lox, if Anglo-Americans didn't so often have the practice of not crediting African Africans for our cultural offerings, and if Anglo-Americans didn't so often appropriate* African American culture and claim if as their own, I wouldn't be so insistent about asserting race into a discussion about the origin of jazz and who is or is not considered to be the "King of Jazz".

However, given the realities of life then and now, I'm making those points, admittedly, as a person who isn't a jazz musician, jazz vocalist, jazz historian, or a particular follower of contemporary jazz or any other kind of jazz.

*
"Cultural Appropriation"

"Cultural Appropriation - refers to the process by which members of relatively privileged groups "raid" the culture of less powerful or marginalized groups, and removing [sic] cultural practices or artifacts from historically or culturally specific contexts."

— From the Glossary of the Municipal Cultural Planning Project (Canada)

http://www.culturalplanning.ca/mcpp/ib_glossary.html#c

Q. "What is cultural appropriation?

A. The textbook definition of cultural appropriation is the 'taking [a.k.a. appropriating] from a culture that is not one's own of...cultural expressions or artifacts [or] history.' Many people hold that cultural appropriation is wrong because by stealing an element from someone's culture and then representing it in a different (and often shallow) context, you both damage and dishonor the culture you have taken the ritual from."

— Body Modification Ezine FAQs http://www.bmezine.com/ritual/susp-faq.html#Q3-5
   
http://www.quakersweat.org/appropriation.html

-snip-

Also, lox, you didn't answer the question that I posed to you in my 02:14 PM post to this thread. I'll repeat that question in case you accidentally overlooked it:

"Btw, lox, I strongly disagree with your statement that "Jazz does not trace back to an african american ancestor."

I would have agreed with you if you had written that Jazz is a blending of African and European musical traditions that was first performed by African American musicians.

Is this what you meant?