Intl Jazz Day 2014: Herbie Hancock & Marcus Miller: Artists for Peace and Cultural Diplomacy

ladies and gentlemen welcome to the first panel discussion of International Jazz Day in Osaka thank you for coming I would like to thank our distinguished guests His Excellency UNESCO goodwill ambassador mr. Herbie Hancock UNESCO artist for peace mr. Marcus Miller now these two artists do not really need an introduction but I would give a very very brief introduction mr. Hancock is an American icon he has won multiple Grammy Awards as well as an Academy Award Kennedy honors and a multitude of other prizes and honors his vast career spanning from his early teens with the Miles Davis quartet to solo work with Cannell own Island watermelon man maiden voyage to his crossover rocket to the river the Joni letters which won the album of the Year award at the Grammys the body of work is breathtaking both in scope and in terms of the accomplishments achieved mr. Miller is a legend in his own right he's a bassist a producer a composer and a multi interim instrumentalists he has worked with artists such as Michael Jackson where I carry Wayne Shorter Frank Sinatra Elton John and countless others and has performed in over 500 recordings as a composer he wrote all but two songs on the Miles Davis 2 2 album which redefined Miles Davis's career and eighties it is an honor to be sitting here with both of them thank you today we'll discuss the concept of an artist for peace what does this entail what is the potential an impact that artists can have for peacebuilding why are they in a unique position to communicate universal values why do artists have a unique ability to encourage an influence positive social change and what can jazz music teach us about creating successful diplomatic ties between people of radically different cultures language and views so first I'd like to start with his Excellency UNESCO goodwill ambassador Herbie Hancock Herbie can you explain to us why you became involved with UNESCO I had been feeling that a sense of my perspective of my life was deeper than just myself as a musician that I really was in a like a moment of inspiration discovering that or uncovering that at the core of me I'm a human being because I'm only a musician when I'm playing music talking about music you know thinking about music but I don't do that 24 hours a day I'm also a husband a father a son a neighbor a citizen and so all these different aspects of me but the one thing that connects everything is the fact that I'm a human being and from that realization that I had one day about 15 years ago or so I began to concentrate on Bill my life from this newer perspective of myself and so the idea of moving forward as a human being and with the desire to do everything I could to encourage other human beings to share and respect human life respect the planet and and do what jazz really has been doing since its inception which is to bring people together but not just coming from the fact that I'm a musician but but coming from the fact that I'm a human being you know that was the most important thing so because actually you Nica and and I had brainstorming sessions when in Paris when we were working on performance for philosophers day which you started you were the founder of that from those brainstorming sessions and you pointed out to me that you thought I would be an excellent goodwill ambassador I was so shocked because inside it was really a dream of mine to have something like that presented to me and you were surprised that I was even interested and I said of course are you kidding and I I didn't think it would happen until if eventually it did and I was I was appointed a goodwill ambassador I was so happy to have the opportunity to use everything in my being and of course including my music but not just my music along you know I'm not restricted to doing things only with music but of course jazz has been such an important part of my life and it has always function in the capacity of cultural deployment diplomacy that this gave me a great opportunity to present the idea and the proposal to UNESCO for International Jazz Day and that was really the beginning thank you thank you and I have to say that as a UNESCO goodwill ambassador you are probably the most active and engaged by creating this International Jazz Day it has become an incredible worldwide event perhaps you'd like to say a few words about about that the global events and the outreach first of all this is the third annual International Jazz Day we thought that in the beginning what we had accomplished for the very first one two years ago was amazing beyond our dreams but we had no idea how much the idea the exposure the the effect of International Jazz day would be and I've we've received so many letters and responses from even small countries that most of the world kind of ignores they are so pleased that they have been recognized as on a par with the huge countries like the United States or Germany or France you know and and because of the the support of jazz that has come from from Japan for so many many years I mean these small countries were were feeling that they were empowered they were being being recognized for the first time and they they loved it they loved it that is so important to them I mean they they were emotionally affected by that but also so many countries that have recently been in in conflict we we know that Syria for example we received word that and you have the details we got about this some some musicians in in Syria are gonna be celebrating international jazz they even though their homes have been