Evidence mounts that the Obamas grasp not only that jazz is worthy of America's first living room (a no-brainer for even presidents low on brains), but that it's a language to speak to young people about a whole range of vital cultural and historical questions. Monday saw Michelle Obama host 150 high school jazz students to the White House for a day of music and seminars with five members of the Marsalis family and Paquito D'Rivera. The NYT's account describes breakout workshops on "American History and Jazz," "Syntax of Jazz," "The Blues Experience," and "Duke Ellington and Swing." (The WaPost account is HERE.) Most educators would pat themselves on the back for merely putting kids in the same room as jazz performers. But sophisticated music takes sophisticated context, and those topics are ones that every American kid deserves to be immersed in as part of their regular education, not a once-in-a-lifetime visit to the President's house.
This comes just as the National Endowment for the Arts reports (again) that Americans are attending less live fine arts music of all kinds. The number who reported seeing live jazz fell a staggering 28% between 2002 and 2008. Less than eight percent of us said we attended a jazz event last year. For classical music it was 9.3 percent, versus 13 percent in 1982. Lacking any support whatsoever in the mass media, jazz (my pet cause) will not penetrate the skulls of kids without exposure, inspirational leadership and conversation. The Obamas are bringing it, and it's incredibly exciting.
And what about the rest of us? What are we doing with our time if not experiencing the greatest achievement of American music and one with swing, blues and funk to boot? Going to Fan Fair I guess.
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