Robert Kraut
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199228126
- eISBN:
- 9780191711053
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199228126.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Aesthetics
The artworld is a complicated place. It contains acts of artistic creation, interpretation, evaluation, preservation, misunderstanding, and condemnation. The goal of this book is to turn a critical ...
More
The artworld is a complicated place. It contains acts of artistic creation, interpretation, evaluation, preservation, misunderstanding, and condemnation. The goal of this book is to turn a critical reflective eye upon various aspects of the artworld, and to articulate some of the problems, principles, and norms implicit in the actual practices of artistic creation, interpretation, evaluation, and commodification. Aesthetic theory is treated as a descriptive, rather than normative, enterprise: one that relates to artworld realities as a semantic theory relates to the fragments of natural language it seeks to describe. Sustained efforts are made to illuminate emotional expression, correct interpretation, and objectivity in the context of artworld practice; the relevance of jazz to aesthetic theory; the goals of ontology (artworld and otherwise); the relation(s) between art and language; and the relation(s) between artistic/critical practice and aesthetic theory.Less
The artworld is a complicated place. It contains acts of artistic creation, interpretation, evaluation, preservation, misunderstanding, and condemnation. The goal of this book is to turn a critical reflective eye upon various aspects of the artworld, and to articulate some of the problems, principles, and norms implicit in the actual practices of artistic creation, interpretation, evaluation, and commodification. Aesthetic theory is treated as a descriptive, rather than normative, enterprise: one that relates to artworld realities as a semantic theory relates to the fragments of natural language it seeks to describe. Sustained efforts are made to illuminate emotional expression, correct interpretation, and objectivity in the context of artworld practice; the relevance of jazz to aesthetic theory; the goals of ontology (artworld and otherwise); the relation(s) between art and language; and the relation(s) between artistic/critical practice and aesthetic theory.
Damon J. Phillips
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691150888
- eISBN:
- 9781400846481
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691150888.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Culture
There are over a million jazz recordings, but only a few hundred tunes have been recorded repeatedly. Why did a minority of songs become jazz standards? Why do some songs—and not others—get ...
More
There are over a million jazz recordings, but only a few hundred tunes have been recorded repeatedly. Why did a minority of songs become jazz standards? Why do some songs—and not others—get re-recorded by many musicians? This book answers this question and more, exploring the underappreciated yet crucial roles played by initial production and markets—in particular, organizations and geography—in the development of early twentieth-century jazz. The book considers why places like New York played more important roles as engines of diffusion than as the sources of standards. It demonstrates why and when certain geographical references in tune and group titles were considered more desirable. It also explains why a place like Berlin, which produced jazz abundantly from the 1920s to early 1930s, is now on jazz's historical sidelines. The book shows the key influences of firms in the recording industry, including how record labels and their executives affected what music was recorded, and why major companies would re-release recordings under artistic pseudonyms. It indicates how a recording's appeal was related to the narrative around its creation, and how the identities of its firm and musicians influenced the tune's long-run popularity. Applying fascinating ideas about market emergence to a music's commercialization, the book offers a unique look at the origins of a groundbreaking art form.Less
There are over a million jazz recordings, but only a few hundred tunes have been recorded repeatedly. Why did a minority of songs become jazz standards? Why do some songs—and not others—get re-recorded by many musicians? This book answers this question and more, exploring the underappreciated yet crucial roles played by initial production and markets—in particular, organizations and geography—in the development of early twentieth-century jazz. The book considers why places like New York played more important roles as engines of diffusion than as the sources of standards. It demonstrates why and when certain geographical references in tune and group titles were considered more desirable. It also explains why a place like Berlin, which produced jazz abundantly from the 1920s to early 1930s, is now on jazz's historical sidelines. The book shows the key influences of firms in the recording industry, including how record labels and their executives affected what music was recorded, and why major companies would re-release recordings under artistic pseudonyms. It indicates how a recording's appeal was related to the narrative around its creation, and how the identities of its firm and musicians influenced the tune's long-run popularity. Applying fascinating ideas about market emergence to a music's commercialization, the book offers a unique look at the origins of a groundbreaking art form.
Walter van de Leur
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195124484
- eISBN:
- 9780199868711
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195124484.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This book investigates and analyzes the music of Billy Strayhorn. Over seventy musical examples, drawn from his original autograph scores, provide insight in the development of his style, in his ...
