Make Jazz Not War!

That’s the JazzPoetry Ensemble’s new name!

Our name is changing because we’ve changed. We’re not just a band anymore! We’re a (loose) affiliation of Citizen Artists, dedicated to using our arts for our community. We’re video and audio and productions and performance art. We’re not just musicians. We’re videographers and audio producers and graphic artists and editors and photographers and more. And we’re out to change the world! Make Jazz Not War!

JazzPoetry Ensemble was a good descriptive name for its time. We were developing our art form and aesthetic, honing our style and sound. The poetry ranged widely from love-poem obvious to abstractly obtuse. The music ranged from standards to free jazz. But the Citizen Artist aspect of our work was always there. It became the heart and soul of our work. When we wrote Make Jazz Not War! at the beginning of the Iraq War, it was an instant audience favorite. People quoted it back to me. Many, including my great nephew Henry, thought Make Jazz Not War! WAS our name. Henry told me it should be our name and he’s right. Make Jazz Not War! expresses the who, why, what, and how of our work far better than the academic sounding The JazzPoetry Ensemble. Make Jazz Not War!

Make Jazz Not War! is an exhortation, a celebration, a philosophy, a way of life. Make Jazz Not War! is about improvising. It’s about using what we’ve got: imagination, ingenuity, improvisation, inclusivity, cooperation, communication, collaboration, education; using every damn skill and resource we’ve got in the struggle against iniquity and inequity, in the struggle to survive and thrive. These are the skills we learn and use in jazz and hopefully in life. If we can’t work together, we end up at war and nobody wins* (except the assholes who ruin it for everyone else). Make Jazz Not War!

We have plans. The Vid slowed us down, but we have plans. A Citizen Artist short film. Performances – outdoors when it gets warm, indoors when it gets safer.. A danceable version of Make Jazz Not War! Maybe a jazz-hop cantata.

Part of the plans is writing often about being a Citizen Artist: what it means to each of us; our histories and our influences; our part in current events; our theories and concepts; our work. Click here to follow
Citizen Artist Notes.

We’re not abandoning JazzPoetry Ensemble as a brand. For the time being, when we perform we’ll be the Make Jazz Not War! JazzPoetry Ensemble. Our docu-poem will be a Make Jazz Not War! Film.
If we start a soccer team, it’ll be the Make Jazz Not War! FC. And so on.

I’ll finish with the verses of “Make Jazz Not War!”.

War is combative, jazz is collaborative
War kills, jazz lives
War hates, jazz loves
War regiments, jazz improvises
War sucks, jazz blows
War imposes, jazz resists
War shouts, jazz listens
War fails, jazz succeeds
War divides, jazz communicates
War is celibate, jazz is conjugal
War oppresses, jazz frees
Make jazz, not war.

*I saw the Muhal Richard Abrams Big Band illustrate this in 1984 in DC. The band warmed up and then everyone stopped. One musician started playing something. Then another started playing something different. Then another and another and another until all of them were playing full bore in different keys and different tempos. A fine cacophony. Then MRA came out, shook his head, and cut it off with a motion. Then the avant-garde big band started to play.