All That Jazz

Has anyone else noticed that whenever a jewelry store or high end furniture gallery runs an ad on the radio, there is always upbeat jazz playing in the background? It’s never quite as laid back as Kenny G, but there is never any scatting either. It tends to feature saxophone or guitar solos rather than trumpet ones. It never has any of the edginess of ragtime or Latin jazz, but is more of a distilled form of the genre without lapsing into muzak.


It makes perfect sense. What other type of music would you expect to be played? Pop rock is the music of the hoi polloi. Indie rock might show that you have some taste, but also probably indicates that you have no money; it would be the perfect music for a futon store ad, if futon stores actually advertized. Country music appeals to people who care more about the bed of their pickup truck than the bed in their house. The usual classical music favored in advertisement—things like a Mozart concerto—might appeal to a well-educated and wealthier crowd, but it also conveys the notion of being stuffy. And that leaves a more urbane form of jazz. It says that you are the kind of person who came from a family that took music seriously. You learned to play the piano, but you didn’t stay stuck in the eighteenth century. You sneaked out to go to those small clubs featuring musicians that 99% of the population had never heard of. You love flattened fifths and swung notes and other things that “break the rules.” You’re a bit naughty, but in a nice way; no one ever gets hurt. You’re sophisticated and enjoy the finer things in life, but you don’t want to drive Daddy’s car or have his couch from his suburban McMansion in your trendy city loft. And the advertisers are saying, “We’re just as sophisticated. Come on in and you’ll see a selection that is all you.”

Interestingly enough, though, the musical choice seems to work even with people who didn’t grow up in Kenilworth, spending their misspent youth on sneaking into the city to go to the Green Mill. (That certainly isn’t my background.) The important thing is that when you decide to buy that engagement ring or splurge on that really nice sofa, you go to a place run by people who have the sophistication that you feel you may lack. As long as you have the sense that they are honest people, you want someone who will steer you into making the right choice—and make you look more debonair than you really are.

This has application to life in the church. There is nothing inherently wrong with any genre of music for its use in the church, just as there is nothing inherently wrong with a furniture showroom using any kind of music it wants. But because music has cultural associations—associations, by the way, that change over time—one has to be thoughtful about the sort of music used in the church. The music should convey that the church is ancient, not archaic; modern, not ephemeral; holy, not sanctimonious; amid a particular culture, not of it; and a lover of beauty, not hedonistic. That’s a tall order, but an important one.