Moving to Higher Ground: How Jazz Can Change Your Life
by Wynton Marsalis, Geoffrey Ward
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Book Summary Information
Author: Geoffrey Ward, Wynton MarsalisEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-09-08
ISBN: 0812969081
Number of pages: 208
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780812969085
- Condition: New
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Book Reviews of Moving to Higher Ground: How Jazz Can Change Your Life
Book Review: An inspired chorus from Wynton (but with a serious clam or two)
Summary: 5 Stars
Wynton followed Billy Taylor as jazz' most eloquent apologist (in the "classical" meaning of the term: "apologia," "vindication," "explanation") and seemed to possess all of the vernacular eloquence and charisma along with talent to back up every word required to make a difference. Taylor, for all of his eloquence, graciousness, and brilliant musicianship (though underrated when I see that some of his best recordings have never been reissued) was easily perceived as too genteel, too distant, too much one of "them" to connect with a younger generation tuned in exclusively to the electronic/bass-thumping formulaic commercial instrumental music of the '70s, and for a while in the '80s and '90s it seemed that Marsalis did spark a comeback for "mainstream" jazz, i.e. the best acoustic music from Louis Armstrong's Hot 5s and 7s to Coltrane's "A Love Supreme." Suddenly, new artists were constantly being discovered and produced by major labels (Sony/Blue Note), jazz was considered sufficiently "hip" by merchandisers to be used as a subtext in advertisements for everything from cars to clothing, and the mounting stream of interest culminated, at the beginning of the millennium, with Ken Burns' epic history about America's indigenous art form.
Unfortunately, things have deteriorated since then. Most recorded jazz is self-produced on independent labels, the clubs (at least outside of NYC) are constantly closing their doors, the jobs for local musicians--society dances, weddings, company parties--have simply vanished. The explanation? The role of technology is so obvious that musicians no longer complain about disc jockeys getting all the work: replacing it is a sense of resignation to the inevitable; the population that remembers the songs of the Great American Songbook keeps dwindling, meaning that the majority of "hit" songs are unplayable out of a fakebook: only the original recording with all of the studio effects will suffice; finally, after Burns' most welcome achievement many musicians insisted on shooting themselves in the foot--e.g. those Kenton fans who couldn't forgive Wynton or Burns for their hero's marginal role in the film. (No matter that the film was in agreement with most jazz history texts and with "received wisdom" about the history and development of jazz; many who considered themselves jazz fans had never read those books. So the film's point of view was considered idealogical and peculiar to Wynton/Burns.)
All of which explains the need for a book such as this. And Wynton does an outstanding job, waxing as creatively with his prose as his trumpet solos. He tries his very best to meet younger people on their own level and to actually talk to them where they may be, conceding some of the unfortunate but widely held stereotypical images of jazz in many young people's minds. But as the title suggests, he's not about to stroke, applaud, join them at the next funk-fest or mosh pit. Perhaps the title is unfortunate, suggesting arrogance, a self-righteous attitude, etc. A jazz magazine like "Downbeat" is quick to jump all over Mr. Marsalis the moment he dares to suggest that some forms of music--e.g. the late funk-punk-fusion sounds embraced by Miles Davis--is inferior or represents a regression--even from Davis' own best work. (How "dare" he impugn anyone's musical taste let alone make qualitative judgments about music?) Followed to its logical extreme, such an attitude calls into serious question the purpose of having a publication about jazz or even the value of the life-experiences that eventually produce a "taste" for something or of learning and knowledge per se. But for reasons that need not be explored here, it's far easier to sell "Shakespeare," even proclaiming him more vital to a young person's development than Harry Potter books, than it is to make anything close to a similar argument about jazz.
The book is an extended meditation not merely about jazz but family relationships, growing up, the whole point of art in human experience. It starts with an experience this writer was fortunate to have--meeting Danny Barker in the streets of New Orleans (though he was far more pessimistic when I encountered him one night in the early '70s), and it ends with an affirmation of the creative impulse that all of us possess, reminding young people that they already have the desire to create the feeling of community, to inspire and help others, to teach--just as did Louis Armstrong, Beethoven, Henri Matisse, and Duke Ellington--right up to their dying breaths.
