UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Making Jazz Space: Clubs and Creative Practice in California, Chile, and Siberia A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Ethnomusicology by Alex Warner Rodriguez 2018 © Copyright by Alex Warner Rodriguez 2018 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Making Jazz Space: Clubs and Creative Practice in California, Chile, and Siberia by Alex Warner Rodriguez Doctor of Philosophy in Ethnomusicology University of California, Los Angeles, 2018 Professor Steven J. Loza, Chair Drawing from anthropological fieldwork in three jazz clubs, this dissertation explores the global scale of contemporary jazz practice through an examination of the communities that sustain them in Los Angeles, California; Santiago, Chile; and Novosibirsk, Siberia. These spaces, which bear striking similarities to one another both in terms of architectural aesthetics and community practices despite the vast distance between them, are investigated as instantiations of jazz space informed by logics of jazz listening, and as sites of jazz practice—a process that I call jazz anthropology. It argues that to understand why jazz practices continue to manifest anywhere, we must understand what they mean to people elsewhere—that is, beyond the music’s geographical centers of production on the U.S. East Coast. By attending to these peripheries, we can hear the music as a manifestation of jazz consciousness, as tendrils of black radical modes of thinking transposed to far-flung geographies—even ones that very few black people inhabit. To situate these practices in a longer genealogical timespan, the dissertation also includes brief historical ii sketches of jazz practice in each of the three locations in 1917, 1959, and 1990, demonstrating the long local histories that inform the music in each locale. Each subsequent chapter focuses on a different club, as well as a distinctive aspect of global jazz world-making. Taken together, they tell a story of how people around the world share a sense of meaning and emplacement in ideas of Jazz as a universal signifier. iii The dissertation of Alex Warner Rodriguez is approved Robin Davis Gibran Kelley David W. MacFadyen James Weldon Newton Timothy D. Taylor Steven J. Loza, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2018 iv To the brilliant creative people who touched my life while I prepared this project, but passed on before it could be completed: Amiri Baraka Ed Berger Ornette Coleman Lawrence Gushee Charlie Haden José “Pepe” Hosiasson James Louis “J.J.” Johnson David Robert Jones Mollie Friedman Kikuchi Mirjana Laušević Ursula Le Guin Acharya Allyn Lyon Jim Makarounis Albert Murray Pauline Oliveros Cedric Robinson Adele Knerr Rodriguez Sumner Rodriguez Roswell Rudd Joe Showler Edward Soja Robert Murrell Stevenson Cecil Taylor Aleksandr Teplinsky Gerald Wilson Olly Wilson It is my humble aspiration that the following pages may honor your lineages and be of benefit to the many people to follow in them v Table of Contents List of Figures viii Acknowledgments x Vita xv Introduction: Jazz Nowhere, Now Here 1 Using the Word “Jazz” 4 Methodological Considerations 7 Square, Circle, Triangle ■ ● ▲ 13 ■ Clubs ■ 17 ■ Consciousness ● 18 ■ Community ▲ 19 ● Scene ■ 20 ● Field ● 22 ● World ▲ 25 ▲ Space ■ 27 ▲ Listening ● 28 ▲ Practice ▲ 30 Further Relevant Literature 31 Jazz Ethnomusicology 31 Jazz Worldwide 34 Jazz Transnationalism 38 Chapter Outline 39 Chapter 1: Throwing Jazz History a Jazz Curve 45 1917: California 47 Chile 51 Russia 54 1959: California 57 Chile 61 Russia 64 1990: California 67 Chile 70 Russia 73 Synchronic Analysis and Concluding Thoughts 76 Fade In: Portland To Los Angeles 80 vi Chapter 2: Los Angeles, California Creating Space for Creative Music at bluewhale, Live Jazz and Art Space 90 Location 91 Interior 94 Social Location: Scene, Field, World 100 Change Over Time 108 Conclusion: So What? 115 Crossfade: Los Angeles to Santiago 119 Chapter 3: Santiago, Chile Making the Hang at Thelonious, Lugar de Jazz 130 Erwin Díaz and the Story of the Space 132 Inside the Club 134 Making the Hang 138 Listening for La Resistencia 144 Conclusion: Toward a Politics of Possibility 153 Remix: Santiago to Novosibirsk 155 Chapter 4: Novosibirsk, Siberia Improvising Cosmopolitanism Sideways at Truba Jazz Club 165 Encountering Jazz Cosmopolitans in Siberia 167 First Visit to Truba: On Being Vibed 171 Producing the Jazz Field 173 Last Visit to Truba: Thin Description 176 Another Jam Session: SibJazzFest 183 Conclusion: Jazz Anthropology Radically Unfinished 187 Fade Out: Novosibirsk to Portland 190 Conclusion: The Space of Jazz to Come 195 What’s Left? 198 Now What? 200 Bibliography 205 vii List of Figures All photographs by author unless otherwise indicated Figure 0.1 Locations of fieldwork sites 7 Figure 0.2 “Translation