completely destroyed many family members have been killed but they are feeling courage and hope and inspiration for being recognized not just for conflict but being recognized for the fact that they are important to the world as human beings that have a viable culture and they know that jazz is an international music and and the flavor of their culture is very often included in how they play jazz it's it's amazing you know and and and you know some of some of the letters that they sent back opened up ideas that I never even realized pertaining to the effect of our outreach to these countries in support of International Jazz Day which is completely a gala to Galit area I mean we are all equal on International Jazz day it doesn't matter how small the village is or how huge the country is everyone is being respected for their culture for their humanity for their heart absolutely beautifully said thank you happy now Marcus I would also like to ask you how you became involved as a UNESCO artist for peace and why you felt the urge to get involved well the easiest answer is I went to the ceremony where Herbie was named an ambassador for peace by UNESCO probably three years ago was it three years ago the tour we were just finishing a tour Herbie Hancock Wayne Shorter and I in Europe and we just finished the tour and Herbie was going to be named in Paris as an artist for peace so they invited me to come along and it was so beautiful the idea of an artist for peace and it made so much sense but going back for me you know III remember my first experience with the power of music and the power of jazz in particular was when I came to Japan the first time right you know when we start making music everybody starts making music for different reasons but for me I started making music because I loved the way it made me feel it was a very personal reason for playing music I just loved the experience of playing in the band and playing the bass and you know I came to Japan with Sadao Watanabe the first time and you know I could barely tell you I was 19 years old I could barely tell you where Japan was on the map okay but when we got here we landed and we got on a bus from the airport from Narita and we ended up in Tokyo and in front of the hotel were all these kids waiting for this pop group I assumed they were waiting for this pop group to arrive and then I realized that they were waiting for us and I'm you know I'm looking behind me for menudo or somebody like that and it was us they were waiting for and it turned out that they knew every recording that we had played on up to that date they knew the details of every recording there are American fans who didn't know the details of music like these Japanese fans knew and over the years I'd come to Japan and fans would be in the hotel lobby with literally a hundred LPS for me to sign each one an LP that I I played on you know they're crazy you know but it was such a beautiful thing to see how music traveled and to see how music affected people on the other side of the world it was amazing and because of the reaction that we got from them it made me want to learn about Japanese culture you know I started asking questions I wanted it to be not so one-sided where they loved what what we do but we don't know anything about what they do so I got into it man and I started learning some Japanese and I was on the stage I know Bonn don't know me now song wolf show guys she must write I was into it but that's what music does and that was my first experience and you know I've had other experiences on you mentioned to to the album I worked on with Miles I had an experience after we did that album a few years later I took a trip to South Africa and this interviewer said to me what does it feel like to have made the most important african-american contribution to our struggle for freedom in South Africa right and I said what are you talking about and he said to - do you know how much strength that piece of music gave us because tutu was a dedication to Bishop Desmond Tutu who along with Nelson Mandela was doing such a fantastic work fighting against apartheid in the 80s in South Africa so I said no I had no idea that you even heard - - because I assumed that uh you know the government was preventing you from hearing things like that he said brother when we need to hear it we find ways to hear it and it was amazing it was an amazing feeling to see the power of music you know then you have people from you know from Russia or people from from Europe or from from South America who say hey man I'd like you to introduce you to my little son his name is Marcos that that that changes you you know that changes you you no longer I'm making music just for yourself when that happens you start to realize that you have in your hands a really powerful tool you know we go all around the world and you know just like in Japan where initially we don't even know how to say hello we play music and all of a sudden we're a family you know and I have I have people who are dear friends in Japan in in Africa in South America in France Germany Italy because of the music you know so getting back to when I went to this ceremony where they appointed Herbie Hancock as a as a peace ambassador I said man this is really cool because I've been looking for a way to continue that story on my own you know I mean how how can I formalize this power that music has and this seemed like a perfect perfect way then the guy goes and does jazz day which is it's such an incredible idea because it seems so simple and it seems like it's always been and I know that to be true because when