Who says jazz isn’t world music? On saxophonist Oded Tzur’s meditative Here Be Dragons, recorded in Italy, we have an Israeli playing East Indian–inflected music on an instrument invented by a Belgian in the context of American jazz. With Tobias Hoffmann’s lively Retrospective, recorded in Vienna, we have a native German writing tunes rooted in American jazz, playing an instrument invented by a Belgian, and working with Swiss and Austrian musicians. Unlike football, baseball, or the United States Constitution, jazz has rooted itself in the imagination of people everywhere, just like its progenitor, the blues, and its younger siblings, R&B, soul, and rock and roll.
