Jennifer Fleeger
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- June 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199366484
- eISBN:
- 9780199366514
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199366484.003.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Popular, History, American
The introduction traces American composers’ attempts to write and stage jazz-operas in the 1920s. By examining the motivations behind these efforts, it provides a historical framework for ...
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The introduction traces American composers’ attempts to write and stage jazz-operas in the 1920s. By examining the motivations behind these efforts, it provides a historical framework for understanding the significance of opera and jazz in the United States during the period of conversion. This narrative is paired with details on the emergence of sound in Hollywood cinema, focusing on the negotiations made by studio engineers and executives to determine the function of the voice in the construction of national identity. It explains why the screen was a more amenable place for the combination of opera and jazz than the stage had been.Less
The introduction traces American composers’ attempts to write and stage jazz-operas in the 1920s. By examining the motivations behind these efforts, it provides a historical framework for understanding the significance of opera and jazz in the United States during the period of conversion. This narrative is paired with details on the emergence of sound in Hollywood cinema, focusing on the negotiations made by studio engineers and executives to determine the function of the voice in the construction of national identity. It explains why the screen was a more amenable place for the combination of opera and jazz than the stage had been.
Robert Wyatt and John Andrew Johnson
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195327113
- eISBN:
- 9780199851249
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195327113.003.0023
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
This chapter presents the text of an article about the success of the revival of George Gershwin's one-act jazz opera Blue Monday, which was published in the December 30, 1925, issue of the New York ...
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This chapter presents the text of an article about the success of the revival of George Gershwin's one-act jazz opera Blue Monday, which was published in the December 30, 1925, issue of the New York Times. The article describes the show as the most vivid grand opera ever provided from native and local materials by an American composer and lauds the performance of Paul Whiteman's Orchestra. It also notes that unlike its 1922 version, Blue Monday had become the main feature of the show.Less
This chapter presents the text of an article about the success of the revival of George Gershwin's one-act jazz opera Blue Monday, which was published in the December 30, 1925, issue of the New York Times. The article describes the show as the most vivid grand opera ever provided from native and local materials by an American composer and lauds the performance of Paul Whiteman's Orchestra. It also notes that unlike its 1922 version, Blue Monday had become the main feature of the show.
Howard Pollack
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520248649
- eISBN:
- 9780520933149
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520248649.003.0031
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
Porgy and Bess, which could now be considered as much a “folk” as a “jazz” opera, occupied George Gershwin and Dubose Heyward for about two years, from the fall of 1933 to its Broadway premiere on ...
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Porgy and Bess, which could now be considered as much a “folk” as a “jazz” opera, occupied George Gershwin and Dubose Heyward for about two years, from the fall of 1933 to its Broadway premiere on October 10, 1935. The aspect of the novel Porgy that initially earned the most praise—its portrayal of Charleston's blacks—became over time its most controversial feature. Moreover, the main characters belong to a larger community that itself takes center stage, a group victimized within by substance abuse, violence, quackery, and superstition, and without by racism, injustice, and nature, yet still hopeful and inspiring in its compassion and faith. The work's use of popular dialects and musical idioms, and its congeniality to improvisation and varied vocal styles mark it a folk opera.Less
Porgy and Bess, which could now be considered as much a “folk” as a “jazz” opera, occupied George Gershwin and Dubose Heyward for about two years, from the fall of 1933 to its Broadway premiere on October 10, 1935. The aspect of the novel Porgy that initially earned the most praise—its portrayal of Charleston's blacks—became over time its most controversial feature. Moreover, the main characters belong to a larger community that itself takes center stage, a group victimized within by substance abuse, violence, quackery, and superstition, and without by racism, injustice, and nature, yet still hopeful and inspiring in its compassion and faith. The work's use of popular dialects and musical idioms, and its congeniality to improvisation and varied vocal styles mark it a folk opera.
Amy C. Beal
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252036361
- eISBN:
- 9780252093395
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252036361.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This is the first comprehensive treatment of the remarkable music and influence of Carla Bley, a highly innovative American jazz composer, pianist, organist, band leader, and activist. Giving ...
