Liberating modernism, degenerate art, or subversive reeducation?

- The impact of jazz on European culture Berndt Ostendorf Amerika Institut, Munich Tune-Up The introduction of jazz to Europe occurred in two waves after the First and Second World Wars !oth times the mood was divided "etween profound hostilit# and intense appreciation The e$cessiveness of the reaction had to do with the shock of the new that set the tradition%"ound esta"lishment a&ainst innovators, upper a&ainst lower classes, parents a&ainst children and students a&ainst teachers 'azz served to radicalise the feelin& of a crisis of modernization at this millennial threshold( for of all American cultural imports jazz represented a musical lan&ua&e markedl# different from the well%tempered European &rammar And this musical novelt# arrived at the ver# moment when that classical &rammar was called into )uestion "# cultural self%dou"t raised "# secessions and avant&ardes in the major metropolitan centers of Europe who, thou&h often unaware of jazz, helped to open the doors to let it in and, "# demolishin& the old, prepared the &round for it to flourish *+ ,et as we look closel# at the pu"lic de"ates durin& the first encounter with American novelt# music a warnin& is in order From the teens of the centur# to well into the thirties, audiences tended to attach the term jazz to whatever rh#thms the# found e$otic, fascinatin& and t#picall# American, the latter particularl# so when pla#ed "# !lacks With the "enefit of hindsi&ht we ma# dismiss a major part of this novelt# music( for it had little to do with what audiences after World War II would, with far &reater discrimination and on the "asis of recorded evidence, reco&nize as -real American jazz - .ntil then the la"el jazz /or jass+ was used "oth as a positive and ne&ative stereot#pe to mark a rh#thmic revolution and as a shorthand for the lar&er threat of modernization or westernization throu&h Americanisation !ut what tri&&ered this e$cess of hostilit# or appreciation at these two crucial times and who were the a&ents and a&encies in this stor#0 And what e$plains the wide ran&e of its impact which e$tended from vernacular dance to avant&arde a&endas0 uts and Brea!s This paper will ar&ue that the introduction of jazz%derived music involved a radical "reak concernin& the rules of performance and ha"its of reception in Western musical culture This "reak had occurred first in America, "etween the #ears *123 and *2*4, when the African American idiom entered the musical mainstream under the &eneric la"el of ra&time The introduction of African elements into the Euro%American canon was not just another case of selective "orrowin& and e$chan&in& 5orman Mailer ri&htl# speaks of the 6knife%like entrance of jazz 7 For it had more to do with a paradi&m chan&e as descri"ed in Ishmael 8eed9s Mum"o 'um"o, a confrontation of dissimilar, even antithetical musical cultures that would have repercussions "e#ond the . S on an international scale :+ Althou&h initiall# la"eled a child of the &utter or a cultural mon&rel /as Art ;odes and Ann <ou&lass have put it+=+ jazz satisfied more of the hi&h cultural prophecies and avant&arde desires of modernism than an# sin&le one of the classic arts The new music spoke to the a&endas of futurism, surrealism, <A<A, primitivism, post%colonialism, radical democrac#, multiculturalism, cosmopolitanism and ushered in a new wa# of "ein& %% all at once !ut it &ave to these hi&h cultural trans&ressions a decidedl# vernacular spin thus preparin& a structure of feelin& for the su"se)uent victor# of a popular culture industr# >+ This first wave of African American music entered Europe on a vernacular foot, that is "# wa# of popular dance It found a "road social "ase and it affected all t#pes of popular music, in particular the then current dancin& st#les 5ew and e$citin& rh#thms were ushered in "# the cakewalk, ra&time, fo$trot, charleston, and shimm#, a true demotic revolution which affected most levels of societ# from the dancin& Windsor and ;ohenzollern courts to music halls and ca"arets Accordin& to a contemporar# ?erman dance critic, Fritz ?iese, the American imports were so successful and novel that the# 9succeeded in doin& awa# almost completel# with all European vernacular dance traditions 9 @nl# the waltz mana&ed to survive as a social dance A+ After the ?reat War ur"an #outh em"raced these new American rh#thms as an alternative to stiff and corseted traditions of motor "ehavior It was precisel# in the realm of leisure where the mo"ile and e$pandin& #oun& workin& class created a new cultural space with its ver# own rh#thms and metropolitan choreo&raphies 3+ Thou&h rudel# interrupted "# the interlude of fascism this first wave had prepared the &round for a more sophisticated acceptance of jazz after the second world war The second wave encountered a somewhat different European audience that received -jazz as a form of popularl# &enerated hi&h art music- /;o"s"awm+ These audiences came prepared and had ac)uired a "etter understandin& of what constituted jazz on the "asis of records that had "een availa"le since the twenties 5ow the# were read# to seek out the &enuine essence of jazz in ni&ht clu" performances or

in the concert halls Thou&h still of )uestiona"le social status jazz could now "e heard at the Ble#el or at the Bhilharmonic !ut the audience was still divided "etween a lar&e, nostal&ic cohort advocatin& the revival of 6&enuine7 jazz, meanin& a return to traditional roots, and a much smaller, forward%lookin& musical avant&arde devoted to "e"op and cool jazz C+ !oth maintained their set of clu"s and associations at a hostile distance and accused eachother of musical treason <espite these differences of taste the same shock of reco&nition mo"ilized its followers For man# jazz fans shared the uncann# feelin& that the# had not onl# discovered a new musical &enre, "ut a -new wa# of "ein& in the world -1+ The promise of musical freedom that this music imparted to its fans helps to e$plain wh# man# white Americans or Europeans descri"ed their first encounter with &enuine jazz in terms of a reli&ious conversion usin& a rhetoric of li"eration 2+ !ut its detractors were just as adamant The Afro%American idiom sent shock waves throu&h the nervous s#stem of the American and European esta"lishments The h#sterical level of hostilit# in the reaction to ra&time "# mainstream classical musicians allows us to reconstruct its li"idinal and su"versive challen&e *4+ Toda# ra&time ma# seem innocent enou&h, just the thin& for encores in classical concerts or for piano students "ored with Dlementi !ut we are the children of the musical and li"idinal li"eration that ra&time set in motion For us, as for the little "o# in <octorow9s novel 8a&time, -there seemed no other possi"ilities for life than those delineated "# the music- The