I talk to people they say what are you doing I mean I'm getting ready to go do jazz day International Day of jazz and they go what is this like the 10th anniversary I said no man this is number three it's are you kidding me that hasn't existed for years I go no but it seems like it has because it's such a natural idea and those ideas are always the best ideas the ideas that seem like well of course why didn't anybody think of that before those are incredible ideas so anyway that was my path Herbie Hancock has this big foot footprint and I just put my shoes right in the footprint and got behind them thank you and so as these ambassadors artist for peace how do you see your role evolving in the future what are your hopes what would you like to accomplish beyond what's already been accomplished well I'm hoping that International Jazz day will be a gateway for opening up a path for that goes beyond jazz but unites cultures unites ideas that opens this bridge so that people from various parts various corners of the world can dialog can discuss misinformation that they have about other countries or other people or other religions and which in which really are the source of conflicts that are happening in the world today misunderstanding and a miss information and and being guided very often by powerful people who expressing ideas that have detrimental toward human beings being able to work together in peace you know people who are actually doing this because of greed very often because of this greed for power or greed for money and those are the those are the wrong goals the goals that are the most important in life aren't those that you can buy with money the most important goals in life I'm not about information and knowledge it's about wisdom a word that most of us perhaps have forgotten about courage about compassion you know those about respect for each other the great thing about jazz is that without even saying a word musicians are automatically doing that they are being non-judgmental they're working together not thinking about oh I didn't like what the bass player played I don't like what the guitar player played you know once you start judging another musicians music when you're on the stage the music stops the flow stops so musicians are always concerned about how can I take whatever happens and to make it blossom to turn it into some beautiful flower turn it into a wonderful creation that fits what we did just a moment ago you know make this moment be a valuable moment always creating value in the moment through sharing through respect for each other through embracing each other through trusting each other but at the same time trusting yourself trusting your own ability to be able to respond to what anyone else plays because of your trust in your heart I mean these kinds of values are the values that jazz promotes and we have an example here there's a group of young musicians female musicians here in Japan called the swing dolphins and there are 24 members of this group from elementary school and junior high school that were ready to play a concert and then they were in an area of the tsunami and I guess their Fukushima focusing my way in a Toho Co region yeah and so actually almost everything was wiped out but they were able to receive instruments that came actually from America from Tipitina's it's a great club in New Orleans musicians from New Orleans had actually donated instruments and let me quote from this article that says a week before the show a large consignment arrived that included trumpets saxophones and trombones the result of a generous $11,200 offering from Tipitina's foundation a musical nonprofit in New Orleans and the gift was a return gesture of gratitude to the Dolphins who in the wake of the 2005 Hurricane Katrina raised and donated one hundred and twenty five dollars to the Red Cross through their own benefit concert I mean it was it's so amazing that this gratitude that moved from one from Japan to America and then from America back to Japan in the time of crisis you know when people sometimes it's crisis that that brings out the best of the human spirit you know and so you were actually in that way are turning poison into medicine which is fantastic I mean that's the whole idea this actually works in with what I said about jazz no matter what happens on the stage you know even if someone plays the wrong chord to turn that chord into the right one Miles Davis did that to me one time you know yeah and and and in that crucial moment to be able to respond and and you know through your own compassion through your own trust and caring to bring out the best that you have to to turn a crisis or a challenge into benefit or something of great value to help the happiness of some other human being and I just want to read just one quote from one of the young ladies in the in the swing dolphins band actually it's a quote from her mother and this is an 11 year old girl her name is Imani your butch mother Keiko Cole said at the time we were just worried about shortages of food and clothing well when I saw my child smiling brightly for the first time in weeks I realized music provided her with something that healed her soul and I think that says says everything absolutely that's beautiful now you just mentioned about jazz being non-judgmental and about your experience with Miles Davis could you just share that story because it's such a beautiful story of what happened literally yeah this was amazing i played with Miles Davis's band from 1963 until 1968 and I think it might have been around 1966 or 67 that we played a concert I believe it