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TEACHING AS AMERICAN CULTURE LESSON PLANS

NEH SUMMER INSTITUTE The Center for the Humanities Washington University in St. Louis July 2-27, 2007 contents

Foreword ……………………………………………………………………………… iv Gerald Early, Merle Kling Professor of Modern Letters, Department of English iv Director, The Center for the Humanities

Jazz and Biography ………………………………………………………………… 1 Robert Edwards, Annie Joly, Frank Kovarik, Alice Lee, and Gerry Liebmann

Jazz and Fiction ……………………………………………………………………… 21 Ken Froehlich, T. J. Gillespie, Judith Nador, Melissa Papianou, and Elizabeth Patterson

Jazz and Gender …………………………………………………………………… 45 Amy Dilts, Aimee Hendrix, Hope Rias, and Franklin Webster

Jazz and Race ………………………………………………………………………… 59 Robert Evans, Allen Stith, Herbert West, and Keith Westbrook

Jazz and the Urban Landscape …………………………………………………… 72 Monica Freese, John Gornell, Patrick Harris, Mark Halperin, and Jerome Love

Jazz and the Visual Imagination …………………………………………………… 85 Judy Gregorc, Rob Matlock, Martha Jewell Meeker, Ellen Rennard, Laura Rochette, and Larissa Young

iii foreword

Teaching Jazz as American Culture and as an attractive form of identity for young people. But jazz also represents a markedly different story Now, a word or two before you go. I must make from, say, country and western, rock and roll, rhythm clear to you once again why we were all here and what and , hip hop and rap. None of these forms of we all tried to accomplish in these last four weeks. It music has so dramatically lost its popularity and none was never my intention to encourage you to make your has become a conservatory music. It is the ways in students fans of jazz. It was never even my intention which jazz serves as a paradigm for the formation of to make any of you jazz fans who were not inclined to mass taste and the ways in which it is not a paradigm, be so. The point of this exercise was to show that jazz because of its failure to maintain itself even as a music was an important music, a highly influential music, at with a sizable niche audience, like, say, hardcore one point in its existence. And, for that matter, it still country music or gospel music or heavy metal, that remains an important music. It was an important music makes it fascinating and instructive to examine and to in the shaping of America as we know it. I also wanted think about. We can learn as much from an art form’s to show that jazz was a good music, a music worth failures as we can from its successes. But then again listening to and worth playing, at least at a certain time perhaps jazz hasn’t failed. Who says that an art form in the life of this nation. But I did not desire anything needs a mass audience to be considered successful? beyond that point and it was not necessary to desire In what ways can we understand how an art succeeds anything beyond that point. In fact, personally, you could independent of the marketplace? Perhaps jazz has still hate jazz and think it important to teach something succeeded because it has become a highly elitist art. about your subject through it. That’s what I wanted to Maybe that is what God and man intended for it. achieve, that realization. So, why do this institute on jazz and what do I So, forget about the art form as something you hope we accomplished this month? I designed this should either like or dislike. Think of it purely as a cultural, institute to get you to think about your subject in a fresh artistic, and social specimen. That is all I want you to way and to think about the humanities in a fresh way, get from this. Jazz is a specimen of a special sort, a an interdisciplinary way where a specific subject can rich sort, and can be very useful to you as teachers in suddenly become a whole. What I wanted to do here what you teach. In some respects, I think you would be was to have you see jazz from many different angles better teaching it if you’re not a fan of it or at least not so you can comprehend not only the complexity of wildly passionate about it. If you are more objective the subject but also its endless riches and how each about it, you are more likely to think about it as a time a new aspect of the subject is revealed, an aspect scientist ideally thinks about the work in a lab, rather that you already know gets re-revealed and refreshed. than in the way a true believer thinks about his or her So, you learned about jazz and the rise of the religion. After all, as I suggested to you from the start, American cities, about what cities had to offer young jazz may not be a word that was invented to describe a professionals and young artists on the make, how the form of music, but rather to describe something about city has the institutions, organizations, and, finally, the the spirit or consciousness that brought a particular audience to support new and different art. You learned type of music or art into the world. Jazz is a word that about jazz and its influence on and interaction with describes the impulse of how to make things new for other arts, such as jazz and literature, where a number both the creator and the audience. of writers have been influenced by this music as a creative inspiration. We noted how jazz influenced visual Yet it must be remembered that jazz arose at the artists like Romare Bearden and how it influenced and beginning of the twentieth century, the century of was shaped by modern dance. We also saw how jazz music, when music, through technological invention, has been a subject in Hollywood and independent films, became a widespread passion, an alluring object of and how it has been used in animation. And we learned consumption. The story of jazz is the story of the rise how composers used jazz to score films. We learned and fall of a musical idiom, of an art movement, of a about jazz in other countries—Japan (where for some kind of identity that was both popular and elitist. This musicians jazz represents individuality in a culture of makes the story of jazz important, because it has intense conformity) and Georgia (where jazz for many become the paradigm for virtually every other musical of the musicians of an earlier generation represented idiom that has flourished as the nation’s popular music political freedom)—how jazz in other places is like

iv American jazz in some ways but also different in some easy listening jazz. There is still an audience for this of the emotional and artistic needs that it fills. Finally, music and it is possible for a performer to make money we examined various ways that jazz and American from it. Exactly who does listen to jazz today and why? social history interconnected: from the segregation of We never explored that. So we hardly exhausted the women in jazz and the gendered way that music is subject and we could have easily been here for another seen, to the connection between jazz and civil rights, three or four weeks. and jazz and black masculinity. In addition, you saw and heard live jazz performances every week, and had the But I wanted you to think about the humanities opportunity to talk to professional jazz musicians about anew, how a subject like jazz can tie together many their craft. We covered many things in four weeks. things, for yourselves and your students, and how this can affect how your students think about many But as much as you may have learned, there is also things. I wanted to offer this institute because I am much that we did not touch upon: think about writers a teacher and wanted the opportunity to work with like Kerouac, John Clellon Holmes, Toni Morrison, other teachers. I know some of you are thinking that John A. Williams, William Melvin Kelly, and Yusef the institute was informative but how do you get your Komunyakaa, who have all written important works with students to listen to jazz, even for a moment, a music jazz themes. Josef Skvorecky’s The Bass Saxophone, that seems foreign to many of them. But the difficulty is which I think is the single greatest piece of fiction the whole point. First, as teachers, we can never really about jazz, was never mentioned once during our reach our students through what they already know and institute. We never talked in much depth about jazz and are likely to explore without our effort or encouragement religion: we never discussed the jazz ministry of the late as teachers. I think, frankly, it is pointless to teach Lutheran minister, John Garcia Gensel. We did not look students Hip Hop. They are already motivated to know at the Church of in . We it because it is so intricately tied up to a sense of who did not consider the influence of Christianity or Judaism they are. We must move our students to look at things on jazz or why several noted black jazz musicians like outside themselves and outside their experience. Yusef Lateef, Ahmad Jamal, and others Otherwise, what is the point of a humanities education? converted to Islam. We talked about jazz and race but That is what the humanities are supposed to do, enrich we did not look specifically at the relationship between your own capacity for understanding human experience blacks and Jews in jazz, which is actually more to the by taking you outside yourself and into something point because by and large most small else. We must expand the sense they have of who owners and most nightclub owners were Jews. Most they are. Moreover, we must teach them ownership. of the whites who supported the civil rights movement Jazz is not some foreign thing that belonged to their monetarily and helped organize benefits were Jews. So grandparents or their parents. Jazz belongs to them. the story of jazz is quite specifically a story about two It is their heritage as Americans or their heritage as of America’s most prominent minority groups, blacks black Americans, depending upon the approach you and Jews. We did not look at all at contemporary jazz: wish to take to the subject. It is their legacy. They must who plays jazz today and why? We did not look at the be taught to value their heritage. They must be taught influence of Rock music on jazz or the influence of Hip the importance of a long memory. The nature of our Hop on jazz. We did not look at contemporary women throwaway culture, our culture of instant gratification, jazz players, although there are many of them. We works against that. But we as teachers must work did not look at high school jazz bands or college jazz against that aspect of our culture. We are the ones education. And what about Latin jazz, Afro-Cuban jazz, who must show our students the good and lasting or jazz in western Europe? We never gave any of that things in our culture. If we don’t do that, who will? If we a glance. We never looked at jazz and the Top Forty. don’t do that, how will our culture last? To paraphrase After all, jazz did not simply shrivel up and die after football legend Tom Landry, our job as teachers is to World War II. Tunes like “Take Five,” “Cast Your Fate to get our students to do things they don’t want to do in the Wind,” and Hugh Masekela’s version of “Grazing order to achieve something they need to achieve. We in the Grass” were big pop hits. Les McCann and must teach them to want to achieve what they need to Eddie Harris had a hugely successful in 1970 achieve. that spawned the hit tune, “Compared to What.” Jazz musicians like and Pat Metheny, Wynton Gerald Early, Merle Kling Marsalis and , George Benson and Professor of Modern Letters, Earl Klugh, Bob James and Kenny G, Director, Center for the Humanities and Chick Corea have all had very lucrative careers as Washington University in St. Louis jazz musicians and they do not, by any means, all play

v

Jazz and Biography versions that younger students can handle and older Robert Edwards, Annie Joly, Frank Kovarik, students can complicate. Alice Lee, and Gerry Liebmann This section of the Resource Guide deals with Jazz and Biography. Some works are wonderful sources One of the best ways to learn about American of facts; others are almost incredible mythology. culture is to learn about the people who were They address important themes in jazz history: the involved in shaping it. The study of jazz as American importance of the African American tradition, victory culture inevitably brings one to learn about the people and victimization, racism, the dangers of drugs, and who have made jazz. The individual stories of musicians the tension between commerce and art. Some of these who perform this unique music intertwine, overlap, works perpetuate stereotypes, but others explode them. All and crisscross in ways that mimic the music itself. are enlightening in understanding just how important In exploring the biographical works available on the music that “won’t behave itself” is to us all. these artists, one can get a glimpse of the culture surrounding them. Economic, racial, social, and other Articles factors that have affected the development of jazz Lincoln, Abbey. “Who Will Revere the Black become more personal and meaningful when seen Woman?” In Black Woman, edited by Toni through the life of an individual. A documentary like Cade. : New American Library, 100th Anniversary, for instance, tells the story 1970. of twentieth-century America through the life of one of Margolick, David. “Strange Fruit.” Vanity Fair, jazz’s great pioneers. Betty Boop cartoons featuring September 1998. are primary sources that illustrate the racial politics of their time and the challenges jazz Autobiographies and Biographies artists faced in controlling their own images. Armstrong, Louis. Louis Armstrong, In His Own Biographies and autobiographies offer images that Words: Selected Writings. New York: Oxford are not necessarily factual or complete. Many of the University Press, 1999. citations included here examine the representation Clarke, Donald. Wishing on the Moon: The Life and (and often misrepresentation) of ’s life. Times of Billie Holiday. New York: Viking Her concert in particular offers an Press, 1995. example of the complicated intertwining of life and Ellington, Mercer. in Person: An art. Holiday’s story is one in which, sadly, drug use Intimate Memoir. New York: Houghton, 1978. plays an important role. Many jazz biographies seem Greenburg, Jan. Romare Bearden: Village of compelled to romanticize or emphasize drugs and Memories. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2003. other illicit behavior, even when such subjects seem Nicholson, Stuart. Billie Holiday. Boston: Northeastern tangentially related to the artist’s life and work. For an University Press, 1995. example of this tendency, see the annotation on the O’Meally, Robert. Lady: The Many Faces of Billie liner notes to saxophonist Greg Osby’s St. Louis Shoes. Holiday. New York: Arcade, 1991. The essay that accompanies Osby’s CD discusses Porter, Lewis. John Coltrane: His Life and Art. Ann prominently the illegal substances and behavior Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1998. surrounding Osby’s early gigs while omitting the formal study that laid the groundwork for his art. Children’s Books Jazz historiography sometimes takes a “great man” Hughes, Langston. The First Book of Jazz. New York: approach that emphasizes certain individuals while Franklin Watts, 1976. ignoring others and paying insufficient attention to the Marsalis, Wynton, Phil Schaap, and Paul Rogers. Jazz social conditions in which those individuals worked. ABZ: An A to Z Collection of Jazz Portraits. Some of the works annotated in this section examine New York: Candlewick, 2005. such limitations of biography in a theoretical way. McKissack, Patricia, and Fredrick McKissack. Louis Another work, : The Great Women Armstrong: Jazz Musician. Springfield, NJ: of Jazz, offers a collective biography of a number of Enslow, 1991. great jazz women, underlining the participation of Tate, Eleanora E. African American Musicians. New women in the story of the music as well. Children’s York: Wiley, 2000. books, in particular, offer students of all ages a chance to encounter and critique the biographies of jazz Documentary Films artists past and present. Children’s books like Bojangles. Directed by Bill Lake and Joseph Sargent. ’s Jazz ABZ crystallize the dominant Showtime Networks, 2001. (Biography of Bill perspectives on such artists, offering condensed Robinson)