More
This book investigates and analyzes the music of Billy Strayhorn. Over seventy musical examples, drawn from his original autograph scores, provide insight in the development of his style, in his advanced harmonic language and in his orchestral technique. The book traces the origins of Strayhorn’s music, rooted in European and American idioms, and uncovers hitherto unknown works which cast a new light on his development as a jazz composer and orchestrator. It addresses the mythical, thirty-year partnership of Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington. Through research on their autograph scores, it redefines their musical collaboration. The book argues that as opposed to general accepted views, Ellington and Strayhorn were not musical alter-egos, but two distinctively individual composers who worked from different musical perspectives. This book also details how those distinctions stem from the respective musical backgrounds of the two composers, and how that affected their collaboration. The differences between Ellington’s and Strayhorn’s music are clearly audible, yet have eluded most listeners since Ellington — as the main interpreter of his collaborator’s music — played a crucial role in our perception of Strayhorn’s work. The book untangles Strayhorn from Ellington’s shadow, identifies all of his contributions to the Ellington repertory, and points listeners to the most salient features that distinguish Strayhorn’s musical style from Ellington’s.Less
This book investigates and analyzes the music of Billy Strayhorn. Over seventy musical examples, drawn from his original autograph scores, provide insight in the development of his style, in his advanced harmonic language and in his orchestral technique. The book traces the origins of Strayhorn’s music, rooted in European and American idioms, and uncovers hitherto unknown works which cast a new light on his development as a jazz composer and orchestrator. It addresses the mythical, thirty-year partnership of Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington. Through research on their autograph scores, it redefines their musical collaboration. The book argues that as opposed to general accepted views, Ellington and Strayhorn were not musical alter-egos, but two distinctively individual composers who worked from different musical perspectives. This book also details how those distinctions stem from the respective musical backgrounds of the two composers, and how that affected their collaboration. The differences between Ellington’s and Strayhorn’s music are clearly audible, yet have eluded most listeners since Ellington — as the main interpreter of his collaborator’s music — played a crucial role in our perception of Strayhorn’s work. The book untangles Strayhorn from Ellington’s shadow, identifies all of his contributions to the Ellington repertory, and points listeners to the most salient features that distinguish Strayhorn’s musical style from Ellington’s.
Damon J. Phillips
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691150888
- eISBN:
- 9781400846481
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691150888.003.0002
- Subject:
- Sociology, Culture
This chapter explains why it matters that jazz was produced in sixty-seven cities worldwide. That is, jazz up to 1933 was primarily recorded in a small set of cities, including Chicago, London, and ...
More
This chapter explains why it matters that jazz was produced in sixty-seven cities worldwide. That is, jazz up to 1933 was primarily recorded in a small set of cities, including Chicago, London, and New York. Focusing on the mobility networks of musicians across these cities, the chapter examines how disconnectedness can have a unique role in social systems, particularly in innovation-based social systems familiar to scholars of organizations and markets (e.g., cultural markets, technological systems). Using an empirical approach to the rise of jazz during the period 1897–1933, it explores the impact of structurally disconnected cities and the emergence of jazz standards through the discographical canon. The chapter argues that it is important to pay attention to jazz recordings from more disconnected cities such as Minneapolis (Minnesota), Hilversum (Holland), Sydney (Australia), Buenos Aires (Argentina), and Calcutta (India).Less
This chapter explains why it matters that jazz was produced in sixty-seven cities worldwide. That is, jazz up to 1933 was primarily recorded in a small set of cities, including Chicago, London, and New York. Focusing on the mobility networks of musicians across these cities, the chapter examines how disconnectedness can have a unique role in social systems, particularly in innovation-based social systems familiar to scholars of organizations and markets (e.g., cultural markets, technological systems). Using an empirical approach to the rise of jazz during the period 1897–1933, it explores the impact of structurally disconnected cities and the emergence of jazz standards through the discographical canon. The chapter argues that it is important to pay attention to jazz recordings from more disconnected cities such as Minneapolis (Minnesota), Hilversum (Holland), Sydney (Australia), Buenos Aires (Argentina), and Calcutta (India).
Damon J. Phillips
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691150888
- eISBN:
- 9781400846481
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691150888.003.0005
- Subject:
- Sociology, Culture
This chapter examines why the firms that introduced a type of recorded jazz that was successful switched to champion another type of jazz that was less successful. Using both qualitative historical ...
More
This chapter examines why the firms that introduced a type of recorded jazz that was successful switched to champion another type of jazz that was less successful. Using both qualitative historical and quantitative analyses, the chapter explores record company comparative advantage in the context of sociological congruence. It also considers the relationship between jazz, race, and Victorian-era firms. In particular, the chapter considers a key source of jazz's illegitimacy with respect to cultural elites: its association with African Americans. It shows that incumbents, after releasing the earliest jazz recordings (in 1917–1918), reoriented the production of jazz music to align with their identities as producers of symphonic music amid mounting elite anti-jazz sentiments.Less
This chapter examines why the firms that introduced a type of recorded jazz that was successful switched to champion another type of jazz that was less successful. Using both qualitative historical and quantitative analyses, the chapter explores record company comparative advantage in the context of sociological congruence. It also considers the relationship between jazz, race, and Victorian-era firms. In particular, the chapter considers a key source of jazz's illegitimacy with respect to cultural elites: its association with African Americans. It shows that incumbents, after releasing the earliest jazz recordings (in 1917–1918), reoriented the production of jazz music to align with their identities as producers of symphonic music amid mounting elite anti-jazz sentiments.
