“Anti-fascist 
music you can dance to” is the mantra and the mission. After a 2-year hiatus, our return will be a highlight of the Hot Times Festival in Olde Town East. This will be the band’s 38th performance at the Hot Times Festival.
“America’s issues make communicating clearly and truthfully an imperative for us. We changed our name from the slightly academic JazzPoetry Ensemble to Make Jazz Not War. We’re more danceable. But as our music became more political, performance opportunities declined,” says founder Michael Vander Does. “My father was blacklisted in the fifties, so I understand this. Times are even worse now. So it’s great to have the opportunity to play for the people at Hot Times on Sunday afternoon. They have been welcoming and appreciative for over 40 years.”
Blues, reggae, soul, punk, and more, Make Jazz Not War uses popular music idioms to support explorations of rampant fraud, corruption, and bigotry in society. “Moral Decay” looks at the role of role models when role models are rapists and crooks. Gil Scott Heron’s “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” is updated because “The Counter-Revolution IS BEING Televised.” “Sarge, I Wanna Kill” is a punk rage. “There was a time when I felt I could write poetry about anything. The rapid deterioration of democracy has made it difficult to write about anything but…” says Vander Does, who plays trombone and writes and performs the vocals.
Make Jazz Not War’s Comfest performance was electric. Guitarist Brett Burleson wowed the crowd again and again. Michael Cox added his soulful sax and flute, especially on “The Counter-revolution…” Bassist and musical director Roger Hines deftly directed traffic, often in surprising directions. The Governor, on drums, did what governors do. He kept the band at the right speed, whether languorously slow or nearing the speed of sound. The audience responded appropriately to every twist and turn.
“Used to be, we always had a lot of political content, but not like today. I need to rewrite a lot to keep up with the escalating idiocy in Washington. We have a vegetarian dirty blues we use as a break from the heavy stuff. It makes people laugh. Even in the heavy stuff, we try to keep a sense of humor,” says Vander Does.
The band’s eponymous closer, “Make Jazz Not War” has been through a lot of changes since it made Neil Young’s list of antiwar songs 20 years ago. Now, it’s an uplifting soul anthem. Like the band, it offers a clear-eyed look at current conditions, a concept for living and working together, and hope.
As The JazzPoetry Ensemble, Make Jazz Not War led the way for avant-garde jazz in Columbus – working with luminaries like Oliver Lake, D.D. Jackson, and Hamiet Bluiett. The avant-garde is still there, but more like Maceo Parker with James Brown than John Coltrane in “Interstellar Space.”
Make Jazz Not War performs at the Hot Times Festival on Sunday, September 13, at 2:30 pm. The Festival is located at 240 Parsons Avenue at the corner of East Main Street. The Hot Times Festival runs from Friday, September 11, through Sunday, September 13.
