學術界殺死了爵士樂嗎？
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爵士樂似乎在電影導演中經曆了一些複興——看看剛剛在聖丹斯電影節首映的“邁爾斯·戴維斯：酷的誕生”等紀錄片，以及“生而為藍”等傳記片，和最近的奧斯卡獎得主，比如“鞭打”。
雖然關於爵士樂的電影無處不在，但有證據表明，真正消費這種音樂的人較少，與當今的流行藝術家相比，這種類型與古典音樂更接近。
爵士樂作為一種流行音樂的衰落有很多原因，但作為音樂史學家，令我感興趣的是學術界所扮演的角色。
在我們試圖將爵士樂提升為象牙塔的過程中，我們可能無意中幫助扼殺了它作為一種流行風格。
閱讀基於證據的新聞報道，而不是警報。
然而，並沒有失去一切。雖然這種流派似乎注定要在學術上默默無聞，但爵士樂繼續在流行音樂中流行——隻是以更微妙的方式。
爵士樂讓這個國家著迷
在 1920 年代，在大遷徙的早期，一波又一波的美國黑人從南方遷移到北方的工業城市。黑人爵士音樂家，尤其是來自新奧爾良的音樂家，帶來了他們的音樂。他們搬到街區，如在芝加哥閑逛，黑底在底特律，12街和藤在堪薩斯城，當然，哈林。這發生在唱片業蓬勃發展和收音機成為美國家庭的支柱之際。
爵士樂成為美國最受歡迎的音樂流派。
在接下來的十年裏，這一流派經曆了一場變革。藝術家們開始聚集更大的樂團，將爵士樂的能量與舞蹈樂隊的數量融合在一起。搖擺樂時代誕生了，爵士樂團統治了流行音樂排行榜。
這些發展導致了一係列新問題。更大的樂隊意味著更少的即興創作自由，爵士樂的基石。在 1940 年代，音樂錄音變得越來越重要，爵士音樂家發現自己對自己的報酬如此之低感到沮喪，導致美國音樂家聯合會發起了一係列罷工。
當這些問題得到解決時，美國的年輕人已經開始被新的 R&B 和鄉村風格所吸引，這些風格最終會演變成搖滾樂：
在那之後，爵士樂再也沒有真正恢複過來。
從俱樂部到教室
爵士隊在同一時期經曆了另一個更微妙的轉變：它離開了俱樂部去上大學。
二戰後，爵士樂流派分崩離析，音樂變得更加複雜。它也開始受到大學生的歡迎。戴夫·布魯貝克四重奏在 1950 年代初期發行了幾張專輯，承認該樂隊在大學人群中的受歡迎程度，包括“歐柏林爵士樂”和“太平洋學院爵士樂”。
也許大學管理人員想將一種明顯的美國流派提升到“高級藝術”的地位。或者，也許他們隻是想利用爵士樂在大學生中的流行。無論哪種方式，大學都開始針對這種流派開設課程，到 1950 年代末，北德克薩斯大學和伯克利音樂學院等幾所大學開設並運行了爵士樂課程。
在課堂上，爵士樂以一種全新的方式進行了探索。與其在舞池裏磨練爵士樂，不如聽聽爵士樂的演奏，它變成了一種需要剖析的東西。在最早的爵士樂曆史之一“爵士樂的故事”中，音樂學家馬歇爾·斯登捕捉到了這種轉變。他在這本書的開頭解釋了對爵士精神進行分類是多麽困難。然後他花了 300 多頁試圖做到這一點。
流行文化開始反映出爵士樂作為受過教育的人的音樂身份的轉變。1953 年的電影“ The Wild One ”以一個彈跳的大樂隊配樂為特色，強調了由馬龍白蘭度領導的摩托車團夥的惡作劇。
僅僅兩年後，“黑板叢林”也出現了犯罪兒童——除了這一次，他們更喜歡比爾·黑利的聲音。在一個場景中，他們的數學老師試圖讓孩子們欣賞他收藏的爵士樂唱片。場景以孩子們毆打老師並打破他的記錄結束。
爵士樂已經從青年叛逆的音樂變成了有文化的精英的音樂。
在 1960 年代，爵士樂可能和以往一樣不拘一格。但是，像曆史學家尼爾倫納德這樣的學者繼續推動爵士樂成為學術研究的一個嚴肅主題，正如他在他的書“爵士樂和美國白人”中所說的那樣。成立了致力於爵士教育研究的專業團體，如全國爵士教育協會。
在 1970 年代和 1980 年代，爵士樂入門課程開始達到臨界點，並導致爵士樂評論家 Nate Chinen 稱之為“爵士教育行業”的發展。演奏爵士樂需要大學學位。爵士樂已經成為受過教育的人的音樂。這是來自“The Cosby Show”的 Cliff 和 Clair Huxtable 的音樂，一個是醫生，另一個是律師。
隻是不要稱之為“爵士樂”
在過去的 20 年裏，爵士樂作為一種學術藝術形式的身份越來越高。在我所在的機構，音樂學院幾乎所有的非古典課程都與爵士樂有關。
今天，在任何給定校園的任何給定學期中，你會發現大學生周二早上 9 點坐在教室裏，試圖吸收周六淩晨 2 點在俱樂部聽到的音樂的重要性和複雜性。它已成為初出茅廬的音樂愛好者的抱子甘藍：你知道它對你有好處，但它的味道不一定那麽好。
在課堂之外，不斷減少的觀眾群迫使傳統的爵士樂場所將爵士樂視為受過教育的人的音樂。Minton's Playhouse的當前迭代，一個曾經是爵士能量堡壘的俱樂部，現在稱爵士樂為“美國的古典音樂”，以試圖提高這一流派的形象（也許可以證明在那裏供應牛排的成本是合理的）。
其他場所已將爵士樂降至最低。今年的新奧爾良爵士和傳統音樂節將邀請非爵士藝術家，如凱蒂·佩裏、滾石樂隊和克裏斯·斯台普頓。
盡管爵士樂與其流行根源相距甚遠，但稍微挖掘一下就會發現，我們仍然比想象中更喜歡聽爵士樂。我們隻是不再公開稱它為爵士樂。
肯德裏克·拉馬爾 (Kendrick Lamar) 的 2015 年專輯“ To Pimp a Butterfly ”既是爵士樂專輯，又是說唱專輯，這要歸功於拉馬爾與薩克斯演奏家卡馬西·華盛頓( Kamasi Washington)的合作。華盛頓還在聖丹斯電影節製作了一部短片，“As Told to G/D Thyself”，改編自他的專輯“Heaven and Earth”。
Lamar 的專輯是一個啟示，它激發了 David Bowie 以爵士樂團作為他最後一張搖滾專輯“ Blackstar ”的支持樂隊。
與此同時，音樂團體 Snarky Puppy通過創作長篇爵士樂作品同時避免任何特定標簽而成為國際轟動。另一個音樂團體 Scott Bradlee 的 Postmodern Jukebox 通過將當代流行歌曲轉變為曆史爵士樂流派，找到了一種讓爵士樂的聲音保持活力並擁抱爵士樂輕鬆一麵的方法。
由於學術界將爵士樂定位為藝術音樂，這一流派不太可能在短期內重新流行起來。
