Kansas City here I come!

This week's jazz film gave us yet another view of that crazy, wild, zany thing called jazz. Yes, the jazz world is a world full of scary people. Gangsters, even! A world where loose women abound, women who will do anything for their man. And, of course, jazz is a world of questionable morals. But we already knew that. And when we get to class we'll have a great chat about how it's really not that simplistic and all that jazz (oh, such a bad pun, and yet I had to do it).

What I think is particularly interesting about the film this week is the cultural context during the making of the film. By 1996 jazz is cannonized. Wynton Marsalis is a household name (okay, maybe not household, but he's pretty up there). And no one will complain about hearing "sin" music over the speakers at the local Star Bucks. Yet, Kansas City still falls into giving a stereotypical portrayal of jazz music.

Of course, it should be noted that Kansas City has its own particular share in the development of jazz. As it does its own peculiar history with political machines, corrupted government officials, etc. This is, after all, the city of Bonnie and Clyde and the Kansas City Massacre (both during the 1930s). It's particularly interesting to note that Kansas City's virtual lack of enforcement of prohibition has been linked to not only the rise in Kansas City Jazz, but also in the Kansas City Mob and organized crime. hmmm... Coincidence? Not according to this semester's jazz films.

So, I guess what I'm trying to say with this brief history lesson is that perhaps the portrayal of jazz and the crazy world that jazz surrounds in Kansas City is more telling of the city's own history with violence. Maybe jazz, in this case, is the victim--not the perpetrator.