Chicago Music Communities and the Everyday Significance of Playing Jazz
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MUSIC PRACTICES AS SOCIAL RELATIONS: CHICAGO MUSIC COMMUNITIES AND THE EVERYDAY SIGNIFICANCE OF PLAYING JAZZ by John Frederic Behling A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Music: Musicology) in The University of Michigan 2010 Doctoral Committee: Professor Mark Allan Clague, Chair Professor Paul A. Anderson Professor Kelly M. Askew Professor Charles Hiroshi Garrett Copyright John Frederic Behling 2010 Acknowledgements In this dissertation, I argue that the solos of jazz musicians spring from the practices of the communities in which they live. What holds true for expression and creativity in jazz is no less true of academic research and writing. This dissertation would not be possible without the support and encouragement of many communities and individuals. I thank all the musicians in Chicago who played music with me and welcomed me into their communities. I am especially grateful to Aki Antonia Smith, Edwina Smith, Scott Earl Holman, and Ed Breazeale for befriending me and introducing me to the musicians and communities about whom I write. I am also grateful for the support of my academic community. Kelly Askew introduced me to the anthropological side of ethnomusicology. Her writing showed me what compassionate and concrete ethnography should be like. Paul Anderson’s late night seminars helped me understand that musical practices have philosophical and psychological significance and that jazz criticism is part of a much larger and long- standing intellectual conversation. Charles Hiroshi Garrett, a late addition to my committee, embraced this project with enthusiasm. His generous encouragement and insightful comments are greatly appreciated. I offer special thanks to my adviser Mark Clague. His tireless support and commitment to the success of my dissertation have been invaluable. He’s the kind of advisor other graduate students o.ly wish they had. I am glad ii he waited until I finished before learning to say no. I also thank the University of Michigan whose financial support funded the research and writing of this dissertation. Finally, I offer special thanks to my friend and first reader, Elizabeth Harris. She encouraged me to write clearly, strive for beauty, and tell compelling stories, so that I might write something others would enjoy reading. To the extent that I have done this, her careful reading, critique, and unflagging encouragement are largely responsible. iii Table of Contents Acknowledgements............................................................................................................ii List of Figures....................................................................................................................v Abstract.............................................................................................................................vi Chapter 1. Introduction......................................................................................................1 2. Working in Jazz in “The City That Works”: A Brief History .......................52 3. Playing Standards on the North Side: Effortless Virtuosity, Professional Identity, and Mainstream Jazz................98 4. Rebuilding My Father’s House: The Negro League Café Jam Session ..........................................................159 5. Communities, Clubs, and Festivals: The Many Layers of Chicago Jazz...............................................................209 6 Conclusion ...................................................................................................268 Bibliography ..................................................................................................................277 iv List of Figures Figure 3.1 Jim Pierce and the band at Basta Pasta..................................................................98 3.2 Robert Shy and Scott Earl Holman .....................................................................104 3.3 Jon Bany at The Chambers..................................................................................105 3.4 Floor Plan of Delaney and Murphy’s..................................................................128 3.5 Dave Po and Dave Hibbard.................................................................................132 3.6 George Bean playing from his table....................................................................135 4.1 Cecile, Aki, and Theodis on stage at the Negro League Café.............................159 4.2 Barbers’ gathering ...............................................................................................168 4.3 Aki at the door.....................................................................................................175 4.4 Negro League Café floor plan.............................................................................176 4.5 Woody Bolar .......................................................................................................194 4.6 Cleo is in the house. ............................................................................................195 4.7 Birthday Balloons................................................................................................199 4.8 Eternal Sound Family Post Card - front ..............................................................200 4.9 Eternal Sound Family Post Card - back ..............................................................200 5.1 Phyllis’s Musical Inn...........................................................................................218 5.2 A slow Monday night..........................................................................................219 5.3 Al Carter-Bey making announcements ...............................................................230 5.4 “Someone You Should Know”............................................................................231 5.5 Audrey and her family.........................................................................................232 5.6 Al, Coop, and Grady............................................................................................233 5.7 George Freeman at the Tropical Den ..................................................................236 5.8 Miss Marie, proprietor of the Tropical Den ........................................................237 5.9 Edwina Smith and George Freeman at the Tropical Den....................................238 5.10 Eugene Rainey singing with George Freeman....................................................239 5.11 Jon Allen having a snack at the bar.....................................................................241 5.12 The view from my barstool .................................................................................242 v Abstract Scholars often consider jazz in terms of its most innovative performers, exemplary recordings, and groundbreaking performances. Yet most jazz is played by little-known musicians who rarely record or perform at major venues. This study, written against the monolithic history of jazz, argues that musical meanings are deeply connected to specific, local, face-to-face social relations, that these face-to-face musical practices contribute to the intersubjective construction of individual and community identity, and that face-to-face communities use general musical practices, broad social identities, and urban space to achieve local social goals. This dissertation depicts the social and musical practices of several distinct communities and is based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2004 and 2006 at jam sessions and performances held at The Negro League Café, The Chambers, and other Chicago venues. Detailed narratives show how musical practices and social relations are connected at fundamental levels. For example, different approaches to harmonizing jazz standards determine not only which notes are played, but also which players are welcomed to the bandstand. Ethnographic accounts portray musicians as they construct racial, gender, artistic, and professional identities that draw on grand narratives, while firmly rooted in local social relations. Considering jazz as a variety of face-to-face musical and social practices complicates understandings of individual and communal identity, and challenges the notion that jazz has a single authentic history or that it vi unproblematically represents “America’s music,” “African American music,” or other broad social formations that are, in Benedict Anderson’s terminology, “imagined communities.” Deep connections between jazz practices and local social relations suggest that such connections also exist in other musical communities and among amateurs and professionals engaged in other artistic activities as well. Music need not be ‘great’ in order to do the kinds of social work so important to musical practice. People play jazz in many ways to many different ends, none truer than the others, each true to the particulars of their time and place of performance. Musicians create deeply felt identities, social bonds, and aesthetic values through virtuosic and amateur performances alike, and they need not change musical history to change their own. vii Chapter 1 Introduction “Musics do not have selves; people do.” —Christopher Waterman, Juju Sometimes, music seems to have a life of its own. Songs spread globally; styles develop historically, sounds follow a trajectory shaped by economics, technology, politics, and religion. Jazz, no less than any other music, seems to live a life larger than