1 Jazz Collection: Billie Holiday. Directed by Philippe http://scottjoplin.org. Scott Joplin International Koechlin. Arte, France, 1997. Ragtime Foundation The Last of the Blue Devils: The Kansas City Story. http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ASI/musi212/introduction.html. Directed by Bruce Ricker. Kino International Jazz: Marking Time in American Culture is subdivided Corporation, 2001. in chronological periods—Jazz Roots, Swing Masters of American Music: Satchmo. Directed by Era, Cool Jazz, and . This website Gary Giddins and Kendrick Simmons. Series. provides a social and cultural context for the CBS Music Video Enterprises, 1989. (Tribute development and production of jazz music to Louis Armstrong. Contains vast array of from 1890 through the 1960s. recorded footage including early Betty Boop cartoon; interviews with Louis and many Autobiographies and Biographies (annotated) others) Nat “King” Cole: Unforgettable. Eforfilms/Stars of Berrett, Joshua, and Louis B. Bourgois III. The Jazz, 2004. Musical World of J. J. Johnson. Lanham, MD: Oscar Peterson: Songs in the Key of Oscar. VIEW Scarecrow Press, 1999. Video Jazz Series, 2002. (Documentary about This biography details the life and work of J. J. Oscar Peterson, jazz pianist) Johnson (January 22, 1925–February 4, 2001), a Yours for a Song: The Women of . master musician and prolific composer. The book Directed by Terry Benes. Masters Production, includes a filmography, a catalog of compositions, 1999. and a discography of issued and unissued recorded performances by J. J. Johnson. While delving into the Essays life of Johnson, the authors also provide a snapshot Davis, Angela. Blues Legacy and Black Feminism. of the emergence of a musical era in the United New York: Pantheon Press, 1998. States and tell the tale of shameful discrimination against African Americans in the . In Fiction my opinion, this biography would be of benefit to Clinton, Catherine. I, Too, Sing America: Three secondary school students, advanced music students, Centuries of African American Poetry. New and others interested in great trombonists regardless of York: Houghton Mifflin, 1998. jazz or symphonic specialty. Hardwick, Elizabeth. Sleepless Nights. New York: J. J. Johnson lived his early years in a segregated Random House, 1979. Indianapolis, Indiana, community and attended Shange, Ntozake. Sassafras, Cypress and Indigo. New schools with inadequate equipment and supplies. York: St. Martin’s Press, 1982. The was not the instrument Johnson took up first. He switched to the trombone from a baritone Music Recordings saxophone that was in terrible shape while in high Art Blakey and . Mosiac. Blue school. Several months after high school graduation, Note, 1961. he left home to join a professional road band, one of Coltrane, John. Impulse, 1995. them being the Orchestra. By the mid Ellington, Duke. Greatest Hits. CBS Special Products, forties, he was working with , , 1963. A2152. , and . Holiday, Billie. “Billie’s Blues.” Billie Holiday: J. J. Johnson’s arrival into the New York 52nd Street The Ultimate Collection. Universal Music district was a turning point in his life. In the New Enterprises, 2005. York 52nd Street neighborhood he was an instant Johnson, J. J. Let’s Hang Out. Gitanes Jazz, 1993. success at the birthplace of . This new style of Louis Armstrong: Portrait of the Artist as a Young playing made Mr. Johnson reassess his playing style Man 1923–1934. Columbia/Legacy and and technique to adjust to the fluidity and speed of Smithsonian Institution Press, 1994. bebop phrasing. This era brought about other social and economic problems similar to those recounted by Websites J. J.’s predecessor, Louis Armstrong. www.cmgworldwide.com/music/parker/. Official Site The artist continued to develop and compose of Charlie “Yardbird” Parker in other genres and styles. He even moved to www.redhotjazz.com/louie.html. Biographical Hollywood, California, and tried composing information about Louis Armstrong. Site for movies but was unsuccessful because of covers broad areas of topics and musicians discrimination and lack of work. J. J. Johnson had strong family ties. He was

2 married and fathered two sons with his first wife. three- or four-page review of each artist. Each artist’s To this very day, Johnson is a most important jazz story covers some of her childhood experiences, trombonist and a influence on all players of the makes a special mention of what she is known for, instrument. (Robert Edwards) and her rise in the entertainment industry. Included in the volume is Bessie Smith (known as the “Empress Ellington, Duke. “The Mirrored Self.” In Music Is My of the Blues”), Ethel Waters, Mabel Mercer, and Billie Mistress, 451–72. New York: Doubleday, 1976. Holiday, who because of her regal presentation was The epilogue to Ellington’s massive, rich, multifarious nicknamed “Lady Day.” Of course, no review of jazz autobiography, this piece takes the form of an greats would be complete without , interview in which Ellington both asks the questions winner of thirteen Grammy awards, the sultry voice and provides the answers. Its slipperiness provides of Peggy Lee, Dinah Washington, , a fitting conclusion to the autobiography of this and several other artists. Gourse personalizes this elliptical, mysterious figure. Ellington also uses volume with quotes and comments such as Earl the format to suggest something profound about Hines’s remark upon first hearing Sarah Vaughan sing. autobiography and identity itself. The interview begins He said, “Is that child singing, or am I dreaming?” with a brief prologue in which Ellington asks us to Titles of songs, movies, clubs, TV shows, and other imagine a pool that mirrors our shifting reflection. famous musicians such as Paul Whitman, Duke “We examine this uncertain portrait and just as Ellington, , and are we feel inclined to accept it we realize that, down mentioned throughout the volume. The author has below this, there is still another mirror reflecting done an excellent job of presenting both the exciting another of our selves, and more. For this third mirror portions of the artists’ lives along with the difficulties is transparent, and we can plainly see what is going of drug use and poverty many of them experienced. on both before and behind it, and we refuse to credit This volume combined with the voices of these great that here is still another of our selves. But there we women of jazz would be an unbeatable combination. are with four reflections, all reflections of us who look The book includes a bibliography and discography for at them,” Ellington writes, suggesting that selves have additional research and information. multiple facets, that biographical truth is perspectival The illustrator, Martin French designed a portrait and perhaps impossible to resolve, finally. like work for each artist that is vibrant, colorful and Of course, Ellington is presenting a particular arresting. The emotional feel of the portraits draw version of himself in his autobiography, and in this the reader into the biography and serves as a lively final piece especially. His pronouncements take on an introduction. oracular quality. Like many of Ellington’s famous bon The presentation of this work is excellent. mots, they are densely packed with meaning, humor, Elementary and middle school students will find and irony. The piece overall would be very interesting Sophistical Ladies useful for short reports. This volume to discuss with upper level high school students, will truly catch the eye of readers fifth though eighth perhaps after some introductory discussion of grade who are just beginning their journey into the Ellington and his work. One could probably build an world of jazz and will encourage readers to delve entire class on student reactions to various parts of the deeper into the sound and beauty of jazz. (Alice Lee) interview. Some general questions the piece raises are these: Why would Ellington end his five-hundred-page Hamilton, Neil, ed. Lifetimes: The Great War to autobiography in this way? What does this format the Stock Market Crash: American History through offer as a means of self-representation? What overall Biography and Primary Source Documents. Westport, impressions does Ellington give of himself? What are CT: Greenwood Press, 2002. Ellington’s opinions about jazz (for one thing, he says, Lifetimes is a biographical overview in an “‘Jazz’ is only a word. We stopped using it in 1943.”)? encyclopedic format of the period from the great war About the relationship or conflict between commerce of 1917 through the stock market crash of 1929. This and art? About jazz and race? About humanity? What time period covers important years in the beginning are the limits of biography or autobiography, and why of jazz and includes the and the do those limits exist? (Frank Kovarik) Renaissance. Although a small window of time, many individuals were important characters Gourse, Leslie. Sophisticated Ladies: The Great Women to American culture. The use of this volume as of Jazz. New York: Dutton Children’s Books, 2007. a background to jazz and American culture is Written by a true jazz historian, the late Leslie invaluable for painting a picture of the times, the Gourse, this collective volume of fourteen great development of jazz, and the effects of the Depression women vocalists of jazz treats the reader to a short on the American people. Each individual’s history

3 is told through biographies and primary source in a federal prison and was barred from performing in documents such as writings, political cartoons, lyrics, New York clubs where booze was sold. photographs, treaties, and speeches, adding realism. Dufty, who was married to Holiday’s close friend Included in this volume are important individuals Maely Dufty, wrote the book quickly from a series of who have had great contributions to American history conversations with the singer, drawing on the work in diverse ways. For the purposes of connecting of earlier interviewers as well. His aim, he said, was directly with jazz and the , I am to let Holiday tell her story her way. Fact checking selecting to examine in greater detail the profile of was definitely not his concern and, as subsequent Josephine Baker. Each profile has a similar structure. biographers have shown, the book is rife with factual In most cases three to five pages are dedicated inaccuracies and exaggerations. For instance this to each individual. Their history is presented in biography starts with Billie’s words: “Mom and Pop chronological order. Baker’s biography touches on were just a couple of kids when they got married. her short early marriages, experiences with the Dixie He was eighteen, she was sixteen, and I was three.” Steppers, ’s musical, Shuffle Along, and This is patently untrue: her parents were never her long relationship with the French theater and married and her father was totally absent from her music industry. Lastly, a picture of Baker in minstrel life during childhood. Fabrications of this kind are blackface in the 1929 production of Chocolate revealing in their own way and should be picked Dandies rounds out our view of Josephine Baker. up on by students and teachers working on the Crossing her eyes as shown in this picture is a display autobiographical genre. Despite all the “mythopoetic” of her outstanding comedic talents and was something factual errors for which the book has been taken to she became known for. Recommended selections task since its publication, it does capture the voice of for further reading are included in each chapter. Also one of the most affecting and mythical jazz vocal artists. incorporated are profiles on W. E. B. Du Bois, Bessie In these interviews, rearranged by Dufty into a Smith, Duke Ellington, Langston Hughes (who paired memoir (which Billie Holiday claims not to have his poetry reflecting the black community with jazz), read once it was published in book form!), Holiday , Louis Armstrong, F. Scott Fitzgerald unflinchingly tells the story of a bruised life—a tale (chronicler of the ), and Zora Neale Hurston. of teenage prostitution, racist indignities and abusive The volume closes with appendices, a men, drug addiction and heavy drinking, corrupt cops bibliography, and an index. The appendix includes a and jail time. document list by individual and a historical time line. This autobiographical memoir is indispensable The bibliography is divided by subject areas. reading for anyone interested in Billie Holiday as a Primary documents are authenticated throughout singer and in the heyday of jazz. Although written in the volume. Though the materials are all black and the first person, this recreation of Billie Holiday’s life white, the value of primary sources documents can does not strictly fall into the autobiographical genre not be denied. This volume presents more than sixty (because it was ghostwritten), and therefore additional profiles but includes a great variety of resources reading of more fact-oriented biographies (e.g., S. to deepen an overall understanding of the early Nicholson, R. O’Meally, D. Clarke, J. Chilton) would twentieth century. This volume will not generate be beneficial to the student. a lot of excitement but is a good basic foundation Due to the sensational nature of some of the for examining the era. This resource is geared for a information in this autobiography, it would be high school audience and presents an honest review advisable to assign this reading to intellectually astute of each individual, though not extensive. Younger high school students. (Annie Joly) students may findLifetimes cumbersome and full of information that requires the vocabulary to be Magazine Articles (annotated) clarified. (Alice Lee) Boyer, Richard O. “The Hot Bach.” In The Duke Holiday, Billie, and William F. Dufty. Lady Sings the Ellington Reader, edited by Mark Tucker, 214–46. Blues. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1956. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993. Ghostwritten by William Dufty, a New York Post writer, This profile of Duke Ellington was published Lady Sings the Blues was published in 1956, three in three parts in The New Yorker magazine in the years before Holiday died in a New York hospital at summer of 1944, just after what Ted Gioia calls age forty-four with a police officer stationed at her Ellington’s greatest period. The audience for this door ready to arrest her for drug possession. piece is the readership of The New Yorker: broadly The book was written when Holiday desperately speaking, educated people who aren’t necessarily needed money. After a dope bust she had spent a year jazz aficionados but are interested in developments

