Trumpeter Nicholas Payton calls what he does BAM, for black American music, avering that
negative connotations of the “j-word” does the music and the musicians no good. He gathered instrumentalists Gary Bartz, Marcus Strickland, Orrin Evans and Ben Wolfe to a panel in mid January moderated by writer Touré at Birdland in New York City, essentially to support the position he’s written of in his blog. Brian Pace documents the entire panel presentation in his online series The Pace Report, and interviewed the participants each separately when they came off the stage.
“It’s a negative word,” says Gary Bartz. Only Touré speaks for the other side of the argument.
JJA members and unaffiliated colleagues whose specialties involve words may have something to say about semantic subtleties. As Brian Pace, video-producer, concludes one of his own blog postings, “[T}he journalist can help increase a buzz or generate a interest for artists/groups so fans will buy and support the music. The Revolution Will Be Televised.”
This "movement" is entirely inspired by Nicholas Payton's insecurities about being black, short, a failure with the women, and not being taken seriously as an intellectual. Go read his blog. He makes ridiculous claims and justifies them with flawed logic. He claims that black people can't be racist, itself a racialist statement that generalizes people and their abilities/powers based solely on their skin color. He is a hypocrite. He's simply playing the race card all the way to the bank; the bank being his validation as a big, important, and smart person. I feel sorry for the guy.