No doubt Marsalis' book would have wider appeal had he retitled it and gone with a few different assumptions. Do young people want to change? Do they want to move to higher ground? Since the '60s, hasn't most music aimed at young people been "countercultural"--practically by definition? Adults may need to acknowledge that young people may know better than anyone that much of their music is regressive if not primeval, objectionable if not obscene, violent if not hostile, deafeningly loud and without aesthetic merit. That's the point! So forget about telling them what they already know--and are all too happy that someone with a different agenda (especially a "higher" one) doesn't get.
My advice to Wynton would be to accept the countercultural premise of young people's popular tastes from the start, and then to show (gradually) how virtually all great, enduring, meaningful art is, at its core, countercultural and subversive (I'm sometimes suspicious that universities have never read the textbooks that comprise the canons taught in the classroom--from Eliot and Conrad back through Swift, Voltaire, Shakespeare, Dante, even Homer. If you read them closely, most of these texts advocate radical change, even the annihilation of status quo institutions, most of which are born of human vanity and folly). If you "really" want to embrace your difference and make its impact felt, check out these artists and their work, and that goes for tuning in to Pops, Bird, Monk, Mingus, and Trane as well. But don't take them on because they're "good" for you, or might make you a better person, or any of that boring didactic tripe that sanctimonious types keep throwing at you.
Marsalis ends with a marvelous quote from Ellington: "The people are my people." Whereas so many of the intelligentsia, from conservative to post-modern types, speak of two cultures--"our" exclusive, enlightened culture vs. "the" culture (i.e. the inescapable. largely media-created atmosphere that the common people live, eat and breathe--Ellington, unlike Marsalis, insists on a single, unified culture, on a community of human beings who are far more alike than they're different from one another. (Marsalis apparently doesn't pick up on the self-contradictory, counter-productive nature of his own argument, which is unfortunate: not only would he have authored a book that's admirable and commendable (which this is) but one that would have a better chance of being read by the audience it's intended for (Young person's viewpoint: If it's not on the reading list for the final exam, you can forget about it.) Getting young people to read a book is in itself no small challenge--in fact, no less difficult than getting them to listen to the music that Marsalis and this writer have learned to love. But "learning" is the key. By now most teachers have noticed that "exposure" alone is usually unproductive, and even if there should be love at first sight, that's rarely the basis for a lasting relationship.
Summary of Moving to Higher Ground: How Jazz Can Change Your Life
In this beautiful book, Pulitzer Prize-winning musician and composer Wynton Marsalis draws upon lessons he's learned from a lifetime in jazz-lessons that can help us all move to higher ground. With wit and candor he demystifies the music that is the birthright of every American and demonstrates how a real understanding of the central idea of jazz-the unique balance between self-expression and sacrifice for the common good exemplified on the bandstand-can enrich every aspect of our lives, from the bedroom to the boardroom, from the schoolroom to City Hall. Along the way, Marsalis helps us understand the life-changing message of the blues, reveals secrets about playing-and listening-and passes on wisdom he has gleaned from working with three generations of great musicians. Illuminating and inspiring, Moving to Higher Ground is a master class on jazz and life, conducted by a brilliant American artist.Product Description
"In this book I hope to reach a new audience with the positive message of America's greatest music, to show how great musicians demonstrate on the bandstand a mutual respect and trust that can alter your outlook on the world and enrich every aspect of your life-from individual creativity and personal relationships to conducting business and understanding what it means to be American in the most modern sense."
--Wynton Marsalis
In this beautiful book, the Pulitzer Prize-winning musician and composer Wynton Marsalis explores jazz and how an understanding of it can lead to deeper, more original ways of being, living, and relating-for individuals, communities, and nations. Marsalis shows us how to listen to jazz, and through stories about his life and the lessons he has learned from other music greats, he reveals how the central ideas in jazz can influence the way people think and even how they behave with others, changing self, family, and community for the better. At the heart of jazz is the expression of personality and individuality, coupled with an ability to listen to and improvise with others. Jazz as an art--and as a way to move people and nations to higher ground--is at the core of this unique, illuminating, and inspiring book, a master class on jazz and life by a brilliant American artist.
