Summary Of A People's Music By Sidney Finkelstein

Sidney Finkelstein, scholar and well-known music critic outlines the origins of jazz and its development in his essay “A People’s Music”. African-American musician and columnist for the Chicago Defender, Dave Peyton, also describes the different types of jazz in his article, “A Black Journalist Criticizes Jazz”. Finkelstein and Peyton both have experience in music critiquing and acknowledge the skill and musicianship required for jazz. However, Peyton argues that jazz is a lesser form of other music genres and states “jazz is on the wane” (Walser 62), while Finkelstein disagrees and declares “jazz has given us a liberal education” (Walser 138), arguing that jazz music is on par with other genres and allows the listener to appreciate aspects
of other genres. Peyton also emphasizes that jazz musicians should focus on sharpening their techniques because they “may be called upon to render real service and to play good music” (Walser 61), yet another subtle sign that he doesn’t view jazz as a “refined” or “high” level of music. In contrast, Finkelstein views jazz musicians as people who have already developed and refined specific skills to make jazz music sound a certain way (Walser 137). Ultimately, these two authors don’t see entirely see eye to eye on whether jazz should be considered “high” or “low” level music, but both agree that however inferior or superior, jazz has a strong influence on the audiences of 1920s and 1940s.