Home
Archive
Newsletters
Video
Blogs
Discuss
About
Search
Donate
Advertise

Protest Returns to Jazz

By Reese Erlich, AlterNet. Posted May 31, 2006.


Jazz music was the sound of protest long before rock 'n' roll took over the airwaves, and today's jazz artists are carrying on the tradition.

Share and save this post:

      

      

Share on Facebook       

AlterNet Social Networks:
follow us on twitter
find us on Facebook

In Special Coverage

Belief:
What if People Actually Treated Religion as Just a Metaphor (Like Trekkies and Secular Jews)?
Greta Christina

Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace:
Labor Against the War Shifting Sights to Afghanistan Occupation
Jane Slaughter

DrugReporter:
The War on Weed: Marijuana Is Basically Harmless -- The Monumentally Stupid Drug War Is Not
Jim Hightower

Environment:
20 Weird, Crazy Ideas for Helping the Earth

Food:
The War on Soy: Why the 'Miracle Food' May Be a Health Risk and Environmental Nightmare
Tara Lohan

Health and Wellness:
When Sex Hurts, and No One Can Tell You Why: The Mysterious Condition Called Vulvodynia
Carey Purcell

Immigration:
What Denying Unauthorized Immigrants Health Insurance Will Cost You

Media and Technology:
The Memory Scrub About Why Ft. Hood Happened Is Almost Complete ... If It Weren't for Archives
Mark Ames

Movie Mix:
The Yes Men: Pranksters Out to Fix the World
Mark Engler

Politics:
Just When You Thought It Was Safe: 3 Potential Obstacles to Health-Care Reform
Adele M. Stan

Reproductive Justice and Gender:
Why the New Breast Cancer Guidelines Are Racist
Devona Walker

Rights and Liberties:
Economic Crisis Is Getting Bloody -- Violent Deaths Are Now Following Evictions, Foreclosures and Job Losses
Nick Turse

Sex and Relationships:
Hot Mormon Muffins and Models for Jesus: What's With All the Sexy Christians?
Liz Langley

Take Action:
G-20 Meetings: Nothing Much Happened in the Suites, and There Was Too Much Punch in the Streets
Laura Flanders

Water:
Poseidon's Financial Shell Game: Why Is a Private Desalination Plant Asking for Public Money?
Peter Gleick

World:
The Obama Speech America Is Dying to Hear: "This Administration Ended, Rather Than Extended, Two Wars"
Tom Engelhardt

More stories by Reese Erlich

Advertisement
Upcoming AlterNet stories on Digg

[Editor's Note: For this special AlterNet podcast, Reese Erlich interviewed percussionist Ray Barretto (shortly before his death in February 2006), bassist Christian McBride, trumpeter Dave Douglas and vocalist Roberta Gambarini. You'll hear lots of their great music as well. Reese Erlich produces Jazz Perspectives for public radio stations in the U.S. and Canada, which can be heard online at JazzCorner.com.

Be sure to listen to Erlich's companion podcast, "Stopping Cuban Music at the Border," also posted on AlterNet today.]


Since its beginning jazz has produced radical thinkers and non conformists. Trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie advocated progressive politics, as did Billy Holiday. These days some jazz artists continue that progressive tradition.

Ray Barretto has been an immensely popular Latin musician since the early 1950s. He became famous as a salsa conga player with the Fania All Stars and as a jazz percussionist. Barretto was outraged at the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq.

"I was born a little after WWI. I would have lived through during WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, the invasion of this country and that country, Iraq. I can't have a lifetime of peace. I can't tell my son, you will live the next 30-40 years in a time of peace."

Barretto was among a growing number of jazz artists speaking out against Bush administration policies. They are also angry at the government's slowness in rescuing the mostly African American victims of Hurricane Katrina and delays in rebuilding the devastated areas. Many musicians participated in benefits to raise money for New Orleans residents.

Bassist Christian McBride says the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina indicates that far greater problems with racism exist in the U.S. Jazz artists, he says, are particularly sensitive to that issue.

"There's no way you can be in any creative endeavor and not know what's going on politically. The hypocrisy is so completely clear. I really do think the 60s is going to have to happen all over again. There will have to be people willing to put themselves at great risk to be able to get their message heard."

Digg!    Share on facebook   submit to reddit    Bookmark on Delicious   Stumble This  

Liked this story? Get top stories in your inbox each week from AlterNet! Sign up now »


Advertisement
Advertisement

 

You've chosen to turn comments off for the entire site. Would you like to turn them back on?
  • AlterNetYour turn

Support AlterNet
Do you value the information you're getting from AlterNet? Please show your support with a tax-deductible donation.


Feedback
Tell us how we're doing.

Advertisement
Advertisement