Table” of Tripartite Models 15 Figure 0.3 Nested Trialectics of Jazz Anthropology 16 Figure 0.4 Locations referenced in Jazz Worlds/World Jazz 37 Figure 0.5 UN-Adjusted Population Count, 2015 (Source: Columbia University Center for International Earth Science Information Network, 2016) 38 Figure 1.1 Table of sections sorted by synchronic and diachronic relationships 47 Figure 1.2 Places where I witnessed jazz practice (1991-2011) 80 Figure 2.1 Wall display near bluewhale entrance 90 Figure 2.2 Weller Court, 2012 92 Figure 2.3 bluewhale exterior, 2012 93 Figure 2.4 Lee seated at bluewhale bar, 2012 94 Figure 2.5 Performance area, 2012 96 Figure 2.6 Ceiling poetry, 2012 97 Figure 2.7 Green room, 2012 99 Figure 2.8 Joshua White, Richard Giddens, and Dan Schnelle perform at bluewhale, May 8, 2012 109 Figure 2.9 Sound amplification system, 2012 110 Figure 2.10 Alex W. Rodriguez and Friends perform at bluewhale, June 2, 2015 (Source: Nicole Andrews) 111 Figure 2.11 Places I witnessed jazz practice (2012-2015) 119 viii Figure 3.1 Front entrance to Thelonious, Lugar de Jazz (Source: Roberto Barahona) 130 Figure 3.2 Erwin Díaz in front of the bar at Thelonious, Lugar de Jazz, 2013 (Source: Roberto Barahona) 132 Figure 3.3 Martin Joseph and José Hosiasson before a performance at Thelonious, 2013 (Source: Roberto Barahona) 135 Figure 3.4 A view behind the bar, with patio in background, 2015 136 Figure 3.5 Thelonious stage area (Source: Roberto Barahona) 137 Figure 3.6 Pablo Menares, Sebastián Jordán, Felix Lecaros, Melissa Aldana, and Nicolás Vera perform as La Resistencia at Thelonious, 2013 (Source: Roberto Barahona) 143 Figure 3.7 La Resistencia album cover (Source: Discos Pendiente) 149 Figure 3.8 Places I witnessed jazz practice (January-October 2016) 155 Figure 4.1 Entrance to Truba Jazz Club 165 Figure 4.2 Entryway into Truba Jazz Club 177 Figure 4.3 Basement entrance into Truba Jazz Club 178 Figure 4.4 Truba main wall with photos 179 Figure 4.5 Jazz and bourbon display 180 Figure 4.6 Truba bar area 181 Figure 4.7 Truba stage area 182 Figure 4.8 SibJazzFest Jam Session in A.M. Katz Hall foyer, October 2016 (Source: Ricao Dohi) 186 Figure 4.9 Places I witnessed jazz practice (November 2016-March 2018) 190 ix Acknowledgments To Marina, the one person who has accompanied me every step of the way on this far- flung improvisation: thank you for always being there to remind me what home really means— whether “there” was Santiago or Siberia. I can’t express in words how grateful I am to have met you, despite being born nearly 8,500 kilometers away. May our lifetime of travels ahead take us to many new places together. To my birth family—Dad, Mom, Evan, and Luke—thank you for bringing me into this world and giving me my first experience of a loving home, as well as the confidence to bring that love into the world through Jazz. And to all the other families who have taken me in along the way—Matt Bogdanow and Hannah Gibson, along with Reid; Santiago Cerda and Fernanda Vera, along with Chaguito, Salvi, and Simón; Luz María Ilabaca, along with Davíd and Francisco; Jakov and Alla Kantarovich, along with Kevin; Jack and Libby Keating, along with John, Molly, and Bruce; Sasha and Valia Kudrin, along with Matvei; Sean and Rose Lorre, along with Pacey—thank you for your generosity and kindness. Having unfurled over the course of more than a decade, this project owes itself to the many fortunate connections I have made with jazz lovers around the world. None of this would have been possible without the patient tutelage of my first jazz mentors, Ben and Michelle Medler. Not only did they open my ears to the world of jazz sounds, they did so while modeling curiosity, wonder, and devotion to the music and its lineage of masters. It also would not have been possible without the writing mentorship of Beth Hahn and Carolyn Wood—special thanks to Ms. Wood for introducing me to the power of threes. I am also grateful to those who nurtured my love of Jazz after leaving Portland for Amherst, especially Tim Atherton, Barry O’Connell, Bruce Diehl, Darryl Harper, Jeff Holmes, Andy Jaffee, and David Sporny. And to Jeffers Engelhardt and David Schneider: thank you for encouraging me to pursue this further through x rigorous musical study. To my bandmates in the Shark Spaceship and the Funk Department: I couldn’t have learned to Make It Funky without you. Thanks also to Wayne Wallace and Angela Wellman, who deepened my approach to musical inquiry during a challenging year in Oakland. Although I didn’t know it at the time, the seed of this project was planted during the five months I spent in Santiago, Chile nearly 13 years ago. I am deeply grateful to all who made that trip possible, including Amherst College, the Institute for Study Abroad at Butler University, the University of Chile, and the Catholic University of Chile.