violent hostilit# a&ainst ra&time on the part of esta"lished musicians in the earl# part of this centur# was motivated "# the pervasive feelin& of decline common amon& the value%conservative rulin& classes The mood was "uttressed on "oth sides of the Atlantic "# "ooks such as Madison ?rant9s The Bassin& of the ?reat 8ace or "# @swald Spen&ler9s .nter&an& des A"endlandes From their perspective, ra&time could "e read as the tip of the ice"er&, as a patholo&ical, immoral, patentl# se$ual, and su"versive su"tratum of cultural rot 'ames 'o#ce called attention to the paral#sis of pu"lic live, William !utler ,eats dia&nosed the lack of a center and Ezra Bound compared civilization to a "itch &one in the teeth In that scenario of crisis innovators welcomed the new music, traditionalists read it as a s#mptom of decline 5o wonder then that the American composer <aniel ?re&or# Mason &reeted ra&time with the appropriate dis&ustE 6Fet us pur&e America and the <ivine Art of Music from this pollutin& nonsense 7 Swiss%"orn ;ans Muck, the director of the !oston S#mphon# @rchestra, concurred, 6I think that what #ou call ra&time is poison A person inoculated with the ra&time fever is like one addicted to stron& drink 7**+ @thers char&ed that it led to permanent "rain dama&e or that it would curve the spine and wreck the nervous s#stem Furthermore, 6its &reatest destructive power lies in its power to lower the moral standards 7 A #ear "efore the out"reak of World War I, Walter Winston Genilworth wrote a letter to the Baris editor of the 5ew ,ork ;erald Tri"une presuma"l# to warn Europeans of this imminent dan&er to Western cultureE Dan it "e said that America is fallin& pre# to the collective soul of the 5e&ro throu&h the influence of what is popularl# known as 6ra& time7 music0 If there is an# tendenc# toward such a national disaster, it should "e definitel# pointed out and e$treme measures taken to inhi"it the influence and avert the increasin& dan&erHif it has not alread# &one too far The American 6ra& time7 or 6ra& time7 evolved music is s#m"olic of the primitive moralit# and percepti"le moral limitations of the ne&ro t#pe With the latter se$ual restraint is almost unknown, and the widest altitude of moral uncertaint# is conceded *:+ A 5ew En&land music critic with a preference for the European musical tradition concurred and, in jum"led prose which mirrors his nativist an&st, continued the ar&ument "# definin& the role of the 'ew in this nefarious plot to destro# Ar#an America And he also hi&hli&hts the treasona"le "ehavior of the upper classes and nouveau$ riches 8a&time is a mere comic strip representin& American vices ;ere is a rude noise which emer&ed from the hinterlands of "rothels and dives, presented in a 5e&roid manner "# 'ews most often, so popular that even hi&h societ# Iander"ilts dance to it All this s#ncopated music wasn9t American, it is un%American The 'ew and the ,ankee stand in human temperance at polar points The 'ew has oriental e$trava&ance and sensuous "rilliance ;owever, ra&time is a reflection of these raucous times( it is music without a soul *=+ These apocal#ptic metaphors of decline and de&enerac# are "# now familiar stuff in the histor# of jazz and popular musicE @rientalism, into$ication, pollution and "latant sensualit#, all of these spread "# temptin& dance, were knockin& down the &ates of Western culture whose door keepers reacted "# stren&thenin& its cultural defenses with a stron& dose of se$ism and racism *>+ The# articulate a latent fear of insta"ilit# and li"idinal freedom that White%An&lo%Sa$on Brotestant cultural custodians associated with the threatenin& @ther, represented at this time "# an infectious oriental "li&ht transmitted "# !lacks and 'ews, a "li&ht that had spread to women as well *A+ It would "e eas# to add similar ?erman, En&lish, French fears of such cultural assaults issuin& forth from 6mon&relisin& America7 !ut wh# did jazz and ra&time, t#pes of music that seem so innocent and harmless toda#, provoke such out"ursts of apocal#ptic endism0 A "rief phenomenolo&# of jazz ma# "e in order to reconstruct the nature of the collision "etween -Europe- and -Africa- in order to understand "oth the an$iet# of the fundamentalist international who dia&nosed and feared the su"versive power of the jazz idiom, and also the deep attraction it held for all non%American dissenters, for occidentals and orientals, for the Ara" World, for Indians or 'apanese, and particularl# for Europeans *3+

"azz# $ %odernist &uest for Liberation The jazz idiom is "est descri"ed as an individualistic )uest for musical literac# and freedom under conditions of a perpetual contest with peers In communication with all other musicians the jazz musician must assert hisJher individualit# "# enlar&in& the collective &rammar of jazz e$pression Fearnin& from tradition "# cop#in& masters, the jazz artist9s &oal is to overcome peers /and former masters+ in the so%called cuttin& contests The pro&ress from imitative cop#in& to ironic )uotation to critical travest# to creative reconstruction is one of increasin& self%discipline and literac# "oth as pla#er and as composer Dharacteristic of jazz are improvisation, open%ended innovation, and versatilit#, a constant ne&otiation "etween travest#, )uotation, and maskin& and a perpetual makin& it new as a principle of composition 'azz is dialo&ic, pol#phonic, com"ative, antiphonal, and it echoes Eliot9s modernist paradi&m developed in 6Tradition and the Individual Talent7 ;ere is Ellison runnin& jazz throu&h Eliot9s chan&esE For true jazz is an art of individual assertion within and a&ainst the &roup Each true jazz moment /as distinct from the uninspired commercial performance+ sprin&s from a contest in which each artist challen&es all the rest( each solo fli&ht, or improvisation, represents /like the successive canvases of a painter+ a definition of his identit#E as individual, as mem"er of the collectivit# and as a link in the chain of tradition *C+ Each musician when he takes a horn in his handHtrumpet, "ass, sa$ophone, drumsHwhatever instrument he pla#sH each soloist, that is, when he "e&ins to ad li" on a &iven composition with a title and improvise a new creative melod#, this man is takin& the place of a composer ;e is sa#in&, 6Fisten, I am &oin& to &ive #ou a new melodic conception on a tune #ou are familiar with I am a composer 7 That9s what he is sa#in& I, m#self, came to enjo# the pla#ers who didn9t onl# swin&, "ut who invented new rh#thmic patterns, alon& with new melodic concepts And those people areE Art Tatum, !ud Bowell, Ma$ 8oach, Sonn# 8ollins, Fester ,oun&, <izz# ?illespie and Dharles Barker, who is the &reatest &enius of all to me "ecause he chan&ed the whole era around !ut there is no need to compare composers If #ou like !eethoven, !ach or !rahms, that9s oka# The# were all pencil composers I