Culural Fascism...

"Jazz purists lost all credibility when they slagged this one off, caught as they were in tainted, even racist views of the past that made no allowances for jazz musicians to actually follow their time-honored tradition of mining the pop music of the day to extend the breadth and reach of jazz itself. Anybody who wants to believe that George Gershwin is somehow more important than George Porter Jr. is already lost in his own cultural fascism. " - Thom Jurek



That was part of a review I read for Idris Muhammad's album House of the Rising Sun that I personally thought was amazing. I really think that much of the quote accurately reflects the current view of jazz, and especially my view of jazz education. I mean, I can't look at a history of jazz book or Ken Burns' Jazz without thinking of "cultural fascism". I mean seriously, that documentary has like three episodes for the 1930s and one for the last forty years. And yes, I know, I am somewhat biased, but I still think that is ridiculous.

PS- I haven't actually heard anything from the album, so I can't really review it, but I have heard him drum on other things, and what I have heard is really good.