Jazz History in Twelve Tunes

…is the name of the course I just taught for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) sponsored by San Francisco State University. It’s basically college for seniors, without the pressure of exams and grades and figuring out who to date. Also noticeably less alcohol and drugs— at least during the class. 

 

Amongst the many things I do that I love beyond reason— singing with children, playing piano for elders, giving workshops to teachers— teaching Jazz History classes is near the top of the list. I did four or five online versions during the pandemic, but the live version—with real interaction, dialogue, a better sound system, a larger screen for my Powerpoints and a piano to demonstrate points and play tunes is head and shoulders above anything possible online. 

 

Because of all the years thinking about how to present this extraordinary history to 8^th graders at my school and younger kids as well, I know how to talk about it to beginners of all ages, as well as give perspectives and insights to those already somewhat knowledgeable about the history and familiar with the musical material. I know how to help people listen with new ears by giving them the key as to what to listen for, the cultural and historical background, the extra-musical viewpoint of jazz as storytelling, as conversation, as a poetry-in-sound that captures both the zeitgeist of a particular time and a universal experience of all times.

 

Why do I love it so much? Partly for the social duty of showing how “Jazz is what America could become if it ever became itself.” (Wynton Marsalis) and the insights into both how systemic racism works and how people resist it and move the needle closer to justice. My hope is to help people pay their dues for a music that gives so much joy, so much pleasure, so much affirmation of the human spirit by letting them know who to thank and how to thank them yet deeper once we understand what they went through. 

 

But while necessary, our social obligation to moving that needle can often feel like something we’d rather not do because it’s so difficult and painful and sorrowful. Hard to face. But side by side with these extraordinary musicians, it is simply a joy to be in their company and to feel ourselves rise up as they did out of the murky swamp of prejudice, hatred, injustice. 

 

To get to spend two hours a week shutting off our damn phones and just being in a room together listening is a great privilege and pleasure. While some of the stories and the musical information were challenging to all of the students some of the time and some of the students much of the time, it was a worthy challenge, the kind that was worth taking the bus or driving and looking for parking at 3:00 in the afternoon. I believe we all left refreshed, invigorated and intrigued to know more. And whether you’re 13 or 83, introducing you to these jazz musicians available to you at the drop of the needle, the insertion of the CD, the click on Spotify or Youtube, people who can soothe you in your sorrow and lift you up yet higher in your joy— well, that’s a teacher’s dream. 

 

Below is the course I taught, though in 6 two-hour classes, we didn’t get to the last two. Hoping to do a Part II next year. And if I repeated Part I, I might stop at Monk, add Benny Goodman’s Sing Sing Sing and Dizzy Gillespie’s Manteca, maybe switch Billie’s tune to God Bless the Child and Monk’s tune to Round Midnight. Tunes are listed below for your listening pleasure. Enjoy!

 

SUMMARY: JAZZ HISTORY IN 12 TUNES

 

1. Maple Leaf Rag— Scott Joplin

 

2. Empty Bed Blues— Bessie Smith

 

3. West End Blues— Louis Armstrong

 

4. Hotter Than That — Louis Armstrong

 

5. Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue—Duke Ellington

 

6. Jumpin’ at the Woodside— Count Basie

 

7. How High the Moon— Ella Fitzgerald

 

8. Body and Soul— Billie Holiday

 

9. Shaw Nuff— Charlie Parker

 

10. Misterioso —Thelonious Monk 

 

11. So What— Miles Davis *

 

12. A Love Supreme— John Coltrane *