4 in the arts and culture. Teachers of all levels could use Essays / Scholarly Articles (annotated) this profile as background reading for themselves or as a source for brief excerpts, and upper level high DeVeaux, Scott. “Constructing the Jazz Tradition.” school students might enjoy its wit and wealth of In The Jazz Cadence of American Culture, edited by detail. The article gives a good sense of contemporary Robert G. O’Meally, 483–512. New York: Columbia assessments of Duke Ellington and debates within University Press, 1998. the music world. Boyer’s lens is wide. He provides This essay, intended for jazz historians, critics, thumbnail portraits of Duke’s band members like and educators, is an analysis of what DeVeaux , , , and calls “something like an official history of jazz . He outlines the business end of Duke’s [that] has taken hold in recent years.” In fact, work, discussing of performances, DeVeaux deconstructs that history, demonstrating earnings, and expenses. He describes Duke’s method its contingency and its shortcomings. Perhaps his of composing, quoting Ellington on the ideas and major point is that there is no absolute reason that stories behind songs such as “,” “In a the varying periods usually associated with jazz— Sentimental Mood,” “Solitude,” and “Harlem Air New Orleans, swing, bebop, fusion, etc.—need Shaft.” He discusses Duke’s childhood, early musical all be labeled with the same overarching term. training, and religious beliefs. Throughout the piece, The differences between them are as strong as Ellington talks candidly and extensively. the similarities. DeVeaux concludes, however, by Of particular interest to St. Louis teachers is undercutting his own project, noting that “it hardly Boyer’s narration of a racist encounter the band seems fair…to deconstruct a narrative that has only experiences while playing at the Fox Theatre in St. recently been constructed, especially one that serves Louis. After rehearsal, the band can’t find a place such important purposes.” In a postmodern vein, where they’re allowed to eat, so they send someone DeVeaux acknowledges the constructedness of the else out to get sandwiches. When the worker at the master jazz narratives that he himself professes, sandwich shop learns that the food is intended for but he does not abandon them as a result of this a black band, he refuses to fill the order. Ellington acknowledgment. Histories, he asserts, are useful responds to such bigotry with characteristic calm and stories that we create about human experience, and complex irony. Boyer writes, “Duke tries to forget the important question is the use to which those things like that, and if he doesn’t quite succeed, he stories are put. He writes, “My courses in jazz history pretends he does. An hour after the show, Duke was are designed to inculcate a feeling of pride in a introduced to a policeman who said enthusiastically, racially mixed university for an African American ‘If you’d been a white man, Duke, you’d been a great musical tradition that manages, against all odds, to musician.’ Duke’s smile was wide and steady as he triumph over obstacles of racism and indifference. answered quietly, ‘I guess things would have been For this, the narrative of jazz history as Romance is a different if I’d been a white man.’” powerful tool, and I have invested a good deal into Ellington also maintains, in the profile, an ironic making it a reality in my students’ minds through all distance from his own fame and accolades. Boyer the eloquence and emotion I can muster.” DeVeaux’s quotes to Ellington a critic of the time who writes that essay thus has an important lesson for the use of “when New York is but a memory, or at best a forest biography in the classroom: absolute truth in such of rusty steel ascending to a quiet sky, the perceptive accounts is not possible, and therefore we have real archaeologist will be able to recreate American freedom and responsibility for the narratives we civilization if he is fortunate enough to find one present to our students. DeVeaux ultimately urges Ellington record amid the deserted ruins.” Ellington his readers not to be bound by the jazz histories of responds, “I don’t know. May be something to it. But the past but instead to create new ones as musicians it seems to me such talk stinks up the place.” continue to make music. He pleads, in particular, This profile can also be found onThe Complete for histories that are alert to “historical particularity” New Yorker—the original three parts are accompanied and not limited by the “ideology of jazz as aesthetic by three different drawings of Ellington. These might object.” In other words, jazz studies should be be interesting for students to view, compare, and about culture and social history, not solely music analyze. (Frank Kovarik) appreciation. (Frank Kovarik)

Early, Gerald. “An Ode to John Coltrane: A Jazz Musician’s Influence on African American Culture.” The Antioch Review 57, no. 3 (Summer 1999): 371–85. This essay considers John Coltrane’s legacy as a

5 cherished icon, particularly for black radicals of the contingencies that affect how an artist is remembered. 1960s and ’70s. Its audience is intellectuals, though (Frank Kovarik) not necessarily academics. The essay could probably be understood by upper level high school students, Ellison, Ralph. “On Bird, Bird-Watching, and Jazz.” though it might be of greater value as preparatory In Living with Music: Ralph Ellison’s Jazz Writings, reading for a teacher who plans to teach students edited by Robert G. O’Meally, 65–76. New York: about Coltrane. Early reflects on theuses of jazz Random House, 2001. biography, or even mythography, in tandem with This 1962 meditation on the meaning of Charlie the music, to create meaning. In doing so, he helps Parker’s life and art takes the form of a response to give teachers a critical space from which to lead a the publication of a book called Bird: The Legend conversation about jazz musicians that goes beyond of Charlie Parker, an oral history focused on the merely recreating the standard interpretations. groundbreaking bebop saxophonist. Originally The central question of the essay is this: “Why, written for the Saturday Review, the piece’s intended despite his limitations as a symbol or a source of audience is presumably a literate general public representation, was Coltrane to become what he relatively conversant with jazz and American culture. did?” Early suggests complex reasons for Coltrane’s The essay, elegantly written, is nevertheless within prominence as a hero, but along the way he deflates the grasp of upper level high school students, with some of the mythology that has surrounded Coltrane’s some assistance and context provided by the teacher. biography. One of the most salient aspects of that Ellison disdains Robert Reisner’s book as gossip and biography, Early notes, is that Coltrane “combined begins by noting its failure to explain the origin of artistic innovation with therapeutic, redemptive Parker’s nickname. Ellison explores the implications spirituality,” but Early goes on to assert that Coltrane’s of that nickname, consulting Roger Tory Peterson’s “grasp of religion as either doctrine or emotional Field Guide to the Birds and discussing various experience was not profound, incisive, or especially possible ornithological parallels—Parker as golden impressive,” judging by the liner notes to A Love finch, mockingbird, or mimic thrush. One of Parker’s Supreme. Early suggests that Coltrane was “a rather primary goals was to “escape the entertainer’s role,” dull man” whose obsessive practicing “does not but Ellison argues that this goal is unattainable for a suggest a very balanced or integrated personality,” and performing artist. Ironically, Ellison asserts, Parker’s life he speculates that the “serious, searching, sometimes itself became a spectacle for the entertainment of the angry look” that was part of Coltrane’s mystique primarily white audiences who idolized him. “He was may have actually resulted from Coltrane’s chronic an obsessed outsider,” Ellison writes, “and Bird was dental problems. Certainly Coltrane’s music was a thrice alienated: as Negro, as addict, as exponent of “considerable achievement,” but Early argues that a new and disturbing development in jazz.” Finally, many Coltrane fans, Amiri Baraka most influentially, Ellison suggests, Parker is like the “Poor Robin” have projected their own ideologies and self- celebrated in song by the Blue Devils Orchestra, conceptions onto the man and his music. “picked clean” by critics and fans who seemed to see The essay quotes numerous poems that use in him an emblem of their own aspirations, struggles, Coltrane as inspiration. It might be interesting for and failures. Ellison uses the image of Poor Robin a teacher to bring in one or more of these poems, extensively in Invisible Man as well, so this essay Coltrane’s Love Supreme liner notes, and a piece of would dovetail nicely with a study of that novel. Coltrane’s music (preferably one of the longer, more (Frank Kovarik) expansive ones, like “Spiritual” or “The Promise,” whose titles suggest a search for transcendent truth), Griffin, Farah Jasmine.If You Can’t Be Free, Be a Mystery: and have students talk about them. As Early wonders, In Search of Billie Holiday. New York: Free Press, 2001. “how is one supposed to know in instrumental music This two-hundred-page essay is an interesting that it is religious or spiritual?” What do the students investigation of Billie Holiday, her world, and how think of Coltrane’s remarks on his spiritual beliefs? Of she is remembered. The author Farah J. Griffin is the poets’ deification of Coltrane himself? What are an African American woman teaching at Columbia their personal reactions to the music (perhaps not yet University who purports to have had a deep fascination influenced by commonly held views)? Early’s essay for the artist since the age of nine, coinciding with the indirectly suggests how to teach jazz in a way that death of her musician father in 1972. allows students to encounter and appreciate the music The essay does away with a lot of stereotypes and without being force-fed preconceived notions about preconceived ideas about Billie Holiday on both the the artist who created it and, instead, to sense the human and professional levels. It manages, in a way, ambiguities involved in biography and the historical to liberate Lady Day from the tragic songstress myth.

6 Griffin argues, amongt other things, that the stereotype would be sufficient to use to get across its main ideas. of the black woman jazz vocalist who is a “mindless If nothing else, the essay will help teachers reflect natural” with incredible talent but no discipline is upon the historical or biographical narratives they a fraud. Instead Griffin’s Holiday is a jazz virtuoso present to their students. Washington points out that whose passion and techniques made every song the “historiography of jazz, with notable exceptions, forever hers. adopts a ‘great man’ theory of art primarily because Instead of being helpless against the racism, it frames the music as an extension of American sexism, and poverty that dominated her life, Billie modernity and valorizes the heroic individual who Holiday is an artist willing to pay a tremendous sublimates his alienation to create triumphant art that price to change forever. This essay gives testament to (usually) his genius.” Mainstream also takes up the myth concerning Holiday’s initial jazz histories, Washington suggests, frame the inability to understand the lyrics to “Strange Fruit” story of jazz as a series of solitary alienated heroes when the song was first presented to her. David who have pulled themselves up by their bootstraps Margolick’s article for Vanity Fair on Lewis Allen and and overcome poverty or racism along the way “Strange Fruit” in 1988 and his subsequent book on to expressing their genius. Washington doesn’t the subject are indeed not flattering for Billie Holiday, necessarily say that such stories are untrue; instead, he portraying her as a semi-illiterate, reading nothing sees their prominence in jazz historiography as, often, but comic books. Astute students reading this section a denial of the consistent artistic and, especially, of the book will no doubt realize that if twenty-four- political progressivism of jazz throughout its history. year-old Billie initially stumbled over the meaning “As long as jazz’s putative political content is of the word “pastoral” in the verse “Pastoral scene of confined to a liberal democratic vision that valorizes the gallant south” the conditions in which she grew the triumph of the assertive, ingenious individual,” up (namely the dives of Baltimore) might account for Washington writes, “it can be touted as representative that. The students will undoubtedly realize that, within of American ideals.” In fact, Washington notes, jazz the historical context, Billie Holiday didn’t have to musicians have had a “glorious history” of questioning be a genius to understand a song about lynching, those ideals and calling America to account for its particularly in 1939. failure to live up to them. Griffin argues that during Billie Holiday’s lifetime The dominant jazz narratives, in Washington’s there were no images or narratives to explain a black view, “emphasize individual heroism rather than woman who possessed all of Holiday’s qualities and the revolutionary potential or social engagement” of habits. Billie Holiday exploded beyond the limits of those individuals’ music. For teachers, this assertion all existing categories as a sensual bisexual resisting is the most important point to be gleaned from the the stereotypes: “She was not maid, mammy or essay. Washington’s essay is a plea not to divorce mother.” Griffin’s Holiday, far from being a victim jazz music from its social context or to present of overwhelming obstacles, becomes Lady Day: an jazz artists as isolated and apolitical. Washington independent spirit proving that all hurdles can be would thus probably argue that teachers discussing overcome whatever the odds. Louis Armstrong should talk about his negotiation This book may be of great interest for astute high of minstrel images in films and his conflict with school students to assess how far the appropriation of Eisenhower; teachers presenting Duke Ellington’s Billie’s persona has gone, from black Marxist Leninist, music should talk about his subverting of the Cotton Amiri Baraka to black feminist Angela Davis and black Club’s racist floor shows or his work raising money cultural integrationists such as Albert Murray, Leon for progressive causes. , the hero Forrest, and Stanley Crouch. (Annie Joly) of Washington’s essay, provides an especially apt figure for pedagogical use, since his music combines Washington, Salim. “‘All the Things You Could Be technical virtuosity (sometimes considered lacking by Now’: Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus among the jazz avant-garde), formal innovation and the Limits of Avant-Garde Jazz.” In Uptown (sometimes considered lacking among traditionalists), Conversation: The New Jazz Studies, edited by and the political engagement (often overt, as in Robert G. O’Meally, Brent Hayes Edwards, and “Original Fables of Faubus”) that Washington Farah Jasmine Griffin, 27–49. New York: Columbia contends has been a hallmark of jazz throughout its University Press, 2004. history. (Frank Kovarik) This essay, geared toward an academic audience, critiques current jazz historiography. Upper level high school students would probably need some assistance in understanding it. Perhaps brief excerpts

7 Children’s Books (annotated): in insets in the upper right hand of some pages. Issues facing African Americans and the Great Burleigh, Robert. Looking for Bird in the Big City. Migration are cited in the artist’s note at the end New York: Silver Whistle (Harcourt), 2001. of the book. Issues such as higher paying jobs, A fictionalized account of the time when, as a teenage free schooling, and better living conditions were music student, trumpeter spent many illustrated. Reliance on God and religion was implied hours trying to find Charlie Parker in . in the first illustration of a mother reading from a This picture book offers an introspective story, loosely Bible as the children and father listen before bedtime. based on the meeting of Charlie Parker and Miles Children of a family are shown laughing, playing, Davis. Told from the perspective of the teenage Miles and having fun with one another on a farm. There Davis, the text is in short poetic form. is a picture that shows African American families Marek Los’s illustrations include vocalizations of hoeing in a green field being carefully watched by an several bebop-style scat phrases, as well as moody overseer on horseback. Another picture has a white impressions of New York City. The text alludes to the man dressed in a hat, shirt, and tie watching intently musical stylings of Charlie Parker, the saxophonist, as cotton bales are weighed; children are emptying as admired by Miles Davis, the trumpeter. The book sacks of cotton into a wagon. A family is then shown addresses the issues of patient perseverance, diligent dressed in their best shoes, coats, and hats securing preparation for challenges, and pursuing one’s dream. their belongings to a car. The lyrics in the inset mention It is written at a fourth or fifth grade level. This work empty pockets. An abandoned home is shown. is thirty pages long, including a one-page afterword Obviously having to sharecrop was a difficult life describing the story in prose. (Gerry Liebmann) for the African American farmers. Many landowners ensured the poverty and failure of the sharecroppers Frankl, Ron. Charlie Parker, Musician. New York: by reneging on agreements and payments. Chelsea House, 1992. Abandoning farms and moving north enabled able- This piece introduces the life and times of noted bodied men and women to work in factories and at jazz musician Charlie Parker. The book is written for other jobs. The men and women who secured jobs tenth graders. Is has frequent mentions of drug abuse, were paid on a regular basis. That enabled them to alcoholism, marital infidelity, and other unfortunate improve their family’s standard of living. behaviors by the title character, as well as many The child that’s got his own is a shoeshine boy. references to stylistic musical elements. The boy enjoys his friends and beckons for them to The story of Charlie Parker is told in some detail, come and have an ice cream treat on him. When the mentioning many of the jazz artists who lived and boy has no money his friends are gone. worked with him. Several photos with captions are with shiny new cars and fine featured in the book. clothing can only give so much help to their black kin The text is somewhat sophisticated in its who have migrated to . presentation of the psychological and sociological A family was depicted singing, clapping, and ramifications of Charlie Parker’s behavior. It is also enjoying one another’s musical talents. A harmonica, somewhat advanced in discussions about specific guitar, and were the instruments. The musical theory and harmony aspects of Parker’s style. implication of that illustration was that music was The tragic persistence of self-destructive choices a part of the family’s being. The music was being contrasts with the amazing talent that earns the created for their entertainment and grounding. Jazz? respect of Bird’s fellow musicians. This combination Schooling was an issue. Children of farmers were makes an interesting if frustrating biographical expected to work in the fields. For some families, narrative. The book is 126 pages long, including an allowing their children to attend school regularly appendix, discography, and index. (Gerry Liebmann) was not an option, and paying for an education was probably not an option. The North had public schools. Herzog, Arthur Jr. God Bless the Child. New York: The final picture is of a young black boy sitting at a Harper Collins, 2004. classroom desk holding a book. A teacher is standing This picture book is an interpretation of the song “God in front of a blackboard with a history homework Bless the Child” by Billie Holiday and Arthur Herzog assignment written on it. Jr. The illustrator, Jerry Pinkney, chronicles the lives of The illustrations enabled this reader to move African American sharecroppers who abandoned their beyond a personal connection with the song to farms in the South to move to the North to have a appreciate the meaning through the illustrator’s better life. Pinkney accomplishes this with two-page- interpretation. God bless the child who’s got his own spread watercolor illustrations. Lyrics to the song are education and knows the history of struggle of his

