The Jazz Scene Today....

Published 1/13/1954
Down Beat Magazine
I have long been disturbed about what I've seen of the state of mind of the average young jazz musician around the country, especially in New York. The general mass of jazz musicians, for one thing, have become so ingrown with regard to the music they're playing and are associated with, that a very unhealthy atmosphere is being bred.
There are so many groups that are unhappy with what they're doing, that are unhappy with everything. They've gotten into an attitude where nothing means much any more. They have no outside interests. They're just musicians and know of nothing else. With some, it becomes so bad they know of nothing else except themselves.

I hear a young talent in a city I play, and almost invariably, I'll come back a few months later, and the talent's been washed away by a number of bad activities. So many things are going the wrong way; and so few the right way.

Parents' Attitude Cited

I can remember when a lot of parents would go along with their children's interests in jazz, but since the recent newspaper stories and mishaps among musicians, jazz today isn't encouraged by the parents. The reason is that the parents feel that jazz is not a healthy enough a profession today. And many of the men in it have made it that way.

That applies to the whole jazz scene. If, God forbid, I should lose a man, it would be very hard to replace him. I'd have to find out whether a possible replacement was personally straight. I'd actually have to screen him. It wasn't like that years ago. There were always plenty of good musicians you could use, and you didn't have to go around and ask, "Is he straight?"

I don't enjoy discussing this, and I've always avoided talking about it in radio or magazine interviews, but I've come to realize that you can't just look the other way and hope it'll go away. These people have created a monster they'll never destroy.

Encouraged by Imbeciles

And I should add that a lot of guys who have gone that way have been encouraged by the imbecilic cultists. I mean the ones who say that if one of their favorites blows well, he's always the greatest all the time. That's the biggest falsehood ever told.

That mistaken attitude leads to the fact that regardless of what a man has done to himself to destroy his talent, the cultist keeps saying that man is still the greatest. And so they keep on encouraging him in his self-destruction.

Speaking of the musicians themselves with regard to what caused this present-day scene, I would say that among the contributing factors have been too many false pedestals, biased opinions and staid minds. This false worship of one's self has been combined with the feeling that what is duly and rightfully owed one in terms of appreciation and recognition has been denied. It's hard to converse with them -- they're always complaining.

Appreciates Feeling

I can appreciate the feeling of not being recognized, of one's work not being appreciated. But the answer is to work harder and fight to get recognition through your work. It's a matter of a half a loaf being better than none, especially when the none is self-destruction.

The healthy spirit of competition is gone. It has been replaced by animosity, envy, and slothfulness. There are so few jazz musicians left like Billy Taylor who are honestly eager to do something, who get a kick out of what they're doing, who are not biased in their attitudes.

A man's personality shows up in his music. If frustration has formed a cold attitude in a man, he plays that way. And he plays disjointedly -- one way one night and another the next night. The way you play music is a tonal biography of yourself -- your thoughts and feelings.

The other night Gerry Mulligan was telling me that our trio is the happiest group he's heard or seen for some time. Well, I don't see how you can project happiness in music unless you're happy yourself and happy with what you're doing, as we are.

Happiness Gone
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