Damon J. Phillips
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691150888
- eISBN:
- 9781400846481
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691150888.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Culture
This introductory chapter explains that the book examines the early years of the market for jazz in order to understand why some tunes had long-term appeal while others did not, and how the market ...
More
This introductory chapter explains that the book examines the early years of the market for jazz in order to understand why some tunes had long-term appeal while others did not, and how the market boundaries of jazz evolved as a part of this process. Using empirical puzzles and focusing mostly on the period 1917–1933, the book investigates why some songs are re-recorded by many musicians over time while others receive no such following. The book draws on sociological congruence as a mechanism to explain how the context of production affects the appeal of jazz recordings. It shows that jazz has been influenced by the social structure of the geography and producing organizations. A market for jazz could not have formed, flourished, and maintained legitimacy without a smaller set of tunes to serve as a common point of reference by musicians, record labels and companies, consumers, and critics.Less
This introductory chapter explains that the book examines the early years of the market for jazz in order to understand why some tunes had long-term appeal while others did not, and how the market boundaries of jazz evolved as a part of this process. Using empirical puzzles and focusing mostly on the period 1917–1933, the book investigates why some songs are re-recorded by many musicians over time while others receive no such following. The book draws on sociological congruence as a mechanism to explain how the context of production affects the appeal of jazz recordings. It shows that jazz has been influenced by the social structure of the geography and producing organizations. A market for jazz could not have formed, flourished, and maintained legitimacy without a smaller set of tunes to serve as a common point of reference by musicians, record labels and companies, consumers, and critics.
Damon J. Phillips
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691150888
- eISBN:
- 9781400846481
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691150888.003.0003
- Subject:
- Sociology, Culture
This chapter examines why there seems to be a disproportionate advantage for jazz recordings that emerged from more disconnected cities than when compared to the more central cities like New York. ...
More
This chapter examines why there seems to be a disproportionate advantage for jazz recordings that emerged from more disconnected cities than when compared to the more central cities like New York. The previous chapter showed that disconnectedness in the network of geographic mobility has greater influence for how jazz is received than for how it is produced. The evidence suggested that disconnectedness operates through sociological congruence, where difficult-to-categorize aspects of a tune or song make the music more appealing if the (geographic) source is highly disconnected. Using the (early) diffusion of “Milenburg Joys” as a case study, this chapter explores the salience of geography in the shaping of jazz. It considers how musicians removed in time could have been aware of the initial recording location. It also asks whether more can be understood about the process of diffusion that led to long-run appeal for jazz from a highly disconnected source.Less
This chapter examines why there seems to be a disproportionate advantage for jazz recordings that emerged from more disconnected cities than when compared to the more central cities like New York. The previous chapter showed that disconnectedness in the network of geographic mobility has greater influence for how jazz is received than for how it is produced. The evidence suggested that disconnectedness operates through sociological congruence, where difficult-to-categorize aspects of a tune or song make the music more appealing if the (geographic) source is highly disconnected. Using the (early) diffusion of “Milenburg Joys” as a case study, this chapter explores the salience of geography in the shaping of jazz. It considers how musicians removed in time could have been aware of the initial recording location. It also asks whether more can be understood about the process of diffusion that led to long-run appeal for jazz from a highly disconnected source.
Damon J. Phillips
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691150888
- eISBN:
- 9781400846481
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691150888.003.0004
- Subject:
- Sociology, Culture
This chapter examines why the long-run appeal of jazz music worldwide was related to the city of origin's network position with the exception of Berlin in what was then Weimar Germany. Between 1923 ...
More
This chapter examines why the long-run appeal of jazz music worldwide was related to the city of origin's network position with the exception of Berlin in what was then Weimar Germany. Between 1923 and 1933, Berlin produced more early jazz than any other city in Europe as the center of Weimar culture. And yet the lasting appeal of jazz music recorded in Berlin was notably less than that of other European cities. To explain this puzzle, the chapter develops a sequential relational model for understanding the fate of German jazz in which the locations of musical reception and production correspond to schemas that affect the tastes and the ways in which cultural objects are interpreted. The example of German jazz suggests that the model of sociological congruence works best when the musical identity of a location is not so strong that its actual output is overwhelmed by the perceived output from a location.Less
This chapter examines why the long-run appeal of jazz music worldwide was related to the city of origin's network position with the exception of Berlin in what was then Weimar Germany. Between 1923 and 1933, Berlin produced more early jazz than any other city in Europe as the center of Weimar culture. And yet the lasting appeal of jazz music recorded in Berlin was notably less than that of other European cities. To explain this puzzle, the chapter develops a sequential relational model for understanding the fate of German jazz in which the locations of musical reception and production correspond to schemas that affect the tastes and the ways in which cultural objects are interpreted. The example of German jazz suggests that the model of sociological congruence works best when the musical identity of a location is not so strong that its actual output is overwhelmed by the perceived output from a location.