alwa#s wanted to "e a spontaneous composer There is a 'apanese visual art in which the artist is forced to "e spontaneous ;e must paint on a thin stretched parchment with a special "rush and "lack water paint in such a wa# that an unnatural or interrupted stroke will destro# the line or "reak throu&h the parchment Erasures or chan&es are impossi"le These artists must practice a particular discipline, that of allowin& the idea to e$press itself in communication with their hands in such a direct wa# that deli"eration cannot interfere The resultin& picture lacks the comple$ composition and te$ture of ordinar# paintin&, "ut it is said that those who see well find somethin& captured that escapes e$planation This conviction that direct deed is the most meanin&ful reflection I "elieve, has prompted the evolution of the e$tremel# severe and uni)ue discipline of the jazz or improvisin& musician ?roup improvisation is a further challen&e Aside from the wei&ht# technical pro"lem of collective coherent thinkin&, there is the ver# human, even social need for s#mpath# from all mem"ers to "end for the common result :*+ This modernist challen&e to inertia and this drive for innovation have left their traces in son& titlesE Thin&s to Dome, 5ow9s The Time, Tempus Fu&it, Thin&9s Ain9t What The# .sed to !e, Ascension, ?iant Steps In short, the essence of jazz is a constant overcomin&, an artistic transcendence of the limitations of the status )uo 'azz lives in a perpetual opposition to e$istin& s#stems of musical esta"lishment 'azz e$presses for 8alph Ellison and Al"ert Murra# the central drive and function of modernist art, empowerin& creative free e$ercize a&ainst static esta"lishment Brotest, Ellison ar&ues, should not "e the content "ut the essence of such art 6as technical assault a&ainst the st#les which have &one "efore 7 Stanle# Drouch "rin&s the ar&ument home to America when he claims a consan&uinit# "etween the spirit of the First Amendment and that of jazz innovationE it is a free e$ercize of cultural e$pression ::+ The lan&ua&e of jazz is e$pressive of this deep, propulsive desire :=+ Those unwillin& to swin& throu&h the chan&es were know as s)uares, lames or mold# fi&s, all words e$pressin& stasis and paral#sis, whereas jazz musicians have referred to themselves as hepcats, hipsters, swin&ers, and so on These terms and those &iven to the music itself, jazz, "oo&ie%woo&ie, rockKnKroll, jive impl# dance movement, accentuate the centralit# of rh#thm and also connote se$ual activit# <ance and se$ provide the li"idinal ener&# and the semantic char&es of these names which were often assi&ned with the intent to deni&rate !ut some of the fears of its detractors are well founded when we accept their understandin& of dance as a potential prelude to se$ There is an on&oin& de"ate over the folk et#molo&ies of the word jazz, and some lin&uists have identified jazz as a Dreole word meanin& to speed up, impl#in& or&asm /Merriam+ 8adical critics have worried a"out this se$ual mort&a&e of jazz There has "een man# a Mr Dlean in "lack cultural nationalism who wanted to e$cise the li"idinal aura of jazz, and man# musicians such as <uke Ellin&ton or Fouis Armstron& have "een uncomforta"le with the term for its deni&ratin& associations :>+ !ut there is no eas# wa# out of a folk et#molo&# or out of a histor# of ascription marked "# a dou"le consciousness on "oth sides of the color line 'azz arose as an antirepressive freedom zone in a "asicall# prohi"itive societ#, a societ# that for a lon& stretch of its histor# was hostile to dance, son& or se$ In that sense the term

did attract and collect a set of desires that the rulin& culture deemed % for whatever )uestiona"le reasons % su"versive 'azz did articulate those e$periences that do not conform easil# to ideolo&# or to attempts at colonization It is essentiall# anarchistic, thou&h never undisciplined This li"eratin& &round"ass is one reason wh# jazz has not fared well in totalitarian s#stems In fact, jazz has "ecome a sort of litmus test for e$posin& authoritarianism and fundamentalism Therefore it comes as no surprise that not onl# Stalin and the communist nomenclatura, or 8eichsfLhrer der SS ;einrich ;immler and his 5azi thu&s, "ut also American reli&ious fundamentalists and the F!I were united in their resolve to com"at this evil, each of them identif#in& African American music a sl# and su"versive invention of the enem# Dhristian Drusade Bu"lications of Tulsa, @klahoma, a fundamentalist pu"lishin& house, ar&ued toward the end of the Dold War that jazz, 8ock9n98oll, and even Folk were all part of a -Dommunist music master plan-, usin& the fiendish instrument of dance to "rainwash American #outh The call of "lack rh#thms elicited the Bavlovian resonse of moral and political corruption Donversel# Stalinists called American pop music a Trojan horse of capitalism smu&&led into the clean and safe world of communism to indoctrinate its #outh with African rh#thms and thus fill their hearts with the desires of monopol# capitalism And 5azis dia&nosed in jazz a superdestillation of 'ewish li"eralism :A+ The fundamentalist international clearl# reco&nised the li"eratin& potential of jazz It took its su"tl# su"versive power and seductive charm, particularl# for the #oun&, seriousl# And it found the antido&matic and anti%esta"lishmentarian trajector# of jazz threatenin& to the s#stem Thelonius Monk would have a&reed ;e writes in the liner notes to The Domplete Io&ue 8ecordin&s /Mosaic M8 >%**:+E 6The "est thin& a"out jazz is that it makes a person appreciate freedom 'azz and freedom &o hand in hand 7 These contours of a jazz aesthetic ma# help to e$plain the success stor# of jazz music in war%rava&ed Europe The success "e&an after WW I as a dancin& revolution, and it came into its own after WWII as a radical chan&e in the musical structures of feelin& and performance Fet me choose three crucial moments in post%war histor# in which the process of anta&onistic adoption of African American music ma# "e "est e$plained 'unning "azz through (istorical hanges# )*++-)*,, The histor# of the attraction of African American music in Europe "e&ins "efore and then continues after the ?reat War Minstrel Shows and 8a&time had "een de ri&ueur at the Windsor, Wittels"ach, ;a"s"ur& and ;ohenzollern courts, as were American novelt# orchestras and the new dance st#les the# introduced 'ames 8eese Europe9s ;ellfi&hters and Fouis MitchellKs 'azz Gin&s came as part of the American E$peditionar# forces in WW I and toured all over France, a success that spilled over into En&land These were jazz%inspired marchin& and dance orchestras, not jazz formations as we understand them toda# ,et the new sounds the# introduced into European dance halls and variet# theatres were considered radical enou&h Man# conservative ?erman critics "elieved that the Americanization