re: “Somehow I have a hard time considering Vince Guaraldi’s score for “A Charlie Brown Christmas” as “Black American Music.”
First of all, not all of the music in the score is “jazz”. Second, jazz is a very eclectic word and can mean many different styles/types of jazz. It all depends on how one defines “jazz”. If one is a racist and wants to exclude all other groups from participating in an art form, or wants to deny any contribution by those who are of a different race from the original “jazz” creators, then I guess “BAM” is the way to go.
What a bunch of crap. The contribution of African Americans to the American religious and pop music scene is well established - loved and celebrated by all Americans - it should not be dragged into this stupid, ridiculous “racial” identify politics - which is all this BAM term is meant to do.
Jazz is not popular with many young blacks - they are into “rap” and “hip hop”. Whitey did not force them into this style. If black jazz musicians cannot draw young blacks into being fans of jazz - whose fault is that? Changing the name may create a momentary interest, but not in the long run.
What is great about American pop music is that it includes everyone - it crosses all barriers - from spirituals, to ragtime, to jazz, to big band, to rock n’ roll, to soul, to rock, to metal, to country, to bluegrass, to crossover country, to Sinatra, to rhythm and blues, to Wilson Picket, etc. I get so sick of the way racial politics has to be vomited onto everything.
We tend to label all music of a somewhat improvisational nature as “Jazz”...there are offshoots, of course, Free Jazz, Avant Garde, Bop, Post-Bop, Fusion, etc.