was in Sweden and it was part of a tour and but this was turning out to be the best night of the whole tour you know it's always at one night that really sticks out as the best one the banners on fire and and the audience was with us and we had just captured though the hearts of the audience and and so this was a journey it was almost like a team between not only the musicians but with the audience was part of that team and the spirit was so strong everything was moving everybody was all together and and we were in the middle of the concert and everything was building and building and and then my house started to play his solo and and 20 Williams the drummer was on fire and Wayne Shorter was on fire Ron Carter bass player he was on fire and miles got to the peak of his solo and then I played this chord that was so wrong I thought that I was the tsunami and destroyed everything I felt awful I wanted to crawl under the rug and miles took a breath and he played some notes that made my court right it made everything fit somehow only thing I could do was gasp I didn't know what happened how did he do that it took me years to figure out one simple thing miles didn't judge my court I did that's the difference he was not judgmental he listened he heard it as an event and he's he's he's thing what can I do with this he used it for inspiration it taught me a big lesson we all have the ability to turn challenge into inspiration and to share that with other people it's a big lesson such a beautiful story now Marcus as an artist for peace one of your role is one of part of many of your roles is to be a spokesperson for the slavery project would you like to say a bit about that and share with the audience yeah well when I tell people that I'm the spokesperson for the slave whose project a lot of older people say well is that really necessary because everyone knows the history of slavery but I think what people would be surprised to find out is that with each generation people know less and less about the the story the history of slavery and that's a dangerous thing because you know when people begin to forget history we all know what happens it starts to repeat itself even at this very moment they're still every that's happening in different parts of the world so it's not by any means been eradicated but uh what's important to me is just to make sure that people don't forget and that young people know the story of slavery um it's uh it's of course a really tragic chapter in America's history and but what I'm trying to do is make sure that it's not just a tragic story and the way that music plays into this the way the jazz plays into this is think about this in early America I'm talking about in the 1800s and they're very early 1900s America was considered as a new country that didn't really have its own identity particularly a cultural identity it was too new and the music that came out of America in that period was basically an imitation of European music so Europeans considered the music that came out of America cute you know like a like the creation of a younger Society right and then all of a sudden Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong took a trip to Europe with this new music that they had never heard before and the Europeans were like whoa this didn't come from us this is not an imitation of us and what they were hearing was the culmination of this experience in America that was unique to America where these people who have been slaves for hundreds of years who have been brought against their will from Africa had somehow taken this terrible condition right and they had turned it into something they had taken the music that they they carried with them from Africa they taken the European music that was being presented to them in America they took influences from everywhere in their new situation and they created something new that ended up being the cultural calling for America right so people all around the world who didn't consider America a fully fledged society and they certainly didn't consider the african-americans of a fully developed subset of American culture all of a sudden they had to respect African Americans because they created something that was so fantastic and they had to respect America in general so I think that um this music is really a victory for this for these Africans who were brought against their will into slavery and it just shows you that the spirit of people is so strong and it and it's very difficult to break the spirit of a people this music is evidence of that and I think that's the thing that scared so many societies not societies but that's the thing that scared so many leaders about jazz jazz was forbidden in many in many countries in the world because there was something about this music that was so obviously about freedom that it scared people you know there were periods in Germany where jazz was forbidden there there are places even today where they tried to suppress jazz because there's just something about hearing a music where everyone gets to express themselves where everyone gets to do their own thing but somehow makes it work within the the situation of a group that is just really powerful and gives people some really cool ideas about their own life and I think that's scary but International Jazz day is proof that um everyone's coming around to this idea and this music is very powerful and it's a great model for how we can have intercultural communication and people can find their own freedom through the arts absolutely and you have a piece called Garre which was fundamental in your role as UNESCO artist