of Europe in terms of class and &ender would occur first in what was called 6?irlkultur7 introduced "# the 6new dancin& woman 7:3+ ;einrich !aum&artner comments on the scene in MLrichE 6'azz was pla#ed for the openin& of modern variet# shows, jazz articulated the difference "etween old and new dances in the dance schools 7'azz7 in the twenties served as an opposite to *2th centur# folks# music 7:C+ The editor of a ?erman avant&arde ma&azine &reeted jazz in April *2:A as followsE Since we, dear reader, have "etter thin&s to do than dwell on 6decorum7 we will talk jazz The editors note with satisfaction that, when our friends talk a"out jazz, the# are rarel# a&reed e$cept on one thin&E that this evil jazz could mark the "e&innin& of a revolution And since our journal seeks to track, na# anticipate an# o"literation of the conventional, we concur that jazz when pla#ed in some dive, or even when heard on a record, is more si&nificant than half a dozen run%of%the%mill ni&hts spent in the concert hall And it is more serious For us jazz means N Americans 8e"ellious atavistic instincts a&ainst a musical culture devoid of rh#thm Ima&e of the timesE chaos, machines, noise, hi&hest pitch of intensit# N triumph of the spirit that sparks with a new melod#, a new color It means com"atin& h#pocritical !iedermeier which often &ets confused with romanticism E <eliver us from ?emLtlichkeit :1+ ?eor&e Antheil, the self%declared !ad !o# of Music, writes that the impact of these "lack "ands was had a similar effect on listenin& ha"its as the performance of Stravinsk#Ks 6Sacre du Brintemps7 in Baris :2+ Improvisation and new rh#thms were the ke# differences in a world, where 7durchkomponierte Musik7 /Antheil, :*1+ set the standard a&ainst which )ualit# was measured =4+ Dlassical conductor Ernest Ansermet marveled in his article 6Sur un orchestre 5O&re7 pu"lished in Fa 8evue romande a"out the 6Ptonnante perfection, le haut &oQt7 of improvisin& !lack musicians In particular he praised Sidne# !echet for his 6pitiless e$ecution7 that reminded him of the ri&or of the second !randen"ur& Doncerto =*+ Dlearl# Sam Woodin&s @rchestra or the "ands of Fouis Mitchell and of 'ack ;#lton that were features of the ca"aret and dance scene in Weimar ?erman# did not deserve such effusive praise Indeed in Weimar ?erman# there was little e$posure to real jazz "efore *2:A @ne reason for the relative paucit# of jazz

performances was h#perinflation American jazz musicians could not e$pect to make the sort of mone# in !erlin that the# received in En&land or France ,et, this did not diminish the hun&er for novelt# music It was Ernst GrenekKs opera 'onn# spielt auf that did more to spread an enthusiasm for jazz, althou&h his music and particularl# the hit sin&le 6'onn#s !lues7 had little to do with the ori&inal article Instead Grenek9s appro$imations of jazz helped to esta"lish a certain Weimar jazz surro&ate that Adorno would find so offensive later on As ' !radford 8o"inson puts it, the Weimar jazz a&e was a creation not so much of the sophisticated audience, "ut of the media and political class who raised the spectre of Americanisation to whip up emotions /8o"inson, *4C+ Brofessional a&ents, American and European, moved into the Weimar music market after the middle twenties to introduce this music to hun&r# audiences 'osephine !aker and Baul Whiteman "ecame fi$tures of the entertainment scene !ut also less well%known 6converts7 to jazz such as Fud ?luskin pla#ed a ke# role After *2:A records "e&an to chan&e the mode of jazz reception ?luskin was a classical percussionist who hired first%rate American musicians and made a &reat num"er of records in ?erman#( so did the Italo%American Michael <anzi in !erlin @f all white ethnics the Italo%Americans and 'ewish Americans were most instrumental in translatin& "lack music into a white structure of feelin& Thou&h few of these recorded &roups mastered the central elements of 6jazz7 and of Afro%American musical performance that Ansermet had admired in Sidne# !echetKs pla#in&, the# "rou&ht appro$imations of "lack music makin& to Europe =:+ And all of them tried to meet a desire for 6new sounds7 which characterized Europe at the "reak of modernism 8ather than attempt to descri"e the comple$ process of individual musical "orrowin& and adaptation in a historio&raphical narrative of clear se)uences and &enealo&iesHwhich would falsif# the recordHlet me tr# to anal#ze the )uestionE what made jazz, or whatever passed for jazz, so attractive to Europeans This relates to )uestions of codes, of semiotics, of conventions It touches on the nature of s#m"olic e$chan&es "ased on comple$ s#stems of si&ns and on conventions of or&anizin& musical messa&es 'azz was perceived as )uintessentiall# American precisel# "# virtue of its incorporation of the African musical idiom The African part of it, most of all rh#thm and improvisation, made it so different from well%tempered European traditions In a much )uoted article for Modern Music in*2:C Aaron Dopland named the essential contri"ution of jazz the 6metamorphosis of rh#thm from ra&time to jazz7 culminatin& in the handlin& of pol#rh#thms ==+ Secondl# jazz filled the em"lem of the a&e that Ezra Bound defined as 6Make IT 5ew7 with instant meanin& It is more than just accidental that Ezra Bound and the Iorticists emphasized the centralit# of 6"iorh#thms7 for a re&eneration of poetr# which the#, like the Futurists "efore them, tried to free from all previous encrustations =>+ !oth movements used ima&es of rh#thm and dance as metaphors for the renewal of poetic ener&ies 'azz could "e used as a strate&ic instrument to mark the 6rh#thmic7 secession from the older European culture It fit the futurist notion of 6anti%passatismo7 and answered MarinettiKs callE 6who will deliver us from ?reece or 8ome07 with a resoundin& 6America 7 ' A 8o&ers in his article 6'azz at home7 for The 5ew 5e&ro /*2:A+ )uotes classical conductor Feopold Stokowski to the effect thatE The 5e&ro Musicians of America are pla#in& a &reat part in this chan&e The# have an open mind, and un"iassed outlook The# are not hampered "# conventions or traditions, and with their new ideas, their constant e$periment, the# are causin& new "lood to flow in the veins of music The jazz pla#ers make their instruments do entirel# new thin&s, thin&s finished musicians are tau&ht to avoid The# are pathfinders into new realms 'azz &ave a popular and vernacular frisson to the feelin& of crisis and secession It heralded a new relationship to realit# and it lampooned the pretension of the European "our&eois world in that it was decidedl# anti%status )uo 8ather than invoke the 65i&htmare of ;istor#7 /Eliot+ in semi%tra&ic tones, it i&nored it When ,eats said 6the center does not hold,7 jazz ur&ed to throw it awa# and do the shimm# And most of all it was an anti%representative