A letter from Barbara Dennerlein....

What's Jazz?

That's Jazz! The story of jazz is a story of metamorphosis. A journey through all continents and a conflation of cultures. Each artist has his own definition of what jazz means to him. This is a collection of quotations, found on the Swiss website Jazzorama.ch:

Mutt Carey / 1891-1948 / New Orleans, Louisiana: "If you couldn't blow a man down with your horn, at least you could use it to hit him alongside the head"

Fred Böhler / Swing: "Jazz is an elemental force"

Mary Lou Williams / 1910 - 1981 / Atlanta, Georgia: "Jazz came out of suffering of the early Black slaves, of what they experienced here in America and what happened to them. It's the music that was created out of suffering"

Edward Duke Ellington / 1899 - 1974 / Washington D.C.: "It's becoming difficult to decide where jazz starts and where it stops - where the Tin Pan Alley or classic music begin. I feel there is no boundary line."

Dizzy Gillespie / 1917 - 1993 / Cheraw, South Carolina: "Jazz is way this century sounds different than others

Miles Davis / 1926 - 1991 / Alton, Illinois: "The history of jazz can be told in four words; Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker"

Barbara Dennerlein / 1964 -  / Munich: "Jazz is an open range and everything is possible. It means freedom, inspiration, creativity and innovation without stereotyped thinking - music with quality and not to be codified..."

George Gruntz / 1932 - / Basel: "Who knows something only about jazz knows nothing about jazz"

http://www.jazzorama.ch/thats-jazz.html