for peace could you share your experience about that sure we um we took a tour and did a concert in Senegal Africa about three years ago maybe four years ago now and I had heard about the island of Gauri it's an island off the coast of Senegal in western Africa and it was basically a place where they would keep the captive Africans for about three months they would keep them there on this island and they would check them out to see how healthy they were they would count how many of them they had and eventually after about three months they would take him and ship him off on these big boats into into slavery but I just wanna say they weren't just living on the island on you know out in the land right they were captured as as prisoners yes and in these caves yes I've been there too so absolutely yes they were prisoners they were captured from inland Africa brought to the coast and then moved onto this island and and they were kept in these rooms there were three rooms one for men for women for children they were very small and they would stack these captives in these rooms up one on top of the other it was it was horrible the worst of circumstances and then have no sanitation right right they were like it was like literally like animals right and so we took a tour of this of the place where they kept the Africans it was called une Maison des Club which is French for a slave house and like I said I heard about it so I thought I was emotionally prepared to visit this island you know I was like yeah I know the story you know but man being there is a whole different thing when you're standing there looking at the room which is not as big as this area here and you imagine 40 slaves forty captives you know crammed into this room and you imagine that they've been pulled out up there of their life of their cult and then that wasn't even the worst of this situation because then they were put on a boat in the bottom of a boat and they had to travel for weeks for months across the Atlantic Ocean it's just unimaginable so I've decided to write a piece of music about what I was feeling standing there in that in that slave house and my band my young band members were there with me and and all of us were just so emotionally moved by this visit so I wrote this tune I named it gory and you know we've been playing it for about a couple of years but it was instrumental in this in this journey with a unesco because i performed the piece in Paris and the directress of UNESCO Madame Bokke vows she was in the audience and I explained the story of gorae and then I performed the song and after the concert she came backstage and she's a very wonderful sophisticated woman but she was excited as you like listen you've got to be the spokesperson for the slave root project and I didn't know what it was but I was like if you're gonna be this excited then I'm going to do it okay because it sounds wonderful and that's how I got into it what I would like to do is just maybe visit all the slave sites and buy slave sites I mean I mean the the ports like gorae where the slaves were worshipped I'd like to visit the places where they were sold I'd like to in South America in the Caribbean and North America visit the places where they were bought and just make a connection and video it and show it to young people and try to get them not to not to hear about this story but to feel this story like I felt it when I was standing there on that island of Gouri and I think it's important to note that one of the reasons why Madame book of our direct director-general of UNESCO was so moved by your piece was because it wasn't just about the negative Rights also about celebrating life yes well you know when I when I explained the song I tell the audience that I don't want this song I didn't want the song to be just about the anger and the hurt and the and the pain that I was feeling when I when I stood there in that slave house because I also wanted to make it a testament to human beings ability to transcend you know horrible situations and find something I mean as as african-american slaves all you really had was music you know at the beginning you didn't even have instruments you know working in these fields you know picking cotton in the heat and all you could do was sing that was your only comfort you know and then eventually we got access to old instruments whatever we could get a hold of and created this wonderful music that was our only that was our our our Savior this music you know and I think because that's what jazz evolved out of that situation I think you can hear it every time you hear jazz I think you can hear how important that music how emotional that music is it's not just notes it carries our whole history with it and I think um everyone everyone understands that when they hear it yeah I think that the the spirit of of the slavery project people can identify with that spirit because everyone knows I mean within their own lives there are situations where they feel kind of enslaved by some negative or challenging situation maybe they haven't seen on a one-to-one relationship between their own lives and in the lives of the african-american slaves but they can feel that humanity and that connection to to challenge and and problems that have take them in their own lives no matter where they came from and this is what that makes your project important but it also makes makes jazz and and and culture in general so important well that's what we were that's what we here at the end of our concerts because yes a lot of people don't have like you say a one-to-one connection with this slave experience