[NewMusic] Thought Crime

[David Slusser]

On Jun 1, 2007, at 3:34 PM, Henry Kuntz wrote:
> Following from my last post, I'll go ahead and open up the can of  
> worms and

The saga is on the front page of the Chronicle again this morning.  A  
cowering
Yoshi's pulls its all white CD, and will go to the expense of  
securing the rights
to recordings more representative of ....?....its bookings?....the  
critics...? the
complainers...?  I was glad to have Orin Keepnews brought into the  
discussion.
He basically said it was just a dumb mistake and a terribly small  
deal.  Most
non-record companies that produce a small promotional batch of CDs  
try to
do so as cheaply as possible, and you can see just how that happened  
at Yoshi's.
An upshot of this is that Yoshi's is concerned enough about their  
reputation to
spend money to make a better impression in the market.  This may be  
good news
for jazz fans, for that's an indication of someone in for the long  
haul.  If the CD
ends up including ersatz commercial tracks, that's also an indicator.

At the end of the article, it also indicates that Muscarella only has  
half the
festival booked at this point.  Give us a break!  Obviously the super  
efficient
white nerds got their gigs lined up early, and set off the alarms.   
Again, what
this is doing on the front page of the Chronicle has me mystified.   
Are they
trying to get more black people to pick up the paper?  I'm glad PG  
pointed
out that (vocal critic) saxophonist Howard Wiley has not lacked in  
major public
appearances lately.  (I actually like his playing and concepts.)

Whatever the Chronicle's motives, we have issues of race and culture  
on the
table again (and let's not leave out class).  Does jazz belong or is  
exclusive
to one race (if you believe in the myth of race)?  People confuse  
race and
culture, but if the overwhelming majority of music I heard in my  
formative
years was jazz, R&B and blues, how is that not inherent in my culture?
(Jazz started as a MIXTURE of cultures, and has had all kinds of  
participants
from its earliest days.)  Can music be intellectual property?  How  
can you keep
your brain from absorbing it? Am I committing a THOUGHT CRIME when I
spontaneously break into something jazzy in my head or on stage because
of my race?  That's as reactionary as the NeoCons policing your bedroom.