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This is the first comprehensive treatment of the remarkable music and influence of Carla Bley, a highly innovative American jazz composer, pianist, organist, band leader, and activist. Giving attention to Bley's diverse compositions over the last fifty years spanning critical moments in jazz and experimental music history, this book provides a long-overdue representation of a major figure in American music. Bley is best known for her jazz opera “Escalator over the Hill,” her role in the Free Jazz movement of the 1960s, and her collaborations with artists such as Jack Bruce, Don Cherry, Robert Wyatt, and Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason. She has successfully maneuvered the field of jazz creating works that range from the highly accessible and tradition-based to commercially unviable and avant-garde. The book details the staggering variety in Bley's work as well as her use of parody, quotations, and contradictions, examining the vocabulary Bley has developed throughout her career and highlighting the compositional and cultural significance of her experimentalism. The book also points to Bley's professional and managerial work as a pioneer in the development of artist-owned record labels, the cofounder and manager of WATT Records, and the cofounder of New Music Distribution Service. The book shows Bley to be not just an artist but an activist who has maintained musical independence and professional control amid the profit-driven, corporation-dominated world of commercial jazz.Less
This is the first comprehensive treatment of the remarkable music and influence of Carla Bley, a highly innovative American jazz composer, pianist, organist, band leader, and activist. Giving attention to Bley's diverse compositions over the last fifty years spanning critical moments in jazz and experimental music history, this book provides a long-overdue representation of a major figure in American music. Bley is best known for her jazz opera “Escalator over the Hill,” her role in the Free Jazz movement of the 1960s, and her collaborations with artists such as Jack Bruce, Don Cherry, Robert Wyatt, and Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason. She has successfully maneuvered the field of jazz creating works that range from the highly accessible and tradition-based to commercially unviable and avant-garde. The book details the staggering variety in Bley's work as well as her use of parody, quotations, and contradictions, examining the vocabulary Bley has developed throughout her career and highlighting the compositional and cultural significance of her experimentalism. The book also points to Bley's professional and managerial work as a pioneer in the development of artist-owned record labels, the cofounder and manager of WATT Records, and the cofounder of New Music Distribution Service. The book shows Bley to be not just an artist but an activist who has maintained musical independence and professional control amid the profit-driven, corporation-dominated world of commercial jazz.
Amy C. Beal
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252036361
- eISBN:
- 9780252093395
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252036361.003.0006
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
This chapter looks at Bley's most ambitious work to date: Escalator over the Hill (1971). Though the work is colloquially referred to as a “jazz opera,” its creators called it a “chronotransduction.” ...
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This chapter looks at Bley's most ambitious work to date: Escalator over the Hill (1971). Though the work is colloquially referred to as a “jazz opera,” its creators called it a “chronotransduction.” Widely considered Bley's greatest achievement, the musically unclassifiable Escalator over the Hill is an epic, somewhat impenetrable work of art, one that nourished Bley's proclivity toward musical boundary crossing and her genuinely collaborative nature. It was the first record released in her own name, and every aspect of this production belonged to Bley, from composing, arranging, playing, singing, and conducting to editing and mixing the tapes and preparing the master. Ultimately, the elaborate instrumentation of Escalator over the Hill reflects Bley's eclectic tastes, as well as the serendipity and haphazardness of her casting; having little money to pay performers, Bley notoriously drew in everyone she could, plus their relatives and roommates.Less
This chapter looks at Bley's most ambitious work to date: Escalator over the Hill (1971). Though the work is colloquially referred to as a “jazz opera,” its creators called it a “chronotransduction.” Widely considered Bley's greatest achievement, the musically unclassifiable Escalator over the Hill is an epic, somewhat impenetrable work of art, one that nourished Bley's proclivity toward musical boundary crossing and her genuinely collaborative nature. It was the first record released in her own name, and every aspect of this production belonged to Bley, from composing, arranging, playing, singing, and conducting to editing and mixing the tapes and preparing the master. Ultimately, the elaborate instrumentation of Escalator over the Hill reflects Bley's eclectic tastes, as well as the serendipity and haphazardness of her casting; having little money to pay performers, Bley notoriously drew in everyone she could, plus their relatives and roommates.
