At its best, jazz narrates a general movement, a particular flow, from deep misery to deep joy. Jazz carries this aesthetic in its fabric. Sometimes the musicians consciously articulate the narrative of redemption.

Working with Obstacles, and Transcending Them
Finally, think about improvisation. Of course, all great music has at least some improvisatory character. But for African-Americans this has a special hue. From the beginning, blacks coming to North America have had to learn to survive. John Newton, the reformed slaver, commented that shipboard insurrections were noble struggles for liberty, and that traitors who sought to undermine the plans were wrongly viewed as honest fellows. More than survive, the slaves were often able to move out from oppression to a creative revitalization in many areas of life.

"Suppression to re-emergence” is thus a pattern characteristic of the African-American aesthetic. From clothing styles to the culinary arts to health practices, they display an astonishing ability to be creative, despite all that might conspire against them. In music and the other arts, this is notably the case. At one point (around 1856) during Black Codes in New Orleans, drumming and dancing were all but forbidden on Congo Square, but blacks rather creatively asked the town fathers to define “dance” for them. The authorities came up with this strange definition: “Dance” is when “a person’s legs cross to a rhythm.” So the blacks developed the “Ring Shout,” where no legs are ever crossed! In the 18th and 19th centuries, European musical styles and tunes were merged into African ones, so that the “blending of African musical traditions with European ones created a new African-American music that was the first truly post-Columbian American art.”

Improvisation is at the heart of jazz music. What is this art? It is to fabricate, to build with what is conveniently on hand. It means to take a set of challenges, even obstacles, to work with them and transcend them in a creative narrative. Stanley Crouch famously compared jazz and blues to the American Constitution. This document believes both that human beings cannot be trusted and that they need freedom in order to gain access to human potential. Its succinct boundaries and liberties have made it possible to meet many challenges in the ensuing generations: “In essence, then, the Constitution is a document that functions like the blues-based music of jazz: it values improvisation, the freedom to constantly reinterpret the meaning of our documents. It casts a cold eye on human beings and on the laws they make; it assumes that evil will not forever be allowed to pass by. And the fact that a good number of young Negro musicians are leading the movement that is revitalizing jazz suggests a strong future for this country.”

Optimism about America’s future aside, the comparison is poignant. Jazz is indeed, I believe, “the American music.”

May we dare suggest that the gospel itself is a kind of improvisation? For what is the good news, if not God’s wise, loving plan to redeem the human race by facing the daunting obstacles of sin and evil, and turning them upside down. It is God’s own willingness to be oppressed in order that He could re-emerge as Savior. By becoming man, and being humbled, Jesus Christ improvised. He took the givens, and worked with them, and made them work for Him. He “trumped” evil and caused death itself to die. Jazz music, at its best, is the expression of a people who know this truth. So you gotta love it.

William Edgar is a professor of apologetics at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, where he has served on the faculty since 1989.  He is the author of The Face of Truth, Reasons of the Heart, and Truth in All Its Glory: Commending the Reformed Faith, as well as articles on cultural apologetics and African-American music.

This article originally appeared on ByFaith Online. Used with permission.