I was listening through the most compelling sound system I had assembled since I started writing for Stereophile. The sounds in my room were sensuous and mesmerizing, and I needed to float in their mysterious energy as long as I could. But I was frozenunable to pull my mind loose from the grave flowings of American composer Ned Rorem's Book of Hours, as performed by Les Connivences Sonores on the album Musikalische Perlen (24/48 FLAC, Ars Produktion/Qobuz). By 9am, birds were flash-mobbing my window, demanding suet. Clouds had been shedding wintery mix since daybreak.

The divisiveness of the Trump Era forced everyone, including artists, to choose sides.īut the ways jazz has woven itself into contemporary history go far beyond standoffs between progressives and conservatives. The reasons for this development may lie in the extreme political polarization of our society. At some point in the new millennium, it began to feel like every new jazz album had to have at least one overtly political track. Charles Mingus's 1959 classic 'Fables of Faubus' secured a permanent place in music history for the segregationist governor of Arkansas thanks to Mingus, among jazz fans at least, the name 'Orval Faubus' will ever be synonymous with bigotry.īut if social activism is nothing new in jazz, it has never been so prevalent as it is today. In 1939, Billie Holiday recorded 'Strange Fruit,' a chilling song about a lynching.

In 1923, Bessie Smith sang songs based on her experience of racism and sexism. Sonny Rollins put the matter succinctly: 'jazz is protest music.' Jazz emerged from the African-American experience in the United States, so it is not surprising that it has been socially relevant since its earliest manifestations.

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