Sunday May 14, 2023 is Mother’s Day as well as the final lap of St Lucia Arts & Jazz Festival 2023. Have you found yourself in a quagmire as to whether to give priority to Jazz or Mother’s Day? I wholeheartedly recommend spending the day with a mother in your life. Go back in time and read our blog post here .
To the few so-called jazz sessions I have attended this year, as a musician, I have asked myself, is this really jazz music? To many people, any kind of popular music now can be lumped with jazz. As a result, audiences too often come to jazz with generalized misconceptions about what it is, and what it is supposed to be.
Too often, what is represented as jazz isn't jazz at all. Despite attempts by writers and record companies, promoters and educators and even musicians to blur the lines for commercial purposes, reggae isn't jazz and dancehall isn't jazz, and neither are hip hop, or calypso. There may be much that is good in all of them, but they aren't jazz.
"Jazz was born of a mix of African and European music traditions with its infusion of democracy, improvisation, and individual freedom of expression, collaboration, and a democratic impulse during live performance."
Least you be disappointed at the main stage Jazz show, take the day to Jazz Up the mothers in your life by spending quality time and introducing them to some great jazz music while having fun at the beach.
Songs like:
- https://youtu.be/g_1Pa6vE14c Milers Davis Kind of Blue (1959)
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OHvyS_DJ_I Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Amstrong - Summertime
- https://youtu.be/YkLBSLxo5LE Duke Ellington – Caravan, or
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5KQpjHnq3Q Ronald Boo Hinkson ft Tracey Hamlin - Magic in Love -
But why listen to Jazz? Why is Jazz important, special and valuable? Jazz is a fundamentally democratic style of music.
By calling jazz democratic, I mean that the relationships between jazz musicians when they are playing well, reflect the relationships in an ideal democratic society. In a democracy, citizens have rights, such as the freedoms of expression and of association. The same is true in Jazz.
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| A St Lucian Jazz Musician |
The music is only truly effective when everyone has their fundamental skills together – everyone matters – and yet everyone has different roles at different times. Sometimes you’re soloing; sometimes you’re silent; sometimes you’re accompanying someone else’s solo; sometimes you’re cheering everyone on.
Also, like an ideal democracy, jazz doesn’t care who you are – all that matters is how you play. What matters is what you contribute, what you have to say – not what you look like or where you come from. Age, experience level, size, shape, colour, personal background, class, gender, sexual orientation, spoken language, clothing style, etc. don’t matter. Jazz is egalitarian that way, just like an ideal democracy. And since democracy is an important part of St Lucia’s identity and cultural heritage, jazz music reflects, expresses, and models St Lucia’s best values.
At Rayneau we offer essentials for a great Mother's/Jazz Day Picnic - grills, grill sets, and coolers . Get your equipment and head to this quiet beach in your community and have this double celebration. You wont regret it.
Call us at Corinth Main Road 758-450-7247 / Babonneau 758-450-5759 / Monchy 758-450-7248 / Vide Boutielle 758-450-7368.
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