What Jazz Is...
Jazz
is America's classical music. Jazz rhythms were created in this country by African-Americans as a tool of communication between each other while working in fields, domestications, and worshipping services. The basic rhythms were combinations of rhythms from the various African slave tribes. Slaves not speaking the same native tongues created their own tool of communication, music. While others named it jazz, the African-Americans called it "our music." After the reconstruction period, the offspring of the slaves called it "colored people's music." Another form of this means of communication through music is the spiritual and gospel combination.
Jazz, spirituals, and gospel are types of music depicting the soulfulness of African-Americans. This music is shared by people all over the world. Europeans and Asians, being great fans of this music and respecting it for its powerful impact upon the minds of the artist and the listeners, have been very instrumental in its promoting and longevity.
Jazz - a message to the world from a people's struggle.
Country music - popular music that derives from the rural folk music of the southern parts of the United States.
Western music - music that derived from the stories about life in the western portions of the United States, especially the frontier period.
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Council Founder Recalls The Beginning
Elwood "Woody" Evans, a prominent Cincinnati musician, recently sat down and reflected on the early days of The Greater Cincinnati Council for the Perfonning Arts, of which he serves as Executive Director and founder.
Evans founded and established The Greater Cincinnati Council for the Performing Arts in January, 1977. He had several reasons for establishing the Council. First, jazz musicians had been devastated by the Civil Rights movement of the early sixties. Unable to play in "white" clubs any longer, many were out of work and unable to make a living. Second, rock and roll music was becoming more and more popular. Club owners took notice of rock's growing popularity and dropped their traditional music formats for the new sounds of rock and roll. Evans recalled when he was playing at the Playboy Club in downtown Cincinnati the Club changed the Muzak from jazz to rock and roll. Finally, during Evans' tenure with the Cincinnati Recreation Department, part of his job was to provide musical entertainment three nights a week at the Serpentine Wall.
An organization was needed which could receive grant funding that would help defer the expenses of the musical artists performing at the Wall. In its 16-year history, the Council has launched several major projects, including the Cultural Enrichment Program through the local schools in Cincinnati and production of three documentaries on Cincinnati's musical heritage. In addition, the Council sponsors concerts throughout the year and performs at local recreation and senior citizen centers.
With an eye to the future but never forgetting the past, Evans and the Council are continually striving to promote America's classical music... jazz.
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