An Interview with Wynton Marsalis
Q: You're a musician and composer. Why did you write this book, which is about life and lots of other things besides jazz?
A: When I first decided to become a musician, at the age of 12 or 13, I was inspired by my father, and by the New Orleans jazz tradition. I was under the impression that I had only to learn the fundamentals of music--rhythm, melody, harmony, texture--to progress as a musician. What I didn't know then was that over the next three decades, jazz music would teach me many significant things about living. This book grew out of ten years of conversatins with my friend Geoff Ward, and is my attempt to share some of it-about how important it is to be yourself in the world, and at the same time create while respecting the creativity of others.
Q: What does the title of this book, Moving to Higher Ground, mean to you?
A: Too often in life, petty squabbles and small-mindedness keep us from realizing a higher purpose. In jazz, that higher purpose is not theoretical: We want to sound good. And when we do, you can hear what it's like when people are really trying to get along. It's purely human: In Jazz, you can mess up and still come together, still move together to higher ground. The title means ascending through engagement.
Q: You suggest that the ideas at the heart of jazz can carry over into everyday life. How so?
A: Let's take two ideas in jazz that are most central: swinging and the blues.
Swinging is the art of negotiation with someone else, under the pressure of time. It shows you how opposites can come together, without compromising who they are. The one who plays the highest-sounding instrument in the rhythm section--the time-keeping cymbal--has to find a way of working with the one who plays the lowest instrument, the bass. And the bass player, who plays the softest instrument, has to find a way of working with the player of the loudest, the drums. To succeed, everybody has to have a very clear idea of the common goal: What exactly are we here to do? In jazz we know: swing. In life, if everyone involved can agree on a primary objective, a group can accomplish almost anything.
The blues is many things--a musical form, a distinctive sound, a universal feeling--but above all, the blues is survival music. It's message is simple: things are never so bad that they can't get any better. It's about crying over something, actually wailing--and it's about coming back. The words may be sad but the dancing shuffle (the definitive rhythm of the blues) is always happy or heading toward happiness. The blues is about what is--and what is has demons and angels sitting at the same table. That's a bitter-sweet and realistic message about life that everybody needs, that everybody can hear and respond to. I've heard people respond to it, all over the world.
Q: How do jazz principles apply to, say, holding a successful meeting?
A: If you come to a meeting without an agenda it's probably not going to be a very good meeting. In jazz improvisation, the agenda is the form of the song. But an agenda alone doesn't guarantee success. If everybody feels free to participate, unexpected things are sure to come up and will have to be dealt with intelligently. That's true in jazz improvisation, too. Things are bound to come up. Some need to be discarded right away. Others need to be expounded upon. Anyone in the rhythm section playing along behind the soloist can decide, "Hey, we need to investigate this further." And the soloist can respond, "Yeah, let's go into that." It's a system of checks and balances, but what makes it work is the fact that everybody is listening and responding to what the soloist is saying without ever forgetting the agenda. That's a pretty good model for swinging, and for getting things done.
Q: How do jazz principles apply to a family?
The central relationship on the bandstand is between the bass and the drums. They're opposites of volume and register. The drums are the loudest and the swung cymbal is the highest-pitched while the bass is the softest and lowest-pitched. In order to swing, the right-hand stroke on the cymbal must find the right-hand pluck of the bass on every beat. While it is impossible to line those beats up with metronomic perfection it is possible to achieve a perfect intent to be together. That's what you would like to see with a mama and a daddy. They represent gender opposites. While they try to come together to solve a problem we can go in the direction of a good time. When they don't--when one is too loud or the other is unyielding--it becomes a matter of endurance, not swinging.
Q: What can jazz teach us about our feelings and ourselves as individuals?