8 people. This is a children’s book but could easily be Armstrong felt in playing his was strong, appreciated by anyone familiar with the song “God constant and unmistakable. He shared that joy with Bless the Child.” (Robert Edwards) listeners. His spirit lives on, through jazz musicians who came after him, and through the beautiful music McDonough, Yona Zeblis. Who Was Louis Armstrong? he created.” Included is a time line of Louis Armstrong New York: Grosser and Dunlap, 2004. juxtaposed with a time line of the world and a small Who Was Louis Armstrong? is a beginning chapter basic bibliography. (Alice Lee) book for second through fifth graders with an average reading level 3.5. This volume is one in a series of McKissack, Patricia, and Fredrick McKissack. Louis a number of biographies. Louis Armstrong is the Armstrong: Jazz Musician. Great African Americans only jazz artist covered at this time. The reading Series. Springfield, NJ: Enslow, 1991. level is particularly appealing, and the information, This book is written at about a third-grade level. It although is it is a nonfiction account, is written in addresses, in broad terms, the life story of Louis Armstrong. an easy-to-read, fictionlike format. Quite frankly, I In addition to simple, easy-to-read text, each page had to ignore the simplistic, cartoonlike black-and- contains either photographs from a variety of historical white illustrations to obtain the useful information archives or interesting illustrations by Ned Ostendorf. this volume holds. Chiefly, the cover caricature is The story gives simple but generally coherent not appealing but it is my speculation the students treatment of the known facts about Louis Armstrong for whom the volume is designed may find them during the period from 1900 to 1971. The younger entertaining and a break from the text. reading audience is spared any inappropriate details The authors created a chronological about Storyville, but the message that dangerous biography of Louis Armstrong’s life, sprinkled with trouble was always ready to happen there is little anecdotes young students are sure to find conveyed. Mention is made of Louis’s family, friends, fascinating. An example of the fun facts the volume and his path to and through reform school. This includes: a baseball team changed its name to chronicle of Louis’s career mentions youthful exposure “Armstrong’s Secret Nine” and Louis Armstrong to in church and jazz in the neighborhood; became a sponsor of the team. McDonough has it mentions Joe Oliver, , Lil Hardin. It mentions chosen to highlight and box noteworthy definitions his vocal prowess and credits him with inventing scat and information such as Jim Crow laws, an explanation singing. It mentions racial integration of bands in a of what jazz is and its origins, World War I, steamboats segregated society, Louis’ performances to presidents and jazz, the Great Migration, popular jazz terms, and royalty, and some awards. big bands vs. jazz bands, and Armstrong’s overseas The book is thirty-two pages long, including a touring. In the boxed section entitled “Jazz: American two-page glossary and a one-page index. Photograph Music,” McDonough explains jazz as a mixture of credits are itemized on the title page. It is part of a different musical traditions: African music, brass series about African Americans who have done great bands, gospel, and Spanish all blended together. things. (Gerry Liebmann) Created by black musicians in the late 1800s it was originally named jass but was changed to jazz, and a Orgill, Roxane. If I Only Had a Horn: Young Louis new sound was created. Important qualities of jazz, Armstrong. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997. she notes, are improvisation, musical notes that are This book is based on biographical events in Louis bent or slurred, the rhythm or beat coming from any Armstrong’s young life and relates how the famous instrument, and syncopation, rhythm that changes so jazz trumpeter began his musical career, as a poor that jazz is unpredictable. Lastly, jazz mainly involves boy in New Orleans, by singing songs on street instrumentation. The use of such definitions and corners and playing a battered in a marching explanations thoughout the text makes this a great band. It presents the story to readers at about the and usable introductory book to Louis Armstrong. fourth grade level. Excellent color illustrations on Illustrations of jazz instruments include a piano, every page coordinate with the text. The book makes tambourine, alto horn, cornet, and others. mention of Louis’s mom, sister, Uncle Ike, friends, Due to the audience this volume does not deal street singing, Joe Oliver, Funky Butt Hall, Bunk with some of the controversies in Armstrong’s life but Johnson, Buddy Bolden, the Colored Waifs’ Home it does an excellent job of portraying Armstrong as not for Boys, Mr. Davis the music teacher, and several only the talented trumpeter and musician but also a specific locations in New Orleans. complex, warm, real human being. The story presents a perspective of the The King of Jazz is well represented in this circumstances of the young lead character in an volume. McDonough closes by saying, “The joy Louis understandable, concise way. Issues addressed

9 include poverty, family, authority, patience, single file across a page. One bird is drawn intently perseverance, and opportunity. Story ends at Louis’s observing Charlie playing his . The first marching performance with the Waifs’ Home book is a fun read. At the end of the book, the author Band. The book is thirty pages long, including one warns readers or listeners to never leave their cat alone. page of author’s notes. (Gerry Liebmann) This book would sound amazing read aloud to preschool and primary children. The text is simple, but Pinkney, Andrea Davis. Duke Ellington: The Piano real and nonsense words, such as lollipop, boomba, Prince and His Orchestra. New York: Hyperion, 1998. reeti-footi, are used. Words like those mentioned are Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra sometimes strung together on the pages and could by Andrea Davis Pinkney was written for children. be spoken or sung because they could sound like The artwork by Brian Pinkney is bold, colorful, and musical notes. The author also strings words together exciting. A drawing nearly jumps off the page and that range in tone from high nasal to low voiced or begs you to look deeper into the soul of it. Every vise versa. Up and down the scale the sounds could page looks like music! The book begins with a quick go. Jazz is apparent throughout the book because of glance at the childhood life and musical inspiration the author’s word selections. The words sound like bebop. of Edward Kennedy Ellington, who was born April Charlie Parker Played Bebop possibly addresses 29, 1899, in Washington, D.C. It was Edward who the issue of an individual being faithful to his/her gave himself the nickname “Duke.” By the time he talent. Charlie “Bird” Parker was an extraordinary was nineteen, he was playing piano at parties, pool talent who perfected his craft and enamored halls, and cabarets in Washington, D.C. He formed his people all across the globe. Finally, however, the own band called the Washingtonians. It was not long cat consumed him. Chris Raschka saluted the great thereafter that Duke Ellington went to Harlem. The Charlie Parker and his bebop style of music by writing famous became a regular gig for Duke this children’s book. (Robert Edwards) Ellington and His Orchestra. Tunes by the orchestra such as “” and “Mood Indigo” were Vegan, Giuseppe. Jazz and Its History. New York: played on the radio. Barron’s Educational Series, 1999. Back in the clubs, Duke Ellington gave the This volume is part of a delightful series of Masters of members of his orchestra the opportunity to Music books geared for fifth through eighth graders improvise. The book names several of the all-star focusing on jazz. The volume opens with a two- members of the orchestra, such as drummer Sonny page spread entitled “Protagonists.” Brief facts on Greer and Joe “Tricky Sam” Nanton. Pinkney the jazz arrangers, band leaders, musicians, composers, author gives them written credit for their outstanding conductors, and vocalists—representing eighteen talent, while Pinkney the artist makes Greer and musical geniuses—are chronicled. Greater details Nanton come alive with inaudible sound. Also are given later within the body of work. The volume mentioned in the biography is , a combines history, culture, and jazz to give the reader who worked with Duke Ellington. Their an excitement and understanding of jazz as an “Take the ‘A’ Train” was a chart topper in 1941. Duke American music art form. Starting from the beginnings Ellington also cared about civil rights and composed of jazz, slavery, spirituals, and New Orleans, this a suite called “Black, Brown, and Beige” to celebrate volume takes the reader chronologically through the the strengths of his people. It was played at Carnegie Hall. famous composers and performers, ending with jazz Any youngster could enjoy this biography. It was in 2000. In addition to the greats—Louis Armstrong, written with clear language that salutes the genius of , Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Thelonious Duke Ellington. The artwork is jazzy! (Robert Edwards) Monk, Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, Wynton Raschka, Chris. Charlie Parker Played Bebop. New Marsalis—many other talented artists are included. York: Orchard Books, 1992. The presentation of this volume is visually Chris Raschka wrote Charlie Parker Played Bebop as appealing. Each chapter is a colorful, well- an honor to the magnificence of Charlie Parker and documented, pictorial two-page spread. A great his style of music. It is a children’s book. Although number of historical photographs of artists are there was no biographical information presented that included along with beautiful original works that serve detailed when, where, or how Charlie Parker lived, to paint a picture of the era. This volume also presents Raschka’s desire to salute Charlie Parker and his music information on the cultural and political climate of was apparent. Charlie, birds, and a cat are the main the times. Kansas City jazz clubs, also known as “jam characters in the book. There is no dialogue. Some sessions,” are noted as an important part of the 1930s. birds walk in overshoes across a page. Some birds The center illustration shows musicians playing, then carry bus stop signs as they walk. Other birds walk in smaller boxes explain the after-hours gatherings,

10 battles of the bands, politicians, gangsters and their colors on the faces of the people. This picture book role, along with the renowned artists of the times: shows children of different colors and in native dress pianist, composer arranger Count Basie, the tenor sax with a rainbow behind them. In another scene, Louis of , , and technical skills of Armstrong is pictured as a friend. A puppet family . Jazz instrumentation, jazz in theaters such includes a father, mother, and two children. On one as Carnegie Hall, recordings, famous voices, bebop, of the book’s final pages, the artist drew an owl and , and festivals are topics included three children (one girl and two boys). The caption along with the effects of jazz on the world at large. says, “They’ll learn much more than I’ll ever know.” The volume closes with important discussions of jazz The owl represents wisdom. The girl has on a hard as an identity and the interplay between jazz and the hat. One boy wears a chef’s costume. The other boy civil rights movement (for example, drummer Max wears a mortarboard with tassel. Roach’s “Freedom Now”). No dialogue regarding The tribute to Louis Armstrong is apparent. On jazz would be complete without examining electric at least two different pages a child holds a sign that jazz and the directions it is moving American jazz says “s a t c h m o t h e g r e a t !” and it is impossible to not as a whole. Many will find the chronology and to sing along with Louis Armstrong’s version of the discography helpful at the end of the publication, song “” while reading and along with a complete index. looking at this book. It needs to be looked at over and Jazz and Its History is not an in-depth overview over again to discover the richness of each page. For of jazz but is a good introduction to this wonderful example, allowing young children to identify each American music form. This little volume is only sixty- animal and learn the names for the male and female one pages long but is well worth adding to your of the species would be a great exercise that would collection for a good chronological summary of jazz take several readings of the book. Taken further, the and its synergy between American culture and jazz. babies of the animals could be identified as well. (Alice Lee) Children will delight in naming all the people, flowers, trees, and animals they see. The issues dealt Weiss, George D., and Bob Theile. What a Wonderful with in What a Wonderful World could be very good World. New York: Atheneum, 1995. talking points for music students as well as regular What a Wonderful World by George David Weiss and classroom students regardless of their ages. (Robert Edwards) Bob Thiele is a picture book written for preschool and primary children. Ashley Bryan, the illustrator, Documentary Films (annotated) interprets the song made famous by Louis Armstrong with bright colors and vivid images. Bryan uses a Billie Holiday: The Ultimate Collection. Produced by puppet show created and staged by children of many Toby Byron. Universal Music Enterprises, 2005. nationalities as the venue for the song interpretation. This DVD offers a comprehensive interactive museum Louis Armstrong, drawn with his trademark smile, in three sections: Film and TV performances, studio trumpet, and handkerchief, is included as a puppet in performances and audio interviews. It also includes the show and as a real character in the book. There an invaluable interactive timeline with hundreds of is no dialogue, just the words to the song “What a images as well as Billie Holiday’s complete recording Wonderful World.” history. It is a veritable treasure trove of Billie What a wonderful book! It deals with the global Holiday’s material. issues of peace and harmony, ecology, family life, The DVD booklet states that the guiding purpose and education. Children of different ethnicities behind The Ultimate Collection is to present Billie work together to put on the puppet show. They have Holiday as she was: “how she sounded, looked and parades of green trees and red roses. A variety of lived.” And indeed when watching these moving flowers like tulips, daisies, and violets bloom during images and listening to these interviews, one gets the a scene in the puppet show. On a page, the artist sense of being presented a genuine portrait of Lady pictures a world of farm animals. There are at least Day without the usual interpretations and filters or framings. two of each kind of animal pictured. There is another The film and TV performances provide us with page of animals a few pages away, but these are a rare insight in Billie’s development as an artist. animals of the jungle. Monkeys, elephants, zebras, Together they make for a revealing portrait: we can and others that would be found in a jungle are gauge her maturing as an artist as the years passed included. Louis Armstrong, with his smile, trumpet, by. To be noted among these shorts is “Saddest Tale” and handkerchief accepts a flower from an ape. The from the Duke Ellington short “Symphony in Black: A caption is, “What a wonderful world!” The song’s Rhapsody of Negro Life,” which was shot and released lyrics mention the colors of the rainbow being the in 1935. In this short Billie plays the woman done

