Jazz in a Troubled 21st Century America: Hard Times, Black Lives Matter, and #MeToo

War and the Great Recession

1)      Across nearly twenty years, Americans sank into distress and unease in the early-21st century due to:

a)      September 11th, 2001 terror attacks

b)     Prolonged war in the Middle East

i)        March 20th, 2003 – December 2011

ii)      4,489 U.S. troops dead; 28,000 injured; 3,481 U.S. contractors dead; 12,000 allied Iraqi soldiers and police dead; 3.9 million Iraqis displaced; $802 billion spent on conflict.

c)      Financial crisis and recession

i)        American-bank trigged financial collapse

(1)   financed risky mortgages, bond securities, and overextended values of the housing market.

ii)      World stock markets dove downward by final months of 2008

iii)    U.S. government bailout program led by Federal Reserve

(1)   $1.2 trillion to absorb securities and provide bankrupt financial institutions with interest-free loans.

iv)    Second bailout to automotive industries saved U.S. autoworker jobs.

d)     Staggeringly-high unemployment rates

i)        16 percent unemployment rate between 2009 and late 2011

2)      Jazz singers helped to calm American listeners by reviving songs of the previous generation

a)      Similar to the role of jazz music and jazz singers (such as Sinatra and Crosby) during the Great Depression and World War II eras.

The Jazz Songstresses

1)      Female jazz artists began successful careers during the early 21st Century:

a)      Diana Krall

i)        Studied with jazz artists such as Ray Brown and Jeff Hamilton at a young age, moved to Los Angeles to study piano with Alan Broadbent.

ii)      Attended Berklee School of Music.

iii)    Initially favored music from the 1930s and 1940s.

iv)    First albums in early-1990s contained jazz

v)      Toured with Tony Bennett in 2000, prominent post-WWII jazz singer.

vi)    Shortly after 9/11, Krall’s The Look of Love album sold more than a million copies and featured standards from the first half of the 20th Century.

vii)  Non-jazz influences from her childhood include late-70s pop and rock, leading to pop collaborations with artists like Elton John, Paul McCartney, the Eagles, and Elvis Costello, whom she eventually married.

b)     Esperanza Spalding

i)        Studied bass at Northwest Academy and Berklee School of Music.

ii)      Felt that jazz should be blended with other styles of music:

(1)   Collaborations with rapper Q-Tip from A Tribe Called Quest, and Prince.

iii)    Album Radio Music Society hit the Top Ten in 2012.

c)      Karrin Allyson

i)        Trained as a classical pianist and attended the University of Nebraska.

ii)      Composed jazz arrangements of songs by the Beatles, Billy Joel, Cat Stevens, James Taylor, and Joni Mitchell.

iii)    Highest charting cover album - Karrin Allyson Sings Rodgers and Hammerstein (2015).

d)     Nora Jones

i)        Daughter of Sue Jones and sitar-player Ravi Shankar.

ii)      Performed “The Nearness of You” (1938) by Hoagy Carmichael, “Don’t Miss You at All” by Duke Ellington.

iii)    Numerous jazz-infused radio hits (“Don’t Know Why” (2002)).

(1)   Album Come Away with Me sold more than fifty million copies and topped the pop charts in 2002.

iv)    Showcased country-western and acid-jazz influence on subsequent albums.

v)      Collaborated with Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day on Everly Brothers tribute album.

The Twenty-First Century Sinatras

1)      Male jazz artists made an impact on listeners during the early-21st Century:

a)      MicahelBublé

i)        Inspired by Bing Crosby, became interested in performing at age 15.

ii)      Released three self-produced albums between 1996 and 2002, received little recognition or sales.

iii)    2003 album featured covers of “The Way You Look Tonight” (1936); Johnny Mercer’s “Summer Wind”; and most notably the 1957 Jimmy Van Heusen/Sammy Cahn tune, “Come Fly with Me” (popularized by Frank Sinatra).

(1)   Album hit the Top Fifty chart

iv)    2005 album, It’s Time, hit Top Ten charts.

v)      Bublé’s audience began to skew younger as his covers and original songs received more radio play.

(1)   Began to cover 1970s/80s rock songs in addition to jazz standards.

vi)    By 2015, Bublé had sold more than thirty millions records worldwide.

b)     Jamie Cullum

i)        First two albums, released in 1999 and 2002, contained standards:

ii)      Melded jazz influence with rock and pop tunes by Jimi Hendrix, Radiohead, and Jeff Buckley.

iii)    Explored acid-jazz influences.

c)      Kurt Elling

i)        Practiced vocalese over cover songs:

(1)   Vocalese: improvising lyrics on top of melodies performed by instruments.

ii)      Covered vocal standards such as Rodgers and Hart’s “Wait Till You See Her” (1942); “April in Paris” (1932) by Vernon Duke and Yip Harburg; Ellington’s “Prelude to a Kiss;” and Irving Berlin’s “The Best Things Happen While You’re Dancing.”

