By Becca Lindenbaum
Both the media and audience perspective have also been integral parts of the music industry, and jazz was no exception. It can be argued that jazz musicians had it harder than most other entertainers since many were either overlooked in favor of white artists, or were portrayed in a way that maintained stereotypes. Bebop developed in the 1940’s, around the time of the second world war, and this was reflected in both the sound of the music, and the way people listened to it. This music was shaped by the need to appeal to two different audiences, white audiences and fellow Black performers. Jazz musicians were typically inaccurately portrayed by the media, and the accomplishments of Black jazz musicians were overshadowed by white musicians who simply copied.
The disregard of Black jazz musicians and focus on white jazz musicians was noticed by many jazz musicians and critics, including Art Blakey and Max Roach. Blakey writes about how white critics and the media never gave Black musicians the credit they merit. Instead of giving credit to Black jazz musicians, the music industry “turn[ed] around and they name[d] Paul Whiteman the King of Swing…[then] Benny Goodman… and he’s playing Fletcher Henderson’s arrangements note for note”1. These white musicians are taking away the accomplishments of Black musicians, a common theme of Black musicians not getting the recognition they deserve, their work getting copied by white musicians. Roach wrote about the origins of the term jazz, saying “It is not a term or a name that we, as black musicians, ever gave to the art which we created. It is a name which was given to the Afro-American’s art form by white America…”2. Jazz, created by Black Americans, was not named by them. This could be because white people wanted to have some sense of control over the music. In general, jazz was not taken seriously by white adults and critics.
Current events of the time also had an impact on jazz and bebop, especially since bebop was at its height after World War II, and the riots of the time were evident in jazz music and the way listeners heard the music3. Listener’s attitude towards jazz was influenced by the world around them. Leroi Jones writes about music getting taken out of context, and how it is not possible to completely understand works without paying attention to when and why the music was made4. Without context, the meaning of the sound is stripped. Without knowing the circumstances in which music was played, it is nearly impossible to decipher the meaning behind the work.
This disembodiment of music is evident in the film “Bird”. When Francis Davis reviews the film, he mentions how although the movie used actual recording of Charlie “Bird” Parker, the movie cuts out the other musicians playing with him, and replaces them with a fuller musical sound5. Parker’s sound, pulled out of the original context, creates a disembodiment of his music, and without full context, the true story and meaning cannot be heard, something Jones mentions. The film extracted Parker’s sounds, trying to control and define his music. Similarly, the portrayal of Parker is flat. Stanley Crouch writes that in the movie, Parker is “just a colored man with a saxophone, a white girlfriend, and a drug problem. When he dies, you are almost relieved.”6 The movie didn’t give Parker any depth, and the audience doesn’t feel much for him. The way he was portrayed seemed bland, and like an echo of who he was, emphasized by the disembodiment of Parker’s music.
Not only did the film take away the context of Parker’s music, but the movie was more focused on stereotypes and the white musicians he worked with, as opposed to his music and musicians of color who Parker worked with. One example was how he was portrayed in the film “Bird”. Rather than focusing on Parker’s music and work relationships with other Black musicians, the film chose to focus on his relationship with two white jews, his girlfriend Chan Parker and trumpet player Red Rodney. The film was trying to show two outsider groups coming together through music. This was especially apparent in the scene where Rodney invites Parker and other musicians to play with him at a Jewish wedding. This gig is very different from Parker’s typical gigs, but he agrees because it is high paying. This stereotype of how all Jews have a ton of money is furthered when after they are done playing, the rabbi is the one to pay them, saying, “These are not Jewish boys, but good”7. Eastwood was trying to show that music is universal, but the way that this scene was portrayed was full of cliches. This was not the only stereotypical scene in the movie, many scenes were, and seemed to be a way for white audience members to feel good about themselves. This is seen throughout the movie with the lighting and camera choices Eastwood made. In the scenes with Rodney, the camera is more much more focused on him than Parker or any other black musicians. This is seen in the scene when Rodney is on tour with Parker, the two are talking, but the lighting illuminates Rodney’s face and not Parker’s.
https://digitalcampus.swankmp.net/haverford297034/play/865c1d3674c4156b?referrer=direct (1:28:38-1:28:51)8
This subtle focus on the white actor shifts the audience’s attention to them and away from the Black actors. Although the movie is focused on Bird, when white actors are in a scene, the camera is much more likely to be focused on them. It is entirely possible that less white people would have enjoyed the movie if, in the scenes with white characters, the focus was on Black characters. This subtle tactic is a way to make white audiences feel as if they are doing something about racism just by watching a movie.
The portrayal of Black jazz musicians was shaped by the need to please both white listeners and other Black musicians, and in many mainstream medias, the context of the music was taken away. This led to a disembodiment of sound, where the listeners cannot understand the full story, as pointed out by both Davis and Jones. This was especially evident in the depiction of Parker in the film about his life, “Bird,” an extremely stereotypical portrayal of him. Not only that, but many sources of media focused on white musicians and diminished the accomplishments of Black musicians.
- Art Blakey, from “Jazz Spoken Here,” (recorded in 1972, published in 1992), cited in Reading Jazz, ed. Robert Gottlieb (New York: Vintage Books, 1996), 210
- Max Roach, “What Jazz Means to Me,” from “The Black Scholar,” (1972), 2
- Leroi Jones, “Bop,” from Blues People, (1963), cited in Reading Jazz, ed. Robert Gottlieb (New York: Vintage Books, 1996), 877
- Leroi Jones, “Jazz and the White Critic,” Down Beat, August 15, 1963, reprinted in Black Music (New York Quill, 1967), from Keeping Time, ed. Robert Walser (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 257-258
- Francis Davis, “Evertcar and Birdlans, Mon Amor,” from Outcats (Oxford University Press, 1990), cited in Reading Jazz, ed. Robert Gottlieb (New York: Vintage Books, 1996), 1020
- Stanley Crouch, “Bird Land,” The New Republic 200/9 (Feb 27, 1989): 25, cited in Reading Jazz, ed Robert Gottlieb (New York: Vintage Books, 1996), 1026
- Bird, directed by Clint Eastwood, with performances by Forest Whitaker and Michael Zelniker, Warner Bros. Pictures (1969- ), 1988, 1:22:52-1:22:58
- ibid., 1:28:38-1:28:51
