The Jazz Solution

I joined the FWI conference for the first time this year. I was a presenter for the Spotlight Session. The 20-minute speech was short, but it was long enough to show my passion for the subject. My topic was the Jazz Solution to the Friendship Gap, which uses the collaborative structure of a jazz combo to suggest a way to address the lack of racial integration in social networks.

Jazz is a synthesis of western and non-western ideas that has become universal and global. I am an advocate for jazz-style thinking to solve diverse issues. I have finally launched my Jazz Solution website! Enjoy my first blogs, “Crazy Rich Asians Part I, II, III.

At every workshop and general session that I attended at FWI, people were talking about how important it is to make personal connections with diverse people. Equity is a big issue in every sector.

Crazy Rich Asians is rich with Asian renditions of jazz music – from wartime tunes to more contemporary pieces. Many of these songs are international favorites across Asia.

When was the last time you saw Asian or Asian American rap singers on American TV? Crazy Rich Asians, a Hollywood movie, successfully mainstreamed Asian rap through Awkwafina’s Money (That’s What I Want) in America.

I was captured by her husky voice with great rhythmical expression. Some complain that Awkwafina copied Blacks. Yes, it was rap — but I think she made a unique rap interpretation using an Asian mindset in an Asian script with sarcasm for money. Everyone knows that World Popular Music doesn’t exist without the contributions of Black American music. And of course, Crazy Rich Asians reminded me of the historical influence of Black Music on Asian music. Thanks to African American contributions to World Music, we had Elvis, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Now we have J pop and K pop. We have BTS!

Asian Americans have come a long way, but American media still maintains an invisible wall between us. Asia is changing. So is Asia America. Asians, the largest majority on the globe, are the fastest growing population in America. But American media and Hollywood can’t catch up with this rapid change in Asian America. After the long history from the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 to the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, the number of Asian immigrants has been increasing. Legal or political oppression against Asians contributes to limited or distorted images of us.

For my daughter and I, Crazy Rich Asians was more than just an Asian American film. It was a women’s film featuring mothers. Shortly before my daughter moved to Tokyo last fall, she stopped by our home in St. Paul and suggested that we see this film together at our neighborhood theater. After the film she said, “Nobody told me this was a mother-daughter film! I’m so glad I came to see this movie with you. I will never forget this!” When we were leaving the theater, a white woman in the lobby noticed that my daughter had tears in her eyes. She said rather sarcastically, “I’m sorry this movie made you feel sad.” My daughter told her: “I don’t think you understand how I feel….”

Welcome to the Jazz Solution!