Damon J. Phillips
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691150888
- eISBN:
- 9781400846481
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691150888.003.0006
- Subject:
- Sociology, Culture
This chapter examines the sociological congruence of record company deception. It explores deception through the lens of organizational role identities, where role identities are a function of when ...
More
This chapter examines the sociological congruence of record company deception. It explores deception through the lens of organizational role identities, where role identities are a function of when an organization was founded. It also discusses the role of pseudonyms by focusing on Victorian-era firms and the anti-jazz sentiments they faced. In particular, it considers the relationship of firm identities to the costs and success of highbrow versus lowbrow jazz recordings. The chapter shows that Victorian-era firms used deception to overcome two types of identity threats: their association with profitable but illegitimate types of jazz, and the actions of newer entrants that blurred the incumbents' identity.Less
This chapter examines the sociological congruence of record company deception. It explores deception through the lens of organizational role identities, where role identities are a function of when an organization was founded. It also discusses the role of pseudonyms by focusing on Victorian-era firms and the anti-jazz sentiments they faced. In particular, it considers the relationship of firm identities to the costs and success of highbrow versus lowbrow jazz recordings. The chapter shows that Victorian-era firms used deception to overcome two types of identity threats: their association with profitable but illegitimate types of jazz, and the actions of newer entrants that blurred the incumbents' identity.
Constance Valis Hill
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195390827
- eISBN:
- 9780199863563
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195390827.003.0004
- Subject:
- Music, History, American, Dance
This chapter begins with the “Jimtown Fisticuffs” challenge dance between Flournoy E. Miller and Aubrey Lyles in the 1921 Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle black musical comedy Shuffle Along, which ...
More
This chapter begins with the “Jimtown Fisticuffs” challenge dance between Flournoy E. Miller and Aubrey Lyles in the 1921 Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle black musical comedy Shuffle Along, which launched the Jazz Age and black rhythm tap dancing on the Broadway stage. Jazz dancing was the driving engine of Shuffle Along, the source of visual, visceral, and aural excitement, especially as executed by the all-female chorus of Jazz Jasmines, who were consistently lauded for their unison dancing and rhythmic precision. Jazz tap dancing continued to ignite the rhythmic revolution in the 1920s with such black musicals as Put and Take, Strut Miss Lizzie, Runnin’ Wild, Dixie to Broadway, and Blackbirds of 1928, with its inventive and complex manipulations of time—and time stepping.Less
This chapter begins with the “Jimtown Fisticuffs” challenge dance between Flournoy E. Miller and Aubrey Lyles in the 1921 Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle black musical comedy Shuffle Along, which launched the Jazz Age and black rhythm tap dancing on the Broadway stage. Jazz dancing was the driving engine of Shuffle Along, the source of visual, visceral, and aural excitement, especially as executed by the all-female chorus of Jazz Jasmines, who were consistently lauded for their unison dancing and rhythmic precision. Jazz tap dancing continued to ignite the rhythmic revolution in the 1920s with such black musicals as Put and Take, Strut Miss Lizzie, Runnin’ Wild, Dixie to Broadway, and Blackbirds of 1928, with its inventive and complex manipulations of time—and time stepping.
Constance Valis Hill
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195390827
- eISBN:
- 9780199863563
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195390827.003.0008
- Subject:
- Music, History, American, Dance
This chapter begins with the tap challenge between Earl “Groundhog” Basie and Chuck Green at the Village Gate, in which drummer Max Roach ousted Jo Jones from the drums as the tap dancers copied and ...
More
This chapter begins with the tap challenge between Earl “Groundhog” Basie and Chuck Green at the Village Gate, in which drummer Max Roach ousted Jo Jones from the drums as the tap dancers copied and cracked on each other. This contentious battle mirrored the social and political fire of the 1960s, when black rhythm tap takes on the inflections of bebop, with more improvisational exchanges between solo dancer and musicians. The irregular heel beats of Bunny Briggs’s taps were punctuated by silences and broken into a barrage of military-type flam strokes before settling into heel-and-toe beats; Lon Chaney’s bop-inflected paddle-and-roll tapping proved him to be a master of improvisation and momentum by varying and accumulating rhythmic phrases and breaks; and the rhythm-and-blues inflections of Cholly Atkins’s “vocal choreography” carried jazz rhythms from the feet into the body. All these artists demonstrated the inextricable tie between tap dancing and jazz music.Less
This chapter begins with the tap challenge between Earl “Groundhog” Basie and Chuck Green at the Village Gate, in which drummer Max Roach ousted Jo Jones from the drums as the tap dancers copied and cracked on each other. This contentious battle mirrored the social and political fire of the 1960s, when black rhythm tap takes on the inflections of bebop, with more improvisational exchanges between solo dancer and musicians. The irregular heel beats of Bunny Briggs’s taps were punctuated by silences and broken into a barrage of military-type flam strokes before settling into heel-and-toe beats; Lon Chaney’s bop-inflected paddle-and-roll tapping proved him to be a master of improvisation and momentum by varying and accumulating rhythmic phrases and breaks; and the rhythm-and-blues inflections of Cholly Atkins’s “vocal choreography” carried jazz rhythms from the feet into the body. All these artists demonstrated the inextricable tie between tap dancing and jazz music.
