by Digs Daily

Created on: July 18, 2009

Jazz is akin to my father's wingtips, which still shine brightly after decades of wear. Jazz is the rhythm of life, and the melody in your head that puts you to sleep at night. Perhaps the note Miles played on Sketches of Spain. Like a sudden burst of joy, or rather an unexpected jolt of pain. Jazz is bi-cultural expression of emotion, interpreted through instruments using unspoken words. There is power in jazz music!

Born out of struggle by African-Americans during slavery, the roots of Jazz can be traced to the late 1800's. Known as Ragtime, African-American musicians would perform for slave owners in what would become known as minstrel shows. The beauty that came out of something so derogatory is further testament to the power of jazz.

In New Orleans, Dixieland bands would parade in the street whenever someone from the community passed away. The James Bond film Live or Let Die has an excellent reenactment of a traditional Dixieland parade. Locals line the streets to mourn through celebration. This odd ritual actually helped to speed the process of mourning, allowing many to get on with their lives faster.

Throughout the years since its inception, Jazz has taken on many different forms. From Big-band, Swing, Bebop, Latin, Avant Garde, Fusion, the list of sub genres is seemingly never ending. If one asks someone from the younger generation what jazz music is, they may speak of artists such as Jill Scott or Erykah Badu. If one happens to ask an old timer what he thinks of jazz, he'll tell you they stopped making it beyond 1965. Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie, Lionel Hampton, Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk are names that roll off the tongue of jazz purists.

Many who have felt that jazz is dead are, for lack of a better word, insane. With the reemergence of vinyl as the collector's media of choice, many people are back digging for jazz records. Despite the mainstream transition from cassette, compact disc and mp3, there are turntables still being made to accommodate vinyl collectors, some even costing more than a used car. The primary advantage jazz collectors have, from choosing vinyl over any other media, is that many vintage jazz recordings have yet to be released on compact disc or mp3. The value of these rare vinyl recordings have soared into the outer hemisphere, while the value of compact discs have gone down tremendously. Collectors know this, and have created thriving online businesses out of what many fools perceive as junk.

Recognizing that jazz is the backbone of every musical genre will enhance one's passion for music. A lot of musicians listen to jazz religiously as a means of isolating chords and other techniques. Musicians study each other, and jazz provides the best means of getting right to the point, which is the music. Words are often added to popular music to, at times enhance, mediocre musicianship and production. Jazz is one form of music where, in its purest state, words are often not needed. Put simple, jazz is art, whose beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz

http://designcrack.com/v2/2007/05/10/the-rpm-10-reco rd-player-by-pro-ject-audio-systems/

http://www.recordcollectorsguild.org/

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