[Roamsaffots]

I thought I'd let someone else get a word in edgewise here: After 650+ viewings I figured someone else had to have an insight I hadn't explored. Apparently not... Perhaps the "problems down the road" might be having their chilling effect. In any case, fewer than ten people have replied; we Canadians are a polite lot, n'est pas?
And thanks to Korsrud for the criticism; I'll try not to melodramatise too much on Bowen on the 15th! When the music starts my mouth falls silent.
Of course Morgan is a wonderful young musician and well worth the time spent in our friendly correcting of him; his comments on another thread in this site show that he sometimes has had regrets over his profanity (Jam at the End). Hopefully he'll think twice before committing his next first reaction to print.
The point I think important to make is that what jazz musicians do, regardless of race or colour, is crucial and significant. And, yes, dangerous. It is this fact that is acknowledged by the authorities in the NOPD and the border patrol. Are we too reticent, or humble, or too coward to acknowledge that?
It does no good to teach critical thinking and not to think critically; to teach jazz but not understand it's true history.
Cajun music gets it's name from Canadians; Acadians, specifically. If John Doheny (posting from New Orleans) thinks there are 36 black people in Canada then as a white man I am pleased to report I am directly related to almost 10% of the black Canadian populace; my brother, my son and my wife. Add the inlaws and acquaintances and, according to the estimate Doheny offers, I know about 150% of the black people in Canada personally -- not including Oscar Peterson or the first black NHL hockey player to whose former residence I delivered newspapers for years, unaware of the historic significance of that house.
I took the time to view the website under Doheny's posting and found a litany of flagellation regarding Martin Luther King's birthday. What really is the sense in mourning the man without taking up his mantle? We have ten, no, one hundred times the power of a young black American preacher right here as white, middle aged and middle class males online exploiting the educational opportunities of the so-called First World, teaching and playing what is regarded by many (as Korsrud points out) as privileged, intellectual music. How is it possible to live in New Orleans and do graduate work in the history of jazz without realising the influence of French Canada in Cajun (Acadian/creole) music? To teach critical thinking and not realise that using Canadian as a code word for black has nothing to do with the number of black Canadians; it is our attitude, our "otherness", that is being referred to!
I honestly hope to invite Doheny to a gig one day, of course, but in terms of "problems down the road", I have no compunction in risking a little melodrama if 650+ of the most beautiful people I know can get together and discuss these issues openly and without concern for any repercussions.
To those silent readers: if I am wrong, show me the way. If I am right, say so! Apathy leads to disaster. Pride comes before a fall. The enemy is fear itself.
One Love, and two musical notes:
Herbie Hancock, in the intro to The Buddha In Your Mirror -- "Don't Play the Butter Notes": Nyam Myoho Renge Kyo; however you translate it, it means "I commit to changing the world through sound"; Bob Marley: "Can we free our people through music? Yes, we free the people with music!"
Stop patronising, and tell the children the truth!
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