Jazz has had its share of racial controversy
This month’s article comes to us from Michael Lazaroff, a Jazz Music historian, who shares his thoughts on racism and prejudice in the Black and Jewish communities through the lens of jazz music’s history.
Jazz music has had its share of racial controversy, there was even a time when jazz was condemned as the “devil’s music,” something many thought was a thinly veiled attack on black musicians worldwide. But does the world of jazz contain more bigotry or religious intolerance than other genres? Definitely not.
Given the disproportionate number of Blacks and Jews who make up the world of jazz, you have to wonder why it would occur at all. The stories of how Nat King Cole was treated, how black musicians were forced to live when on the road and the marginalization of black musicians is a stain on the history of America.
It is difficult to imagine jazz without the brilliance of black musicians and vocalists without Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Nat King Cole, Johnny Hartman, Joe Williams, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington and so many others. The heart and soul of jazz was nurtured in Black America.
And imagine this; the Great American Songbook would be a lot shorter without Jewish composers. As Howard Reich wrote in the Chicago Tribune (2018), “Take away the music of Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Jule Styne and others, and a large chunk of the jazz repertory would be no more.” Yet Jewish composers had difficulty gaining a foothold in any establishment element in early 20th Century America. There were more Henry Fords (The Dark Legacy of Henry Ford’s anti-Semitism, Washington Post Oct 10, 2014) than people willing to accept a “Jew” into their world.
Call it racism or prejudice, to me, there is little difference. In either case, someone is judging another person based solely upon their ethnicity or religious beliefs, thereby assigning a particular set of beliefs, actions or mannerisms to an entire group of people without differentiation. A form of hatred, racism or prejudice is also intellectual laziness at the highest level. Regardless, there is no room in society for this type of thinking. Times are bad when people feel empowered to say the words, or at the very least, are unafraid of the consequences of using them.
Racism is wrong. Prejudice is wrong. It is not up for debate, suitable for nuance or excusable in any way. Regardless of how and why history treated these great pioneers of jazz music, they persevered and did not allow the prejudice and hatred to stop the flow of brilliance through their music, and history has proved their worth. But denying it happened or attempts to explain it away is to neglect its harm and give it breath that it does not deserve.
Original article written by Michael Lazaroff, Executive Director – Jazz of Entertainment Cruise Productions. Edited by Dave Wolf.