In appreciation of Jazz, and all those who kept hearing the rhythms and long song of humanity…..which certainly must be a tragic comedy. From my cultural studies meditations today…..Ode to Jazz….

Watching a great documentary about the history of Jazz today—starting from West Africa. You immediately get, that because of all the oppression, they like the Jews, became a diaspora people, who especially in their music and cultural art, had to hang their harps and, in their case drums on foreign land’s branches.

But similarly, brought the mourning and overcoming of that suffering, and created new forms of art, which gave back to the world new forms of healing and life.

And they, through slavery and colonial displacement also went to Brazil and South America and influenced the formation of Salsa, Flamenco and so many other living forms of dance, music art and life! What a powerhouse people group in terms of sheer artistic impact alone!

Of course, there are many great jokes about the relationship between Jews and African descent folks. But, I will let them tell them-as both of those enormously influential and brilliant cultures earned the right to express and inform us about new forms of art and living well in suffering.

And it makes so much sense after getting historical context, why the African American community and the Jewish American community have so much to teach into our current climate of division.

We certainly need a new Jazz movement and some Neo-Klezmer music about now!

Good watch if you like cultural history and people groups who did not just overcome, but flourished even in the midst of great suffering. The blues comes from suffering, but implies a Living Hope, as one said. And rock and roll was just an emulation of what blues birthed. But, Jazz just taught the human imagination to dream in new patterns of being and ways!

I also wonder, if the other great diaspora displaced people groups-The Native Americans, for example-are also our current teachers. Being myself, partly of their decent.

Interesting how redemptive history is, and who become the true Wisdom voices which last through time! Thankful that generations kept playing regardless and invented Jazz—one of my favorite forms of music. So complex mathematically, but still emotional and essentially human! Keep it jazzy friends! And appreciate those who miraculously did!

Of course, i have a dear half brother who is African American, and I’ve experienced the echo of racism in this world, from many angles of the human room. But when i look at Jazz, it gives me hope that even in art, those boundaries of hatred can be overcome and healed. He writes books on the matter of racial reconciliation, but Jazz is another level of discourse which started long ago. I look forward to all these dividing walls dissolving so we can all be family, collaborate and make great art together! In the meantime, Jazz still helps!