11 wrong, a role she would experience repeatedly in real about Parker (whom he had stolen from McShann’s life. “Please Don’t Talk about Me When I’m Gone,” band). “I thought you were gonna make a man out “Billie’s Blues,” and “My Man” are among the rarest of him,” McShann said to Hines. Scott DeVeaux gems in this collection: all from a 1956 TV appearance mentions the aggressive masculinity of the bebop jam unseen since then. Watching these performances in a session culture, but in this film Dizzy Gillespie recalls row one can see the toll the years have taken on the Bird in ways that suggest deep tenderness: “We had artist as well as the maturing of her voice. a close, spiritual relationship,” Gillespie says. “He’d The final two film performances pay homage to walk up and kiss me in my mouth.… We loved one Billie’s musical parents. “St. Louis Blues” dates from another.” 1929 and features Bessie Smith along with members Parker’s music is described as an “inspired, of the Fletcher Anderson Orchestra. Louis Armstrong’s thrilling assault on music conventions”—certainly short from 1933, “I Cover the Waterfront,” was shot in a metaphor that suggests aggression—and as the Copenhagen with his of the time. foundation of modern music. Parker’s innovations, the Special Features includes a rarely heard film notes, were overlooked during his short life by radio interview with Billie on the occasion of the a society that turned bebop into a cartoonish parody publication of her autobiography and is hosted by and could comprehend Gillespie, with his goatee, Mike Wallace. This informal chat shows us a relaxed, glasses, and beret, but not Parker. Nevertheless, the diplomatic (when asked probing questions on titular “triumph of Charlie Parker” is that “he changed segregation), and very insightful Lady Day (explaining the whole scene.” His other, sadder legacy, the film the short lives of many jazz greats with the line: “We asserts, was drug addiction among the musicians and try to live 100 days in one day”)—a far cry from the fans who admired him. illiterate person she was sometimes made to be. It One of the potentially confusing things about is particularly interesting to hear Billie’s “everyday” the documentary is that it does not identify the voice as opposed to her “singing” voice. people interviewed—and most are not immediately The remaining material is culled from the recognizable. Teachers will need to watch the video collected research of writer Linda Kuehl, who was carefully and infer who the other interviewees are: in the midst of completing a biography of Billie’s McShann, Rebecca Parker, Chan Parker, jazz critic life when she took her life in 1979. There are rare Leonard Feather, saxophonist Frank Morgan, and interviews with musicians who worked with Billie others. Incidentally, the film also offers, via McShann, in her heyday (e.g., Roy Eldridge, , John an explanation of Parker’s nickname. While on the Hammond). But most powerful of all are the images road with the band, Parker supposedly went back to that illuminate the time line from her humble birth as pick up a chicken that had been run over and later Eleanora Fagan in Philadelphia in 1915 to her star- had this “yardbird” plucked and cooked for dinner. studded funeral in New York City in 1959. (Frank Kovarik) This DVD is an invaluable resource for teachers and will provide students interested Louis Armstrong 100th Anniversary. Passport Video, 2002. in the biographical genre with an “unfiltered” This DVD includes filmed performances by Louis comprehensive view of Billie Holiday. (Annie Joly) Armstrong with Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Eddie Fischer, and others. The performances are presented Celebrating Bird: The Triumph of Charlie Parker. in no particular chronological order, flashing forward Directed by Gary Giddins and Kendrick Simmons. and backward in seemingly random sequence, over Sony, 1999. the pleasant narration of . This hour-long documentary, directed by jazz A clip from the movie High Society is juxtaposed scholar Gary Giddins and based on his book of the with a clip from the Hollywood Bowl. One interesting same name, presents a complicated view of Charlie moment shows Louis and his band dressed in leopard Parker. From one perspective, he is a genius, “one of skins, performing “You, Rascal, You” in 1932. The the most influential figures in 20th century music.” song, “The Birth of the Blues”—performed as a duet From another, he is a self-destructive addict. His with Eddie Fischer—is reprised later in the DVD as a relationships with women are presented in all their duet with Frank Sinatra. One indication of the era is unresolved contradictions. Indeed, the film offers rich that Sinatra performs this number with a lit cigarette in possibilities for discussions about gender and jazz. hand. In one selection, Louis sings his opinions of the Rebecca Parker and Chan Parker, both of whom had “new” bebop music (“The Bebop Song”). children with Bird, present differing accounts of the Brief mention is made of Louis’s personal history man and narrate interestingly ambiguous memories in New Orleans, showing photos of the city. Some of him. Jay McShann recalls complaining audio includes Louis speaking about his background.

12 He mentions Joe Oliver, Kid Ory in New Orleans; The World According to John Coltrane. Directed by and in Chicago, Faith Marbil, Erskine Tate, and Fletch Robert Palmer and Tony Byron. BMG Video, 2002. Henderson. Also shown are Louis and ensemble This documentary tells the story of Coltrane’s life performing at a USO tour. Brief segments from an primarily through his art. Early parts of the film briefly interview with Red Holloway about Louis Armstrong discuss the saxophonist’s childhood—his father, a are included. Also shown are Dinah Shore, Thelma preacher, died young; Coltrane was very devoted Middleton, and a shot of Grace Kelly. to his mother; he served in the navy at the end of This sixty-minute DVD is presented as a tribute to World War II. Beyond these introductory matters, Louis Armstrong. It is comprised largely of television though, the documentary narrates Coltrane’s life only clips from the 1950s and 1960s. Although mention as it relates to the development of his music. No is made of Louis’s controversial stance regarding the mention is made of Coltrane’s addiction. This Little Rock, Arkansas, school issue, no more than one somewhat sanitized biography is marketed as the “first or two minutes of the DVD is given to his involvement documentary to be made with the full cooperation of in the civil rights movement. Interesting segments Alice Coltrane,” though the film gives no information of filmed performances showcase Louis Armstrong’s about John’s relationship with her—omitting, for example, amazing trumpet playing and singing. the fact that Coltrane divorced his wife Naima in order to marry Alice. The documentary features Masters of American Music: Lady Day: The Many interviews with musicians who played with Coltrane, Faces of Billie Holiday. Directed by Toby Byron and including , Tommy Flanagan, Rashied Richards Saylor. Kultur, 1991. Ali, La Monte Young, and Alice Coltrane herself. It also This excellent documentary features rare TV and movie includes extensive film clips of Coltrane playing. clips of Billie Holiday, along with commentaries by Coltrane began his career playing in rhythm and a stellar group of jazz instrumentalists and singers blues bands but quickly became enamored of bebop, who knew Billie well and worked with her. Among studying the technique of Charlie Parker and working these are the vocalists Carmen Mc Rae and Annie with Dizzy Gillespie while continuing to play in R Ross, who were deeply inspired by her. Musicians and B bands. One interviewee notes that Coltrane such as and Harry “Sweet” Edison also in his early years sounded similar to Parker but provide their insight, thus helping to do away with didn’t play as many of “Parker’s clichés” as did other familiar stereotypes such as that of the genius vocalist emulators of the bebop pioneer. Coltrane developed effortlessly producing great music. an interest in modal improvisation while playing with The African American actress Ruby Dee reads Miles Davis. The documentary describes Coltrane’s selected excerpts from Billie Holiday’s autobiography version of “My Favorite Things” as a “hypnotic Eastern Lady Sings the Blues in a very effective and moving dervish dance.” Gradually Coltrane decided to move way, especially compared with Gilbert Millstein’s toward freer improvisation, with little or no ties to the similar renditions in the 1956 Carnegie Hall concert. harmony, playing solos that could stretch out for half Following the reading of these excerpts, the record an hour or more. Coltrane took simple themes and is set straight concerning some of the major factual worked complicated variations on them, combining inaccuracies in the autobiography, especially modalism, Eastern traditions, and the legacy of the concerning Billie Holiday’s childhood. blues. Increasingly, Coltrane saw music in terms of The documentary includes gorgeous archival spiritual development, a way of probing the soul and pictures of street scenes (especially dance scenes) that spirit, with his audience as active participants. Alice will help the students contextualize the period. Coltrane says in the film that “if it’s possible through The script was written by Robert O’Meally, Billie sound to realize truth, to me that is the essence of his Holiday’s outstanding biographer, who had already search.” As Coltrane became more avant-garde, many offered in book form the most complete portrait of of his fans declined to follow him on his explorations, Billie Holiday to date. This “autobiographical essay,” but according to Alice there was no going back. also called Lady Day: The Many Faces of Billie Holiday, Throughout the film, Coltrane is depicted as a was published in 1970 and drew from a wealth of research, disciplined innovator. He attacked his problems as including never-before-published letters, pictures, a horn player, working on his limitations until he and interviews. The one-hour-long documentary film overcame them. Like a prizefighter warming up before by the same title is an extremely valuable document a match, Coltrane would break into a sweat in the that will allow the students to form a better image of dressing room while practicing before a performance. this great woman who was able to invent for herself a He was always pressuring the music, trying to squeeze shining identity as an artist. (Annie Joly) as much out of it as he could. He gave younger players like Eric Dolphy a chance to play with him.

13 His music had a meditative quality, his admirers inappropriate for general student viewing. (Robert Edwards) assert in the film, one that prompted trancelike states in its creators and listeners, trances similar to those Bird. Directed by Clint Eastwood. Warner Bros., 1988. experienced by ecstatic religious worshippers. Above This movie offers a look at one of the innovators of all, the film stresses Coltrane’s musical explorations, modern jazz, Charlie Parker. It covers most of the his desire to fuse jazz with sacred music from all well-known facts of this artist’s life. Forrest Whittaker around the world, particularly India and Africa. convincingly portrays Bird through the course of Perhaps most useful to teachers in this hour-long the film. During one scene of Parker’s humiliating video are the extended clips—without narration—of experience of an ill-fated cutting session as a teenager, Coltrane playing. The film features Coltrane soloing on Parker is portrayed by someone who looks remarkably “So What” with Miles Davis, on two different versions similar to Whittaker. of “My Favorite Things,” and on “Alabama.” The two Clint Eastwood, a noted Hollywood veteran and different versions of “My Favorite Things” would avid jazz aficionado, does an excellent job of utilizing provide a good classroom example of the increasing Bird’s own recorded sax playing throughout the sound freedom in Coltrane’s improvisation. The clip of track. Parker’s unmistakable style was beautifully “Alabama”—written in response to an infamous communicated through a technical process whereby church bombing in Birmingham in 1963—could lead Parker’s sax performance could be extracted from to a discussion about the connections between jazz the original recordings and re-recorded with fresh and the civil rights movement. (Frank Kovarik) accompanists in a studio. The result was a convincing presentation of a “live” club performance (exemplified Films (annotated) in a segment where Parker enters a performance with Dizzy Gillespie, late, from the back of the room; he Armstrong, Louis. “I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead, crosses to the stage and joins the group in mid-song). You Rascal, You.” In “Pre-Code,” vol. 2 in Betty Boop: Eastwood also does a good job of indicating the The Definitive Collection. Republic Pictures, 1998. various reactions of the listening public and fellow “I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead, You Rascal, You” is musicians to this new approach to jazz. a Betty Boop cartoon in the Jazzy Guest Stars series The film is intended for adult audiences, due in featuring Louis Armstrong. The cartoon begins with large part to the actual life Bird lived. His loyal wife, a live shot of Louis Armstrong and his orchestra Chan, his friend, Dizzy Gillespie, and numerous performing the title song. When the animation other associates all had to deal with the reality of begins, Betty Boop and a couple companions are on Bird’s addiction to drugs and his related behaviors. an expedition in a jungle and get separated. African This could make a viewing of the entire piece difficult natives discover her, take her to their village, and with smaller children. Although, selected performance make her an object of their devotion. The king of the scenes could benefit elementary-age students. natives is a pictured as a bone-in-the-head, grass-skirt The primary issue addressed could be the tragedy wearing, big-lipped, and black-faced Louis Armstrong. of a genius being hampered, and eventually killed, Betty’s friends finally stumble upon the village and by making poor life choices. Other issues addressed attempt to rescue her. They are chased by the king and include racial equality, the role of the record production his posse. The king sings the theme song during the companies, the evolution of popular tastes in music, chase. Betty is finally captured and tied to a tree. Her loyalty among people, and competition. The film contains friends are put into a pot of boiling water. The pot is numerous performances of Bird’s music. (Gerry Liebmann) defective and explodes, killing the king and his men. Betty Boop and her friends escape. Calloway, Cab. “.” In “Pre-Code,” Was it an honor or a horror? All men admired and vol. 2 in Betty Boop: The Definitive Collection. desired Betty Boop, even black jungle creatures. Betty Republic Pictures, 1998. Boop was a popular character, and the cartoonists Betty Boop is a curvaceous white female character capitalized on her popularity by featuring musicians created by Mike and David Fleischer. In this cartoon of the jazz era. This volume of cartoons featured collection, she wears very short dresses, heavy eye four jazz singers, two black and two white. All four makeup, and lipstick. She is nearly always chased or were internationally known and recorded stars during attacked by a male character/villain who has fallen this era. Neither Mr. Vallee or Miss Merman was in love with her at first sight. The men appear to have not stereotyped. They played themselves. The horror sexual desires for Betty Boop. This annotation deals is racism. Did jazz great Louis Armstrong need with a cartoon in the series called Jazzy Guest Stars. to be portrayed as a jungle monkey? This cartoon Jazz great Cab Calloway stars in a cartoon titled would be considered politically incorrect today and “Minnie the Moocher.” The cartoon begins with