art It was also an avant&ardist &esture in that it projected not onl# a music "ut a new wa# of livin& For jazz, this is a consensus of musicians and fans, involves not onl# a musical &enre, "ut a new approach to lived culture It was a multi%ethnic h#"rid, an antidote to an# kind of cultural nationalism and chauvinism, and therefore it was never an e$clusive music with limited access ;ence its political undertow was antithetical to what made the older Europe tick Whereas the latter was set on social hierarchies, national cultures and the maintenance of "oundaries of class and &ender, jazz defied an# such constraints In the emer&in& metropolitan culture it was the ideal vehicle for "reakin& conventions and &oin& slummin& with st#le 5o wonder the Dunards, Iander"ilts and the new ur"an workin& class fell for it, all at the same time What was the artistic and ideolo&ical meanin& of jazz in the modernist ?erman and French avant&ardes0 The reception of 6Amerikanismus7 that traveled under the auspices of 6modernization7 included ;enr# FordKs cars ne$t to jazz and emancipated, dancin& flappers It fit into the &eneral d#namism of the period Thou&h 5ew @rleans jazz was in &ood measure "ased on the rural musics of recent mi&rants it matured as an ur"an and cosmopolitan music providin& entertainment for the emer&in& metropolis The new music from America seemed to answer the call of futurist Fui&i

8ussolo, the inventor of noise machines, for 6street noises, atonalit# and irre&ular rh#thms 7 This is 8ussolo9s revolutionar# manifesto 6The Art of 5oises7 of *2*=E If we &o throu&h a &reat modern capital with our ears more alert than our e#es, we can deli&ht in distin&uishin& the murmur of water, air and &as in metal pipes, the mutter of motors, "reathin& and pulsin& like animals, the thro""in& of valves, the thuddin& of pistons, the screechin& of mechanical saws, the joltin& of a tram on its trails, the crackin& of whips, the flappin& of curtains and fla&s =A+ The ur"an structure of feelin& and carnivales)ue sentiment of jazz was not alien to the formerl# rural an now ur"an folk carvin& out a new life in American and European cities For it was structurall# an open form with a penchant for innovation and incorporation of the other ;ence over time jazz, "# a"sor"in& and nostrif#in& local musical traditions, mutated into a wide spectrum of variants( there is 5ew @rleans st#le, <i$ieland, Swin&, !e"op and Free 'azz and there are Italian, French, ?#ps#, Glezmer, Indian, 'apanese, and 5orth African 'azz variants It fraternized with <ada and Surrealism which sou&ht out the unconscious and the @ther 5ot surprisin&l# man# of the surrealists were avid jazz fans =3+ It was a fittin& music for the industrialized world, a fact noticed "# ;ektor 8ottweiler /alias Th Adorno in *2=3+, thou&h he then went on to call jazz proto%fascist, one of the most e&re&ious misjud&ments in the histor# of music =C+ 'azz "oth in its instruments of choice and modes of reproduction used modern technolo&#, "ut never succum"ed to a ta#lorisation of rh#thm Its motto was make it new, "ut not )uite on the "eat( hence Adorno9s alle&ations of ta#lorisation misses a central point of jazz At its avant%&arde spear%head it had an "uilt%in resistance a&ainst such commodification ,et, it allowed participation on man# levels of increasin& or decreasin& sophistication since it reached out "oth downward to its folk roots and upward to the avant&arde It loved to &o slummin&, "ut it aimed hi&h in creative standards 5ow wonder then that man# composers within the classical avant&arde took it seriousl# ,et, it fit into the 5ew .r"an Dapitalism since it was part of the new leisure and entertainment industr# It used read#%made and colla&e as a principle of composition It sat well with the new anthropolo&# of primitivism since it included non%Western elements so popular amon& artists at the time =1+ It encoura&ed the new internationalism of artistic cohorts which networked all principal cities from 5ew ,ork to Moscow to MLrich to Munich to Baris to Fondon and !erlin In short, jazz was a travelin&, networkin&, ur"an music of the first order, hence mirrorin& and anticipatin& patterns of modern mi&ration and secession Its evolutionar# trajector# from 5ew @rleans to !e"op sedimented after *2>A into a sociomusical stratification model which reached from so%called mold# fi&s of traditional jazz to hepcats of !e"op @n all levels of reception it was a social music since it encoura&ed certain forms of ur"an socia"ilit# comprisin& not onl# music, "ut dress and lan&ua&e It was an ur"an lin&ua franca read# to "e used and adopted "# an#one It lacked "arriers a&ainst an# cultural appropriation "# film, variet# or dance hall Indeed there was a dual affinit# "etween jazz and the avant%&ardeE "oth e$hi"it and pursue a hermeneutics of depth that tries "rin& up repressed feelin&s, strike throu&h h#pocritical masks, evoke the primitive ,et "oth love surfaces with a penchant for Gitsch and trash, with appeals to populist modernism and modern marketin& strate&ies The second affinit# ties in with its ha"itus of li"eration concernin& &ender and race A rhetoric and &esture of freedom characterize "oth jazz and the avant%&arde Emanipated 6American &irls7 and jazz went hand in hand To "efriend "lack musicians implied a &esture of anti%colonialism Secondl# it meant a li"eration of western he&emonic forms of representation and it invited a pluralism of st#les as a reflection of a new international anthropolo&# Indeed it would "e interestin& to investi&ate the trian&ulation of jazz, surrealism and anthropolo&# in the academic a&endas of the French avant%&arde of the twenties and thirties 'azz was also seen as part of a new interest in African art and socalled primitve art It was in Schiller9s term a 6naive7 e$pression, strai&ht from the heart, unreflected and 6automatic7 as in the e$perimental 6automatic writin&,7 an oral tradition "ased on the art of improvisation The ;arlem 8enaissance had called for the 65ew 5e&ro,7 a cause taken up in Europe "# hi&hl# placed individuals such as 5anc# Dunard the "lack sheep of a d#nast# who edited one of the most important antholo&ies of !lack arts with several important articles on "lack music translated "# Samuel !ecket =2+ Fast "ut not least was the hope for a /lar&el# projected+ li"eration of the senses which was mirrored in the a"ove%mentioned an$iet# of the esta"lishment that jazz throu&h its transmission "# emancipated dancin& 6&irls7 would lead to se$ual li"ertinism >4+ Weimar of course did and could not keep up the frenzied ener&# of the late twenties When ;itler came to power the market for jazz had alread# &one into decline Thou&h the 5azis were secretl# addicted to the &lamour of modern, industrializin& America there was no room the universe of Adolf ;itler for the li"eratin& modernism of jazz -.inging /azis? In 5azi ?erman# jazz was first criminalized and then after *2=1 for"idden While it went under&round in ?erman#, it found a refu&e in 5azi%occupied Baris <jan&o 8einhardt, the ;ot Dlu" de France, Dharles <elaune#, ;u&ue Bannassie and later AndrP ;odeir were important French promoters of jazz, a firm "ase on which the post%war &eneration would

