Jazz Vs Manouche Jazz

One of the foremost important 20th century terms, “politically correct”, was born out of need for humanitarians, politicians, and the like to better organize the wide variety of ethnicities, cultures, and religions into groups that are true and non-offensive. So, it has often crossed my mind that maybe the name of the Gypsy Jazz style isn’t quite politically correct; the name Romani is the preferred name of the people once considered to be “gypsies.” After all, that term has been used as a slur by people who think of the Romani as inferior, we use Hot Club Swing and Manouche Jazz that are much less discriminatory names for the style anyway. We’ve use the slur and Romani culture for our amusement and to capture the attention of audiences who

Now, jazz musicians are renowned for professionalism, refinement, and culture. Jazz is a fine art, a representation of humanity’s progress. As jazz musicians, we need to maintain a higher set of values than any other type of musician. So if we, Manouche Jazz musicians, don’t care about the fate of the Romani, yet we play their music, then our profession is hypocritical. If we pretend to hold ourselves to the level that jazz is defined by, while also appropriating the music of an already struggling culture, Manouche Jazz musicians, in particular, are hypocritical appropriators. It would be hard to make it as a Manouche Jazz musician if, every time a curious audience member inquired as to what makes Manouche Jazz unique from jazz, we had to say, “ Oh, well, heavily swung popular melodies, rapid chord changes, and hypocritically thinly veiled

Of course, it is not the responsibility of the individual to solve the injustices of the world. But we don’t limit ourselves to the position of individuals; every individual aligns themselves to a group, one way or another. I just can’t belong to a group that will willingly ignore the plight of an entire culture, and use their music as entertainment. That is not what jazz is; that’s not what it stands for. It’s not to say we shouldn’t respect tradition, but if we want Manouche Jazz to maintain its relevance, we can’t use a slur in the name of the style and we have to make an effort to be proponents of Romani equality. Eventually the plight of the Romani will grab global attention, and we will either have to make an effort to support the Romani, or our jazz style will fall into infamy. If Manouche Jazz is to survive, we must avoid negative consequences that correlate with ignorance, and we must fear appropriation. The least we Manouche Jazz musicians can do is know, and after that the least we can do is