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She resisted the inviting intensity. But he never gave up. He persisted in his sincerity, his passion. And finally, she realized that she loved him all the more for it.  Sound like a classic romance story? It's mine. Some of you may feel like boasting about your amazing significant other this month, or perhaps you'd rather bask in your love of singleness. But do allow me to brag a little bit about my great love.

 

Jazz.

 

Jazz's rich history first piqued my appreciation for the art. This music has roots in nearly every possible culture. Obviously, African rhythm and improvisational style play a large role in this art form. But in addition to that, there are many lesser known ingredients in this blend. Ragtime, one forerunner of Jazz, was heavily influenced by European folk dancing in its formatted structure and syncopated melodies. Early minstrel entertainers who brought forth some of the earliest Ragtime and Jazz forms drew from traditional Irish and Creole tunes when playing their banjos or fiddles. Sailors from all over the world brought their work tunes to America, where they became part of this evolving blend. Jazz musicians have a lot of heritage behind them. Even today when Jazz can mean practically anything outside the classical or pop/rock realm, the rich variety of cultural, national, and personal touch in this music remains unmatched by any other genre. The mere fact that so much diversity can meld together in harmony speaks for itself.

 

This naturally leads to the next reason I love Jazz. William Edgar, musician and apologetics professor at Westminster Seminary, said that “In Jazz, as in any good marriage, the whole is better than the parts.” And the more I ruminated on this, the more truth I found the observation. Jazz is a marriage of traditional Western and Eastern music. It is Eastern in the fact that it follows the modal system, not the traditional scale system (this is where the “blue” or flatted notes come from). Jazz also reflects the Eastern style with its improvisational approach to melody. While Western music has a tendency to require rigid melodic structure, Jazz contains the underlying harmony and lets the melody be chanted or evolved as the musician chooses. Think of Middle Eastern music in which the singers create ornate melismatic tunes to a few simple base chords. But at the same time, a lot of Jazz is Western in that it follows Western harmonies, contains the aforementioned Western influences, and much of its development in the later 20th century came from Western schools. But the magical part involves the fact that taking either side away from the music destroys it. Jazz is a flawless balance of both traditions; and, I would argue, the best traditions from each.

 

The philosophy behind Jazz lends itself as just one more asset to the affluent value in this music. On one side of Jazz evolution - the minstrels, the folksong, etc. resides the simple philosophy of having a good time. In his book Art For God's Sake Phillip Graham Ryken states that art and music have value in themselves because they help us to enjoy the beauty in life, apart from utility - they heighten our experience. Traditional folksong and minstrel music echoes the gleeful break from a hard day's work, taking time to laugh, to sing, to fellowship together, and better enjoy the time given to us.

On the other side, African spirituals and blues, is seen a deep sense of pain and oppression--and rising above it. Another point made by Ryken in his book is that art, as reflecting the truth about the world God has made, presents much hope and joy, but also mourning for the fallen state of earth. Spirituals and blues forms grieve in the bondage and sadness of the singers and writers. But all is not lost in these songs. Even if wry and bittersweet, there is always a tenuous but determined resolve. Jazz is always going somewhere new, constantly becoming.

 In fact William Edgar relates that the combination of lamentation and joy-- as well as the poetic forms in blues-- mirror the Psalms in those respects. Both spirituals and blues are about getting better, moving on, and redeeming the pieces of life. Jazz proceeds ever forward, rhythmic and restless, sometimes bright and sometimes mellow, but ignoring neither life's joy nor pain. Yet another comment from Edgar was that in Jazz improvisation, many people have mistakenly assumed the approach to mean “do whatever you want.” But Edgar suggests that instead improvisation is correctly defined as “accepting the limits given to you, but exercise creativity within the boundaries set.” Perhaps this is a hint on living life hopefully- accepting the problems before us, and deciding how best to use the time and talents we have.

 

Most importantly, however, there is something truly magical and miraculous about Jazz in its mystery and continuous flow. The mere fact that so many influences came together at precisely the right time to form Jazz is a miracle in itself. Just as creation was no “big bang” accident, I hardly believe it was any accident that Jazz developed. Nobody knows quite where it came from,-- there is no one school or composer to which the form can boast attributes. And yet from the millions of voices-- farmers, entertainers, slaves, workmen, artists--came this music.  Simultaneously nobody quite knows where it will go.

Jazz is no stagnant tradition but fluid-- always changing and always discovering, even if the same underlying principals remain in place. This music reminds us that humanity is also finite and ever changing because we can only stand in the shadow of God's infinite perfection. But there is also something very special about Jazz in its existence beyond the written page. Obviously thousands of Jazz pieces have been notated. But even playing all the notes on the page does not quite make a Jazz musician. Great Jazz pianist Jelly Roll Morton scoffed at “Jazz music” and thought instead of the art as an approach to the music instead.

So much of our society has fallen underneath the ominous shadow of Western methodology: if it can't be analyzed, dissected, or notated then it's not genuine, not worth it. But many Jazz musicians will tell you that you can play all the notes and still not play Jazz; something in the music has to come from your very soul, your experience, your philosophy. It is this part of Jazz that breaks free of boxed-up Western ideas, while not entirely embracing Eastern thought either. Something should be said for an art form that is constantly changing, shaping, and unbound by human data classification. Jazz, like any other art in this fallen world, is not perfect. But the balance of Eastern and Western tradition, global cultures, and its transcendence beyond even all of those things comes very close to flawlessness.Of course, Jazz musicians realize the imperfections in their trade. Yet they march ever onward to create something new. . . Something resembling evermore the Heaven to which the chariots are a comin' to carry us home...

 

 

 

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