Theology and the Arts or Why Jazz Will Always be Around

I took 2 classes on this at Eastern. Not that all of my music and dance related courses didn't have some theology worked in, but 2 dealt specifically with the topic. So, imagine my joy when one of my favorite blogs "Crunchy Con" on Beliefnet had a related post over the weekend.

It went something like this "Charles Murray has said that no great American works of art were created after 1950. Do you agree, disagree, why, what's your list, etc?" I wrote an inital post with a lot of modern dance works and Coltrane's "A Love Supreme". Another reader commented on Coltrane's "My Favorite Things", which prompted the following from me:

Richard, how did I forget "My Favorite Things"? The kindergarten jazz class that I teach is doing that for recital. Not all 13 minutes, just the first 2. (I'm going somewhere with this, I promise. Stick with me.)
I catch some flack at the studio where I teach because of my ideas of "jazz". When I have students in my jazz class, they dance to jazz music. Gershwin, musicals, any of the Great American Songbook stuff, Coltrane, Carmen MacRae, even Harry Connick Jr.'s big band stuff. They do not dance to Disney songs, Cheetah Girls, Britney, Christina, or any of the other songs that somehow have found their way into "jazz" classes.
Jazz, especially in dance, is sometimes considered a catch-all because it is often understood as "the vernacular" or "not classical". But I think jazz is communication. That's where that "vernacular" definition came from- the music of the day for the people of the day. Jazz gave them a voice, and an audience who wanted to hear it and could understand it. Communication from musician to musician, musician to audience, musician to dancer, dancer to dancer, etc. But most importantly, it is communication to "the art". The musician lets the music guide him, as does the dancer. Today's music often found in "jazz" classes is not communication; it is entertainment. We don't want to listen, or think, or do. We want to watch, to be titillated or impressed, to escape. True communication does not inspire escape, but engagement. This communication becomes improvisation.
Improv is the truest form of jazz, music or dance; and is, I would argue, incredibly spiritual. Not only in the Christian sense, as we believe any act of creation is proof that we are in God's image, but just in the lack of desire to promote yourself. When you improv, you let the art work. You "check out" so to speak from conscious decision making about what YOU WANT to do. It becomes about what the art needs, does, and creates for itself. Improv forces you to be the listener, before you can be the doer. A useful life lesson.
Wonderfully enough, kids get this. They love to explore, create, and interact. Give kids a structured improv and they practically do the work for you! They don't think "Oh No! What should I do next?", "I don't know any 'steps' for this.", or "This is too much pressure. I can't possibly function." They listen, they watch, and then they do. They feed off of each other and the music. They work together, while at the same time are totally devoid of the anxiety and fear of judgment adults would feel in this situation. When we first started "My Favorite Things" we did an instrument improv. That piece has sax, piano and drums. We spent time trying to hear each instrument separately and move that way. I had bouncy drums, strong, striding pianos and wiggly saxes. When I put them in groups, it was fantastic! They had to listen, to watch, to move, to cooperate; try doing that to Britney. You will get shaking booties every time.
And so, 500 words later (Sorry! Thanks for reading it!), communication and improv are why jazz is going to make it. And "me-centered" pop/rock will continue to change and morph and will have very few memorable (in a good way, not train wreck way) characters and moments.