Jazz: “It Suffers But Does Not Die”

Whenever I hear jazz music referred to as a dying art form, it gives me a feeling of dismay, though never more so than when I hear it from one of the very musicians who could easily think of helping to turn it around. Any kind of music at its best is reflected by the attitude within those of us who help to create it, and that is the way we ensure it survives as an art. Knowing it truly radiates out carries more importance than an attempt at a precise number of people it radiates out to.

Nelson Sargento one of Brazil's seminal songwriters once composed a samba called "Agoniza Mas Nao Morre," which means "It Suffers But Does Not Die." As with the Brazilian Samba, the Cuban Son, the Jamaican Ska and the American Blues, all of which have been vital to their respective cultures in ways both out in the open and hidden within, jazz music may indeed suffer for its integrity, but to truly keep it alive takes far more than the technical prowess that often comes to mind whenever the music is spoken of. The human element that always lies at the core of our very best work must remain a vital part of how it radiates itself out. Like the Samba of Brazil that Nelson Sargento wrote of, it may struggle through the time we know but with the core intact it never dies.