Sustaining Afrocentric Spiritual Jazz in 21St Century Chicago
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City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 9-2016 Sacred Freedom: Sustaining Afrocentric Spiritual Jazz in 21St Century Chicago Adam Zanolini The Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/1617 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] SACRED FREEDOM: SUSTAINING AFROCENTRIC SPIRITUAL JAZZ IN 21ST CENTURY CHICAGO by ADAM ZANOLINI A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2016 © 2016 ADAM ZANOLINI All Rights Reserved ii Sacred Freedom: Sustaining Afrocentric Spiritual Jazz in 21st Century Chicago by Adam Zanolini This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Music in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. _________________ __________________________________________ DATE David Grubbs Chair of Examining Committee _________________ __________________________________________ DATE Norman Carey Executive Officer Supervisory Committee: _________________ __________________________________________ DATE Jeffrey Taylor _________________ __________________________________________ DATE Fred Moten _________________ __________________________________________ DATE Michele Wallace iii ABSTRACT Sacred Freedom: Sustaining Afrocentric Spiritual Jazz in 21st Century Chicago by Adam Zanolini Advisor: Jeffrey Taylor This dissertation explores the historical and ideological headwaters of a certain form of Great Black Music that I call Afrocentric spiritual jazz in Chicago. However, that label is quickly expended as the work begins by examining the resistance of these Black musicians to any label. I theorize that this resistance is due to the experiences of Black history, throughout which labels have been used to enslave, exploit, and control people. I begin by discussing early musical labels, several important n-words, and then the innovation of African diasporic subjecthood and its labels. Then Black is examined, along with several corollary social movements and Black music. Finally the Art Ensemble of Chicago’s Great Black Music is brought forward as a healing descriptor, introducing the goal of healing as a characteristic of this musical tradition. In the next half-chapter, I apply the semiotics of Charles Peirce to jazz, with specific focus on the avant- garde. I theorize that the avant-garde’s timbral focus is related to Peirce’s concept of Firstness, and also to iconic representation. I then briefly discuss the history of spiritual jazz before reviewing the Afrocentric paradigm that many musicians represent in the music. I examine the lives, careers, and work of three Black spirit musicians in Chicago: Phil Cohran, David Boykin, and Angel Elmore. Then I bring together relevant aspects of the music, its history, and the people surrounding it, by considering four valences of space: 1) urban space, specifically the South Side which was a result of the Great Migration of Negroes from the south who became Black people in the North; 2) performance spaces, especially in view of the demise of Fred Anderson’s Velvet Lounge; 3) sonic space, one characteristic of the Chicago music, which is a loaded possibility for creation to happen; 4) outer space, spiritual dimensions, and the musicians collective I’m part of called the MB Collective and the Participatory Music Coalition. iv Acknowledgements Ase to my ancestors, and to the musical elders and forebears that have made this music to nourish us all. Personal thanks to Patricia and William Parker who gave me my first opportunity to lend my best efforts to the advancement of this music I love so much. Thank you to Phil Cohran who taught me most about the substance and importance of Black music and Black culture. Thank you to David Boykin who helped me to find my musical voice and to experience the wonder of creation first hand. Thank you to Ernest Dawkins for letting me be a small part of his important efforts to advance Black music in the Black neighborhoods of Chicago. Thank you to Gira Dahnee, SuRa Dupart, Angel Elmore, Xristian Espinoza, Viktor le Ewing Givens, JeNae’ Nicole Taylor, and Sojourner Wright for musical and spiritual collaboration. Thank you to Soji Adebayo, Bakarae, Walter Clark, Nemu El, Baabe Irving, Kwesi, Nebu, Nuwki Nu, Tracy, and other members of the Society for the Study of Eternal Life for their generosity and wisdom. Thank you to Eliel Sherman Storey, Roy Campbell, Sura Ramses Dupart, and Cooper-Moore for your musical insights, which led me onto the path of understanding the structures in music. Thank you to Douglas Ewart and Nicole Mitchell, Ari Brown and Fred Anderson, Margaret Murphy-Webb and Charles Heath, Wadada and Muhal, Cecile Savage and Josh Abrams, Hamid Drake and Avreeayl Ra, for your insight and inspiration. Thank you to my professors and my advisors who guided me through this processes – Stephen Blum, Peter Manuel, Jane Sugarman, Michael Salim Washington, Frederick Moten, Michele Wallace, and Jeffrey Taylor. Thank you to Gina Morrison for loving advice. Thank you to my mother Lynne Zanolini for existence and everything important about myself. v Table of Contents Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................................... v Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 8 Methods ........................................................................................................................................ 10 1. Coming to Terms: Names, Labels, Genres, and History .................................................. 12 Self-determination of Terms ................................................................................................................ 16 Early Musical Labels ............................................................................................................................ 21 Nigger, Negro, Necro, Nègre, Noire ..................................................................................................... 23 African and African American ............................................................................................................ 29 Diaspora ................................................................................................................................................. 32 Black ....................................................................................................................................................... 45 Black Musical Authenticity and The Black Arts Movement ............................................................ 47 Complicating Black: Matana Roberts ................................................................................................. 56 Complicating Jazz ................................................................................................................................. 58 The Relationship Between the Labels Black and Jazz, and the Imperative for Black Jazz Musicians to Reject All Labels. ............................................................................................................ 64 Great Black Music and Spiritual Healing ........................................................................................... 68 1½. Semiotics: Representing Black Music ................................................................................ 77 Semeiotic Not Semiology ....................................................................................................................... 78 The Firstness of Timbre ....................................................................................................................... 95 Generative Representation – Creating Black culture ...................................................................... 107 2. Ideologies: Afrocentricity and the Black Spirit of Chicago .............................................. 111 Afrocentricity ...................................................................................................................................... 111 Black Nationalism and Religio-political Formations ....................................................................... 115 Nation of Islam .................................................................................................................................. 117 Moorish Science Temple .................................................................................................................. 121 Black Hebrews .................................................................................................................................. 123 Spiritual Jazz ....................................................................................................................................... 127 3. Figures: Black Spirit Musicians of Chicago ....................................................................... 138 Elders and Ancestors .......................................................................................................................... 138 Phil Cohran