The Smithsonian's Ambassador of Jazz
Music curator John Edward Hasse travels the globe teaching the genre that revolutionized American music
- By Erica R. Hendry
- Smithsonian magazine, September 2010, Subscribe
The sultry sound of a saxophone floats through a windowless room several floors beneath Washington, D.C.’s rush-hour traffic. John Edward Hasse adjusts his chair in front of a camera, tapping his toes as the big-band tune “Take the ‘A’ Train” plays on a CD.
It’s 8:30 a.m. in the nation’s capital, but it’s 3:30 p.m. at the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, where a crowd has gathered to watch Hasse, via video conference, speak about the genre that revolutionized American music: jazz.
Today, his subject is Duke Ellington. “A genius beyond category,” Hasse tells his audience more than 7,500 miles away. “There were a lot of great musicians—composers, arrangers, bandleaders and soloists. But the best at all of those things? That was Duke.”
Hasse doesn’t just teach jazz; he embodies the things French artist Henri Matisse said he loved about it: “the talent for improvisation, the liveliness, the being at one with the audience.” As a producer, musician and lecturer, Hasse has toured 20 nations across six continents. He founded Jazz Appreciation Month, now celebrated in 40 countries and all 50 states, and his work as a music curator at the National Museum of American History and as an author has set the standard for jazz education across the country. Hasse recently teamed with an international panel of experts for the upcoming release of Jazz: The Smithsonian Anthology, a six-CD, 111-track set that reconceives, updates and expands the 1973 Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz.
Jazz faces increasing competition from other music genres in the United States, yet it continues to find new audiences abroad. Many nations have developed their own jazz style —a fact Hasse says influenced the Smithsonian anthology—but enthusiasts abroad have few opportunities to learn about the genre’s American roots. While classical music began in Europe and Russia, and the folk tradition has long thrived in cultures around the globe, jazz is one of several musical styles conceived in this country.
So for the past decade, in cooperation with the State Department, Hasse has been America’s unofficial jazz ambassador-at-large. “Jazz implicitly communicates some of the most cherished core values of our society and culture: freedom, individuality, cultural diversity, creative collaboration, innovation, democracy,” he says. “It’s an art form that is such a vital part of American identity.”
Hasse often delivers his lectures via satellite. But he loves to teach and perform in person. In 2008, he traveled to Egypt accompanied by the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, a group he founded in 1990 to keep the importance of the music alive. When Hasse went to South Africa in 2006, a group of young boys, many of them orphans, traveled an hour and a half from their village of tin-roofed shacks to hear him speak. And when Hasse began to play a recording of Louis Armstrong’s “Hello, Dolly!” three of the boys sang along.
“I was just floored. They knew the words, every single one,” Hasse says. “When you can take someone like Armstrong, who was born more than 100 years ago in a country halfway around the world—and his music is able to leap with ease over geography, nationality, culture, demographics, everything else, and communicate and inspire young people—that itself is inspiring to me.”
Hasse plans to travel next spring to Moscow, where he hopes the response mirrors the one he received in Nairobi this past April. There teachers clamored for copies of his audio and video clips to share with students.
“One young man in Nairobi told me after hearing Armstrong, ‘You’ve changed my life forever,’” Hasse says. “Some of the world had never heard trumpet playing or singing like his before. There’s a hunger for things from America that are true, uplifting, positive, beautiful and inspiring. Jazz is that—the best of American culture.”
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Comments (15)
I am irritated by Walter Jordan's rant, and rather puzzled. The article was about, not written by, John Hasse. The only two examples of jazz giants mentioned were Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong...are they not African American? The roots of jazz are in the blues, unquestionably black roots. But centuries of jazz expression and appreciation have made jazz music universal, without denying its roots. When it crossed the oceans and other boundaries, it came from America. I guess now it goes both ways. I learned to love jazz listening to Earl "Fatha" Hines and others, both black and white. I continue to love jazz listening to Dave Brubeck and many others, both white and black. Thanks to John Hasse for his work and his passion.
Posted by Eleanore Hartz on September 11,2010 | 08:25 PM
I was referred to he Smithsonian by Dan Morgenstern of Rutgers. In the mid 1980's, I obtained a music manuscript from an estate sale in New Orleans. I've kept it in a cardboard protector for over 25 years. The manuscript is "Night In Tunisia", piano score, circa 1942. I'm now interested in selling it. I have digital photos of the document but cannot send them without an e-mail address.
If interested, please send an e-mail address.
