“Java” (PDF) from the Stanton Moore album, With You In Mind

In response to criticism of New Orleans trumpeter Al Hirt’s pop success from his 1963 recording of the Allen Toussaint instrumental “Java,” it was believed that Hirt rejected his association with jazz despite an established career with big band and Dixieland music. His remarks were a denouncement of the counterculturalism within jazz circles throughout the 1960s rather than the dismissal of New Orleans music. To his point, “Java” was not jazz and the roots of Allen Toussaint’s music were planted firmly in the R&B that would sprout into American rock & roll. Furthermore, the tune was also a hit for Nashville pianist Floyd Cramer, as produced by guitarist Chet Atkins, prior to Hirt’s recording. The tendency to classify all instrumental music with a swinging beat as “jazz” - whether for profit or to discredit it - is a veiled attempt at the segregation of American music.

Here is a YouTube video of “Java” as performed by The Muppets:

Recommended reading: Take It To The Street: A Study in New Orleans Street Beats and Second-line Rhythms As Applied to Funk by Stanton Moore. Published by Carl Fischer.