Anthony Ashbolt and Glenn Mitchell
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780197265390
- eISBN:
- 9780191760440
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265390.003.0011
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, and into the 1960s decade of rebellion, the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) developed significant relationships with cultural and artistic movements. The youth wing ...
More
Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, and into the 1960s decade of rebellion, the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) developed significant relationships with cultural and artistic movements. The youth wing of the CPA, The Eureka Youth League (EYL), played a particularly important role in the attempt to forge an alliance between musicians and communism. First through jazz, and then through two folk music revivals, the EYL sought to use music to recruit members and to foster its ideological and political struggles. In the end, the EYL's and CPA's relationship with both jazz and folk was tenuous. Yet along the way, the music itself flourished. This, then, is a story of tensions between and paradoxes surrounding the Party and musicians sympathetic to it. Yet it is also a story about how the cultural life of Australia was greatly enriched by the EYL's attempt to use music as a political tool.Less
Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, and into the 1960s decade of rebellion, the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) developed significant relationships with cultural and artistic movements. The youth wing of the CPA, The Eureka Youth League (EYL), played a particularly important role in the attempt to forge an alliance between musicians and communism. First through jazz, and then through two folk music revivals, the EYL sought to use music to recruit members and to foster its ideological and political struggles. In the end, the EYL's and CPA's relationship with both jazz and folk was tenuous. Yet along the way, the music itself flourished. This, then, is a story of tensions between and paradoxes surrounding the Party and musicians sympathetic to it. Yet it is also a story about how the cultural life of Australia was greatly enriched by the EYL's attempt to use music as a political tool.
David Brown
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199231829
- eISBN:
- 9780191716218
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199231829.003.0008
- Subject:
- Religion, Theology
This chapter begins by exploring how blues, jazz, and soul originated out of spirituals and in part as a legitimate protest against the failure of the religious genre to deal adequately with life and ...
More
This chapter begins by exploring how blues, jazz, and soul originated out of spirituals and in part as a legitimate protest against the failure of the religious genre to deal adequately with life and all its problems. Opera, for some aficionados, has become an alternative to religion, not least in the way it opens up the viewer and listener to a world of mystery or magic. Whether there is any essential conflict between opera and religion is examined. It is argued that the themes of such music rightly widen the range of religious experience beyond the church door. Without such a contribution Christianity would be seriously impoverished, given that its worship fights shy of so many of the dilemmas of ordinary life.Less
This chapter begins by exploring how blues, jazz, and soul originated out of spirituals and in part as a legitimate protest against the failure of the religious genre to deal adequately with life and all its problems. Opera, for some aficionados, has become an alternative to religion, not least in the way it opens up the viewer and listener to a world of mystery or magic. Whether there is any essential conflict between opera and religion is examined. It is argued that the themes of such music rightly widen the range of religious experience beyond the church door. Without such a contribution Christianity would be seriously impoverished, given that its worship fights shy of so many of the dilemmas of ordinary life.
Philippe Carles and Jean-Louis Comolli
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781628460391
- eISBN:
- 9781626740846
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781628460391.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
Free Jazz/Black Power is a treatise on the racial and political implications of jazz and jazz criticism published in 1971 by two French jazz critics, Philippe Carles and Jean-Louis Comolli. The goal ...
