Black music deserves a month too

With the coming of February, as in years past, I groan at the arrival of Black History Month…. With the coming of February, as in years past, I groan at the arrival of Black History Month.

It’s not the “Black” part that I object to, but rather the “History” and “Month” aspects.

While some might consider Crispus Attucks – the black man killed in the Boston Massacre – to be an essential historical name, I think that there are many blacks who have made a greater contribution to our culture. People such as Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald. Or Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy and John Lee Hooker.

I refer, of course, to jazz and blues, both art forms created by black Americans, and both integral parts of American culture.

As Tolstoy said, “Historians are like deaf people who insist on answering questions that no one has asked them.” I have a disdain for history, and black history is no exception. I gain no more by knowing that Harriet Tubman was a “conductor” on the underground railroad than I do by knowing that Vercingetorix was the leader of the Gauls, opposing Julius Caesar during his Gallic conquests, or that … I could go on, but won’t.

My aversion to history stems not from ignorance, but from a wealth of knowledge that has proven useless, and will continue to prove useless until such time as I am a contestant on “Jeopardy!” Even then, I would probably forget to say, “Who is,” before my response, thus negating my knowledge.

At the same time, I would consume nothing but rice and water before I would sell my Thelonious Monk CD.

Moreover, one thing that Black History Month taught me, throughout all the years that it played a defining role in my school’s curriculum, was that black history was worth a month, and white people got the other 11.

For me, jazz was all about equality because, at the time, I couldn’t really compare M.C. Hammer to Mozart, but Miles Davis and Wynton Marsalis could unquestionably hang with the best.

And if blues is not quite as arty or innovative, it is perhaps the most influential and most lasting art form since the beginning of the 20th century. Even music that I hate is rooted deeply in the blues.

Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, “Without music, life would be a mistake.” I wholeheartedly agree, but I still don’t think he knew what he was talking about. Nietzsche never heard, since he died in 1900. But I listened, from a very young age, to the music that Nietzsche would have been familiar with. In middle school, Tchaikovsky was the subject of my “Favorite Musician” presentation in music class. And I still thought life was a mistake.

I first suspected otherwise when Jimi Hendrix introduced me to Chuck Berry, who introduced me to B.B. King. And my mind was changed when Eric Clapton introduced me to Robert Johnson.

I think that Black History Month has helped to inform Americans about the many obstacles and tragedies that blacks have had to overcome. And at one time, a month celebrating the influence blacks have had on our history was a month more than would have otherwise been devoted to the subject.

But now, one month’s focus on teaching black history slights and segregates it, as if it was possible to distinguish black history from other history.

Above all else, though, the time has come to educate the population about another significant travesty: Out of all the terrific jazz musicians over the years – the greatest of whom were almost all black – Kenny G has sold the most records.

This seems to be part of a continuing trend that also resulted in Elvis becoming the “King of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” as a white man playing black music. And Michael Jackson becoming the “King of Pop” as a black man playing black music, then turning white. Not to mention the fact that Eminem is almost certainly on his way to becoming the best-selling rap artist of all time.

I think that, once Kenny G gets tired of rolling in money, he will be grieved to think that he outsells the likes of Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker. Hopefully, in the name of all that is good, he will buy enough copies of Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue to push Miles over the top, and put them under the seats for his audience members. Sort of like Oprah.

Failing that, this month, radio stations should make a commitment to play more blues and more jazz, teachers should play black music in the classrooms and the uninitiated should head for the record stores, all in celebration of February’s transition to Black Music Month.

Moreover, Feb. 14 will be Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald Day, in order that I might sit alone in my room, listening to romantic music and not feel weird.

E-mail Marty at mflaherty@pittnews.com to talk blues or jazz.