effective for a four hour dinner dance at a country club.  We played quiet jazz for two sets while the patrons had cocktails and dinner.  Then we switched gears and played two sets of higher energy dance music for their enjoyment.  Inherently I did not like the "Beach Music," but I learned and accepted it.  Many years later I came to appreciate this music more because I was the correct age.  Unless you grew up in a southern household that champions its own society and their cultural traditions, you may have missed the "shag" bus.  I did.  I grew up with jazz and classical music.  Until you reach the appropriate age the cultural tradition may not make sense.  In college I had no interest in drinking beer on Ocean Drive and dancing with my wife.  I can appreciate it now, but still the "shag" in my opinion is only one of many more viable forms of dance.  Having studied the history of music at three different universities in three different states, I left the shag behind thirty years ago.  It seems inadvertently I once again am faced with it.  I am not being forced to play shag music for money, but I am being confronted again with the population that champions it.  They were represented perfectly at this jazz concert last night.  There were several things I would have done differently if giving a  "concert" of the music of Dave Brubeck.  The most blaring idiosyncrasy was understanding the difference between a cocktail party and a jazz concert.  Evidently this event was both.  While the majority of the patrons were quiet during the performance, easily they could have continued talking and enjoying themselves while the band played.  That is because there is a strong precedent for this societal concept. Jazz music in the Carolina's is cocktail music.  You can find it most notably in the bars and restaurants of Charleston, South Carolina.  Certainly in these venues patrons are not required "not to talk" while the music is being played.  To me it was somewhat confusing.  It felt awkward to me to be expected to sit and listen to a kind of music that more often is in the background.  If the event really was intended to be a concert, then the protocol should have been a little different.  The most obvious pretense about this presentation was it was advertised as a Fayetteville Symphony concert.  I thought the orchestra would be there.  It is common jazz knowledge that Dave Brubeck was a classically trained composer.  They were not.  Also contrarily to what was announced only two members of the group actually were members of the Fayetteville Symphony.  (I am guessing about one.) As a jazz musician myself fully I understand the need for the proper instrumentation.  Without acoustic jazz bass and most often saxophone it would be difficult to realize jazz music.  There was a need for these two things, but officially it should have been called "Friends of the Fayetteville Symphony."  Overall this experience was reminiscent of my early years of jazz study.  In retrospect I have changed my opinion about their success.  Without getting into an academic argument about the validity of a jazz education program at a traditional Liberal Arts university, I will say that my years of experience in both Columbia, South Carolina and Columbus, Ohio greatly expanded my knowledge and understanding of jazz music.  When I was at UNC in the mid l980's, there was a viable jazz scene there.  There were a handful of unique and authentic jazz musicians to which I owe a debt of appreciation.  Brother Yusef, Saleem Malik, Elmer Gibson, Robbie Link, and Ted Howe among others were a great creative inspiration for me during that time.  I was lucky both to be able to hear and play with many of them.  Having traveled back to the Tarheel state after many years abroad, it is disappointing.  The contingency of jazz players in Columbia has waned.  Terry Rosen, Ted Linder, Chris Potter, and Johnny Helms all have moved on in one way or another.  It seems these driving forces in both areas have evaporated.  While I do know that academia champions jazz education, I am reluctant to comment on its effectiveness.  Being once again in an environment where I did not know jazz history or the real roots of the music, it feels awkward as did this concert.  I feel like I have traveled back in time to an era where real jazz music is not understood.  Upon closer scrutiny I have not actually traveled back in time, I have traveled back to a place that probably never has understood the true nature and history of the music.  Having learned these things in other places is only suggests to me how unwilling or incapable the population of this area are.  They are sheltered.  They never have been forced to see, hear, or feel anything other than their own comfortable existences.  It is excruciatingly oppressive.  I had to listen to music I know extremely well in the context of a societal social outing.  I had to button my lip.  What could have made the concert more effective?  The answer is one thing by which I am troubled.  As I attend Fayetteville Symphony concerts, I am both amazed at the level of performance and the level to which they will stoop to sell their tickets.  I am beginning to understand this now.  With the North Carolina Symphony also concertizing, it is a competitive arena.  Even with the amount of endowed chairs in both organizations, keeping an orchestra up and running is an economic challenge.  With that in mind still the blurring of the boundaries of authenticity and taste are troubling to me as a musician.  