Vindicating Karma: Jazz and the Black Arts Movement
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University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 1-1-2007 Vindicating karma: jazz and the Black Arts movement/ W. S. Tkweme University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1 Recommended Citation Tkweme, W. S., "Vindicating karma: jazz and the Black Arts movement/" (2007). Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014. 924. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_1/924 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations 1896 - February 2014 by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. University of Massachusetts Amherst Library Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014 https://archive.org/details/vindicatingkarmaOOtkwe This is an authorized facsimile, made from the microfilm master copy of the original dissertation or master thesis published by UMI. The bibliographic information for this thesis is contained in UMTs Dissertation Abstracts database, the only central source for accessing almost every doctoral dissertation accepted in North America since 1861. Dissertation UMI Services From:Pro£vuest COMPANY 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106-1346 USA 800.521.0600 734.761.4700 web www.il.proquest.com Printed in 2007 by digital xerographic process on acid-free paper V INDICATING KARMA: JAZZ AND THE BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT A Dissertation Presented by W.S. TKWEME Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY May 2007 W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies UMI Number: 3275741 Copyright 2007 by Tkweme, W. S. All rights reserved INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI UMI Microform 3275741 Copyright 2007 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 © Copyright by W.S. Tkweme 2007 All Rights Reserved VINDICATING KARMA: JAZZ AND THE BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT A Dissertation Presented by W.S. TKWEME Approved as to style and content by: Ernest Allen, Jr., Chair Steven Tracy, Member James Smethurst, Member Ron Welburn. Member Esther M.A. Terry, Department Head W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies VINDICATING KARMA: JAZZ AND THE BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT A Dissertation Presented by W.S. TKWEME Approved^asTto style and content by: Ernest Allen,—Ji\, .Chair t-Av i V 1 Steven Tracy, Member j ^mes S?n)ethurst, Member AA Ron Welburn, Member Esther M.A. Terry, Department Chair W. E. B. Du Bois Deparrment of Afro-American Studies ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many persons have played a key role in bringing this journey to this temporary stopping point. Several of my good friends cajoled me for some time to consider this line of work, and thus to renounce a vow I had taken long ago never to return to academe. Though not without its rewards, the graduate school experience has reminded me more than once of the reasons I made that vow. Nonetheless, Charles Jones, Akinyele Umoja. and Salim Washington are the culprits I speak of, and indeed I owe them all a debt of gratitude. T The W .E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, gave me the wonderful opportunity to study the Negro, and to pursue this research project. However great this study's shortcomings, it would never have come into being without this valiant crew of dedicated scholars and activists, among them my chair, the long-suffering Ernest Allen, Jr.. and the irrepressible raconteur John Bracey. Their support and advice have been crucial to my development. As well, I am grateful to my current employers, the Pan-African Studies Department of the University of Louisville, especially our chair Ricky Jones who has gone to bat for me in many ways and continually demonstrates qualities of leadership and commitment. In doing so, he purposefully follows the example of PAS founding member and current Dean of the U of L"s College of the Arts and Sciences, J. Blaine Hudson, to whom I also say Asante Sana. Friends. one could not get through such a process without them. Among those who helped me a great deal with their support and encouragement are Margo Perkins, a iv constant source of kind words and informed advice; my boy Louis Jackson who drove with me up to the wilds of western Massachusetts and sent me continued strength from afar; my girl Lindsey Swindall, with whom I shared many good times in the forlorn Pioneer Valley and beyond, and without whom I may have never finished this dissertation; and as always my ace from way back Salim, who is probably the one above all who got me into this mess in the first place. His sagacity has not prevented our spirited debates from continuing, as does our rare intellectual affinity and simpatico. My parents could not outlast the continually extended timeframe for the completion of this project before checking out of this sphere, but of course my debt to Mildred Manika Hyatt and William Robert Hyatt I is immeasurable, and in whatever small ways I can further their legacies of pursuance, dignity, and integrity, I shall certainly try to do so. Such a list of acknowledgments is by definition incomplete, but I would be remiss not to mention the deejays on WERS in Boston back in 1977 and 1978. The only one whose name I remember is Fontane, but these cats turned me on to Pharoah Sanders, Leon Thomas, Doug and Jean Cam, Gary Bartz, and a number of others who figure in this study, and whose music has done a lot to sustain a brother in this vale of tears and sorrow. These musicians and many others, like Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Abbey Lincoln, told the world something important about itself, and certainly about the souls of black folk. v ABSTRACT VINDICATING KARMA: JAZZ AND THE BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT MAY 2007 W.S. TKWEME, B.A.. HARVARD UNIVERSITY Ph.D.. UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Ernest Allen, Jr. This dissertation examines certain dimensions ofjazz rhetoric, performance, and organizational activity that occurred during the period of the Black Arts movement, the thrust of which corresponded to the larger goals and modes of expression of that phenomenon. The first chapter interrogates definitions of the Black Arts movement, and contextualizes the emergence of black consciousness themes arising in jazz in the 1960s and 1970s by considering the history of racial appeals and identity assertions in the music prior to this period. The second chapter documents the musical activities of the Black Arts era, identifying major tropes and analyzing and historicizing specific modes of carrying this Afrocentric message. The third chapter examines the rise of a generation of African American jazz critics, who sought to define the meaning of the music, and its relationship to black communities and the social and political movements engendering fundamental changes in the perception and practice of race in America. The fourth chapter engages the theme of African American community sponsorship of jazz. The relationship of jazz, and especially experimental jazz, to black communities has been considered largely a nil one. Focusing on the Black Experience in Sound concert series vi of The East, this chapter challenges the notion and presents evidence that many African Americans were quite invested in the music and its use as a nation-building tool. The conclusion briefly addresses organizational manifestations of self-determination in jazz, and makes an argument for a more expansive view of the Black Arts movement in assessing its achievements and lasting masterworks. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iv ABSTRACT vi CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1 1 . THE BLACK ARTS AND JAZZ HISTORY 26 Black Arts Historiography 27 Jazz Historiography 32 Jazz and Race Historically 36 The Early Civil Rights Movement Era 45 BLACK ARTS JAZZ: THE MUSICAL EVIDENCE 56 Africa 57 Revolution 70 Blacknuss 87 Black Spirituality 97 Conclusion 124 3. AFRICAN AMERICAN JAZZ CRITICISM AND THE BLACK ARTS 126 Barbara Gardner 127 Amiri Baraka 133 A.B. Spellman 140 Ron Welbum 147 Black Periodicals 150 Black Jazz Journals 154 4. AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY JAZZ SPONSORSHIP DURING THE BLACK ARTS ERA 161 Introduction 161 Brooklyn Jazz Scene 174 Will The Circle Be Unbroken? 179 The East Vision of the Functions of Black Music 181 The Operation of the Black Experience in Sound 185 Live at the East 191 viii CONCLUSION 194 APPENDIX: BLACK ARTS AND BLACK POWER: A TIMELINE 197 BIBLIOGRAPHY 221 ix INTRODUCTION One of the verses of Robert Earl Price's excellent poem "Blackmusicman" offers us these lines: He is a mind surgeon transplanting the seeds of Turner, Vesey, Malcolm behind black brows 1 The poem is dedicated to Pharoah Sanders, in many ways a central figure in this study ofjazz and the Black Arts movement of the 1960s and 1970s. First published in 1978, "Blackmusicman" ascribes a revolutionary message to the saxophonist's music, one designed for inspiring organized revolt against white supremacy.