Closer Walk

America's Classical Music

American music’s heart is The Blues.

The Blues’ heart is Black Gospel.

You may know that American Black Church music is the foundation of Rock, Rhythm, and Jazz. I think there is no place better to play music than in a New Orleans funeral parade band. In that tradition, the sliding melodies counter the dirge to tickle us with adventure and daring.

Wynton has such respect for the music, the practice, the tradition, that the song is not be diminished by being arranged and rehearsed. He gets the whole band doing the line-ending counter melody fragments and the between-line filigree that is usually done by individual players. Tre·men·dous·ly moving.

In the vocal verse, Taj is his best monster-self, laying down a deeply reverent tone. Eric comes to his own in the second section, the joyful praise section — the rock section. He builds a blues floor for his solo then punches through it with counter melodies and rhythms. Beyond Eric, the whole band is spinning wildly looping counter melodies and rhythms. In fact, in this fast praise section, there are so many rhythms, no player can be out of time — it is all-time.

This is American Art — respectful and wild or wildly respectful. Visual or Audio, the makers of American Art stretch the respect for past achievments with improvised elaborations so inventive, they constitute new genres of expression.

To illustrate the influence, I give you, the French…

These Europeans understand a lot of it. Their jaunty pace highlights the joyful dance. Either in a sit-down audience or a standup crowd, the music is so delightful, everyone dances.

We can’t expect the French musicians to express what they cannot feel. They do not feel slavery or the freedom struggle of slaves and enslavers. Americans do. American music expresses love within a culture that, too often, is hateful.

American music is often very sad — seeing-the-face-of-death sad, where falling tears make counter rhythms transcending to joy.