I attended "Beethoven and Blue Jeans."  I did not like it.  I did not like the ragged appearance of the orchestra, and I did not like the program.  For me the programming of the concert's three works did not make conceptual sense.  I understood the need to program a rock-oriented chamber piece first.  It was visually interesting, but unfortunately musically to my ears had very little to imply any homage to the great British rock band Led Zeppelin.  This particular band has become my favorite for one discernible reason.  Not only do they use the feeling of the blues in their music, drummer John Bonham pioneered the use of polyrhythm in rock-oriented music.  While there were some interesting textural ideas that occurred in the first programmed piece on the concert, it fell short.  I am sure its programming was political.  It was meant to draw in a younger audience.  The second piece, Edouard Lalo's Symphonie Espagnole, really was a violin concerto.  The second half was presented as Beethoven's Symphony No. 5.  It took me several seconds to realize what this was.  It was the "Fifth of Beethoven," or "Beethoven's Fifth," probably the most known of all of his works.  While all three performances were exceptional, the programming did not make sense to me.  My musical aesthetic was not stimulated from the program's emotional expression.  It didn't make sense to me.  As a doctoral level composer and arranger and an accomplished jazz musician, I understand the great need for proper programming.  Programming is crucial to many aesthetics including radio airplay, band sets, and concerts.  If the proper songs, pieces, or works are ordered intelligently, than often they will "play themselves."  What does that mean?  It means the tonal centers, the feels, and the tempos logically work together as a greater whole.  Easily this can be demonstrated by two seminal recordings in commercial music history, the Beatles "Sergeant Pepper's," and the Beach Boys "Pet Sounds."  These iconic LP's were meant to be enjoyed as a total experienced, not necessarily as Top Forty Singles.  Finding this thread often is what creates a type of magic that is possible with music.  The ordering of the music needs to create a mood and then to continue to manipulate it as the concert progresses.  It is not enough to program differing pieces.  Because music is an aesthetic it makes use of human emotion.  To eloquently utilize human emotion in a respectful, tasteful, and beautiful way is a goal of more successful composers.   Empfindsamer Stil, the German sensitive style, seeks to express true and natural human feelings as opposed to premeditated ones.  To successfully program music a full understanding of the composer's intent is necessary as is its surrounding historical context.  This is why jazz connoisseurs often say musicians  adequately cannot play jazz until they know the lyrics of the songs they play.  It also is essential to know and understand the composer of the song.  Last nights "concert" could have been augmented with a small amount of oral biography of the music they played.  All ready I knew it, but I couldn't help be feel the audience would have been gratified.  One particular Cole Porter song jumps to mind, because very few understand it meaning.  The point I am trying to make is that my musical sensibilities are being fractured.  I am witnessing notable musical performances, but they are devoid of their deeper meaning.  There may be hints of hypocrisy here, and certainly American southern politics represent these.  It is comment to lie, mislead, and take advantage of the public.  As a musician I seek only to suggest that southern culture is very colloquial.  With the sheer amount of professional people in its midst, why must music history be neglected?  We are only concerned with our own shallow existences?  It seems this way to me.  It seems to me the local music scene in great contrast to other places basks in the importance of their musical skill.  It is historical.  While I attended UNC-Chapel Hill, there was a very overt "Ivory Tower" ideal at play.  Its professors much like North Carolina politicians make it clear they are smarter than you and consequently more valuable.  They put themselves in an "Ivory Tower."  This is repugnant to me, although I did not understand it at the time.  I didn't feel stupid, I just knew that I didn't like the music that was being taught as representative of the "Classic Period."  Opera.  As I have written earlier in this blog entry, often one has to be the proper age to appreciated a particular thing.  Young Americans may not yet be ready to stomach the ideals of European opera.  Still I cannot understand this sentiment.  While I support the musical arts in and around Fayetteville, North Carolina again and again I am assaulted by ego.  Why would musicians assume they deserve celebrity, because they are involved with classical music?    No one suggests this more than Dr. Michael Martin, the musical director of the Cumberland County Oratorio Singers.  While I do understand that this music is not so common place to everyone and marketing is needed to fill audience seats, I begrudgingly resist having to feed egocentric needs for public approval.  Having been a musician all my life and fully understanding and supporting that music is a God-given human condition meant for the entire human race, it is insulting to me that it in any way will draw boundaries.  That is racist, but then again we are talking about the American South.