但是今天的藝術家正在證明爵士樂的精神是活生生的，而且爵士樂不僅僅是它的名字。
也許這是合適的：最早的爵士音樂家也不稱他們的音樂為“爵士”。取而代之的是，他們將自己的聲音與已有的流行音樂流派融合在一起，從而創造了美國曆史上最獨特的音樂形式之一。
February 7, 2019 6.35am EST
Author
Adam Gustafson
Instructor in Music, Penn State
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Adam Gustafson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
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Jazz seems to be experiencing a bit of a renaissance among movie directors – look no further than documentaries such as “Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool,” which just premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, biopics such as “Born to Be Blue,” and recent Oscar winners like “Whiplash.”
While films about jazz are everywhere, evidence suggests that fewer people are actually consuming the music, putting the genre more on par with classical music than with today’s pop artists.
There are a host of reasons for the decline of jazz as a popular music, but the one that interests me as a music historian is the role that academics played.
In our attempt to elevate jazz to the ivory tower, we may have inadvertently helped to kill it as a popular style.
Read news coverage based on evidence, not alarm.
However, all is not lost. While the genre might seem destined for academic obscurity, jazz continues to kick around in popular music – just in subtler ways.
Jazz captivates the country
In the 1920s, during the early years of the Great Migration, waves of black Americans migrated from the South into the industrial cities of the North. Black jazz musicians, particularly those from New Orleans, brought their sound with them. They moved to neighborhoods such as The Stroll in Chicago, Black Bottom in Detroit, 12th Street and Vine in Kansas City and, of course, Harlem. This occurred just as the record industry blossomed and radios became mainstays in American homes.
Jazz was well-positioned to become the most popular genre of music in the nation.
Over the next decade, the genre underwent a transformation. Artists began to amass larger ensembles, fusing the energy of jazz with the volume of dance bands. The Swing Era was born, and jazz orchestras dominated pop charts.
During the Swing Era, the Lindy Hop was a popular dance. UCLA
These developments led to a new set of issues. Larger bands meant less freedom to improvise, the cornerstone of jazz. During the 1940s, music recordings became increasingly important, and jazz musicians found themselves frustrated with how little they were being paid, resulting in a series of strikes by the American Federation of Musicians.