A: We're all given the gift of creativity. It comes out in all kinds of ways--the way we talk or dress or cook or whistle. I remember when I was a kid my friends and I used to see who could cut grass in the most creative way. But many times young people are put down for having a gift or skill that doesn't fit with somebody else's idea of what he or she should do with their lives. Jazz is the opposite of that. It tells you, "That's you! Take pride in this thing. Express yourself. Your sound is unique. Work on it. Understand it." Often it teaches you to celebrate yourself.
When we talk about expressing feelings in jazz, we mean spiritual feelings, empathetic feelings, feelings that are beyond thought. In jazz, musical ideas move too quickly for you to stop and analyze or to formulate a lie. By the time you think about it, that moment of music is long gone. Jazz teaches you to cherish how you feel in the moment. It puts a premium on having faith in the people you're playing with. Because the second you lose that faith and start to question what they're doing, the distraction takes your mind off the music and onto bad decisions that you will surely begin to make. The combination of emotional honesty and mutual trust that jazz demands can help you if applied to almost any field.
Q: How can jazz help you understand your own friends and family better?
A: At first it may seem like a paradox, but jazz helps you understand other people by teaching you that you never really know anybody. When you play music with someone--even someone you think you know really well--they'll play things you don't expect and can't anticipate. You'll go in one direction, based on what you think is going to happen and they'll take a completely different path. Jazz lets people be free, and to surprise you--and them. It doesn't let you mail in your response or let you lump people into categories that turn out to be meaningless.
It also shows you that people, even geniuses, evolve over time. The Duke Ellington who played in 1931 was very different from the Duke of 1961. So you learn to be patient with other people and respect the progress they've made and are still capable of making. One of the biggest challenges in dealing with friends and family is communication and more communication. Jazz forces us to communicate with people while recognizing their objectives, and over objectives, and where we can come together.
Q: How is jazz related to America, the country that created it?
A: This art form was created to explain who we are. We have rights and responsibilities in the music just as we do as citizens. The Constitution can be amended and songs can always be added to or changes. In jazz we place a premium on the individual's right to self-expression but we also insist on checks and balances between one person's rights infringing on another--the soloists and the rhythm section have to work things out together. Otherwise the piece is a mess.
Jazz allows us to improvise, to negotiate with one another. It's the sound of many people coming together in one thing. You might be from Chicago and be Jewish but you can stand on this bandstand with a Creole from New Orleans and when both of y'all play, you'll agree on what sounds good, and you'll agree on it because you both can hear it. It's democracy in action and it allows us, for all our faults, to see the success of our history. It tells us who we have been, who we are now, and who we can be in the future.
Q: Why is jazz especially relevant today?
A: This country is looking for change. Just look at what's going on: An African American and a woman were leading contenders for the presidency; Big questions of race and identity; millions of brand-new voters turning out. Barack Obama carrying southern states in the primaries with a charismatic message of coming together. It's a different time in our country and I think it's the perfect time for this music.
Now, jazz has always been timely because it deals with the timeless issues of people, and of our democracy. Louis Armstrong dealt with them. So did Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman. But if you listen to political candidates today, they almost never talk about culture. It's never really been part of our national dialogue and it should be, because it's the best was for us actually to come together. We talk a lot about having national conversations and we've tried legislating unity. But we need to understand that art can bring people who are different together. Jazz provides a context for all the experiences we as human beings share.
The direction of our culture is ascendant. Jazz is a perfect embodiment of that. Jazz is ascendant. If we take a long view of the past 150 years, we won't come to the conclusion that things are getting worse. We still have problems of corruption and greed. Jazz can provide a good antidote for them, too. To maintain their integrity, musicians have had to make many decisions that placed substance over commercial success. Jazz musicians have always aspired to an almost Utopian vision of a country in which everybody would come together and swing.
The contemporary excitement around empowering people is not new to jazz. Jazz is empowerment. Its first great achievement was to empower individual musicians to take part in the creative process through improvisation. Participation is essential to a healthy American democracy, and it's essential to America's greatest music, too. Everybody has to participate to make it sound good. Whether you're playing or listening, you have to be active. If you're just sitting there and waiting for something to happen, nothing will. I hope this book will empower as many people as possible to take part by showing how an understanding of jazz and its principles can change your life, and our lives together.
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