Thelonious Sphere Monk
3
The Great‐African‐American Classical Art‐Form Jazz Was Not Meant for the Dinner Table Photo credit: Angel Rosado T.S. Monk Become a fan Thelonious Sphere Monk, III is an internationally acclaimed jazz drummer, composer, bandleader, and vocalist A funny thing happened on the way to "school," and "dinnertime" got really strange. Let me explain. When I was born in 1949, America's musical academia was paying little attention to jazz as an intellectual endeavor. In fact, there was an open hostility from classical music departments across the board towards the genre. Only recently has America begun to take any true African‐American intellect seriously. The likes of Dr. Michael Eric Dyson, Henry Louis Gates and Maya Angelou; playwrights like August Wilson; of course, President Barack Obama; and many others from disciplines including science, business, technology and the arts, have all raised the ante for most in America. African American intellect and innovation can no longer be ignored. But I want to talk jazz for a moment because early on, jazz was recognized as an enormous intellectual endeavor by many classical giants upon its very inception nearly 100 years ago. That certainly was a good thing. But once pulled into the world of academia, minus its black creators, there was a general attempt to distill it down to essentially a series of Eurocentric musical formulas. Things like that were disastrous in terms of jazz education, and led to a generation of miserably mediocre jazz musicians. That's what happened when we went to America's "music schools" starting in the '50s. It was a crushing blow that has only recently begun to change. However, in my opinion, that was nothing compared to what we got at "dinnertime." When white restaurateurs finally decided to bring jazz out of Harlem, in a misguided, albeit successful, attempt to get the big tourist money downtown, things really changed. See, jazz was not meant for the dinner table, or in many ways, not even the concert stage. It was meant for dance. Black folk danced to jazz ‐‐ all kinds of jazz. As a result we were all over the radio, and all over the movies. But that came to a halt with the advent of television. Television is all presentation. I don't
description
Thelonious Sphere Monk, jazz
Transcript of Thelonious Sphere Monk
-
TheGreatAfricanAmericanClassicalArtFormJazzWasNotMeantfortheDinnerTablePhotocredit:AngelRosadoT.S.MonkBecomeafanTheloniousSphereMonk,IIIisaninternationallyacclaimedjazzdrummer,composer,bandleader,andvocalistAfunnythinghappenedonthewayto"school,"and"dinnertime"gotreallystrange.Letmeexplain.WhenIwasbornin1949,America'smusicalacademiawaspayinglittleattentiontojazzasanintellectualendeavor.Infact,therewasanopenhostilityfromclassicalmusicdepartmentsacrosstheboardtowardsthegenre.OnlyrecentlyhasAmericabeguntotakeanytrueAfricanAmericanintellectseriously.ThelikesofDr.MichaelEricDyson,HenryLouisGatesandMayaAngelou;playwrightslikeAugustWilson;ofcourse,PresidentBarackObama;andmanyothersfromdisciplinesincludingscience,business,technologyandthearts,haveallraisedtheanteformostinAmerica.AfricanAmericanintellectandinnovationcannolongerbeignored.ButIwanttotalkjazzforamomentbecauseearlyon,jazzwasrecognizedasanenormousintellectualendeavorbymanyclassicalgiantsuponitsveryinceptionnearly100yearsago.Thatcertainlywasagoodthing.Butoncepulledintotheworldofacademia,minusitsblackcreators,therewasageneralattempttodistillitdowntoessentiallyaseriesofEurocentricmusicalformulas.Thingslikethatweredisastrousintermsofjazzeducation,andledtoagenerationofmiserablymediocrejazzmusicians.That'swhathappenedwhenwewenttoAmerica's"musicschools"startinginthe'50s.Itwasacrushingblowthathasonlyrecentlybeguntochange.However,inmyopinion,thatwasnothingcomparedtowhatwegotat"dinnertime."WhenwhiterestaurateursfinallydecidedtobringjazzoutofHarlem,inamisguided,albeitsuccessful,attempttogetthebigtouristmoneydowntown,thingsreallychanged.See,jazzwasnotmeantforthedinnertable,orinmanyways,noteventheconcertstage.Itwasmeantfordance.Blackfolkdancedtojazz allkindsofjazz.Asaresultwewereallovertheradio,andalloverthemovies.Butthatcametoahaltwiththeadventoftelevision.Televisionisallpresentation.Idon't
-
thinkanyonerealizeditatthetime,butclosingthedancefloorswasthekissofdeathforjazzintermsofitsbigtimeentertainmentvalue.Thefirstvictimswereblackfolksthemselves.TheysaidifIcan'tdance,I'mgoingsomewhereelse.TheyrantoRockandRollandR&Bnevertoreturn.DukeEllington,TheDorseyBrothers,LouisArmstrong,CabCalloway,BennyGoodman,EllaFitzgeraldallwereentertainers.Theyhadalook.Theyputafaceontheirmusic.Itwasentertainment,andintellectuallystimulatingatthesametime.Oncewewenttoschoolandbecamepartoftherestaurantcrowd,wegotrealboring.Wewerenolongerentertaining.Ohyeah,thereareafewpeoplewhofindintellectualvirtuosityandgymnasticsentertaining,butnotmostpeople.Notwhentheyhavetimeoff,lettheirhairdownandwanttobeentertained.I'mnottalkingaboutusbeingclownsorminstrels.Wejuststoppedhavingindividualstyles.Westoppedlookingfabulous;stoppedprojectingourtruepersonalitiesbeyondthenotescomingoutofinstruments.Weallowedourpresentationtobecomesohumble,someager,thatpeoplestoppedpayingattention.Everyothergenrehasitsownbellsandwhistlestoexcitepeopleforsure.Buttherearesometoolsthatallentertainershaveincommonlighting,staging,greataudio,andmostofall,personalities.We'vecomealongwaywithsubstance,butwejazzmusicianshavegottogetbackontrack.Ifwejustaddsomeingredientsfromtherestoftheentertainmentworld,peoplewillviewjazzasfunonceagain,andtheywillcomeback.Ifmillionsdidn'tlovethemusictoday,therewouldn'tbewhatwecallacatalog,andmyfather,TheloniousSphereMonk,LouisArmstrong,EllaFitzgerald,MilesDavis,DaveBrubeck,JohnColtrane,BuddyRichandsomanymore,wouldhavedisappeared.Wewouldn'thavehadanInternationalJazzDayconcertstreamedto1.2billionpeoplein2013,and2.5billionpeoplein2014.Noneofthatwouldbepossibleiftherewasn'taninherentloveofthismusic,ironicallybyAmericans.Weoftenloveourselves,anddon'tknowit.SoIsaytoallmyfriendsinjazzmusicians,promoters,clubowners,listeners,andeverybodylet'sbringbackthefun.Let'sgobig.Thatwillbringtheattention,andthemoneywillfollow.____________
-
TheloniousSphereMonk,III(T.S.Monk)isaninternationallyacclaimedjazzdrummer,composer,bandleader,vocalist,andartseducator.Thesonandmusicalheirtohisfather,thelegendaryjazzcomposer,andpianistTheloniousMonk,heisthecofounderandtheChairmanoftheBoardofTrusteesoftheTheloniousMonkInstituteofJazz.https://www.facebook.com/keepingtheidiomalive#HighArt
![Vol 56 - [Thelonious Monk].pdf](https://static.fdocuments.in/doc/165x107/55cf8f6f550346703b9c5152/vol-56-thelonious-monkpdf.jpg)
