Nonchalant but Not Passive

Thelonious Monk faced environments of racial tensions and traditional racial politics for most of his life.  His quotes regarding “fighting the ofays” [1]and “whites calling us ‘boys’”[2] speak of his relaxed attitude, or rather his transcendence above the baggage of the racial tension that plagued the environment in which he grew up and worked.

Monk’s mother took the serious risk of moving to New York, at the sake of her marriage, for her children’s education among other benefits.   In order to pursue this though, it meant living in the neighborhood of San Juan Hill, a providence that earned the title of the “busiest crime areas in New York City” (Kelley 19).  It was an area so diverse that “every block [was] a different town,” and with diversity came racial tension, so much so that one had to be careful just walking to school.  Within this diverse group of people were immigrants from the South, the West Indies as well as a slew of various European countries.  Even amongst all this strife though, Thelonious never was caught up in any large conflict.  Instead, he found ways of going above and beyond them, such as finding an interest in music.  With this mixture of people, came a mixture of culture which included different styles of music all to which Monk was exposed to.  He was taught piano classically by Wolf, but soon mastered even the most difficult Chopin and Tchaikovsky pieces as he grew found of jazz.  As Monk aged, he found refuge from the racial tension within the Columbus Hill Neighborhood Center, where he could play music along with other activities.  Monk lost a talent contest in which the prize was a Julliard education although his family blamed the judges’ racist views.  Later the winner told Monk that he deserved to win in which he responded, “”I’m glad I didn’t go to the conservatory.  Probably would’ve ruined me!”” (Kelley 30)  Monk never took extreme offense to the racism in his life, but rather assigned it no importance or power over him.  He did rebuke racial injustice though, an example being the time he stood up for Sonny, a guy who would later become a great friend (Kelley 33).  In spite of his mother’s aspirations for her children to get a good education, Thelonious dropped out of school and pursued his newly blossoming musical career.

The effects of Thelonious’ childhood can be heard in his music and seen in his performance.  Just as the racial politics created strife in Monk’s childhood, he uses dissonance and timing to create a tension in his music like in “Trinkle Tinkle.”  The influence of the variety of cultures within San Juan Hill can be seen in works such as “Epistrophy,” while his more common attitude of calmness are present in songs like “Ask Me Now.”  His nonchalant demeanor was on display during his bandstand performances where he would at times get up and dance to his own music, while other times he would get up for a drink and be gone for 10-15 minutes.  This created a relaxed environment; a place where he felt comfortable bringing his family.  His mom’s sacrifices for him also played a huge role in shaping his musical career.  Despite rumors about him, Monk was a family man often times inviting his young nieces and nephews to the Five Spot where they “were given the royal treatment” (Kelley 235).  Although Monk had a nonchalant, passive-aggressive approach to traditional racial politics stating that his “music is not a social comment on discrimination or poverty,” he did stand up when racial discrimination stared him in the face.  This was exemplified no better than by the events that occurred in Delaware with Nica in 1958. 

Similar to when Monk stood up for his friend Sonny, he made a stand against the Delaware police officers having done nothing wrong.  Monk was already having one of his “bad days” and the injustice of the incident just made it worse.  When faced with the decision of passively letting the police beat him for nothing that he had done wrong or defending himself, Monk decided to fight back defending his dignity at the consequence of being arrested.  He was in defiance to prove his point: you could discriminate against him, but you could not control him.  Even though all this though, Monk did not hate whites as he was quoted, “They tried to get me to hate white people, but someone would always come along and spoil it,” rather he hated the traditional racial politics that haunted him all his life.

                                      

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[1] “There’s no reason why I should go through that Black Power shit now.  I guess everybody in New York had to do that right?  Because every block is a different town.  It was mean all over New York…besides fighting the ofays, you had to fight each other.  You go in the next block and you’re in another country.” (p. 19)

[2] “contrary to that attempt to portray him [Thelonious] as some people did as being weird or whatever, he was a very bright person…I remember telling Thelonious how I was sick of whites calling us ‘boys; and stuff like that.  He said, ‘Ain’t no drag, Larry, ‘cause everybody wants to be young.’”(p.417)

Competition Induces Racial Tension

From the conflict between the creole and black musicians of New Orleans to the segregated night clubs of Harlem, race has always played an important role in the development of jazz.  It isn’t until the 1930s though, that race is ever discussed explicitly in relation to jazz.  The reason this occurs in the Swing Era is due to the correlation that was made between jazz and the Popular Front, the relationship that developed between critics and musicians, and the competition that was created between white and black musicians.

All throughout the 1920s, jazz is denigrated by both whites and blacks of middle and upper class.  By the 1930s, however, this perception of jazz, under the title of swing, shifts as people from upper and middle class communities begin to see jazz as a way of liberating self-expression instead of a way of promoting social rebellion.  Jazz was no longer seen as the uncouth, primitive music style of the black lower class, but rather as a medium that described “all-American values and progressive leftist ideals” (Stowe 53, 73).  Through its correspondence with the Popular Front, jazz was able to reach an entirely new audience.  It suddenly became alright to partake in black activism, take for instance the Communist party’s involvement in the Scottsboro case (Stewart 11/2/10).  For the first time in American society, “black culture had become, for many of [America’s] young people, the American culture of choice” (Stowe 54).  

The racial tension, which was for the most part covered up during the 1920s, starts to emerge during the 1930s through a new avenue of discussion, journals dedicated to jazz.  It is through these journals that the relationship between jazz enthusiast and jazz musician blossoms.  John Hammond was one such jazz enthusiast who was credited for “discovering” musicians such as Benny Goodman, Billie Holiday and Count Basie (Stowe 54).  In lieu of these contributions, Hammond felt he had a certain authority to critique musicians and it was easy to see from his critiques that “Hammond’s notion of musical authenticity was clearly rooted in his attitude toward race” and commercialization (Stowe 61).  He believed that racial equality could be brought about through jazz and cultural awareness, and criticized any music that was not working towards this goal such as Duke Ellington.  Hammond believed that Duke “disguised a willingness to tolerate racial indignities for the sake of commercial success” (Hammond).    Although Hammond wanted jazz to be a racial melting pot, where the color line was blurred and the black musician could be as successful as the white one, he did not want it at the cost of racial injustices (Stewart 11/2/10).  One recurring issue discussed in the journals, was the question of who the better swing musician was: the black band or the white band.  Hammond’s stance on the issue was clear: he believed blacks were the superior swing players, although he opposed black separatism within the swing industry (Stowe 60-61). 

Although much of the competition between black and white musicians stemmed from the comments of critics, another important factor was the commercialization of swing.  By the time swing became popular, it became exceedingly difficult for big band leaders to manage the business side of their band.  It was at this time that many bands, such as Fletcher Henderson’s, began to fail.  The bands that were able to make the transition were musicians who had agents help them manage the band such as Duke Ellington who hired Irving Mills.  In fact, by 1936 having an agent was the rule not the exception (Stowe 103).  Although agents were expensive, it was a necessary cost especially for black bands that did not get the playing opportunities that white bands received.  Ironically, it was swing’s mass popularity that worked to the detriment of black bands.  After 1935, swing played by whites sounded identical to swing played by blacks and as a result whites bands dominated the market since they had more resources.  As the popularity of swing increased, the disparity between white and black bands also increased (Stowe 122). 

Through changes in American society’s political views, the development of the jazz critic and the mass popularity of swing, race issues, explicitly in relation to jazz, are expressed during the Swing Era for the first time.  Investigating racial issues surrounding jazz opened up the possibility for further discussion and could have even played a large role in the civil rights movement.