What is Jazzoperetry^® ?

Jazz∙op∙er∙e∙try [ jaz-OP-ruh-tree]: The innovative synthesis of jazz, opera and spoken-word poetry into a cohesive performance art.   A creation of singer, writer, composer and arranger, Earl Hazell.

Jazzoperetry^®  Inc., is a social business for educational, cultural and performing arts purposes. 

Jazzoperetry, Inc. statement of mission: To defend and promote the generative principles of democracy through the practice of original American art forms, in the service of cultural education at home and cultural diplomacy abroad.

ReverbNation Electronic Press Kit

While touring with Wynton Marsalis and assisting John Kerry’s presidential bid, Sehgal noticed similarities between American democracy and jazz. In both, he sees a balance between the individual and the group, independence and cooperation; both allow room for improvisation while maintaining a structural base. Sehgal maintains that the structure of our country is solid but argues we need new mythologies to support it. Mythologies (like the American dream) have served to define the values that we pass along to help create a sense of who we are as a people. Sehgal sees current popular art, specifically rap music, as laden with “vapid materialism” and “self stereotyping,” and therefore unworthy of the task. He advocates for a mainstream expression that will help steer public opinion toward positiveness, writing that we need modern American classics that strengthen and unite us. He considers jazz the perfect vehicle.

–Library Journal

Review of Jazzocracy: Jazz, Democracy, and the Creation of a New American Mythology

by Kabir Sehgal