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Washington Jr. I was listening to The Jackson 5.There was a representation in jazz that caught my eye of the overallplace where the culture was, where the music and the pop radio was.That’s got to be the case today. Some might say, “Well, I don’t like rap.”Well, guess what? You need to get your head around what that music isabout. Not necessarily all of it, but try to find a way to make a connectionwhere you can present this profound music called jazz. Because there is aconnection with rap and every other kind of music.Lewis: I’ve have some thoughts about hip hop and rap. And this goesback to 20 or 25 years ago, when music was taken away from the schools.Well, when we took the instruments away from the kids, they resorted towhat was left. Rhythm, right? And the ability to make up prose or poetry.Whalum: And sample Ramsey Lewis records! [laughs]Lewis: They sampled all of us. You have to admire them for turning totheir own resources, what’s available to them, and coming up with thismusic. I dare say there’s some genius in there somewhere.If some of these kids had the opportunity to study the fundamentals ofmusic, I don’t know—Duke Ellington Jr., maybe? Gershwin Jr.? So, I’mstill fighting the good fight in terms of getting instruments back in theschool, getting music back in the school.We have to come up with a way to allow these youngsters as they finishhigh school, as they go into college, and they leave college with theirperformance degrees, with their education degrees … How do you get toCarnegie Hall? How do you get to Ravinia? The joke in the old days was,“Practice, man, practice.” Well, that’s still the truth, but there’s one morething that we didn’t think about because it was so available to us when wewere growing up: Practice in front of folk.You’ve gotta learn to play in front of people. But they don’t have theplaces like when I was coming up. That’s one of the things that we need toapproach. And I’ve started some conversations with coffee houses andother retail places throughout the country that might open such a placewhere youngsters can go play. That’s how you find yourself. You don’tfind yourself in your closet, your living room, in the practice room. Youtake that and you go in front of people.You play wherever you can. You play at church, at fashion shows. Thewhole idea is to have two or more people in front of you to bounce yourmusic off of. These are hard times. There are not the two or three dozenclubs around Chicago that there used to be. You have to make your way.If you’re serious, you’ll find some places.Whalum: In Chicago, there are homeless shelters. There’s old folkshomes. I think the problem is that we want to be featured in such a waythat we’re at this “Razzle Dazzle Club” or something. There’s plenty ofplaces where you can bless people with what you have, and at the sametime, something begins to happen.Lewis: You’ve just piqued my imagination. Whatever schools you go to,why can’t you approach the school and say, “Every Tuesday andThursday afternoon from 4 to 6, why can’t a group of us get together andstart a music thing?” Why not go to your minister and say, “What aboutSaturday afternoon, can we use the basement and start a music event?”Whalum: Or the sanctuary.Lewis: The whole idea at this point is to play for people, to see whatyou’re really about. And these performing arts centers all around the country,they get money from the states and the federal government. If theyhave an educational community outreach program—hello? You’ve got totalk to them, too!The discussion comes to a close after a few quick questions from theaudience. Whalum stands, raises his soprano saxophone to his lipsand plays a little “Wade On The Water,” a parting tribute to Lewis,who listens and smiles. Cold outside? Yeah, but on this December day inthe Windy City, two commercially successful jazz artists hardly takenotice as they warm the passions of their audience.DBADVERTISEMENT