Jazz as a form of Protest

I was introduced to jazz music by the photographers Ming Smith and Roy Decarava, writers like Amiri Baraka, Fred Moten, and Ishmael Reed. To them, jazz is fundamental to the spirit and substance of their work. They create a jazz idiom, where Ming’s photographs become the physical representation of the music and Baraka’s words sound as though they were recited by jazz itself. All this to say that jazz is so special in its ability to transpose boundaries of a standard music genre. It can be a way of thinking, a way of moving, a way of seeing, definitely a way of hearing. Its aesthetic relevance, however, comes from its synchronism of freedom and restraint. It is the cry of joy and suffering. This music plays with light and darkness, dissonant chords and unpredictable rhythms, in order to mirror the Black American experience. Jazz as a form of protest attempts to show jazz music its totality: the relationship between the basic formal unit of jazz and the freedom to improvise. These chosen works, all taken from UCLA’s Special Collections Archive, work as touchstones for the critical, creative, and healing properties of jazz. They remind us what jazz is, the power that it has, and generally the power that art has when it comes to healing. Thank you to the players, those pictured here and those that are not, for taking on the griot’s role and sharing this message of liberation. - Lauren Holtz, Student at New York university

Below are the images selected from the ucla archive, along with relevant quotes and reading/viewing recommendations for further exploration.

Images featured:

BLUE MITCHELL PLAYING THE TRUMPET, 1977 by mark weber

ANDREW HILL PLAYING PIANO, 2000 BY JAMES ARKATOV

BETTY CARTER, 1976 by mark weber

BENNY CARTER AT THE JAZZ BAKERY, 1995 BY JAMES ARKATOV

SUN RA ARKESTRA PERFORMING IN THE 1980S BY MARK WEBER

BOBBY BRADFORD IN FRONT OF PHOTOGRAPH OF JOHN COLTRANE, 1976 by mark weber

John Carter with clarinet, 1976 by mark weber

HORACE TAPSCOTT AND THE PAN AFRIKAN PEOPLES ARKESTRA, 1953 BY MARK WEBER

EARTHA KITT PERFORMING IN LOS ANGELES, 1995 BY JAMES ARKATOV

ART ENSEMBLE OF CHICAGO PERFORMING IN LOS ANGELES, 1976 BY MARK WEBER

NINA SIMONE SITS AT PIANO DURING PERFORMANCE AT THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL, 1986 BY JOSE GALVEZ

Nina Simone playing piano at the Hollywood bowl, 1986 BY JOSE GALVEZ

BILLY HARRIS PLAYING SOPRANO SAXOPHONE, 1980 BY MARK WEBER

KENNY BARRON PLAYING PIANO, 1998 BY JAMES ARKATOV

ABBEY LINCOLN SINGING IN LOS ANGELES, 1980 BY JAMES ARKATOV

bill Henderson and John heard in Los Angeles, 1995 BY JAMES ARKATOV

"jazz is anti-war; it is opposed to [the war in] Vietnam; it is for Cuba; it is for the liberation of all people. that is the nature of jazz. Why is that so? Because jazz is a music itself born out of oppression, born out of the enslavement of my people" - Archie Shepp

SARAH VAUGHAN IN LOS ANGELES, 1986 BY AURELIO BARRERA

Nina Simone in her home, after returning from a self imposed exile, 1985 by David Becker

HORACE TAPSCOTT PLAYING PIANO, 1986 BY DAVID BECKER

GEORGE COLEMAN PLAYING A SAXOPHONE, 1995 BY JAMES ARKATOV

sun ra and the sun ra arkestra performing in the 1980s by mark weber

"Ra was so far out because he had the true self-consciousness of the Afro American intellectual artist revolutionary. He knew our historic ideology and socio-political consciousness was freedom. It is an aesthetic and social dynamic. We think it is good and beautiful. Sun Ra’s consistent statement, musically and spoken, is that this is a primitive world. Its practices, beliefs, religions are uneducated, unenlightened, savage, destructive, already in the past. That’s why Ra left and returned only to say he left. Into the future. Into space" - Amiri Baraka