but just the idea of taking that horrible and experience and turning something and creating something beautiful with it is inspirational to everyone you know some people actually connect it to an oppressive situation in their own culture but other people like you say just connect it to their own lives their own personal lives and say you know if someone can endure that I absolutely can endure what I'm going through in my personal life absolutely we all have the ability if each and every one of us has the ability to turn poison into medicine I mean it's built into our fiber as human beings we have this infinite ability to be able to change any and everything by actually making a transformation in ourselves that's the most important thing and that that's how we can encourage and help each other that's why we're here is to not only become happy but to help other people become happy and overcome their sufferings and their sorrows and be an encouragement to each other I think it's very important what you're talking about the universality of the message of jazz and that struggle and oppression is universal it's something that everybody experiences and I think that's why jazz day has resonated in so many societies where there is conflict and oppression and struggle so that's that's beautiful you know you know um the idea of using turning boys and into medicine I mean even the medical profession does does that you know that's what inoculations are you know it's like small bits of things that in large amounts would make you sick but you develop the ability to fight them off when they introduce us into your system and then in a more general sense just being able to have difficult situations be interpreted in your mind differently saying you know what this is yes I could look at this as a horrible situation but instead I choose to look at it differently that's so powerful it seems so so trite at first you know I'm just going to look at things differently you know I mean but and and sometimes you feel like you're going to battle a lion with a feather you know what I mean just but you don't understand how strong that feather is you know if you just go you know what I'm going to change this I'm not going to let this be just a negative experience I'm gonna turn this into something positive that's a hugely powerful weapon that's human revolution you know the transformation that happens inside and that Miles Davis story he told where he played the absolute wrongest note he could he could ever play and miles made it into something beautiful he does that I've seen him do that for years now you know I mean he took the lesson that that beautiful lesson that Myles gave him and I've seen him turn really ugly notes played by other musicians into beautiful things because he's now one of the most non-judgmental musicians I've ever played with you know and it's from him taking that story that I'm sure Myles may have learned from somebody he took that story and he's continuing it on you know and I gotta admit earlier in my life man if somebody plays something wrong I'd look at him like man what's wrong with you but you know after being exposed to him you know I'll take a breath and go let me see if I could make something matter that you know so it the story gets passed along you know not just in music but this is the way you deal with people also you know so it's a it's really important well that's the other thing about jazz by the way and that I know and I'm sure you of course you know this too that musicians that are older than us you know the elder statesmen statesmen of jazz before us shared their experience I mean they hired you when you were 19 yeah yeah and then share their experience with you encouraged you gave you the opportunity to grow and to last summit and to expand you know to open your eyes and you your ears yes and and now and you are continuing that legacy you know yes as a as a mentor for young people you know to share your experiences with with them and at the same time to learn from young people yes yes in the same way that miles learn from you guys you know he was the old guy in the band you got it would like the new the new guys but I remember specifically Miles talking about when he hired these guys in his band he was playing a certain way in the 1950s he hired these guys Wayne Tony Ron and Herbie in the 60s and these guys were playing something different that Miles hadn't heard before and Miles said I gotta go home in practice and to his credit to miles his credit he came up with a way to play with these guys cuz it's not easy to play with Tony Williams Ron Carter Herbie Hancock Wayne Shorter he found a way to climb back on top of that wave and surf you know and it was beautiful because they learned from him and he learned he learned from them one more thing I want I'd like to to inject here is that um another wonderful thing about jazz is that it really it really breaks down prejudices right because everyone whether they want to admit it or not whether they realize it or not they all have preconceptions they have they all have their own prejudices you know for example if a female sits down at the jump set right a lot of musicians are like oh no I wonder if this is gonna be you know this is gonna be good girl playing the drum a girl playing the drum male yeah traditionally male instrument right and all of a sudden heels bang and she starts playing and all the guys go oh she's good let's go they had like Tara Lee yeah like Terri Lynn they had preconceptions right and as soon as she proved with a couple of notes that she could play they vanished the