take the A train -- the quickest way

Jazz, once a coursing tumbling mountain river full of energy and creative purpose, has spread out into the plain of general acceptance to become ‘jazz-like’ and ‘jazz-influenced.’ The genuine product can still be found on the radio in two hour segments deep in the weekend and jazz traditionalists workshop with students to try to keep it alive, but the notion of the individual statement within a known musical form is becoming archival.

Duke Ellington introduced a body of work which he performed at every concert, and his entire book became recognized as standards, playing on the radio until everyone knew each by heart. This universal familiarity became a starting point for creation of art, the place from which both artist and listener could leave together. Within the framework of these standards, Duke himself, and all other jazz musicians thereafter, modulated and bent, embellished and extended so that their individual contribution became apparent and even personally identifiable. “Your sound is like your sweat,” so said Miles.

To participate required an advanced level of musicianship on the part of the players, not only adept at fundamentals, but able to spontaneously compose their own statements revealing character and wit, all the while maintaining adherence to the original composition. There were requirements of listeners as well, and thorough saturation with those ten or twelve songs, humming through the workday, was the first. The second was enough attention to register when their expectations were being teased and tested, seen in a mirror, driven down side streets, with elements of rage, arousal, pain and conviction all riding along on popular songs practiced by every beginner. Jazz is a thoughtful deep music full of jokes and intimacies, and it’s somewhere on the radio if you can find it.

Visual art doesn’t need the radio since our eyes register the world around us all the time. Even so, the actual world has in recent years been discredited as a source for painting -- ‘copying nature’ it’s been called. With jazz fading as a cultural influence, perhaps some other form of art, perhaps some inclusive style of painting will convey what our language is too dumb to talk about. As in jazz, representational art empowers the viewer to compare new artwork with the cross-indexed library of their own direct experience and come to their own conclusions about the artist’s level of accomplishment, and beyond that the thoughtfulness of their interpretation. Within that conversation they may come to understand the artist and to recognize themselves. Even the less advantaged, poorly educated but observant citizen can do this.