Gotsa 2 Be Cool
This week, Breath of Life, the excellent audio blog run by insightful father and son team Kalamu ya Salaam and Mtume ya Salaam, takes a look at "So What," the first tune from Miles Davis's Kind of Blue.
The song's opening bars were introduced to teenaged me in the intro to Erykah Badu's live album. That was my initial point of reference. It wasn't until years later that I learned the esteemed source of that lead off bass and piano duet. To say this in some circles is to invite disapproving nods and patronizing lectures. For many, "So What" is an immediately recognizable ditty from a fabled moment in jazz history. For me, it was just Badu circa 1997. And I feel no shame in admitting this. It's been fun poring through production credits, backtracking through discographies, or just listening to my mama's old records and finding old sounds I had otherwise thought were new. Life is learning.
One of the challenges of coming to jazz is the persnickety know-it-all ism of some cognoscenti who belittle those who don't know and berate those who don't listen, which seems to maintain the genre's minute fan base. Now, to be fair, the upturned nose is not unique to jazz; music snobbery is an equal opportunity affair. For someone who often ventures out to hear unfamiliar genres or artists, it can sometimes be an irksome affair. Blindsides shouldn't be a badges of shame and condescension should be left to the birds. It can be increasingly difficult to have fun with music with all the jostling for cool. I mean, I was sharing with a friend the other how my hyperawareness and sensitivity to this phenomenon has led me to fastidiously monitor and edit my last.fm profile. Yes, it has come to that.
So coming back to Miles Davis, I've intentionally kept some distance from his catalogue (although I've read all the biographies and much of the music criticism) for reasons Pearl Cleage made clear, but his aloof holds some allure when confronted by Nick Burns types on blogs or stadium bleachers. What better moment to gank that back-to-the-audience bandstand bearing.
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