NEH Jazz & Motown Notes
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Charles Rosentel July 2011 NEH Jazz & Motown Notes NEH Institute: The Sock Hop and the Loft: Jazz, Motown, and the Transformation of American Culture, 1959-1975 Pre-Note Notes As the Internet shifts, some hyperlinks in this document may cease to work. Many of those links are not necessarily the most authoritative, and in some cases their source is unverified, but they exist here as quick references. As I put little effort into finding a hallowed source for each of the hundreds of proper nouns below, I put no effort into maintaining a common tense. I mean, they’re notes, right? To pick out musical genres more easily, however, I made every attempt to capitalize them even though that practice is grammatically incorrect. When professors or classmates said something that I found particularly useful or interesting, I highlighted it. Use the keyboard shortcuts below to make this painfully long document easier to use. If a term isn’t hyperlinked, search for it in the document, as each term is only hyperlinked in its first instance. Keyboard Shortcuts Hold down Ctrl & click a class in Contents to visit that class Hold down Ctrl & press “Home” to return to this page Hold down Ctrl & press “End” to go to the last page Hold down Ctrl & press “F” to find a word or phrase in the document Links Readings: http://cenhum.artsci.wustl.edu/NEH_Syllabi Blog: http://cenhum.artsci.wustl.edu/blog/22 David Robinson Rockin’ Out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4thi8wSBRhU Motown 25: http://www.ovguide.com/tv/motown_25_yesterday_today_forever.htm Blue Note Album Covers: http://www.openculture.com/2011/07/classic_jazz_album_covers_animated.html Contents NEH Institute: The Sock Hop and the Loft: Jazz, Motown, and the Transformation of American Culture, 1959-1975 ........................................ 1 Remarks at Opening Dinner [Gerald Early] .......................................................................................................................................................... 3 The Construction and Resurrection of American Musical Taste, 1959-1975 [Gerald Early] ................................................................................ 4 The Shape of Jazz to Come: An Overview of Jazz, 1959-1975 [Patrick Burke] ..................................................................................................... 5 From the Twist to the Jackson Five: An Overview of Black Dance Music, 1959-1975 [Gerald Early] ................................................................. 10 Giant Steps: The Music of John Coltrane, Jazz’s Holy Grail *Patrick Burke+ ........................................................................................................ 14 Teen Poet: How the Music of Smokey Robinson Launched Motown [Gerald Early] .......................................................................................... 18 The Day Will Not Save Them/We Own the Night: Overview of the Black Arts Movement, 1964-1975 [Matthew Calihman] .......................... 21 Freedom Now! From Martin Luther King to Barbara Jordan: An Overview of Civil Rights Movement, 1959-1975 [Sowande Mustakeem]..... 23 The Sound of Young America: Black Music and the Civil Rights Movement [Waldo Martin] ............................................................................ 26 Nothing But a Man [1964] .................................................................................................................................................................................. 29 Stevie Wonder: Transformation [Harry Weinger] .............................................................................................................................................. 31 The Hammond B3 Smashes Everything: Jimmy Smith and Soul Jazz [Gerald Early]........................................................................................... 35 The New Wave of Jazz: Impulse! Records [Harry Weinger] ............................................................................................................................... 37 The Burden of Black Culture: The Jazz and Social Criticism of Amiri Baraka [Gerald Early] ............................................................................... 40 A Man Called Adam [1966] ................................................................................................................................................................................ 43 Lucifer’s Jazz as a Fallen Art: The Music of Miles Davis [Gerald Early] ............................................................................................................... 45 Holy Noise: Jazz and Religion [Gerald Early] ...................................................................................................................................................... 48 Sweet Love, Bitter [1967] ................................................................................................................................................................................... 52 An Actress with An Act: The Music of Abbey Lincoln [Daphne Brooks] ............................................................................................................. 53 Lady Sings the Blues [1972] ................................................................................................................................................................................ 55 The Art of the Diva: The Music of Diana Ross [Ingrid Monson].......................................................................................................................... 57 The Other Women at Motown: Mary Wells, the Marvelettes, and Martha Reeves and the Vandellas [Gayle Wald]....................................... 60 Troubled Man: The Music of Marvin Gaye [Gayle Wald] ................................................................................................................................... 62 Jazz Fiction Hero and His Discontents: John A Williams, Night Song [Farah Jasmine Griffin] ............................................................................ 66 Funky but True: Blue Note Records in the 1960s and ‘70s *Ashley Kahn] .......................................................................................................... 68 Jazz and Race: The Major White Artists from Bill Evans to Keith Jarrett [Gerald Early] ..................................................................................... 72 Papa’s Brand New Bag: Black Artists Group, St. Louis’s version of the Black Arts Movement *Benjamin Looker] ............................................ 76 Standing in the Shadows of Motown [2002] ...................................................................................................................................................... 78 A Love Supreme: Jazz Poetry, 1959-1975 [Gerald Early] .................................................................................................................................... 81 Teacher Presentations and Wrap-Up ................................................................................................................................................................. 84 Remarks at Opening Dinner [Gerald Early] 7/5/11 Max Roach wanted Jazz to be called “Black Classical Music” Most popular instrumental song from 1960s: “Theme to James Bond” o Movie soundtracks were very popular; way for people to take movie home; some soundtracks sold much better than their movies The Construction and Resurrection of American Musical Taste, 1959-1975 [Gerald Early] 7/6/11 All music in America has always been sold by race and continues to be sold by race o Race records (1920s) Rhythm & Blues (Post-WWII) Soul Urban Ralph Ellison trained at Tuskegee Institute to be a composer Miles Davis was biggest purveyor of Jazz in the 1960s when he was in the middle of a 40s midlife crisis Marvin Gaye was a drummer, but clumsy on his feet and felt uncomfortable with black dance music o He wanted to be the black Frank Sinatra or Perry Como o “What’s Going On” did for R&B what The Beatles did for white Pop; become listening music Musicians sometimes surprise you with tastes, & tastes are VERY important o Louis Armstrong loved Guy Lombardo o Berry Gordy’s favorite singer was Doris Day There’s a church of John Coltrane in San Francisco; he is literally worshipped o Coltrane played tenor sax and repopularized soprano, which he played straight (as opposed to curved) o Born in NC, grew up in Philly o Played with Miles Davis Quintet from 1956 & is on “Kind of Blue,” his seminal record o Played with Thelonious Monk in the 1950s too o Coltrane said he was aspiring to be a saint (Early: “Who says that!?”) o Everyone wanted to play like Charlie Parker until Coltrane came along . He died young (before 40s) & became an icon Bob Dylan thought Smokey Robinson was the greatest poet in America Duke Ellington was very dynamic and could change his style depending on need o Duke Ellington made a record with Coltrane Miles Davis & Chuck Berry both from St. Louis (Miles is from East St. Louis) o Vernon Davis, Miles’ brother, looks just like Miles . Early met with his daughter, Vernon, Stanley Crouch, & it was crazy enough for his daughter to write her college essay about the meeting & get in everywhere she applied Maturity of mind involves empathy: Why do other people like that? Quincy Jones told Gerald Early that the biggest change to modern music after the 1960s was electric bass Ways we’ll look at music in the class: o Artistically, commercially, & critically