More
Free Jazz/Black Power is a treatise on the racial and political implications of jazz and jazz criticism published in 1971 by two French jazz critics, Philippe Carles and Jean-Louis Comolli. The goal of the book was to show that the strong and mostly negative reactions provoked by free jazz among classic jazz critics on both sides of the Atlantic could be better understood by analyzing the social, cultural and political origins of jazz itself, exposing its ties to African American culture, history, and the political struggle that was still raging in early 1970s USA. The authors analyze the circumstances of the production of jazz criticism as discourse, a work of cultural studies in a time and place where the practice as such was completely unknown. The book owes much to African American cultural and political thought. Carles and Comolli suggest that the African American struggle had to be seen as a singular branch of a worldwide class struggle, echoing more famous figures of the French Left of the time, such as Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, or Jean Genêt. Yet few were those that had articulated this de rigueur political backing with an in-depth cultural critique and analysis of the condition of African Americans informed by African Americans themselves.Less
Free Jazz/Black Power is a treatise on the racial and political implications of jazz and jazz criticism published in 1971 by two French jazz critics, Philippe Carles and Jean-Louis Comolli. The goal of the book was to show that the strong and mostly negative reactions provoked by free jazz among classic jazz critics on both sides of the Atlantic could be better understood by analyzing the social, cultural and political origins of jazz itself, exposing its ties to African American culture, history, and the political struggle that was still raging in early 1970s USA. The authors analyze the circumstances of the production of jazz criticism as discourse, a work of cultural studies in a time and place where the practice as such was completely unknown. The book owes much to African American cultural and political thought. Carles and Comolli suggest that the African American struggle had to be seen as a singular branch of a worldwide class struggle, echoing more famous figures of the French Left of the time, such as Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, or Jean Genêt. Yet few were those that had articulated this de rigueur political backing with an in-depth cultural critique and analysis of the condition of African Americans informed by African Americans themselves.
Bob Boross
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780813049298
- eISBN:
- 9780813050119
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Florida
- DOI:
- 10.5744/florida/9780813049298.003.0002
- Subject:
- Music, Dance
Since jazz dance is a shared creation of countless individual contributions, there can be no definitive answer to the question “what is jazz dance?” Yes, the initial manifestation of jazz dance was a ...
More
Since jazz dance is a shared creation of countless individual contributions, there can be no definitive answer to the question “what is jazz dance?” Yes, the initial manifestation of jazz dance was a recognizable product of a particular time and circumstance, but as time passed and circumstances changed, so did jazz dance change as it absorbed new realities. Boross’s take on the puzzle of how to define jazz dance is that the family of jazz dance exceeds the first original creation, and has taken shape in various configurations, however diluted, of that original jazz purity. To limit jazz dance as one particular thing would preclude the infinite possibilities of what jazz dance can become. Boross discusses the defining characteristics of jazz dance in terms of movement, rhythm, and expression as means to evaluate the varying degrees of jazz dance characteristics versus non-jazz dance characteristics visible in jazz dance choreography.Less
Since jazz dance is a shared creation of countless individual contributions, there can be no definitive answer to the question “what is jazz dance?” Yes, the initial manifestation of jazz dance was a recognizable product of a particular time and circumstance, but as time passed and circumstances changed, so did jazz dance change as it absorbed new realities. Boross’s take on the puzzle of how to define jazz dance is that the family of jazz dance exceeds the first original creation, and has taken shape in various configurations, however diluted, of that original jazz purity. To limit jazz dance as one particular thing would preclude the infinite possibilities of what jazz dance can become. Boross discusses the defining characteristics of jazz dance in terms of movement, rhythm, and expression as means to evaluate the varying degrees of jazz dance characteristics versus non-jazz dance characteristics visible in jazz dance choreography.
Jeffrey Magee
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195090222
- eISBN:
- 9780199871469
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195090222.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
If Benny Goodman was the “King of Swing”, then Fletcher Henderson might be considered the power behind the throne. Not only did Henderson arrange the music that fueled Goodman's success, he also ...
More
If Benny Goodman was the “King of Swing”, then Fletcher Henderson might be considered the power behind the throne. Not only did Henderson arrange the music that fueled Goodman's success, he also helped to launch the careers of several other key figures in jazz history, including Louis Armstrong and Coleman Hawkins, and their work, in turn, shaped Henderson's. Drawing on a wide range of primary sources, including sound recordings, stock arrangements, and score manuscripts available only since Goodman's death, this book traces Henderson's life and work from his youth in the deep South, to his early work as a New York bandleader, to his pivotal role in building the Kingdom of Swing. Henderson, standing at the forefront of the New York jazz scene in the 1920s and 1930s, assembled many of the era's best musicians, forging a distinctive jazz style within the stylistic framework of popular song and dance music. Henderson's style grew out of collaboration with many key players. It also grew out of a deft combination of written and improvised music, of commercial and artistic impulses, and of racial cooperation and competition, and thus stands as an exemplar of musical activity in the Harlem Renaissance. As Henderson's career stalled in the midst of the Depression, record producer John Hammond brought together Henderson and Goodman in a fortuitous collaboration that shaped the history of American music.Less
If Benny Goodman was the “King of Swing”, then Fletcher Henderson might be considered the power behind the throne. Not only did Henderson arrange the music that fueled Goodman's success, he also helped to launch the careers of several other key figures in jazz history, including Louis Armstrong and Coleman Hawkins, and their work, in turn, shaped Henderson's. Drawing on a wide range of primary sources, including sound recordings, stock arrangements, and score manuscripts available only since Goodman's death, this book traces Henderson's life and work from his youth in the deep South, to his early work as a New York bandleader, to his pivotal role in building the Kingdom of Swing. Henderson, standing at the forefront of the New York jazz scene in the 1920s and 1930s, assembled many of the era's best musicians, forging a distinctive jazz style within the stylistic framework of popular song and dance music. Henderson's style grew out of collaboration with many key players. It also grew out of a deft combination of written and improvised music, of commercial and artistic impulses, and of racial cooperation and competition, and thus stands as an exemplar of musical activity in the Harlem Renaissance. As Henderson's career stalled in the midst of the Depression, record producer John Hammond brought together Henderson and Goodman in a fortuitous collaboration that shaped the history of American music.