14 a live shot of the band dressed in tuxedos, with abusing a female (nineteen-year-old Billie Holiday) Cab Calloway conducting, strutting, shuffling, and who later sings a bluesy song about her abusive and singing to the lyrics of “Minnie the Moocher.” When lost lover. The last two movements are composed of the animation scenes begin, Betty Boop is a lonely three compositions: “A Hymn of Sorrow,” “Hot Spots,” character that runs away from home to a desolated and “Harlem Rhythms.” forest area, where she encounters a ghost with a tail. The last three telescriptions—“Sophisticated The animated ghost is a stereotyped caricature of Cab Lady,” “Caravan,” and “The Hawk Talks”—were all Calloway singing “Minnie the Moocher” and chasing filmed in 1952. Duke’s orchestra featured his now a terrified Betty Boop. world-renowned all-star ensemble of the following The cartoonists show, through violent animation personnel: and (trumpet); and a spook, explicit examples of racism, sexism, and Ray Nonce (violin); Juan Tizol, , and effeminate men. Today, these cartoons would be (trombone); , Willie considered politically incorrect and inappropriate for Smith, , and (sax); children. Using only the sound track and well-planned Duke Ellington (piano); (bass); lessons would allow a teacher to utilize the cartoon (drums). “Minnie the Moocher.” Students could be given the This collection of rare historical films could opportunity create their own mental visions that connect with be educational to all levels of musicians, from the sound. They could also be given the opportunity kindergarten through college. Although there understand the magnificence Cab Calloway and his were scenes and dialogue that I found offensive, impact on jazz, an impact so great that he costarred the collection is a must-have for a jazz musician. with American darling Betty Boop. Society could not It features the Duke performing, fronting, and deny his place in history. (Robert Edwards) conducting an all-star orchestra featuring outstanding soloists such as and Willie Smith on Duke Ellington and His Orchestra (1929–1952). Jazz “”; “Caravan,” featuring Juan Tizol, Classics series. Videofidelity, 1986. Jimmy Hamilton and Ray Nance on violin; “The Hawk This collection of five black-and-white videos Talks” with a dynamic drum solo by Louie Bellson and presents Duke Ellington and His Orchestra at their Ray Nance again on violin. Jazz educators should be best and most elegant. The first two videos focus on aware of and able to recognize by name the personnel the composer, conductor, and pianist that Ellington of the Ellington Orchestra because the musicians were was. The third, fourth, and fifth highlight Ellington standard setting. (Robert Edwards) conducting his orchestra. Each video features the Ellington Orchestra dressed in formal attire performing Hollywood Rhythm: The Best of Jazz and Blues (Vol. 1). in a jazz orchestra concert . The video King Video, 2001. shorts were filmed over a span of twenty-three years: If jazz is going to be a unit or lesson in your teaching, “Black and Tan” (1929), “Symphony in Black” (1935), this DVD, The Best of Jazz and Blues is a must-have. “Sophisticated Lady” (1952), “Caravan” (1952), and It is rare to have complete musical shorts—originally “The Hawk Talks” (1952). designed to go with films but have turned out to be “Black and Tan” was a production of Dudley more valuable than the movies themselves—available Murphy, a black film director, playwright, and visual in one place. Paramount billed these as musical storyteller. It begins with Duke Ellington at the shorts. Eleven wonderful classic shorts include piano rehearsing for a show with a trumpet player. internationally known jazz artists from Bessie Smith Two black men come to repossess the piano. They in her famous “St. Louis Blues” (1929) to Fat Waller could represent the low life to Duke’s high life. The in popular “Ain’t Mis Behavin” (1941). Numerous video continues to present black men and women in performances highlight the vibrant richness of jazz, negative and stereotypical situations. For example, the unmistakable voice and style of each artist, the movers were buffoon-talking, dark-skinned males, dynamic dance sequences, and exquisite costumes. and black males were called boys. The chorus line We are treated to a cornucopia of sound from big dancers were fair-skinned black females. The overall band timbres to exquisite piano, trumpet, trombone, production was historical in that it featured star female and violin solos. dancer Fredi Washington dancing with the orchestra. Most shorts are told in a story format. “Rhapsody “Symphony in Black” is subtitled “A Rhapsody in Blue” portrays a stereotyped tale of a lazy black of Negro Life.” It is a four-part jazz symphony: man avoiding work, preferring instead to listen to “Laborers” featured black men shoveling coal; jazz. The famous trumpeter Louis Armstrong sings “Triangles (Love)” presented dance scenes including a and plays “I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead, You well-dressed black male (player/pimp) type physically Rascal, You.” Cab Calloway, scats, sings, and dances

15 throughout the 1933 version of “Hi-De-Ho.” The a purveyor of drugs (as in the autobiography) but story of a wife cheating on her husband, the cheater a mere watchdog, hence Billie is made to bear full is Calloway and the band. This funny short includes responsibility for her indulgences and falls into the the traditional call-and-response and closes with the classic mold of the “fallen artist.” legendary Cotton Club dancers. Another early short is One wonders when watching this film if the “Ol King Cotton” (1930). The commanding baritone filmmakers deemed the real story not interesting of George Dewey Washington dramatizes story of a enough to hold the audience’s attention. young man’s migration north from the cotton fields Dedicated fans of Billie Holiday’s musical style and his return to the good old South. cannot but be sorely disappointed by Diana Ross’s Other shorts include performances by Vincent Lopez, shallow performance and singing renditions. To make Jack Teagarden, Billie Holiday, and . absolutely sure that the students will not stay with the Utilizing the latest in film technology of the image of a gorgeous Billie Holiday as the svelte but 1900s, several special effects and camera angles unimpressive Diana Ross, one will have to include in are seen within the shorts. Multiple images in Duke the course syllabus a documentary containing archival Ellington’s “,” a dream sequence footage of the real Lady Day. in “Rhapsody in Blue,” blurring techniques, and fades Billie Holiday is said to have sneered at her own are just a few of the special effects utilized. There are autobiography (ghostwritten by Dufty on the basis some stereotypes in the shorts that present a perfect of interviews), claiming not to have read it. Billie opportunity to talk about the era and views toward Holiday’s numerous biographers have painstakingly jazz, African Americans, and women. Issues of racism, corrected the many factual inaccuracies in the for example, in the presentation of white jazz bands autobiography; now the task remains for the teacher as professionals are clearly noted in the shorts. The to make the students aware of the necessity to be singer dying from the “wild” jazz music in Duke particularly critical when watching a far-fetched Ellington’s “Black and Tan Fantasy” is representative adaptation of a somewhat fictitious (auto)biography. of the thinking of the times. Jazz was seen as a wild, Lady Day’s voice is altogether deafened in this pitiful freeing savage music associated with blacks. film adaptation. (Annie Joly) Numerous performances showcase artists’ tremendous musical and dramatic talent. The Best of Music Recordings (annotated) Jazz will be a valuable asset to any collection and is appropriate for all ages with some explanation. (Alice Lee) Davis, Miles. Super Hits. Sony, 2001. This CD is a collection of eight recordings of Miles Lady Sings the Blues. Directed by Sidney J. Furie. Davis, performing with various amazing jazz artists, Paramount, 1972. over a span of twenty-nine years. These selections This biopic is a very loose adaptation of Billie represent some of the most popular arrangements Holiday’s ghostwritten autobiography by the same he ever recorded. Miles Davis’s impact on music is title, which was published in 1956. Starring Diana quantum. His technical prowess, improvisational Ross as the famous jazz singer, the movie Lady artistry, and overall creativity set new standards Sings the Blues came out two years after the famous among musicians worldwide. This CD is both a breakup of the Supremes and serves to showcase collector’s item and a great primer for the jazz novice. Ross’s talents as an individual artist. The film obviously Miles’s haunting, introspective style of playing aims at winning the sympathies of both a white hangs in the air after the CD is over. His blazing fast and an African American audience and was quite runs and intricate modal melodic lines can befuddle successful in doing so since it broke attendance records. even the most intense listener. The interplay he creates The students watching the film must be made with his groups highlights the level of technical aware of the historical context of the film’s release mastery this amazing group of musicians has attained. and of the fact that to be accepted, then, it needed This CD has only brief, anonymous liner notes. to stress the dangers of drug addiction, the evils of Reference is made to each selection’s original album racism, and the sexist treatment of Billie Holiday. name and date, leaving the names of each player on The film is full of distortions, inaccuracies, and each cut up to further research. (Gerry Liebmann) fabrications. Most of Billie Holiday’s professional associations with music legends like Count Basie, Ellington, Duke, Charles Mingus, and Max Roach. Duke Ellington, and Lester Young are left out, unless . Reissue, Capitol Records, 2002. Richard Pryor’s part as the ill-fated and lovesick piano This amazing album, originally released in 1962, player can be read as Lester Young. Although Billie presents Duke Ellington in a post-bop setting that will Holiday was married three times, only her marriage students who think of Ellington as an old- to McKay is presented in the film, and he is no longer 16 fashioned big band leader. The album begins with the dismissively concludes, “as all the tunes here, it is a title track, a jagged, attacking piece of modern piano product of the Ellington imagination.” Perhaps Wein’s supported by frenetic bass and drums from Mingus own imagination does not allow him to see Ellington and Roach. Even students raised on punk rock will as both musical genius and commentator on the state probably find this tune stirring. After the aggressive of the world around him. (Frank Kovarik) opening, the album shifts into a more contemplative mode with the ominous and evocative “Fleurette Holiday, Billie. “Fine and Mellow” (1957). .” Both of these pieces would be interesting The Greatest Jazz Films Ever. Idem Home Video, 2003. to have students listen to and write whatever comes “Fine and Mellow” is Billie Holiday’s most celebrated into their heads. Each seems a perfect example of how on-camera performance. It was arranged by producer instrumental music can tell a story. Robert Herridge for CBS’s late-night viewing The album is also interesting to look at from a audience as part of a program called “The Sound of biographical perspective. Ellington in his early career Jazz,” which aired in December 1957 and featured was known for playing “jungle” music at the Cotton extraordinary artists such as , Art Club, where he had to accompany floor shows that Tatum, Count Basie, , and Jimmy Rushing. were not far removed from minstrelsy. In that context, Billie Holiday walks out first, the only woman on Ellington had to subtly subvert the racism of his time. a stage with dark-suited men. Unlike the usual diva What is Duke implying thirty years later by entitling outfit of other performances, she wears plaid slacks this ferocious piece “Money Jungle”? Did Duke’s and a pale sweater set—very chic in a casual, relaxed teaming up with Mingus and Roach, musicians who way—her hair is done in a ponytail, and she has hoop infused their music with explicit political content, earrings dangling from her earlobes. She sits on a high lead him to create a different kind of composition? stool, joining the circle of horns: Lester Young, Ben Conversely, how did Ellington influence Mingus and Webster, and Coleman Hawkins on tenor sax; Gerry Roach—not only as musicians but also as African Mulligan on baritone, Vic Dickinson on trombone, Americans? What does Ellington suggest with a Roy Eldrige and on trumpet. Further out somber, unsettling piece entitled “Fleurette Africaine,” of this inner circle are Jim Hall on guitar, Milt Hilton or “little ”? Why give the title in French? on bass, and Jo Jones on drums. The scene is dark and Is this piece a precursor to other jazz works—by is constructed to look like an after-hours jam session. Roach, John Coltrane, and others—that sought to Throughout the performance the camera returns connect black Americans’ experience to Africa or to repeatedly to Billie, and we watch her watching the express solidarity with postcolonial Africans? How men players, especially Lester Young—her long-time so? Why was “Take the ‘A’ Train” chosen as theme friend, ally, partner, and accomplice, the man who music for ’s Jazz, while none of the tracks graced her with the name “Lady” and whom she from this album were included in the film? What do nicknamed “Prez.” They had not seen each other in students make of the contrast between an earlier, years, and this appearance on “The Sound of Jazz” bubblier Ellington work like “Never No Lament” and was the last time they would play together. “Money Jungle”? On the other hand, can a similar The horns open with the introduction as the ominousness also be seen in an earlier Ellington piece camera closes in on her riveting face. She begins her like “Ko-Ko”? chorus. “My man don’t love me / Treats me awful Though the first two pieces on the album seem most mean” and the miracle occurs: the horns sound like rich for classroom use, Money Jungle also features the human voice, and her voice resembles a horn. lovely arrangements of Ellington classics like “Warm Then follows the marvelous exchange between her Valley,” “Caravan,” and “Solitude,” along with other and Lester Young, playing high and mellow, sounding new tunes. The original liner notes, by , just like her. Her face follows him, anticipating his might be interesting to study as well. Wein praises every move, nodding approvingly, wearing that each member of the trio in the highest aesthetic terms: incredible, knowing smile. We are witnessing a Ellington is the “greatest musical genius jazz has musical conversation filled with intensity and passion, produced”; Mingus is “unsurpassed as a virtuoso of where everybody takes turn. the bass viol”; and Roach “has led the way for all This extremely moving performance is a tribute modern drummers.” But Wein declines to consider to jazz as an art form that extols communication and any extramusical implications for the album. “Money sharing. It exemplifies the rules of intercommunication Jungle,” Wein acknowledges, “sounds like a title that with music as a medium. For students this piece will might have been thought of by protest-conscious Mingus serve as a marvelous illustration of Billie Holiday’s or Roach”—a rather condescending description of statement in her autobiography that she often felt these two politically engaged musicians. “But no,” he like a musical instrument herself. This performance