By the time these problems were resolved, America’s youth had already begun gravitating toward new styles of R&B and country, which would eventually morph into rock ‘n’ roll:
After that, jazz never really recovered.
From the club to the classroom
Jazz underwent another, more subtle, shift during that same time period: It left the club and went to college.
After World War II, jazz genres fractured and the music became more complex. It also became popular among college students. Dave Brubeck Quartet released several albums in the early 1950s that acknowledged the group’s popularity with the college crowd, including “Jazz at Oberlin” and “Jazz at the College of the Pacific.”
Perhaps university administrators wanted to elevate a distinctly American genre to a status of “high art.” Or, maybe they just wanted to capitalize on jazz’s popularity among college students. Either way, universities started to create curriculums geared towards the genre, and by the end of the 1950s, several institutions, such as the University of North Texas and the Berklee College of Music, had jazz programs up and running.
In the classroom, jazz was explored in a new way. Rather than hearing jazz played while grinding on a dance floor, it became something to dissect. In one of the earliest jazz histories, “The Story of Jazz,” musicologist Marshall Stearns captures this shift. He begins his book by explaining how difficult it is to categorize the spirit of jazz. He then spends over 300 pages trying to do just that.
Popular culture began to reflect jazz’s shifting identity as the music of educated people. The 1953 film “The Wild One” features a bouncing big band soundtrack that underscores the shenanigans of a motorcycle gang led by Marlon Brando.
Just two years later, “Blackboard Jungle,” also features delinquent kids – except this time, they prefer the sound of Bill Haley. In one scene, their math teacher tries to get the kids to appreciate his collection of jazz records. The scene ends with the kids beating the teacher and breaking his records.
‘Music is based on mathematics, and – it’s just, the next class is a little more advanced.’
Jazz had gone from the music of youthful rebellion to that of the cultured elite.
During the 1960s, jazz may have been as eclectic as ever. But academics like historian Neil Leonard continued to push for jazz to be made into a serious subject of academic inquiry, as he argued in his book “Jazz and the White Americans.” Professional groups devoted to the study of jazz education were founded, such as the National Association for Jazz Education.
During the 1970s and 1980s, introductory jazz courses started to reach critical mass and led to the growth of what jazz critic Nate Chinen dubbed the “jazz-education industry.” Playing jazz required a college degree. Jazz had become the music of the educated. It was the music of Cliff and Clair Huxtable, one a doctor and the other a lawyer, from “The Cosby Show.”
Just don’t call it ‘jazz’
In the last 20 years, jazz’s identity as an academic art form has only grown. At my institution, almost all of the non-classical course offerings in the music school are about jazz.
Today, in any given semester on any given campus, you can find college students sitting in classrooms at 9 a.m. on a Tuesday trying to absorb the importance and complexity of a music meant to be heard in a club at 2 a.m. on a Saturday. It’s become brussels sprouts for budding music aficionados: You know it’s good for you, but it doesn’t necessarily taste all that great.
Outside of the classroom, a dwindling audience base has forced traditional jazz venues to play into the notion of jazz as an educated person’s music. The current iteration of Minton’s Playhouse, a club that was once a bastion of jazz energy, now calls jazz “America’s classical music” in an attempt to raise the profile of the genre (and perhaps justify the cost of the steaks being served there).
Other venues have minimized jazz. This year’s New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival will feature decidedly non-jazz artists such as Katy Perry, The Rolling Stones and Chris Stapleton.
Despite jazz’s distance from its popular roots, a little digging shows that we still like listening to jazz more than we think. We just stopped openly calling it jazz.
Kendrick Lamar’s 2015 album “To Pimp a Butterfly” is every bit as much a jazz album as it is a rap album, thanks to Lamar’s collaboration with the saxophonist Kamasi Washington. Washington also had a short film, “As Told to G/D Thyself,” based on his album, “Heaven and Earth,” at Sundance.
Lamar’s album was such a revelation that it inspired David Bowie to feature a jazz ensemble as his backing band for his final rock album, “Blackstar.”
Meanwhile, the music collective Snarky Puppy has become an international sensation by creating long-form jazz works while avoiding any specific labels. Another music collective, Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox, has found a way to keep the sound of jazz alive – and to embrace jazz’s lighter side – by transforming contemporary pop songs into historical jazz genres.
With academia positioning jazz as art music, the genre is unlikely to experience a popular resurgence any time soon.
But today’s artists are proving that the spirit of jazz is alive and well, and that jazz is much more than its name.
Maybe this is fitting: The earliest jazz musicians didn’t call their music “jazz” either. Instead, they blended their sound with pre-existing pop genres, and, in doing so, created one of the most distinct forms of music in American history.
