World Jazz Flashcards
1
Q
‘Jazz’ - General Comments
A
- Jazz is ‘best understood as a context rather than a concept’ / ‘a musical discourse’ (Beard & Gloag, 2016)
- ‘Jazz has never been a monolithic genre’ (Ake, 2012)
- Jazz was ‘invented in the process of being disseminated’ (Johnson, 2020)
- ‘Jazz has agency’ (Plastino & Bohlman, 2016)
- ‘Practically since its origins, jazz has been marked by an instability of identity’ (Lewis ed. Plastino & Bohlman, 2016)
- Jazz is not ‘ethnically predetermined’ (Ake, Garrett & Goldmark, 2012)
2
Q
International Recognition from US
A
- ‘Jazz’ (2001 Ken Burns documentary) describes the genre as solely American
- Non-US works rarely make canon
- ‘Jazz’ (2009 book) is 600 pages but never mentions a non-US artist
- US promote themselves as ‘jazz corner of the world’
- ‘Local heroes’ abroad ignored
- ‘American Exceptionalism’ idea
- ‘Worldmaking’ (Goodman, 1978) or ‘Worlding’ (Spivak, 1985) - jazz being confined geographically
- 1922 ‘Jazz Equator’ idea was prevalent in news articles
3
Q
Modernity
A
- Jazz is the ‘new movement’
- American Dream
- US used jazz against Soviets to appear more racially tolerant (Atkins, 2004)
- ‘Jazz bands came from the same country as Henry Ford’ (Hobsbawm, 1998)
4
Q
Alternative Terms for ‘Jazz’
A
- ‘Great Black Music’
- ‘Postmodern New Orleans music’ (Nicholas Payton)
5
Q
World Music
A
- Non-US releases ‘do not find their way into the canon of jazz’ very often (Plastino & Bohlman, 2016)
- Based on unfair ‘power relations’ with Othering practices (Guilbault, 2001)
- Exoticisation issues
- Binary opposition to mainstream US jazz
- ‘World music’ term invented in 1987 London pub
- ‘More of a marketing category than a genre’ following Peter Gabriel, etc (Shuker, 2017)
- ‘World music does not exist’ (Brennan, 2001)
- ‘World music is real if only because it is talked about as though it were real’ (Brennan, 2001)
6
Q
1961 US-Africa Musical Exchange
A
- ‘Randy Weston’s tour symbolised an American awareness of the importance of Africanity’ (Davenport, 2009)
- Weston later (2010) writes that ‘my music is solidly rooted in Africa’
- However, jazz labelled during tour as ‘America’s native music’
- Weston performed alongside native instruments and performers, which produced ‘intercultural communication’ (Stanyek, 2004)
7
Q
Pan-Africanism Example
A
- Black Panthers used music of Sun Ra
- Music also used by Marcus Garvey / ‘Back to Africa’ promotions
8
Q
Feedback Loop (Africa)
A
- ‘Both Africa and the Americas have shaped each other through a live dialogue’ (Matory, 1999)
9
Q
Jazz - African Origins/Shared Features
A
- (Oliver, 1970): ‘rhythmic character’, ‘nature of improvisation’
- (Wilson, 1992): ‘rhythmic dissonance’, ‘call and response’, ‘percussive’, ‘fast’, ‘physical body incorporation’
- (Weinstein, 1994): ‘polyrhythms’, ‘improvisation’, ‘collective participation’, ‘colour-based vocal parts’, ‘context’ e.g. political/spiritual
10
Q
‘Africa/Brass’
A
- John Coltrane album drawing on African influences (spirituality side, highly rhythmic, minimalist)
11
Q
Guy Warren
A
- Ghanaian jazz artist
- 1956 album ‘Africa Speaks, America Answers’ with song ‘An African’s Prayer’
- ‘It is the African music that is the mother, not the other way around’
12
Q
‘Highlife’
A
- 1920s Africa jazz-inspired music
- Initially for the elite only (later more mainstream with genres like ‘palm wine’ music)
- Accra Orchestra are a key group (Collins, 1987)
- ‘Ghana Freedom Highlife’ by E. T. Mensah is a very political example
13
Q
Important US/Africa Events
A
- Louis Armstrong 1950s Africa tour popularised the genre (Collins, 1987)
- 1971 Accra Soul to Soul concert was important (Collins, 1987)
14
Q
Names in Africa/Jazz
A
- Many artists have two: Dollar Brand = Abdullah Ibrahim / Guy Warren = Kofi Ghanaba
- Consider reasons/power dynamics
15
Q
Dizzy Gillespie and Chana Pozo
A
(Stanyek, 2004)
