Preservation of the Jazz Culture,
Its Roots and Traditions

“Jazz is not just music, it’s a way of life,
it’s a way of being, a way of thinking.”
Nina Simone

Jazz music, as the cultural phenomenon, arises from the African-
American underclass, slaves for which musical expression was the
only field of freedom.
The Afro-American music that we call jazz today, music that
originally arose from the songs of African slaves, Negro spirituals,
gospel, and blues, was an aural, improvisational music tradition and
phenomenon. It has developed from folk and dance music of Afro-
Americans, under influences of diverse cultures and multicultural so-
ciety, and evolved into intellectual and modern music art form of the
twentieth century.
Music is an essential part of every culture, tradition and national
identity that directly reflects the history and social status, consequent-
ly, influencing the spirit of a culture. Therefore, jazz history is also
part of the history and social studies in American primary schoolѕ
for example (since the “Jazz National Curriculum” was integrated in
2000: “...most importantly, explore the social, economic, and political
contexts within which jazz evolved.”) In a very unique and astounding
way, music reflects and contributes to the preservation of all cultural
and social aspects of one nation as cultural identity, lifestyle, religion,
social psychology, social relations, mentalities, etc. Especially jazz cul-
ture is an example of how music should be approached through the
convergence of history, culture and its cultural heritage. Musicians
have to be historians, researchers, and critics as well, in order to be
qualified in forming their own criteria and building their own taste.
In the same way that music drives emotions and it cannot be de-
scribed just as a group of single notes, knowledge of history is not
only the exact dates of historical events. Throughout the history, we
learn directly about the culture of one nation. In other words, we
explore history in order to perceive the culture and for the purpose
of better understanding the music as an important part of it, with
all its cultural and social aspects. The historian Walter Rodney has
important observations on this topic. He was also a political activist,
and scholar, who was assassinated in Guyana in 1980. Mr. Rodney
was a highly educated man who sacrificed his life for the sake of
the struggle for the rights of Afro American people. As a University
Professor of History, he shares the following description in his book
“How Europe Underdeveloped Africa”: “A culture is a total way of life.
It embraces what people ate and what they wore; the way they walked
and the way they talked; the manner in which they treated death and
greeted the new-born. Obviously, unique features came into existence
in virtually every locality with regard to all social details... For ex-
ample, music and dance had key roles in ‘uncontaminated’ African so-
ciety. Africa is the continent of drums and percussion. African peoples
reached the pinnacle of achievement in that sphere.” 1)
In order to perceive one culture and tradition, roots should be
well studied.
American jazz pianist and composer, Randy Weston, points out:
"It’s so important to teach the history of our music and the origins of
our music, which comes directly from the African continent... Musi-
cians have to be historians, too." The most creative and unique cul-
tural aspects of rhythm, creativity, improvisation, dance, tradition
of ritual, lifestyle, social aspects, etc. originate from African cultur-
al heritage. In spite of racism and discrimination, their creativity
did not crumble, but survived and evolved. Yet, if Afro-American
jazz musicians are very much dedicated to researching their roots,
to what extent should the jazz students of other cultural affiliations
devote themselves to studying it? Unfortunately, we are confronted
with the paradox that these most important aspects are neglected
even during jazz studies, especially in Western European schools,
among those students who are coming from completely different
cultures and environments. African impacts, roots and the tradition
of jazz music are ignored or forgotten by those students who should
be most concerned about that topic and should most seriously ap-
proach its study. One of the greatest leading figures and authorities of
jazz music, Dizzy Gillespie, shares an essential message: “A student
of our music, if he goes back far enough, will find out that the main
source of our music is Africa.” − Dizzy Gillespie. We are familiar with
the fact that jazz is created under the influence of diverse cultures,
for instance jazz harmony evolved under the influence of European
classical music, but jazz music is essentially and spiritually apparent-
ly different from Wagner’s opera and Western European tradition.
European impacts in jazz are far less than the importance of their
African origins. Gillespie also suggests what the main source of jazz
is. Obviously, the social differences and the rhythm have the most
important role. We cannot separate jazz music from Afro-American
culture or its society, especially because it is the social aspect the one
that characterizes it. Jazz music is social music, music that brings
people together. The jazz legend Benny Golson, a composer, arranger,
lyricist, producer and tenor saxophonist, shares the following: “All we
had was each other and 78 records.That was our school.”
Rhythm, and syncopation that was associated with јаzz music
“belonging to an inferior race” 2) according to German “Drittes Reich”,
a dance that was considered to be banal, provocative and animalistic
by Western Europeans, group improvisations and playing exclusive-
ly by ear and by feeling, tradition of ritual, audience participation,
creativity, lifestyle and social relations, music philosophy, etc. All
that adorns the Afro American culture and all aspects of the Afri-
can cultural heritage have been unprecedented and degraded by the
Western Europeans. Therefore, especially in Western European jazz
studies today, it is very important to pay attention to African roots,
origins in jazz, as well to perceive all their cultural and social aspects.
In general, those students coming from other areas should invest
much more time in learning and approaching African American
culture than students who are naturally part of it, as we are logically
white Europeans who are not stomping our foot with gospel music
every Sunday.
Under the social context we must consider the following topic as
a very important aspect of jazz: Students, jazz fans and audiences
need to get acquainted with racism, discrimination and exploitation
with which the Afro-American musicians have faced, dating back to
ancient times. “Men have died for this music. You can't get more ser-
ious than that.” − Dizzy Gillespie. How should we understand their
message or protest in music if we do not truly understand their his-
tory and status? It doesn’t matter if we talk about jazz, blues, gospel
or Latin music, this cultural field is created by Afro American slaves.
Therefore, we should consider their music as a triumphant struggle
for the freedom and rights of Afro American people. "Jazz speaks for
life. This is triumphant music." − Dr. Martin Luther King.
The fact that, for example, at three jazz universities in Vienna,
Austria, jazz history is not even included in the curriculum, repre-
sents a major problem and paradox as the lack of knowledge of the
history of jazz music culture hampers learning and true understand-
ing of its essence. At the same time, many students who graduate
from these schools do not possess the expected knowledge and true
understanding of the culture from which this kind of music and
spirit stems. Therefore, they are unfortunately not sufficiently quali-
fied to present jazz as an artistic creation.
In addition to music and history, social, ethnological, psycho-
logical and all other important aspects should be thoroughly inves-
tigated in order to the preservation of jazz tradition, its spirit and
music philosophy. Young generations of musicians, and teachers as
their authorities, should fight for education that affects the forma-
tion of a more complete personality of musicians, the artists who
possesses a comprehensive view, understanding of essence but also
awareness of how the forgetting of aspects that contribute to the cul-
ture’s authenticity, spirit and beauty, sink the whole culture and its
tradition into oblivion.
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1)Rodney, Walter, “How Europe Underdeveloped Africa”, 1973, p.53
2)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negermusik