preconceptions vanished and was back to making music you know the same thing with race same thing with culture you know what I mean guys come up on the bandstand this guy's not from Detroit this guy's not from Chicago this guy's from from you know India or this guy's from Switzerland you know and we go oh I wonder what this is gonna be and he goes baby okay let's go it's fine that's beautiful you know what I mean that's the all-inclusive nature of jazz if you can play it doesn't matter so beautiful I mean we can go on and on for a long time I would love to be able to take some questions one or two questions from the the audience if I see a hand back there can we get a mic back mr. Harvey Hancock and mr. Marcus Mira thank you very much a great opportunity to have a such a great concert and also a good discussions I impressed with our interceder day the kind of gateway to unite the world and also much Madison's commit at United telling the power of the music and the ideas and make a transformation so um I danced a conch I know it wasn't anybody's it told in terms of just their huge you know macaca Buddhist Turkey the Sun cast a little cuckoo cuckoo Samantha Bachynski famous said the member states er celebrating Jenness day so into this day you think I oughta know Mississippi State the hey - ooh lucky they're not they're Cuban no tie or say or doesn't like you to stay it does okay I think in the negative pterosaur to mock tearing this Gator more correct in touch adult a auto-tuning right after talking me but to create even DiCaprio next a Muslim Arab assisted the Tadasana I know entertainment begins to stay American tera tsukino none other companies in Kakuma Kakashi anonymous no yeah so poetic automatic yoga Torito I know gel or nor in saluting attacked ed gruberman on American Oklahoma la manera it's no key no group of states or to go to top this way attended a spoon or a No taka-kun or Unicode I t's routine a do we consider a look he's asking that since there are 196 countries celebrating today there's a potential for jazz to transform the world basically and he's saying that in ten years it could really make an impact so that's this first question that I would like to how do you see that that the potential of jazz day in 10 years in 20 years in the future nobody can predict the potential because I mean the petitioners is is not confined to some box that we can predetermine so my point is that our exam type Asti a huge diverse table 196 countries music traditions you make just for some transform it transform what the fantastic thing is that for example people who are in countries where there's extreme conflict like the for example Central African Republic the the ones that are participating in international jazz they are feeling a sense of hope and inspiration because there is something that they can actually do that they are being recognized for that is positive and it's not just carrying guns and shooting people even in the for their own protection but it's something that they're contributing to the world something of beauty that they are contributing to the world that they've been recognized for this in itself is planting a seed of goodness a seed of advancement a seed toward peaceful resolutions in the future when that happens we don't know but we do know that we're all planting seeds I don't have to be the last well I absolutely agree that the potential is limitless and then also I think that uh jazz day can be for instance each year jazz day can be the focal point and then we can go out into the field as musicians as ambassadors for peace we can connect with people on a more personal level they've already been opened to the idea of jazz for me the important thing is to catch people when they're young early in their development you know for example I told you the first time I came to Japan I was 19 years old and the people who were listening to our music were also very young you know and we developed our own relationship that had nothing to do with history books or magazines or newspapers or what older people would tell us we should feel or think about each other the the the ideas and the feelings we had for each other were personal and I think that uh that's really important if you can help shape a young person's consciousness by going there for example we we just did a clinic in southern Russia right we played for a school and it's for young people and we played we had a great time right now these young people is going to be very difficult for someone to come and tell them anything about jazz or about Americans or about anything like that because they've experienced it personally you know so it's really important to make a connection with people when they're young and I think International Day of jazz I just call it jazz day cuz my mouth gets tired but with jazz day this is great because this is what you're going to see hopefully maybe somebody in your school and maybe somebody in your community is gonna open you up to the idea of jazz and then I would like to close the deal by coming in there and really making a one-to-one connection with people well thank you so much for your wisdom and your vision it's it's just wonderful to be able to to listen to both of you so thank you so much for coming thank you very much for joining us

Channel: International Jazz Day

Views: 11,076

Rating: 4.9583335 out of 5

Keywords: International Jazz Day, Cultural Diplomacy, Jazz (Word), Herbie Hancock (Musical Artist), Marcus Miller (Musical Artist), Peace, Education (Word), Panel Discussion

Id: syFuKuE0VdI

Length: 56min 45sec (3405 seconds)

Published: Wed May 14 2014