Reconstructing the Jazz Tradition

Abstract

The article examines the controversy over the status of “the jazz tradition” -- the identification of a set of central musicians, performances, and stylistic features. The differing views of its defenders and opponents are grounded, I argue, in divergent political assumptions. Advocates of the tradition (“neotrads”) like Albert Murray, Stanley Crouch, and Wynton Marsalis believe the maintenance of the jazz tradition is necessary to stave off cultural mediocrity, social degeneration, and the destruction of the music’s African American core. Opponents (“antitrads”) contend the tradition is stifling and hegemonic and advocate its opening or rejection in the pursuit of a society more accepting of difference. I find the reasoning and social analysis of both groups fundamentally flawed and explore the possibility of a jazz tradition that is neither rigid nor borderless but rooted in the historical experiences of musicians and audiences.