- Collaboration was genuinely positive because neither side was sacrificed
- ‘Live dialogue’
- Produced hit song ‘Manteca’
- Outcome = ‘collective action and human betterment’
16
Q
Ethiopia and Jazz
A
- Mulatu Astatke was a key figure
- Wealthy Ethiopian
- Travelled across Europe and US studying music
- Came home and founded ‘Ethio-jazz’
- Featured on soundtrack to 2005 Western film ‘Broken Flowers’ - ‘Yekermo Sew’ includes ‘minor form’ of a ‘tizita’ (Ethiopian mode)
- ‘Astatke’s musical agency depended on his ability to move’ (Shelemay, 2016)
17
Q
South Africa and Jazz
A
(Muller, 2001)
- Dollar Brand and Beaty Benjamin
- Fled South African persecution to Europe due to mixed heritage
- Supported by Duke Ellington
- Nostalgia/’African cultural memory’
- Connective marginality between them and African Americans - in music this sounds as the ‘Southern touch’
- Beatty’s own record label released ‘Nations in Me’ in support of 1976 Soweto Uprising
- Brand’s 1974 ‘Mannenberg’ (huge hit) had an anti-apartheid sentiment and became SA’s ‘unofficial national anthem’
18
Q
Latin America and Jazz (Overview)
A
- ‘The popularity and influence of Latin American music is an international phenomenon’ (Roberts, 1979)
- Latin Music = many parts (Roberts, 1979)
- Latin Jazz = ‘hybrid of hybrids’ (Lomax, 1953)
- Jelly Roll Mortion (1938) - all good jazz needs ‘tinges of Spanish’
- Latin jazz is very closely tied to Neo-African genres
19
Q
Brazil and Jazz
A
- ‘Brazilian instrumental music’ - NOT ‘jazz’ or ‘Latin jazz’ (Piedade, 2003)
- Brazilian jazz did not stand alone but alongside others like choro (Portuguese)
- Brazilians in the US helped fuse jazz with baiao (rhythm), pandeiro (instrument), etc - Flora Purim
- Brazilians wanted to keep US distance (Vincente, 2019)
- Hybrid - Brazilian jazz is ‘an amalgam of regional musicalities’ (Piedade, 2003)
- Bossa Nova - hugely successful (e.g. Getz/Gilberto album) - but 1. betrays Latin roots to cater to whites and 2. presents idealised version of South America
20
Q
Cuba and Jazz
A
- Jazz marginal in Cuba itself, but very popular in US (Fernandez, 2004)
- Avoided homogenous labels like ‘Latin jazz’ (Austerlitz, 2005)
- Cuban musicians like Manuel Perez were active in early New Orleans days
- ‘Tanga’ (1934) - first major Cuban jazz track
- 1940s/50s took off with Machito and the Afro-Cubans (big in NYC, used Yoruba)
- Club Cubano de Jazz established to promote dialogue with US
- 1960s Cuban revolution slowed growth (Fernandez, 2004)
- Rhythms borrowed, e.g. 3:2 clave in Pozo’s ‘Blen, Blen, Blen’
21
Q
European Jazz - UK
A
- ‘The colour of jazz was an issue in Britain from the start’ (Frith, 1988) - around the same time as East End racial tensions
- Eventually popular in dancehalls
- Original Dixieland Jazz Band (all white) toured there in 1919
- Race relations/Empire important to remember (McKay, 2005)
- Criticism for artists like Jack Hylton taking the ‘Negro spirit’ out of jazz - not ‘hot’ anymore (Panassie, 1934)
22
Q
European Jazz - France
A
- Django Reinhardt (Romani origin/French-based)
- ‘Hot Club of France’ (promotes jazz, first international jazz festival = 1984 in Nice)
- Jazz reached France early but went move underground during the war (Fry, 2016)
- Reinhardt’s manager downplayed genre’s black origins and claimed it as French
- France was still relatively diverse and valued authenticity of black musicians (Ake, 2010)
23
Q
European Jazz - Italy
A
- Frank Sinatra (and many other Italian Americans) imitated early jazz artists like Bing Crosby (Celenza, 2017)
- In Italy, it was received as a ‘native’ art form’ (Kater, 2003)
- First ever jazz recording (Original Dixieland Jazz Band) featured 2 Italian Americans (one, Nick LaRossa, repeatedly downplayed AA influence in racist terms)
24
Q
European Jazz - Germany
A
- Jazz arrived relatively late (Kater, 2003)
- Key artists = Eric Borehard and Stefan Weintraub
