Blog #4

Thelonious Monk perhaps epitomizes the stereotype of the jazz savant. He’s odd and appears obsessive to the observer. He sees the world differently than most, and that unique perspective comes through in his compositions, which are dominated by dissonance and unconventional harmonies. However, looking at the community he was raised in, it almost seems inevitable that he is the way he is.

In his biography on Thelonious Monk, Robin Kelley describes the San Juan Hill community in which Monk was raised. It’s a community dominated by racial tensions and contradictions. It was a small community of tenement buildings for working class families and every block was dominated by a specific ethnic group. As Monk described it, “you go in the next block and you’re in another country” (Kelley, 19). And every ethnic group was protective of their territory and ready and willing to use violence to defend their sub community. Within area, small race riots were expected weekly, and residents of the community were known to store “piles of bottles and bricks ripped from dilapidated chimneys” to retaliate with when conflicts arose (Kelley, 17). But at the same time that these sometimes fatally violent conflicts were frequently occurring, the San Juan Hill area still functioned as a community, albeit a highly dysfunctional one. Residents of the community remember that the majority of the merchants were Italians. So, when you needed to purchase something, you needed to go down one of the Italian blocks to the store. The Italians wouldn’t allow blacks to walk on the sidewalks in their neighborhood, so the black customers would shamefully walk along the street. At the store, the Italians would give you anything you needed in an “empty wooden box”. As one resident remembers, “they’re always glad to give you a box because they know you have a coal stove and you need the wood to start the fire.” However, after you get the box, “you break [it up]” and “run like mad down the street… [hitting] anybody you can” with the sticks (Kelley, 18). This is the kind of racial conflict-based contradiction embodied in the San Juan Hill community that is almost comedic in its excessive nature. In this example, the blacks and the Italians work together and are helpful towards each other in certain interactions, but before that interaction begins and after it is over, they revert back to racial discrimination and violence that seems based more on the community’s attitude and not on any personal disagreements. Growing up in a community like this, it only seems natural that Monk would express himself through highly unconventional harmonies in his music.

In Monk’s situation, I believe his music is a direct product of his abnormal upbringing. However, the opposite could also be true: an abnormal community can be the direct product of art and music. This seems to be the case in Leimert Park in Los Angeles. This is a community, of predominantly African Americans, located within the heart of LA. The surrounding areas are impoverished and dominated by gang violence, but Leimert Park is an oasis of art, music, and nonviolent expression. In Leimert Park, the residents came together, out of a mutual respect and admiration for the arts, and formed a true community. But Leimert park is very different than San Juan Hill. While Leimert park resonates with the idea that we can love and accept one another regardless of the differences between us, the San Juan Hill mentality is to focus on every difference between people and create conflicts because of that. But as different as these two communities are, music is still at the center of them. Monk was, and still is, a highly influential musician, and it seems unlikely that the jazz roots of the Leimert Park community could have been planted without the influence of Monk’s music, and it seems even more unlikely that Monk could have the same musical voice without his upbringing in San Juan Hill.