Jammin' at the White House

So, that happened. [Update: Ben Ratliff's NYT coverage.] And you can carp all you like about the Marsalis Monopoly on Jazz in High Places, but the fact remains that this worked. In choosing a “jazz studio” to kick off her White House music series, Michelle Obama reinvigorated a cultural assumption of jazz as the quintessential American product. It’s a viewpoint that Wynton, as much as anyone out there, has kept in mainstream circulation. 

Much has been said about the idea that jazz mirrors an ideal of democracy. When we talk about jazz as a fundamentally “American” product, those sociopolitical assumptions are always somewhere in play. Marsalis can speak eloquently and impassionedly on this subject, and he often does, to great effect. A few years ago I mulled this over in the context of a larger profile, about his role in Jazz at Lincoln Center:

Mr. Marsalis was armed with a big idea: that jazz is a model of democratic action, and a prism through which American culture can be understood. This notion, first articulated to him by [Albert] Murray and [Stanley] Crouch, has since been advanced by Jazz at Lincoln Center with the fervor of religious dogma and the adaptability of a political agenda. It served as a central conceit of “Jazz,” the 2001 Ken Burns PBS mini-series that spotlighted Mr. Marsalis not only as a commentator but also as a savior of the tradition. To a certain extent this has become the official story of jazz in the public sphere. Certainly it has been propagated through Jazz at Lincoln Center’s educational wing, which, working with the National Endowment for the Arts, recently developed a Web-based curriculum that places jazz at the center of a discussion of American history.

Which brings us to the institutionalization of jazz. Today’s event in the East Room (to which I was graciously invited but could not attend) came about with the cooperation of JALC, the NEA and the D.C.-based Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz. It was cast as an education initiative more than a performance, though Paquito D’Rivera did some playing (with youngsters on hand). This is to be expected, and perhaps it’s exactly as it should be. But I do hope we can look forward to more informal jazz incursions. Hey, if it’s good enough for Nixon...

Incidentally, here’s Peter Watrous writing about White House jazz in the Clinton years: first term and second term. (Note the evolution of the jazz-as-democracy metaphor over those five years.) 

I’ll add that the first official jazz event at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue was tied to yet another jazz institution, the Newport Jazz Festival, on the occasion of its 25th anniversary. (During that jam, Jimmy Carter joined Dizzy Gillespie for “Salt Peanuts.” The president also marveled at the pianism of Cecil Taylor. Who wouldn’t?) 

Another thought: the Marsalises were a natural choice here not only for Wynton’s prominence but also for its stature of the First Family of Jazz. That's family, as in: stability, wholesomeness, bedrock of society, etc. And it’s not cynical to observe that these bonds were publicly tested and strengthened after Hurricane Katrina -- another administration’s folly (ahem).

The First Lady’s office has said the White House music series will subsequently branch out into classical and country music. While I would not recommend this, it's not beyond the realm of possibility that they’ll try to tackle both at once.

Comments

[Vikram Devasthali]

Thank you for bringing my attention to this event. It inspired me to write down some thoughts on the subject of "jazz as a model of democratic action," which you may find interesting:
http://twentydollars.wordpress.com