- Blackness still an issue despite Weimar promises of liberalism (Kater, 2003)
- Often incorporated German folk tunes (glocalised jazz)
- Many scholars like Adorno were skeptical of jazz having lasting success, since Germany was seen as a centre for ‘high art’ at this time (Kater, 2003)
25
Q
Asian American Jazz - General
A
- Bespoke labels like AsianImprov Records
- 1981 San Francisco Asian American Jazz Festival
- Very political content in this music
- Term is less of a genre, more of a ‘rallying point’ (Kajikawa, 2013)
- Filipino jazz musicians had always been popular in US (Atkins, 2001)
- NY Times - they add a ‘blend of the Oriental’
- ‘Cross-talk’ between Asian and US Jazz (Asai, 2005)
- Connective marginality - Africans and Asians
- Americans like Armstrong toured in Asia in 1950s/60s
- Contrast of jazz (‘modernity’) with ‘uncivilised’ cultures now playing it (Trimillos, 2007)
26
Q
Fred Ho
A
- Disliked oppression of term ‘jazz’
- Wanted to fight idea of a ‘cultural clash’ (‘East is East and West is West’) between Chinese and US music (Marlow, 2018)
- Political sentiments like immigration in ‘A Song for Manong’
- ‘Uproar in Heaven’ (ballet) is an audible fusion of the US/African instrumentation
- Active widely as a writer, cultural critic, etc
27
Q
Toshiro Akiyoshi
A
- Key female Japanese jazz musician
- Early career - studied in US, supported by Oscar Peterson, jazz-heavy American style
- Later career - returned to roots (e.g. Shakuhachi flute)
- ‘Minimata’ piece follows political narrative - corporate disaster destroying a Japanese community
28
Q
Coltrane - ‘India’
A
- Coltrane track using ragas
- Met Shankar in 1964 and spoke highly of him
- ‘My Favourite Things’ features elements of Indian spirituality (Pinckney, 1989)
29
Q
‘Indo-Jazz Suite’
A
- John Mayer (Indian-born) and Joe Harriett (Jamaican) collaborated
- ‘Recognised a certain kinship’ in emigrating from abroad to UK (Lavezzoli, 2007)
- Clear fusion e.g. in ‘Guad-Saranga’ (sitar alap then jazzy brass solo)
30
Q
Ravi Shankar
A
- Sitar master
- Knew John Coltrane
- Played on jazz records with key figures like West Coast drummer Roy Harte
- ‘Most gifted and imaginative master of improvisation the musical world has ever encountered’ (Avakian, 1959)
- Released 1962 album entitled ‘Improvisations’ with some possible jazz influence
31
Q
Jazz vs Indian Classical - Differences
A
- Indian = more rhythmically complex (Ellis & Rao, 1965)
- Indian = improvisation based on melody / jazz = improvisation based on harmony (‘Raga Jazz Style’ liner notes)
- Indian flute player Shashank Subranyam says chords are very different
32
Q
Jazz vs Indian Classical - Similarities
A
- Improvisation (‘Curried Jazz’ liner notes)
33
Q
‘Kinsmen’
A
- 2008 Kadri Gopalnath album
- ‘Melds jazz with South Indian music into an organic whole […] an exemplar of successful transnational collaboration’ (liner notes)
34
Q
Jazz in India (General)
A
- ‘Recording was fundamentally at odds with Indian musical values’ (Redfield, 2015)
- Blackface popular early on (Dorin, 2010)
- Debate over how jazz arrived - colonial forced or Indian people encountering on their travels (Pinckney, 1989)
- Indian jazz festival Jazz Yatra always had a very diverse lineup
- Groups like Jimmie Lequime’s Orchestra (based in India) were very cosmopolitan
- Not really glocalised - jazz is ‘a popular music that connects India and the West, even if the Indianisation process has not been complete’ (Dorin, 2010)
35
Q
Jazz in India (White/Rich)
A
- Performed for wealthy whites at Saturday Club in Calcutta (Dorin, 2010)
- ‘No meaningful effect on the indigenous population’ (Pinckney, 1989)
- ‘To some Indians, particularly the Westernised upper-middle classes in Indian cities, jazz represents modernisation’ (Pinckney, 1989)
- ‘Elitist phenomenon’ (Pinckney, 1989)
- ‘The real reason many attend such events [Jazz Yatra] is that it is fashionable; the music is secondary’ (Pinckney, 1989)