"uild <urin& the thirties few American musicans held on to emplo#ment in ?erman#, and the onset of the Second World War effectivel# stopped the activit# of American musicians in Europe as transmitters of jazz ,et jazz flourished despite the 5azi ideolo&#, which classified it as de&enerate art /verjudete und verne&erte Musik+ @ne of the most interestin& chapters in the histor# of jazz is its survival in 5azi ?erman#, and in the areas occupied "# ;itler9s arm#E The spiritual and ph#sical threat "# dictatorship, militarism, fascism &ave rise to the astonishin& phenomenon, that the jazz life flourished with a remarka"le intensit# 'azz was the incarnation of freedom, democrac#, individualism 'azz was the s#m"olic resistance to repression and ?leichschaltun&, writes 8ainer E Fotz >*+ !ondin& "etween ?erman and French jazz fans endured the political conflict <ietrich Schulz%GRhn, who served as a hi&h rankin& ?erman officer in Baris, and Dharles <elaune#, who was a mem"er of the cultural resistance, remained &ood friends Schulz%GRhn was a"le to protect his jazz friends in Baris and he did so with little interference from his superiors There was an interestin& ideolo&ical split at the top levels of the 5azi "rass Thou&h officiall# jazz was considered a non%Ar#ian music, man# of the #oun& SS officers openl# appreciated the innovative 6modernit#7 of jazz and patronized "ands that could pla# the 6new7 music In that sense jazz profited from the dou"le consciousness of ?erman 5azis who were torn "etween ideolo&ical traditionalism and sociotechnical modernisation ,oun& 5azis could not )uite make up their minds whether jazz was a child of 6modernism7 and hence de&enerate, or a product of ;enr# FordKs modernisation and hence in tune with the Auf"ruch 'azz mana&ed to survive in this mar&in of am"i&uit# @nl# when jazz fans "e&an actin& up a&ainst the s#stem and "ecame a 6pu"lic nuisance7 for the authorities, as did the Swin& "o#s in ;am"ur&, the machiner# of repression was rolled out In a letter of the 68eichsfLhrers der SS7 to ;e#drich dated *3 'anuar# *2>:, ;einrich ;immler &ives voice to his profound hatred for the lifest#le represented "# the Swin& "o#sE The entire leadership, male and female, and all teachers that are hostile to the 5azi movement and supportive of swin& are to "e put in concentration camps There #ouths should "e whipped, "e &iven strenuous e$ercises and put to hard la"or 'ust an# work or #outh camp will not do for this scum and their &ood%for%nothin& female fans @nl# "# settin& a "rutal e$ample will we "e a"le to stop this an&loph#le SsicT tendenc# from spreadin& at a time when ?erman# is fi&htin& for her e$istence >:+ !ut ;immler9s repressive apparatus did not cover all areas or penetrate all strata Schulz%GRhn claims that jazz enjo#ed 65arrenfreiheit7 in occupied France >=+ In ?erman# popular orchestras dropped the word jazz from their names, "ut continued to pla# jazz%inspired music Some simpl# rechristened ever&reens( thus 6;ow ;i&h the Moon7 could pass as 6Serenade an den Mond7 and 6Ti&er 8a&7 "ecame a harmless fun%piece 6Schwarzer Banther 7 M# oldest "rother who served as a musician at the 8ussian front never had to a"andon jazz as his muse In the later phases of the war -hot music- or Swin& were pla#ed as a la&niappe for the rank and file, and the 5azi re&ime emplo#ed a jazz com"o for purposes of su"versive propa&anda ;ence in the histor# of jazz in ?erman# there was no 6zero hour,7 there was not a new "e&innin& after *2>A The disruption occurred mostl# on a personal level, since the 5azi and War period had ended the constant influ$ of musicians from America to Europe and thus had terminated the influ$ of new sounds "azz as subversive reeducation after )*01 The stream of American musicians and their music resumed after *2>A with a renewed intensit# Dhanneled "# the American armed forces and its need for entertainment the e$chan&e of musicians continues to this da# This time jazz came "ack within the political frame of occupation, reeducation, and the Dold War >>+ Thou&h Americans had come as victors after "oth wars, in *2>A the collapse of ?erman culture was so complete that it lacked an# authorit# particularl# for its #oun&E it had a"&edankt @n the microsocial level of ever#da# pra$is American democrac# entered as a 6swin&in&7 democrac# As children we noticed how different the ? I s walked and talked >A+ The li"eratin& motor "ehavior of the American jazz culture si&nified, when adopted "# ?erman jazz fans, a tacit political statement and marked a political place in the post%war, cold%war spectrum Who had hated 'azz0 Iictorians, 5azis, the conservative restoration in ?erman#, ' Ed&ar ;oover, Stalin, the Glan and Fundamentalist reli&ions The choice was clear Fet me "riefl# summarize a &enerational conflict that this "astard of American culture helped to radicalise The post%war &eneration of adults "orn "efore *2:4 who had lived throu&h the 5azi period and throu&h the rava&es of the war had lost their own political culture( will# nill# the# em"raced the political s#stem of the 6Schutzmacht .SA7 since all alternatives, monarch#, dictatorship and fascism, had "een tried and found wantin& It helped that the old anti% communism of the 5azis translated smoothl# into the new anti%communism of the Dold War makin& instant Dold War democrats out of man# a devout 5azi As a conse)uence of the ideolo&ical vacuum this older &eneration opted for a pra&matic and at times c#nical acceptance of Western <emocrac# as a lesser evil ,et, their &rud&in& acceptance of American polic# was accompanied "# an almost visceral rejection of all American populist, mass or &rass roots culture The 5azi indoctrination a&ainst American modernist 6jazz%culture7 as represented "# Weimar had enjo#ed a wide popular "ase that continued into post war restoration Indeed the -fiasco of Weimar- was re&ularl# trotted out as an

