ALL THAT JAZZ

True, jazz would not exist without its African-American roots, “birthed by the pain of racial oppression,” as Wanda Coleman says (“Jazz Blues,” Three on the Town, Jan. 17). Yet, jazz also would not have occurred without the expansive melting pot that America provided. Jazz comes from the black experience, but it comes from the American experience as well.

Many jazz masters who come to mind are black. But any careful study of this form of music evinces a fabric that is so tightly woven with multicultural and racial threads that it is impossible to unravel.

When I think of my favorite jazz albums--such as “My Favorite Things” by John Coltrane and “Sketches in Spain” by Miles Davis, with music by Gershwin, Aranjuez, Rodgers and Hammerstein--it thrills me that these diverse cultures have blended so perfectly and beautifully someplace on this divisive and often bitter planet.

I am sure that Coleman would agree that we would not be blessed with this unique, American gift, which all the world admires, had we not been thrown together helter-skelter in Walt Whitman’s vision, Allen Ginsberg’s vision and Wanda Coleman’s vision. They are all distinct, but inseparable.

DAVID DEL BOURGO

Woodland Hills