Social Music in an Age of Social Distancing | JAZZ NIGHT IN AMERICA
How is the jazz community in Philadelphia responding to the global pandemic? Jazz Night in America found a few different answers to that question. In this video short, we'll explore how a performer, a private citizen and an entrepreneur are striving for resilience during a time of social upheaval and economic uncertainty. In the radio episode, we'll hear vibrant performances from a front porch, a backyard and a jazz club.
There's an echo of this struggle in jazz history. Philadelphia in 2020 and New Orleans in 1918 offer two historically distinct versions of America, but it's striking to consider the parallels. In his 1954 memoir, Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans, Louis Armstrong recalled being a teenager when the Spanish flu ground the city to a halt. "Just when the government was about to let crowds of people congregate again so that we could play our horns once more, the lid was clamped down tighter than ever," he wrote, "that forced me to take any odd jobs I could get."
Pianist and proud Philadelphian Orrin Evans, whose Club Patio series has been a grassroots success story during the coronavirus pandemic, cites the Food Network reality cooking show Chopped. Maybe on some level he's thinking of Armstrong's "Cornet Chop Suey."
Evans says, "I love Chopped because you have no idea what the ingredients are inside that basket, but they make a meal out of it. That's how I'm looking at life right now. Every morning I open the basket. I have no idea what the ingredients are going to be, but I got to make something happen. And that's what this time has to be for every artist."
As you'll hear in our show, many artists are rising to the occasion, while aware of the deeper challenge. "Everybody's improvising and making sunlight happen," marvels bassist Alex Claffy, "in a time when it just seemed completely unfathomable." - Josh Jackson, Sarah Geledi, Nickolai Hammar