17 shows Billie Holiday as the consummate artist, totally inside the CD booklet would presumably be available in charge, living and breathing her art. It will help only to those who have already purchased the record, correct the myth of the victimized black woman. but at times its language sounds like advertising copy, (Annie Joly) as in lines like “his contemporary audience will love it” and “his versions take on a definitive aura.” Holiday, Billie. Live at Carnegie Hall. Verve, 1995. Perhaps the most useful way to interpret the essay Billie Holiday gave two concerts at Carnegie Hall. is to see it as a listener’s guide, setting a context in The first took place in 1948, ten days after her release which to understand the music contained on the from prison for possession of narcotics, and it was the recording. Part of the essay’s aim seems to be to only time in her life when she fainted. The second locate Osby within the contemporary jazz scene. took place eight years later on November 10, 1956. Panken suggests that Osby strikes a balance between Her autobiography (ghostwritten by William F. Dufty) reverential traditionalism and experiment. He quotes had just been published, and this concert was a very Osby saying, “I wanted to prove that you can play important event in her professional life. It was a form effectively on these tunes without being patronizing of consecration and gave her the respectability that she or sounding like a repertory ensemble.” Osby thus was no doubt craving at this point in her troubled life. places himself within a jazz tradition while also One of the interesting aspects of this concert staking out new territory to explore. In addition, that warrants the use of this particular recording in Panken asserts that “in true Midwestern fashion, Osby the classroom is the fact that brief excerpts from finds the golden mean between grit and cerebration her autobiography were read aloud between songs. on St. Louis Shoes.” The album thus appeals to both The excerpts that were chosen were not in any way emotion and intellect, perhaps bridging a perceived profane or offensive as parts of her autobiography divide in the current jazz scene. The bifurcation of Lady Sings the Blues can be. the contemporary jazz audience is also alluded to They were read by Gilbert Millstein, a writer in the essay’s final lines, in which Panken predicts for , in a dull monotone voice, that the “art-oriented devotees who comprise his and one may righteously wonder why an African contemporary audience will love it. Given the American woman was not chosen to do this (or Billie opportunity, so would the down-home East St. Louis herself, for that matter). This would have definitely lent audiences of Osby’s youth.” Interestingly, the final line greater authenticity to the endeavor and brought in a seems to suggests that the “down home” audiences better sense of history. This somewhat “voyeuristic” will not get the opportunity to listen to Osby’s album. treatment of art and life reinforces the concept that The assumption seems to be that jazz has lost those listeners. art and life are often interchangeable for artists in The biographical material in Panken’s note general and jazz men and women in particular. This depicts Osby as a jazz musician trained in the time- unusual facet of the concert may be used to promote honored way, receiving a “hands-on education” interesting exchanges between students interested in while playing in various “swank houses and joints the study of the biographical genre. of ill repute” in East St. Louis. Like From a musical point of view it is interesting to or Louis Armstrong learning to play in the Storyville point out that the concert (and hence the recording) of cherished jazz mythology, Osby claims to have took place at a time when Billie Holiday’s voice was learned his craft surrounded by “bootleg liquor and already diminished, but she manipulated it so well illegal gambling and rampant prostitution.” It was in this performance that she turned it into something in these scandalous environs that Osby presumably brilliantly moving—a virtuoso performance in its own gleaned the “narrative techniques of Mississippi River right. This recording should therefore be introduced blues culture.” Next to Panken’s essay is an image of along with earlier recordings for the sake of contrast. an antiquated postcard of the Eads Bridge under a (Annie Joly) cloudy moonlit sky, with a riverboat just about to pass beneath its arches—a romantic image that seems to Osby, Greg. St. Louis Shoes. Blue Note, 2003. evoke something deeply felt about jazz. Osby says The title and cover art motif (lots of shoes) of Greg that, on this album, “I wanted to characterize the Osby’s fifteenth album for Blue Note suggest that it depth of the music and of my ties to St. Louis itself, is an attempt by a St. Louisan to step into the grand my ties to the feeling of the Midwest, and what I jazz tradition—the big shoes of Duke Ellington, Dizzy know and retain as a result of growing up there.” The Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, among album artwork features a drawing of the Gateway others whose work Osby rearranges here. The liner Arch with fireworks around it. Interestingly, next to notes to the album offer an intriguing intersection of the Arch is a collage of other famous buildings—the biography and marketing. Ted Panken’s short essay Arc de Triomphe, Washington Monument,

18 State Building, etc. Behind Osby’s head in one of the Peterson, Oscar. Oscar Peterson: Exclusively for My interior photos, a jet flies by with the Blue Note label Friends. PolyGram, 1992. on its rudder. The suggestion may be that Osby began Originally recorded live from Villingen, Germany, in St. Louis and learned what he could there, but his the home of Hand Georg Brunner- music is not provincial or limited to the Midwest. Schwer, these re-released recordings capture the Indeed, he’s still on the move. unmistakable style and virtuosic talents of pianist It might be interesting for teachers to discuss with Oscar Peterson. The title, Exclusively for My Friends, students why Osby’s biography is represented in this is an apt description of the moments the listener finds way. Why emphasize the connection with crime and himself. Whether familiar with or new to Oscar’s sex? What sort of background is expected of jazz family, one will fall in love with the blazing fast runs, musicians if they are to be considered authentic? the lyrical melodies, and the intricate fingerings that Why, for instance, do the liner notes not mention that is the music of Oscar Peterson. Critically acclaimed Osby studied jazz at Howard University and attended Oscar Peterson’s tremendous talent—along with the Berklee School of Music? Is an artist’s music Sam Johns, , Bobby Durham, Ed Thigpen affected by the place where he or she grew up—in and Louis Hayes—creates an unforgettable musical mythology? in reality? Can music be expressive of a experience. Recorded over several years from 1963 particular place? How does Osby’s record company through 1968 the listener is treated to collection of (and perhaps Osby himself) seek to frame his story as intimate trio performances, highlighted with seldom- an artist in a way that will make his work legible to heard piano solos from the master. This collection the jazz audience? What are the tacit understandings showcases a variety of Oscar’s musical talents. that underlie Panken’s liner notes—about jazz history Contained in these CDs are many well-loved songs and contemporary debates within jazz? What is the with both new and familiar arrangements. Born in relationship of album art to the musical art contained Montreal, Canada, Oscar in his 80s has not only seen on the album itself, or to the life and personality of the history but lived the history of the United States and artist? (Frank Kovarik) overseas through his music. Examination of a living legend is valuable not only for their knowledge and Peterson, Oscar. Night Train: The Oscar Peterson perspectives but also for the inspiration they bring. Trio. PolyGram, 1997. Students of all ages will be entranced by the music This reissue of a 1962 recorded performance in Los of Oscar Peterson. What a wonderful opening to Angeles produced by is an excellent teaching jazz. representation of the Oscar Peterson Trio’s range and The volumes include such well known songs as talent. The composers of these selections constitute an “I’ve Got a Crush on You,” “I’m for Love,” all-star cast: Duke Ellington, , Hoagy “Summertime,” “When Lights Are Low,” “Body and Carmichael, , Sy Oliver, Lester Young, Soul,” “Take the ‘A’ Train,” “Bye Bye Blackbird,” medleys, Charlie Parker, , and Peterson himself. and many other selections to numerous to name. One of the cuts (number 15, “Moten’s Swing”) is a There are a total of thirty-six fantastic musical rehearsal take. pieces in this set. For a complete listing you must Aesthetically well-balanced interplay among the simply add the musical genius of Oscar Peterson’s three familiar musicians throughout the collection extraordinary live performances to your collection. provides an easy-to-listen-to foundation for incredibly This compilation is excellent for giving the listener a difficult technical feats executed by each. Due tribute range of Oscar’s piano genius to explore. No Peterson is paid to the original renditions, which serve as a biography is complete without a detailed examination launching pad for exceptional improvisations. Largely of brilliance of his work. These materials are suitable faithful to a blues flavoring in his melody lines, for all ages. (Alice Lee) Peterson does not linger for prolonged stretches in the avant-garde regions of upper harmonics, where one Fiction (annotated) might find or Herbie Hancock. Peterson uses these, but more in the style of Ellington or Basie. Dubus, Andre. “Dancing after Hours.” In Dancing This collection is intended for people who enjoy after Hours: Stories, 194–233. New York: Knopf, 1996. jazz piano. Peterson benefited artistically from his This piece of short fiction—though not strictly piano predecessors, and his own tremendous talent. biographical about any one particular jazz As a result, he embodies a most interesting panorama musician—is nevertheless highly suggestive of the of styles. (Gerry Liebmann) power of jazz music in the lives of its audience. The story is written for an adult or upper level high school audience, and is in many ways a response

19 to Ernest Hemingway’s famous story “A Clean Well- Lighted Place.” Whereas that story presents solitary stoicism as a response to absurdity and alienation, Dubus’s story offers a more hopeful alternative. In the story, workers and customers in a Massachusetts bar and grill make connections with each other and stave off loneliness and despair by listening to jazz, dancing to the music, and conversing over drinks. In one of the story’s most powerful moments, the main character, Emily, remembers a transcendent experience at a Roland Kirk concert. Dubus narrates the event—a fictionalized biographical account of Kirk—closely and convincingly: “The music was soothing, was loving, and Emily watched Kirk and felt that everything good was possible.” The story suggests that jazz music is an example of “something ineffable that comes from outside and fills us; something that changes the way we see what we see; something that allows us to see what we don’t.” In addition to Kirk, the story also mentions , Louis Armstrong, Paul Desmond, , John Coltrane, and Frank Sinatra, and could thus give teachers a reason to play selections from these artists in class and to talk about their lives. Teachers who plan to use this story in class should be aware that it does include some references to sex and a fair amount of drinking. The story can also be found in Prize Stories 1997: The O. Henry Awards. (Frank Kovarik)

20 Jazz and Fictional Narrative bolster courage and strength during times of trouble Ken Froehlich, T. J. Gillespie, Judith Nador, such as the civil rights period. A successfully operating Melissa Papianou, and Elizabeth Patterson band as small as a duo or trio can serve as a model of cooperation for a struggling family or community. To describe jazz and all of its variegated uses Blues, jazz, and music in general are so pervasive in in and relationships with fiction, drama, and film African American literature because they are such big is very difficult. The possibilities are as endless as a parts of the African American way of life. Charlie Parker improvisation as he moves through one Can the importance of jazz and blues be imaginative chorus after another. The five individuals overestimated? Cornel West does not appear to in this group worked in narrative areas that were of think so in his book Democracy Matters. He says, special interest to each individual teacher. We did not “The patient resilience expressed in the blues flows draw our water from the same well. The hope is that from the sustained resistance to ugly forms of racist teachers from grade school to high school—in any domination, and from the forging of inextinguishable curriculum area, even math and science—might find hope in the contexts of American social death and something of value or of interest. soul murder. The blues produce a mature spiritual Jazz can be the topic of a narrative piece and strength. The stress that blues placed on dialogue, have a monumental importance to a works over all resistance, and hope is the very lifeblood for a meaning and structure, as in Toni Morrison’s novel vital democratic citizenry.” Earlier, West quotes Jazz, or it can simply be used as part of a narrative Ellington: “If the blues is the struggle against pain for structure where it enriches the milieu of the characters transcendence, then, as Duke Ellington proclaimed, or adds depth and development to characterization, ‘jazz is freedom.’” The works of literature listed in this as in Loraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun. Jazz bibliography simply are other ways of keeping the can be used as a symbol of societal cooperation or a importance of blues and jazz in front of the people metaphor for sex or changing times. It can embody who need to hear these sweet sounds. the differences in generations or serve as a thread or a pattern that runs through the tapestry of African Anthologies American history from colonial times to the present. Baraka, Amiri. Blues People: Negro Music in White Jazz can cut across many types of genres and can America. New York: W. Morrow, 1963. appeal to many types of audiences. It can be used Ellison, Ralph. Living with Music. Edited by Robert G. in a children’s novel such as The Jazz Fly or give a O’Meally. New York: Modern Library, 2002. modern twist to old tales in a work such Jazz Fairy O’Meally, Robert G. The Jazz Cadence of American Tales. Jazz can make a stunning debut on the stage Culture. New York: and later explode on the big screen with even more Press, 1998. energy and brilliance as with the musicals West Side Story and Chicago. Langston Hughes used jazz in his Articles and Essays collection of short fiction,The Ways of White Folks. Fisher, Douglas, Rick Helzer, and Nan McDonald. Duke Ellington drew inspiration from the characters of “Jazz Listening Activities: Children’s Literature Shakespeare for his longer musical work Such Sweet and Authentic Music Examples.” Music Thunder. This bibliography reflects jazz used in film, Educators Journal 89, no. 2 (November 2002): novels, plays, and poetry. The music was used for 43–49, 57. sound tracks in film, incidental music in drama, and Frost, Richard. “Jazz and Poetry.” The Antioch Review set pieces of prose description in short stories and 57 (1999). novels. There is a plethora of literary criticism treating Jerving, Ryan. “Early Jazz Literature (and Why You the importance of jazz in any number of narrative genres. Didn’t Know).” American Literary History 16, The themes developed through the use of jazz no. 4: 648–74. are endless, but a few generalities can be stated. Jazz Lesoinne, Veronique. “Answer Jazz’s Call: and its close relative the blues play important roles Experiencing Toni Morrison’s Jazz.” MELUS in African American fiction and literature in general. 22 (Autumn 1997): 151–66. Jazz and blues are not usually simply background Sherard, Tracy. “Sonny’s Bebop: ’s ‘Blues Text’ music for the characters in these literary works of art; as Intracultural Critique.” African American they are woven into the most elemental aspects of the Review 32 (1998): 691–705. character’s lives. For some, jazz was their occupation, indeed, their raison d’être. Music was part of their Books and Book Chapters religious services as it offered hope and redemption Amram, David. “Children of the American Bop for both this life and the next one. It also served to Night.” In OffBeat: Collaborating with