instance of 6moral political deca#,7 an e$periment that should "e avoided at all cost And there was a tacit understandin& that the decline of Weimar ?erman# had in part "een caused "# the li"eralization of its culture throu&h American influences This &ave a ne&ative political spin to the avant&ardes and secessions as well that had "een interested in the jazz idiom The pro%American politics of the Adenauer restoration was therefore enveloped in a total rejection of American pop culture 6!o#, turn off that ni&&er music,7 was heard in man# ?erman homes durin& the fifties While <ad em"raced the Dold War ri&idities of 'ohn Foster <ulles, the post%war &eneration of #oun&sters was marchin& to a different drummer The# wanted a radical political "reak with the authoritarian past and had man# )uestions to ask their parents ;ence the# em"raced modernist culture, hi&h or pop, "ecause their parents rejected it, and the# also "e&an to have dou"ts a"out the hidden lo&ic of the Dold War which framed their parent9s world If ;itler and ?oe""els had "een a&ainst jazz, there had to "e somethin& to it If Gonrad Adenauer and ;ans ?lo"ke were for authoritarian restoration, the #oun& pulled the other wa# >3+ !ut jazz served not onl# as a "oundar# marker a&ainst older totalitarian or authoritarian s#stems, "ut also as an instrument that could "e marshalled a&ainst current American racist practice After the ideolo&ical moratorium of the fifties had run its course #oun& ?ermans "e&an to ask )uestions a"out the American handlin& of Divil 8i&hts which made the parent &eneration furious To #oun&er ?ermans the deepl# racialised nature of jazz was )uite apparent( hence a natural coalition "etween ?erman jazz fans and Divil 8i&hts activists "e&an to emer&e The second, post%war &eneration made a critical choice in what it would accept from the .SE popular mass democratic modernism #es, Dold War patholo&# and racism no American !lacks were perceived "oth as victors and as victims of the victors Their "alancin& act "etween European musical achievement and American racist ascription was )uickl# noticed and understood "# their fans To their own surprise !lack musicians "ecame a role model for European jazz musicians and for the #oun& Whereas in Europe the color line "ecame increasin&l# more perforated, it remained firml# in place within the militar# &hetto This situation radicalised their dou"le consciousness As American citizens and soldiers the# remained in the prisonhouse of American racism, as jazz musicians the# enjo#ed universal acceptance in Europe And their musical talent, so stron&l# appreciated "# the European #oun&, remained unacknowled&ed or &rud&in&l# acknowled&ed "# the white American musical power structure The special care accorded to !lack American jazz artists "# Europeans at first caused some consternation, and it took awhile "efore the State <epartment reco&nized their value as a weapon in the Dold War 8einhold Wa&nleitner puts it in a nutshellE -jazz, rock9n9roll, and ;oll#wood did not need . S cultural propa&anda as desperatel# as . S cultural propa&anda needed jazz, rock9n9roll and ;oll#wood ->C+ And in *23* Fouis Armstron& si&nifies on the "elated discover# of jazz as a political instrument in the Dold WarE 6The State <epartment has discovered jazz 7>1+ Meanwhile, for ?ermans ridin& on this racial dilemma was a wa# of compensatin& for the collapse of their world "# pointin& out the flaws in the victor9s moral order ;avin& learned the lesson of anti%racism from the American teacher the em"race of "lack jazz was a wa# of returnin& the moral lesson Earlier, Baris had &iven refu&e to the Fost ?eneration and to 'osephine !aker( now a variet# of European cities "ecame the favored place for "lack and white jazz e$patriatesE E$amples were @scar Bettiford, ;er" ?eller, Mal Waldron in ?erman#, Genn# Dlarke, !ud Bowell in France <on !#as in ;olland, <e$ter ?ordon in <enmark In contrast to Weimar, when dance halls dominated the process of adoption, after *2>A the communication s#stems and distri"ution circuits had "ecome more professional, particularl# radio, which "ecame now the chief vehicle of musical communication After radio the second most important multipliers of jazz were the clu"s Transnational jazz cohorts emer&ed from the automatic fraternization of musicians in post%war occupation ?erman# ;ere the armed forces and its instititons served as multipliers, since ?erman musicians found their first emplo#ment in ? I clu"s and ?erman jazz fans found in the American Forces 5etwork radio a new jazz friend After *2A4 a ?erman clu" scene "e&an to evolve and "ecame an important element of #outh culture in ?erman# These were places of the jazz avant%&arde with a "ohemian touch and with that &esture of e$istentialism provided "# the Baris left "ank And these ?erman clu"s were in turn patronized "# !lack musicians who were made to feel welcome ?i&s ran from 1 p m to > a m , ei&ht hours of slave la"or as 5aura, the pianist, sa#s ;e called them the coal mines of ?erman jazz These were the trainin& stations for the 6imitative period7 or accordin& to 5aura 6pla&iarist period7 of ?erman jazz In his own case, 5aura sa#s, he chan&ed his role models like shirts and &raduated over time from ?eor&e Shearin& to <ave !ru"eck to the Modern 'azz Uuartet It was t#pical for the jazz socialization of ?erman musicians that as a first step musical fathers were chosen who were still fi&ura"le within classical, European music%makin&, then a &radual conversion to "lack models and onl# at end of A4s a turn to hard"op This ?erman evolution of a clu" scene was an une$pected spin%off of the project of reeducation, for the top "rass at State or @M?.S had not considered jazz as part of the curriculum !ut 'azz clu"s "e&tan to serve as a hi&h modernist countercultural alternative to 5azi culture .ntil the end of the forties the Dlu" scene of the militar# was an important vehicle of transit Since most white American clu"s favored hill"ill# or ;awai hits, ?erman musicians &ravitated to the "lack clu"s where jazz was "ein& pla#ed Al"ert Man&elsdorf, the most

prominent ?erman jazz musician after WWII writesE We alwa#s tried to &et &i&s with "lack units There we could pla# our t#pe of music and still "e appreciated At an# rate it was a lot simpler to pla# jazz for "lack soldiers than in white clu"s where we met resistance and had to pla# hill"ill# /;au"er, =32+ Bu"lic 8adio in each occupational zone pla#ed a crucial role Within the s#stem of federal autonom# that emer&ed after *2>A in ?erman# each re&ional radio station had a "i& "and, and emplo#ment opportunities for jazz musicians proliferated at the 5W<8, S<8, SWF, !8, ;8, SF!, 8IAS, @8F radio stations ;ence there e$isted the odd situation that post%War ?erman# and Austria had more pu"licl# funded "i& "ands than the .S, and the orchestras of Gurt Edelha&en, Will# !erkin&, Franz Thon, and Werner MLller were onl# too &lad to hire well%trained, e$patriate Americans( and these liked the stead# income The music these orchestras pla#ed remained imitative and merel# "orrowed from American jazz There was little creative freedom in the earl# phase, and !e"op, Swin&, !oo&ie%Woo&ie, <i$ieland were all pla#ed in a &eneric jum"le ;owever, these "ands were places of emplo#ment for those musicians who were tired of the underpaid clu" scene 'azz concerts "ecame cultural ritual events for #oun& ?ermans Bu"lic jazz concerts "e&an in the earl# fifties and provided a platform for national "ondin& amon& jazz fans <urin& the si$ties jazz festivals in ?erman# "ecame increasin&l# European and were soon an important pillar of the international jazz market !