A Contextual Study of the Art of Three Pittsburgh Jazz Drummers
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CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by D-Scholarship@Pitt THE INTERPRETATION OF EXPERIENCE: A CONTEXTUAL STUDY OF THE ART OF THREE PITTSBURGH JAZZ DRUMMERS by Kenan A. Foley Bachelor of Music, Southern University and A & M College, 1984 Master of Arts, Binghamton University, 1995 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Arts and Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2007 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH Faculty of Arts and Sciences This dissertation was presented by Kenan A. Foley It was defended on April 23, 2007 and approved by Dr. Nathan T. Davis, Professor of Music, Dissertation Advisor J. H. Kwabena Nketia, Andrew W. Mellon Professor Emeritus of Music Dr. Akin Euba, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Music Dr. Mathew Rosenblum, Professor of Music ii Copyright © by Kenan Foley 2007 iii THE INTERPRETATION OF EXPERIENCE: A CONTEXTUAL STUDY OF THE ART OF THREE PITTSBURGH JAZZ DRUMMERS Kenan A. Foley, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2007 This dissertation presents an ethnomusicological study of the art of three Pittsburgh jazz drummers, Joe Harris, Ron Tucker, and Roger Humphries with particular reference to the nexus relations between performance practice and the interpretation of experience. Following the work of Davis, Nketia and others this study argues for an approach to the analysis of black music which takes into consideration the viewpoints of the musicians who produce the music as well as those of the community who participate at performance events. Accordingly it examines the art of these drummers not only in terms of sound and structure but also in respect of the cultural factors that govern the operation of style and the meaning systems behind the music. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE.................................................................................................................................. VII 1.0 INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................ 1 1.1 THE INTERPRETATION OF EXPERIENCE................................................ 1 1.2 CONTEXTUAL STUDIES................................................................................. 4 1.3 JAZZ AS AN ETHNIC MUSIC ......................................................................... 7 1.4 ANALYSIS OF JAZZ AND AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSIC .................... 11 1.5 RELEVANT LITERATURE............................................................................ 13 1.6 PRELIMINARY RESEARCH......................................................................... 21 1.7 FIELD WORK................................................................................................... 23 1.8 ORAL HISTORY .............................................................................................. 31 1.8.1 Ethnographic Interviews............................................................................ 32 1.9 JAZZ RECORDINGS....................................................................................... 38 1.10 TRANSCRIPTIONS OF MUSICAL SAMPLES ........................................... 43 2.0 THE DRUMMERS .................................................................................................... 48 2.1 A SHARED MUSICAL HERITAGE .............................................................. 48 2.2 JOE HARRIS..................................................................................................... 53 2.3 RON TUCKER .................................................................................................. 56 2.4 ROGER HUMPHRIES..................................................................................... 57 v 3.0 JAZZ AND THE AFRICAN MUSICAL CONTINUUM ...................................... 60 3.1 AFRICAN ROOTS AND THE AFRICAN MUSICAL CONTINUUM....... 60 3.2 BLACK CULTURE AND THE PROBLEM OF ESSENTIALISM............. 65 3.3 AFRICAN MUSIC PRINCIPLES FOUND IN JAZZ ................................... 68 3.3.1 The Heterogenous Sound Ideal.................................................................. 79 3.3.2 The Drum Set In Jazz................................................................................. 81 3.3.3 Kenny Clarke and the Development of Modern Jazz Drumming.......... 86 4.0 ETHNOGRAPHY JAZZ IN PITTSBURGH .......................................................... 93 4.1 THE QUESTION OF A PITTSBURGH JAZZ STYLE.............................. 111 5.0 ENCULTURATION AND LEARNING THE JAZZ DRUMMING TRADITION 131 5.1 JOE HARRIS................................................................................................... 133 5.2 RON TUCKER ................................................................................................ 159 5.3 ROGER HUMPHRIES................................................................................... 199 6.0 THE PERSONALIZATION OF JAZZ DRUMMING STYLE .......................... 238 6.1 JOE HARRIS................................................................................................... 238 6.2 RON TUCKER ................................................................................................ 251 6.3 ROGER HUMPHRIES................................................................................... 273 7.0 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ...................................................................... 294 INTERVIEWS........................................................................................................................... 300 BIBLIOGRAPHY..................................................................................................................... 302 DISCOGRAPHY....................................................................................................................... 313 vi PREFACE Acknowledgements This work is the result of years of research on the Pittsburgh jazz scene and would have been impossible without the cooperation, support and help of many people. I would like to acknowledge my debt to Joe Harris, Ron Tucker, and Roger Humphries, all of whom believed in the value of such a study and generously shared their time and musical knowledge, insights and experience with me. I would also like to thank the members of my dissertation committee for their contributions to this study. My committee director, Nathan Davis, has advised me since I first started graduate studies at the University of Pittsburgh. His insistence that I become a competent practitioner of the music as well as a scholar of jazz was crucial in my formulation of the research strategy. I am grateful for his guidance, wisdom, and sustained support which allowed me to see this work to fruition. Akin Euba and Mathew Rosenblum both provided practical suggestions in structuring the dissertation. J. H. Kwabena Nketia’s contributions to this work are invaluable. In addition to helping me sort out several theoretical issues, his invitation to work with him in Ghana allowed me to experience the musical grandeur that is the Ghanaian cultural heritage. His comments on my writing, his questions; both challenging and stimulating, and his overall interest in my development as an ethnomusicologist is both inspiring and humbling. vii Portions of this work were written while I was a Frederick Douglass Fellow at Clarion University of Pennsylvania, and while I enjoyed a residency at the International Centre for African Music and Dance, University of Ghana, Legon Campus. Finally, words cannot express my gratitude to my wife, Teresita and sons, Nathan and Christian, whose unconditional love and faith sustained me throughout this endeavor. This work is dedicated to my brother, John J. Foley who first brought the drums into our parent’s house, and to my brother in music, Mike Taylor, who first brought me into the Crawford Grill. viii Key to Musical Transcriptions Drum Notation a. Bass Drum b. Floor Tom c. Snare Drum d. Small Tom e. Cowbell f. Cymbal g. High Hat with Foot ix 1.0 INTRODUCTION 1.1 THE INTERPRETATION OF EXPERIENCE This dissertation presents an ethnomusicological study of the art of three Pittsburgh jazz drummers, Joe Harris, Ron Tucker, and Roger Humphries with particular reference to the nexus relations between performance practice and the interpretation of experience. It argues for the inclusion of studies which focus on the perspectives of individual musicians as a subject for ethnomusicological discourse which, heretofore have been concerned, primarily, with the abstraction of individual perspectives to make statements of a general kind in regards to a particular people’s musical culture. The later kinds of studies emphasize the group often at the expense of the individual as cultural agent. In this way music is reduced to being merely a reflection of society. Music as a cultural theme tells us but little of the processes by which creative individuals generate their art nor does it tell us much about their art as lived human experience. There are two central concerns which form the basis of this study. One of the things I was interested in learning about was the social processes through which these musicians acquired the specific knowledge of the improvisational techniques necessary to perform jazz on the drumset. Related to this was my interest to know how they developed their unique or personal approach to performance. The idea of jazz music as an expression of experience was 1 brought up early when I began the research for this study. In fact, I was directed to it by the musicians themselves. My enquiries