"Jazz is an international language," says NPR's Becca Pulliam

Washington -- Becca Pulliam, producer of such National Public Radio (NPR) broadcasts as JazzSet with Dee Dee Bridgewater and Toast of the Nation, fielded audience questions during an April 3 webchat.

Pulliam stressed the influx of new and international artists onto the contemporary jazz scene, explained how today’s jazz gradually evolved from African-American spirituals and work songs from the slavery era and offered information about Jazz Appreciation Month, celebrated each April.

She explained that today’s audiences can choose from more musical genres and subgenres, but suggested that jazz continues both to hold its own audience and influence other kinds of music through its rhythms, its improvisation and conservatories that train budding musicians in both classical music and jazz.

Discussing the deep relationship between African Americans and jazz, Pulliam related her youthful experience with the pianist Mary Lou Williams (1910–1981), who played examples of slave music and its many subsequent evolutions on the way to bebop and other forms of modern jazz.

Pulliam offered jazz fans the names of many notable performers, both old and new, and recommended to collectors a number of her favorite recordings.

She explained that Jazz Appreciation Month is not state-sponsored but instead was founded through the efforts of John Edward Hasse, curator of American music at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.

Many of Pulliam’s responses included examples of jazz musicians from other nations. "Jazz is an international language,” she said.

The Bureau of International Information Programs will host a second jazz webchat on April 20 at 11 a.m. EDT (1500 gmt).

The guest will be Sheila Anderson, host of the Late Night Jazz broadcast on station WBGO-FM in Newark, New Jersey, and www.wbgo.org. To ask a question or make a comment during the webchat, please register at usinfowebchat@state.gov.

A transcript of the webchat with Becca Pulliam is available on USINFO Webchat Station.