# the *2C4s the pu"lic jazz concert scene in Europe had "ecome a most important source of income for American jazz musicians whose home markets had "een taken over "# 8ockKn 8oll Without the European fan support the American jazz avant%&arde would have collapsed The role of radio cannot "e overestimated Attractive was the forei&n lan&ua&e aura of the !ritish and American Forces 5etwork stations, "ut most of all their e$cellent pro&rams in American music These pro&rams created listenin& communities and role modelsE !ill Drozier9s V Dool Dorner W in the !F5, or the li&hthearted V Funcheon in Munchen W of the AF5, and Sim Dopans and Fucien Malson on France Musi)ue Most important was Willis Donnover, anchor man of the 6Ioice of America 'azz ;our7 "roadcast via Tan&ier at 2 p m on short wave and at midni&ht on lon& wave Willis Donnover created conspiratorial listenin& communities all over the world, "ut particularl# in Dentral and Eastern Europe and, like Sim Dopans in France and 'oachim Ernst !erendt in ?erman#, created the wetlands for the &rowth of American Studies There is hardl# an earl# American studies career that does not involve a commitment to American music At school jazz friends from vastl# different a&e &roups would form &roups and cohorts T#pical visitin& patterns emer&ed in m# communit# "etween those who had the "est radio and who had records Amon& the ritualistic paraphernalia necessar# for these listenin& sessions were 5escafP, French ci&arettes /?auloise+, "lack !e"op clothes, "erets, and a laconic, cool st#le .nderneath the Dold War there e$isted the su"culture of the -Dool War- I remem"er listenin& to Miles <avis and !ud Bowell with 8olf%<ieter !rinckmann, the ?erman "eat poet for whom jazz "ecame an important l#rical muse 8ecords and record collectin& &rew into a ritual fad I recall &ettin& m# first shellack record from m# oldest "rother in the earl# fiftiesE @scar Beterson pla#in& 'umpin& with S#mphon# Sid and ?et ;app# <urin& the 5azi period there had "een a verita"le cult amon& the trul# addicted of collectin& those ver# records which were 6ver"oten7 After the war record companies emer&ed that serviced the European jazz fansE 'azztone Societ# marketed a rather sophisticated pro&ram of traditional and modern jazz on *4%inch lon& pla# records The /musicall# e$cellent+ 'azz Sampler of the 'azztone Societ# "ecame for man# the first afforda"le lon&%pla#in& record 'azz of course remained em"edded in the lar&er cultural scene While 'azz transported a &ood deal of its American musical si&nificance, it soon ac)uired a ?erman social and artistic meanin& European e$istentialism, which included a denial of all older models of European normativeness, functioned as a receptive, co&nitive mode for jazz Indeed, 'azz "ecame the musical accompaniment to readin& Sartre, even to readin& ;eide&&er It was music for the isolation of the hipster, for what Mailer means in his influential essa# 6The White 5e&ro7 and for the 6Brotean man7 of the !eat ?eneration There was an interestin& co&nitive difference, if not a pattern of mutual misapprehension In America jazz was the chosen music of a small elite, "ut was stuck with a low social status that was inevita"l# wei&hted down "# its racial herita&e( in Europe it was received as countercultural avant%&arde, as an e$istential, ceremonial music, as a secret code, a lan&ua&e of the initiated, and it was decidedl# not lower class America9s 6ni&&er music7 was Europe9s social and artistic avant%&arde Dertainl#, for Europeans the 6"lack connection7 did not have an# social connotations or carried a racialist mort&a&e It took awhile "efore the State <epartment realized what an important and effective instrument jazz could "e in the Dold War to catch the attention of the elites The 6downward percolation model7 /-&esunkenes Gultur&ut-+ and the elite vs popular classifications are inade)uate

models to situate jazz in a cultural hierarch# We need a differentiated model of historical a&ents makin& choices @n the other hand, the )uestion of he&emon# and power relations persists, particularl# in the allocation of pu"lic fundin& There is an interestin& development in terms of jazz in the ?erman pu"lic sphere Since the si$ties man# small municipal communities in ?erman# /Moers, Frei"ur&, !ur&hausen, .nterschleiXheim, <armstadt+ have set aside pu"lic fundin& and "ecome supporters of jazz Metropolitan centers continue to "e &lo"al pla#ers in the world of opera and theatre and often have no funds left for jazz This choice is of course a function of "ud&et size since jazz is not )uite as costl# as "u#in& 'ames Fevine In this conte$t it would "e interestin& to compare the American and European le&itimization of jazz as culture "# usin& the measurin& stick of pu"lic or municipal fundin& >2+ Dlearl# there are differences in the stratification of culture in America and stratification of culture in Europe Also in the de&rees of commodification of music, particularl# of jazz which spans the entire &amut from hi&hl# commodified to elite and avant%&arde forms ;ence it covers the entire spectrum of cultural stratification( #et there is also an all em"racin& tolerance in most jazz audiences and a continued conspirac# Toda#, American music and jazz are as ?erman as Schweine"raten In the popular sphere, <i$ieland has "# now "ecome the a&in& ur"an professional9s Ersatz for @mpah "rass "ands and is now pla#ed in !avarian "eer&ardens Mainstream jazz has "ecome a 6)uotidian vernacular7 and has lost its elite appeal Indeed, jazz radio stations in Munich or !erlin are "e&innin& to show a sli&htl# anti%intellectual slant caterin& to a professional, non%academic &roup An important, even remarka"le event was the first e$hi"ition documentin& one hundred #ears in the histor# of jazz or&anized "# Ekkehard 'oost and 'oachim Ernst !erendt in *211 A4+ It was the first serious e$hi"it of its kind in the world, and it ma# surprise that this event was not sta&ed "# cities important in the evolution of jazz such as 5ew @rleans, Dhica&o or 5ew ,ork, or at least "# European centers such as Baris or !erlin Instead a provincial cit# in Southwest ?erman#, <armstadt, al"eit one with an older commitment to avant&arde modernism honored this "# now &lo"al music Surel# this adoption of jazz into re&ional, municipal cultural politics is the conclusive evidence that jazz has "ecome as ?erman as spaetzleHor as 'ewish as matzo or as 'apanese as shushi or as French as steak and frites In short it is a &lo"al idiom sta"ilized worldwide "# re&ional variants that have "e&un to &row local roots thanks to inspired workers in the vine#ard of jazz who advertized its call to freedom word%wide