Derek B. Scott
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195151961
- eISBN:
- 9780199870394
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195151961.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Theory, Analysis, Composition
This book is an attempt to decode, explain, and account for the way that social meaning in music is perceived. It is concerned throughout with the socially constituted values of musical styles, and ...
More
This book is an attempt to decode, explain, and account for the way that social meaning in music is perceived. It is concerned throughout with the socially constituted values of musical styles, and contains a collection of wide-ranging chapters exploring aspects of sound and meaning, production and status, dissemination and reception, and criticism and aesthetics. Each chapter considers the workings of a particular relationship between ideology and musical style, offering different perspectives on how ideas are communicated through music. The book illustrates how musical styles construct ideas of class, sexuality, and ethnic identity. In doing so, it is concerned to demonstrate how such constructions relate to particular stylistic codes in particular cultural and historical contexts. The book is divided into four parts, covering the areas of gender and sexuality, ideology in relation to popular music, the sacred and profane, and ideology and cultural identity. The subjects debated include erotic representation from Monteverdi to Mae West, the sexual politics of 19th-century musical aesthetics, the Native American in popular music, the sacred and the demonic, Orientalism, and the initial impact of African-American music-making on the European classical tradition. The book's arguments are supported by ninety musical examples taken from such diverse sources as baroque and romantic opera, symphonic music, jazz, and 19th- and 20th-century popular songs.Less
This book is an attempt to decode, explain, and account for the way that social meaning in music is perceived. It is concerned throughout with the socially constituted values of musical styles, and contains a collection of wide-ranging chapters exploring aspects of sound and meaning, production and status, dissemination and reception, and criticism and aesthetics. Each chapter considers the workings of a particular relationship between ideology and musical style, offering different perspectives on how ideas are communicated through music. The book illustrates how musical styles construct ideas of class, sexuality, and ethnic identity. In doing so, it is concerned to demonstrate how such constructions relate to particular stylistic codes in particular cultural and historical contexts. The book is divided into four parts, covering the areas of gender and sexuality, ideology in relation to popular music, the sacred and profane, and ideology and cultural identity. The subjects debated include erotic representation from Monteverdi to Mae West, the sexual politics of 19th-century musical aesthetics, the Native American in popular music, the sacred and the demonic, Orientalism, and the initial impact of African-American music-making on the European classical tradition. The book's arguments are supported by ninety musical examples taken from such diverse sources as baroque and romantic opera, symphonic music, jazz, and 19th- and 20th-century popular songs.
John Lowney
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780252041334
- eISBN:
- 9780252099939
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252041334.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
Jazz Internationalism argues for the critical significance of jazz in Afro-modernist literature, from the beginning of the Great Depression through the radical social movements of the 1960s. Through ...
More
Jazz Internationalism argues for the critical significance of jazz in Afro-modernist literature, from the beginning of the Great Depression through the radical social movements of the 1960s. Through consideration of literary texts that feature jazz as a mode of social criticism as well as artistic expression, it examines how jazz functions as a discourse of radical internationalism and Afro-modernism during the Long Civil Rights Movement. This book redefines the importance of jazz for African American literary history, as it relates recent jazz historiography to current theoretical articulations of black internationalism, including articulations of socialist, diasporic, and Black Atlantic paradigms. In discussing how jazz is invoked as a mode of social criticism in radical African American writing, it considers how writers such as Claude McKay, Frank Marshall Davis, Ann Petry, Langston Hughes, Bob Kaufman, and Paule Marshall dramatize the possibilities and challenges of black internationalism through their innovative adaptations of black music.Less
Jazz Internationalism argues for the critical significance of jazz in Afro-modernist literature, from the beginning of the Great Depression through the radical social movements of the 1960s. Through consideration of literary texts that feature jazz as a mode of social criticism as well as artistic expression, it examines how jazz functions as a discourse of radical internationalism and Afro-modernism during the Long Civil Rights Movement. This book redefines the importance of jazz for African American literary history, as it relates recent jazz historiography to current theoretical articulations of black internationalism, including articulations of socialist, diasporic, and Black Atlantic paradigms. In discussing how jazz is invoked as a mode of social criticism in radical African American writing, it considers how writers such as Claude McKay, Frank Marshall Davis, Ann Petry, Langston Hughes, Bob Kaufman, and Paule Marshall dramatize the possibilities and challenges of black internationalism through their innovative adaptations of black music.