Posted by Paul on September 7,2010 | 04:12 PM
Its sad that your Jazz teacher missed a chance to tell the truth about JAZZ. ITs a story about African- Americans who used European instruments to express there own secial truth for more than 125-years. Every era of JAZZ was created by African-Americans.The Blues, Gospel, Chicago-style Dixieland, New Orleans- style Dixieland, Ragtime, Boogie-Woogie,Bebop,Hiphop, Disco,Soul, Rhythm & Blues,Free-style Jazz,Funy and Funky and most of all SWING.Yes, according to Leonard Bernstein ,they are all Jazz.The DNA of the music, or charatericts, are call and response,quarter-notes,syncopation,improvasation, note-bending,and most of all interpretation. The DNA of those who refuse to tell the TRUTH about JAZZ uses terms like Amercians when they mean African- Amercians.Furthermore they infer the big lie about Swing.Ref."The Music Of African-Amercians" by Elleen Southern.By the way,Duke Elligton was the first Amercian to create Clasical music! Ask Tony Bennet.
Posted by Walt Jordan on August 31,2010 | 09:41 PM
"Jazz: The Smithsonian Anthology" 6-CD set is not available yet, it is still in production. Expected release date is Spring 2011. Pre-orders can be placed by email to SmithsonianFolkways@si.edu or by phone to 1-888-Folkways or 1-800-410-9815.
Posted by Reader Services on August 31,2010 | 12:13 PM
Hello from North Carolina. We are transplants from Vermillion, South Dakota and Minnesota. . We are friends of Ellen's (University of S. Dak. days). Being admirers of the Hasse family for years, we are not surprised to learn that you excel in your field. How grand that you love what you do and that you do it so well!
Music, no matter where or what, is the great force that unites our planet.
Best to you, Linda Eyres Delzell and Allen Delzell
Posted by Linda and Allen Delzell on August 29,2010 | 05:28 PM
Nice story, but jazz is for listening. To paraphrase, "Talking about jazz is like dancing about architecture." Or something like that.
So, where can I purchase Jazz: The Smithsonian Anthology?
Dan McIver
Posted by Norman Dan McIver on August 29,2010 | 02:13 PM
I was reading my monthly Smithsonian magazine and my eye stopped on a name from my distant past. John Hasse? Could it be? Then I saw the slim build and something about the face. ... Are you the John Hasse from Vermillion? If you are, I'm the Claire who stayed w/ you and your sister while your parents were in Korea.
Glad to see you have found such a wonderful place to share your gift of music and enthusiasm. I'd love to have just a brief interchange w/ you.
Posted by Claire Jeannette on August 28,2010 | 02:42 AM
John- I'm glad to see you haven't lost the "beat" Regards Sig Shapiro
Posted by Sig on August 27,2010 | 10:47 AM
How wonderful to read about John Hasse, a man we've known for almost 30 years and who is truly beyond category. Our sons are jazz enthusiasts and performers in large part because of John's work to foster and promote this American classical music. A gifted performer, a passionate and dedicated educator, and a mentsch, above all. Great article on a great subject.
Posted by Anne Arenstein on August 25,2010 | 02:34 PM
I always look forward to seeing John when he passes through Johannesburg, South Africa. Once he even had an opportunity to come to my home. It's terrific to hear him chat about jazz, and what makes him so different to many people is his PASSION.
If you don't become a jazz enthusiast after talking to John Hasse, you're probably musically dead.
Good luck to you John and hope to see you one day in the near future.
Posted by Don Albert on August 25,2010 | 08:19 AM
John was kind enough to come to Iowa City and present, many years ago, a concert featuring Scott Joplin's music. I have never, before or since, enjoyed an evening so much. His amazing talent and warm and engaging personality could make the Grinch smile. Who could ask for a more wonderful representative of jazz and of the U.S.?
Posted by Bruce Haupert on August 24,2010 | 12:54 PM
It was wonderful to read this article. I've known John for close to 50 years, and I believe he is not only brilliant, but has a very large heart. Thanks for recognizing it.
Posted by Milt Lee on August 19,2010 | 10:10 PM
John, Bruce and I are your sister's friends from Iowa City. What an uplifting and positive article! Thank you. And we extend our sympathies to you on the death of your dear photographer friend of more than 20 years. Life constantly changes - things are removed, yet we all keep adding our spirits and knowledge to the larger world I think.
Keep playing! Best wishes, Mary Gantz
Posted by Mary Gantz on August 19,2010 | 03:49 PM
A fine tribute to a man of action, of discrimination and of inherent talent John Hasse is himself "beyond category," but we fortunate that is one of the best spokesmen for the music so many of us treasure.
Posted by Duncan P. Schiedt on August 19,2010 | 12:14 PM