Blues is indisputably an african american tradition that has been adopted by white musicians.

Jazz does not trace back to an african american ancestor.

Aspects of Jazz trace back to African American Roots, but it is a hotch potch of influences.

In blues, it is clear that the origins lie with Black performers.

In Jazz, it is not clear that this is the case and amongst Jazz musicians there has never been any sense of Race snobbery, but a healthy respect for the key movers in Jazz history.

Jazz is not a style of music that the ear grows accustomed to easily, but is a style that must be learned and studied.

Not necessarily at an academic institution, but it must be studie nonetheless.

There is no significant Jazz musician who did not study the work of his predecessors.

Some, like wes montgomery and chet baker were so talented that they were able to learn how to do it by listeing intently to the work of the masters who went before, but most learned it from some kind of mentor.

So Jazz was never a roots musical style in itself, but always a complex art form constructed from pieces of roots artforms.

John coltrane once said of Stan Getz "everybody wishes they could play like Stan" or words to that effect.

The influence of Jazz musicians on each other, and the respect they had for eacch other was unaffected by race as they all knew how hard it was to be a good jazz musician and they all knew that no racist thug was in any position to pass comment on a subject that was most likely to be entirely beyond their ability to comprehend.


The Audiences and the Club owners were of course a different kettle of fish ...