Michael Jarrett
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9781469630588
- eISBN:
- 9781469630601
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469630588.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
In histories of music and audio technologies, and particularly in narratives about jazz, record producers tend to fall by the wayside. They're seldom acknowledged and generally unknown. But without ...
More
In histories of music and audio technologies, and particularly in narratives about jazz, record producers tend to fall by the wayside. They're seldom acknowledged and generally unknown. But without them and their contributions to the art form, we’d have little on record of some of the most important music ever created. This oral history—organizing interviews gathered by music scholar Michael Jarrett—tells the stories behind some of jazz's best-selling and most influential albums. Beginning in the mid-'30s and continuing to the present, it draws together conversations with over fifty producers, musicians, engineers, and label executives. It shines a light on the world of making jazz record albums by letting producers tell their own stories and share their experiences in creating the American jazz canon. Packed with fascinating stories and fresh perspectives on over 200 albums and artists—including legends such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, and Miles Davis, as well as contemporary artists such as George Benson, Diana Krall, and Norah Jones—Pressed for All Time tells the unknown stories of the men and women who helped to shape the quintessential American sound.Less
In histories of music and audio technologies, and particularly in narratives about jazz, record producers tend to fall by the wayside. They're seldom acknowledged and generally unknown. But without them and their contributions to the art form, we’d have little on record of some of the most important music ever created. This oral history—organizing interviews gathered by music scholar Michael Jarrett—tells the stories behind some of jazz's best-selling and most influential albums. Beginning in the mid-'30s and continuing to the present, it draws together conversations with over fifty producers, musicians, engineers, and label executives. It shines a light on the world of making jazz record albums by letting producers tell their own stories and share their experiences in creating the American jazz canon. Packed with fascinating stories and fresh perspectives on over 200 albums and artists—including legends such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, and Miles Davis, as well as contemporary artists such as George Benson, Diana Krall, and Norah Jones—Pressed for All Time tells the unknown stories of the men and women who helped to shape the quintessential American sound.
Maurice Peress
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195098228
- eISBN:
- 9780199869817
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195098228.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Drawing upon a mix of research and the personal experience of a career devoted to the music about which Dvorák so presciently spoke, this book's narrative goes behind the scenes of the burgeoning ...
More
Drawing upon a mix of research and the personal experience of a career devoted to the music about which Dvorák so presciently spoke, this book's narrative goes behind the scenes of the burgeoning American school of music and beyond. The book begins with Dvorák's three year residency as Director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York (1892-5), and his students, in particular Will Marion Cook and Rubin Goldmark, who would in turn become the teachers of Ellington, Gershwin, and Copland. The book follows Dvorák to the famed Chicago World's Fair of 1893, where the book brings to light the little known African American presence at the Fair: the piano professors, about-to-be ragtimers; and the gifted young artists Paul Dunbar, Harry T. Burleigh, and Cook, who gathered at the Haitian Pavilion with its director, Frederick Douglass, to organize their own gala concert for Colored Persons Day. The author of this book, a distinguished conductor, is himself a part of this story; working with Duke Ellington on the “Suite from Black, Brown and Beige” and his “opera comique”, Queenie Pie; conducting the world premiere of Leonard Bernstein's Mass; and reconstructing landmark American concerts at which George Antheil's Ballet Mècanique, George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, James Reese Europe's Clef Club (the first all-black concert at Carnegie Hall), and Ellington's Black, Brown and Beige, were first presented. The book concludes with a look at Ellington and his music.Less
Drawing upon a mix of research and the personal experience of a career devoted to the music about which Dvorák so presciently spoke, this book's narrative goes behind the scenes of the burgeoning American school of music and beyond. The book begins with Dvorák's three year residency as Director of the National Conservatory of Music in New York (1892-5), and his students, in particular Will Marion Cook and Rubin Goldmark, who would in turn become the teachers of Ellington, Gershwin, and Copland. The book follows Dvorák to the famed Chicago World's Fair of 1893, where the book brings to light the little known African American presence at the Fair: the piano professors, about-to-be ragtimers; and the gifted young artists Paul Dunbar, Harry T. Burleigh, and Cook, who gathered at the Haitian Pavilion with its director, Frederick Douglass, to organize their own gala concert for Colored Persons Day. The author of this book, a distinguished conductor, is himself a part of this story; working with Duke Ellington on the “Suite from Black, Brown and Beige” and his “opera comique”, Queenie Pie; conducting the world premiere of Leonard Bernstein's Mass; and reconstructing landmark American concerts at which George Antheil's Ballet Mècanique, George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, James Reese Europe's Clef Club (the first all-black concert at Carnegie Hall), and Ellington's Black, Brown and Beige, were first presented. The book concludes with a look at Ellington and his music.