The Resurgence of Tony Bennet

1)      Tony Bennet

a)      began his career post-WWII

b)     saw a resurgence in his musical output fowling these same techniques

c)      Studied post-war at the American Theater Wing taking acting and voice lessons

d)     Performed with Bob Hope in 1949, signed to Columbia Records by Mitch Miller in 1950

e)      Numerous number-one hits throughout the 1950-1960s

f)       Career resurgence in the early 1990s through TV appearances

g)      Early-2000s/2010s saw the release of cover albums featuring jazz-standard duets with pop and rock artists Paul McCartney, Lady Gaga, Aguilera, Gloria Estefan, Sheryl Crow, John Mayer, Amy Winehouse, and Norah Jones.

Jazz in a Divided America: Black Lives Matter

1)      The 2010s saw a heightening of racial tensions:

a)      Racial discrimination particularly amongst the African American community created a divide throughout American society:

b)     Police shootings and profiling that were racially motivated:

i)        Trayvon Martin - February 26, 2012, killed by pedestrian George Zimmerman (later acquitted in court).

ii)      Michael Brown - August 9, 2014, killed by police while unarmed, officers later acquitted in court.

iii)    Alton Sterling – July 5th, 2016, killed by police during struggle, officers later acquitted with no charges.

2)      Formation of BLM (Black-Lives-Matter) as a movement led by African American citizens to organize protests against police brutality.

3)      Young jazz artists began to associate with the urgent message of Black-Lives-Matter and promote these values in their music

a)      Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah

i)        Trumpeter

ii)      Wrote “K.K.P.D. [Ku Klux Police Department]” following incident with New Orleans police where he was stopped for no reason.

iii)    Wrote stretch music:

(1)   Stretch music: term coined by   Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah describing his music, which combined jazz with various types of African American-inspired music.

(2)   Incorporates soul, funk, rock, and hip-hop into jazz stylings.

b)     Robert Glasper

i)        Pianist

c)      Kamasi Washington

i)        Saxophone

ii)      Performed on To Pimp a Butterfly (2015) by Kendrick Lamar with Robert Glasper and Ambrose Akinmusire (trumpet)

(1)   Album designed to raise African-American consciousness and battle racism.

Jazz and the #MeToo Movement

1)      Gender inequality and attention brought to systematic harassment of women also attracted the attention of the jazz community:

a)      #MeToo Movement: activist movement created in the wake of the reported allegations of rape, sexual harassment, and assault of dozens of women by film mogul Harvey Weinstein.

b)     A social media/protest campaign to bring awareness to hidden sexual offenses in entertainment industries

2)      In the jazz community:

a)      Sasha Berliner - vibraphonist detailed sexual advances and discrimination based on gender in her career

b)     Women in Jazz Organization (WIJO):

i)        More than 300 professional women jazz musicians formed this group. Focus on empowering and connecting women in jazz to create meaningful change in the culture.

c)      We Have Voice:a group formed by drummer Terri Lyne Carrington with similar focus to WIJO.

d)     Roxy Coss – released The Future Is Female (2018), which included the songs “#Me Too,” “Females Are Strong as Hell,” and “Nasty Women Grab Back.”

e)      New London jazz scene: term for contemporary jazz ensembles in England. These groups combined elements of BLM and #MeToo into their social messages.

i)        Musically melded hyperactive electronic beats, hip hop, Caribbean sounds, and West African music to a jazz framework.

ii)      Prominent NL jazz ensembles:

(1)   Sons of Kemet

(2)   Kokoroko

(3)   Nerija

Listening Guides

 “I Remember You” by Diana Krall and the London Symphony Orchestra, September 18th, 2001.

“That’s Life” by Michael Bublé, 2007.

“This Is Not Fear” by The Robert Glasper Experiment, 2016.

Key Terms & Key People

New London jazz scene

Robert Glasper

Micahel Bublé

Diana Krall

Norah Jones

We Have Voice

Women in Jazz Organization

#MeToo Movement

Black-Lives-Matter

Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah

Stretch music

Tony Bennet

Vocalese

Jamie Cullum

Norah Jones

Karrin Allyson

Esperanza Spalding

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