21 Kerouac, 3–22. New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 2002. Novels Grandt, Jurgen. Kinds of Blue: The Jazz Aesthetic in Baker, Dorothy. Young Man with a Horn. Cambridge, African American Narrative. Columbus: Ohio MA: Riverside Press, 1938. State University Press, 2004. Hughes, Langston. Not without Laughter. New York: Igus, Toyomi. I See the Rhythm. San Francisco: Vintage, 1990. Children’s Book Press, 1998. Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: Random House, 1987. Lahr, John. Honky Tonk Parade: New Yorker Profiles of ———. Song of Solomon. New York: Knopf, 1977. Show People. New York: Overlook Press, 2005. Ondaatje, Michael. Coming through Slaughter. New Leggett, B. J. Larkin’s Blues: Jazz Popular Music York: Vintage, 1996. and Poetry. New Orleans: Louisiana State University Press, 1999. Short Stories West, Cornel. Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Barthelme, Donald. “The King of Jazz.” In Sixty against Imperialism. New York: Penguin, 2004. Stories, 354–59. New York: Putnam, 1981. Williams, Sherley Anne. “The Black Musician: The Black Breton, Marcela. “An Annotated Bibliography of Hero as Light Bearer.” In Give Birth to Brightness, Selected Jazz Short Stories.” African American 145–66. New York: Dial Press, 1972. Review 26, no. 2: 299–306. Young, William. American Pop Culture through Hurston, Zora Neale. “Story in Harlem Slang.” In History: The 1930s. Westport, CT: Spunk: The Selected Short Stories of Zora Greenwood, 2002. Neale Hurston, 91–99. Berkeley, CA: Turtle Island Foundation, 1985. Films Dingo. Directed by Rolf De Heer. AO Productions, 1992. Websites The Pied Piper: Happily Ever After Fairytales: Fairy http://www.neajazzintheschools.org/home.php. Tales for Every Child. Directed by Edward “NEA Jazz in the Schools, 2006.” National Bell. HBO, 1997. Endowment for the Arts, Jazz at the Lincoln Center ’Round Midnight. Directed by Bertrand Tavernier. http://deoxy.org/thunder.htm. Thunder: Perfect Mind Warner Home Video, 1986. Articles and Essays (annotated) Music Recordings Coltrane, John. “Alabama.” Live at Birdland. GPR Eckstein, Lars. “A Love Supreme: Jazzthetic Strategies Records, 1963. in Toni Morrison’s Beloved.” African American Davis, Miles. Bitches Brew. Columbia Records, 1970. Review 40, no. 2: 271–83. ———. Kind of Blue. Columbia Records, 1959. In his article “A Love Supreme: Jazzthetic Strategies Ellington, Duke. : The in Toni Morrison’s Beloved,” Lars Eckstein refers Soundtrack of the Motion Picture. Columbia, to Morrison’s narrative technique as “jazzthetic.” 1959. B00000IMYH. Eckstein argues that Morrison’s protagonists, Kovetz, Lisa Beth. Jazz Baby, Session 2. Flying South particularly Beloved, Baby Suggs, Paul D, and Amy Productions, 2005. Denver convey particular aspects of African and/or Mancini, Henry. Breakfast at Tiffany’s. RCA, 1961. European oral traditions that coalesced to inspire 2362-2-R. the birth of jazz. Beloved’s character mirrors the Mark, Ashley. Billie Holiday Anthology. Ashley musicality of African oral tradition in which the Publications Inc. /Kammen Music Co. (Sheet “spirit child” often returns to haunt the living. Baby music) Suggs’s “sermonizing and singing” resonates the Afro- Porter, Cole. Cole Porter: The Best of Cole Porter- Christian vocal tradition that sparked spirituals and Piano/Vocal. Hal Leonard. () gospels. Paul D, a “singing man,” captures the blues Putamayo Kids. New Orleans Playground. Putamayo tradition, and Amy Denver sings a poem written by World Music, 2006. St. Louis poet Eugene Field. Denver’s recitation of Rogers, Louise, and Rick Strong. “Charlie Parker a highly formalized and grammatically rigid poem Played Bebop.” Bop Boo Day. RILO Records, 2006. “contradict[s] the continuous play” found in the ———. “Ella Fitzgerald Sang Bop Boo Day.” Bop Boo “spirituals and folk blues” that the other characters Day. CD. Charlie Parker Played Bebop, and So sing. However, Eckstein believes that these symbolic What: RILO Records, 2006. characters do not provide a stark difference between ———. “So What.” Bop Boo Day. RILO Records, African and European music; rather they evidence 2006. the combination of African and European musical

22 traditions that helped to ignite jazz as a viable genre. the music, the more I was learning about the history Eckstein continues to explain that Toni Morrison of the people and the history of the country itself.” The and John Coltrane share the ability to translate verbal story of jazz as a genre is a narrative in itself. Baraka language to music, and music to verbal language writes, “I begin with blues because it is the basic to express the often inexpressible pain that African national voice of the African American people. It is Americans endured, individually and collectively. the fundamental verse form of the African American In Beloved and A Love Supreme, both Morrison slave going through successive transformations. and Coltrane follow an analogous “musical form,” Blues is African American. The verse form of African as Morrison’s characters and Coltrane’s musicians American culture and language.” Baraka was intent on become the instruments that facilitate a similar writing innovative poetry that captured the sorrowful “formal arrangement of sequence.” Coltrane and history of African Americans using the themes, Morrison both repeat and vary particular phrases language, and call-and-response powers that jazz had and themes in their works so that eventually the already accomplished. musicians’ and characters’ distinctive voices unite Ellison explains that “Baraka uses run-on to create a “poetic whole” while maintaining their syntax and words [that] become blue notes...[,] individuality. Like Coltrane’s transcendent music, assonance and syncopated shifts” to render his poetry many of Morrison’s repeated words lose their jazzlike. Furthermore, Baraka’s use of “repetition denotations and adopt emotional connotations to and revision are fundamental to black artistic express ineffable pain. Because much of African forms,” especially his poetry. Ellison also explains history is riddled with pain and hopelessness, Baraka’s use of scat, a technique first introduced music, and musical prose, is used to “overcom[e] by blues musicians to capture powerful emotions the speechlessness of trauma and to engag[e] in that cannot be accurately expressed through literal a constructive dialogue with painful chapters of words. Early musicians attempted to emulate human the past.” The similar techniques used in both the words with their instruments, while “a vocalist will literature and the jazz help to preserve the painful use musical elisions and mutations”; so when the past in a progressive and experimental artistic present politically conscious Baraka disparages capitalism, and future. (Melissa Papianou) he uses this improvisatory technique and writes, “capitalism dying, can be/ all, see, aggggeeeeoooo, Ellison, Mary. “Jazz in the Poetry of Amiri Baraka aggrggrrgeeeoouuuu” to articulate that pain and and Roy Fisher.” The Yearbook of English Studies 24 frustration which his words cannot express, as (1994): 117–45. politically active jazz musicians did, such as Sonny In Mary Ellison’s critical article, Amiri Baraka and Rollins and Charles Mingus. To Baraka, poetry, jazz, Roy Fisher are lauded as poetic masters who combine politics, and social issues are all interconnected, and their written art with jazz. Although both poets are the art forms are catalysts that can help to combat the extremely different, they both manage to incorporate American capitalist government that continues to limit jazz techniques into their poetry. While it is obviously the potential of the African American population. imperative that the poems must be intensely studied, It seems that the link between jazz and fiction is Ellison’s article provides the reader with the necessary the suffering associated within the black community. background to understand the intentions of the Baraka insists that his poetry is not hard to understand artists and the techniques used to implement their if a person comprehends the complexities of being intentions, including the evolution of Amiri Barakas’s black. If a listener understands the blues, then Baraka personal beliefs and, consequently, his writing. claims, he/she can understand his poetry. Baraka writes: Amiri Baraka grew up listening to jazz, and If you can understand the even as a young boy he associated the blues, complexity of an African the predecessor to jazz, as a music that depicts mask, the tense ambiguities the struggle of the oppressed African American of Black blues community. Baraka recognizes jazz as a politically then my work should be clear conscious music for African Americans that to you, what I say stresses the communality of black suffering. But easily understood for Baraka, jazz is not simply a music created by Baraka certainly presents passionate arguments, even the black community, for the black community. if the black-and-white issues always seem to dangle Jazz transcends its art form and acts as a vehicle to precariously in that difficult-to-comprehend gray area. explain black history, as the music started in Africa (Melissa Papianou) and has progressed throughout every stage of African American history. Baraka says, “The deeper I got into

23 Murakami, Haruki. “Jazz Messenger.” New York always stressed. While writers continue to write Times, July 8, 2007. about timeless themes, how do they remain fresh and Haruki Murakami, a canonical, living author, recently new? How can writing continue to progress? While provided the literary world with a declaration of these questions abound in classrooms, they are also the influential power jazz has had in his writing. relevant in the world of jazz. In 1959, Miles Davis Murakami presents a very clear and focused link released the innovative and groundbreaking Kind between jazz and fiction. When the fifteen-year- of Blue. Even a music novice can easily hear and old Murakami witnessed Art Blakey and the Jazz feel the piercing, mellow, sensual sounds of Davis. Messengers perform in Kobe, he was forever The effect is meditative and relaxing. Perhaps to transformed into a lover of jazz. It was not until some, it is purely romantic; to others it is sorrowful, Murakami turned twenty-nine that he began to such as a subjective view of Romeo and Juliet. Fast- wonder “how wonderful it would be if [he] could forward approximately ten years to Davis’s release of write like playing an instrument [and] transfer…music Bitches Brew, when Davis shocked the musical world into writing.” Murakami simply and brilliantly outlines with fusion. His improvisational sound is arguably the analogous components of both jazz and literature aggressive, confusing, almost disjointed as well as when he writes: paradoxically joined by an expressive emotion, such Whether in music or in fiction, the most basic as Shakespeare’s King Lear. thing is rhythm. Your style needs to have good, The concept of renewal in literature and music is natural, steady rhythm, or people won’t keep a necessary discussion. While it is commonplace to reading your work. I learned the importance of study the rhythms of evolutionary literary language, rhythm from music…mainly…jazz. Next comes as Murakami explains, it would be equally effective melody—which in literature means the appropriate to play recordings of a jazz artist’s early and later arrangement of the words to match the rhythm. If works to discuss renewal in individual artists and, on the way the words fit the rhythm is smooth and a broader scale, in genres. (Melissa Papianou) beautiful, you can’t ask for anything more. Next is harmony—the internal mental sounds that Reilly, John M. “‘Sonny’s Blues’: James Baldwin’s support the words. Then comes the part I like best: Image of Black Community.” Negro American free improvisation. Through some special channel, Literature Forum 4, no. 2 (1970): 56–60. the story comes welling out freely from inside. This article was reprinted in James Baldwin: A A fledgling writer may humbly laugh at Murakami’s Collection of Critical Essays, which was edited by seemingly effortless analysis of the connection Kenneth Kinnamon and published as part of Prentice- between jazz and fiction, but his basic assessment is Hall’s Twentieth Century Views series. Anyone who didactic for even novice learners. While narratives has read “Sonny’s Blues” and has a general interest in may ostensibly tell plot-driven stories, there is no Baldwin’s writings will find this essay worth his/her doubt that the sophisticated analysis of literature time. A reader would not have to come to the essay requires intense study of the language, and how with a deep knowledge of the blues or bebop jazz, that language functions in the narrative itself. While the music tradition in which the title character decides thematic concerns in literature such as love, death, to immerse himself. In fact, Reilly does an excellent pain, happiness, and suffering may remain the same job of giving the reader pertinent information about over time, writers and musicians must develop the blues and bebop that is germane to his discussion. new ways to present these philosophical concerns. Reilly states that the story addresses two thematic Murakami explains that “there aren’t any new issues: 1) the significance of Sonny’s life and 2) blues words. Our job is to give new meanings and special as a metaphor for the individual in society. overtones to absolutely ordinary words.” It is no secret Reilly notes that when Sonny firsts addresses the that writing and music are always evolving; one needs issue of being a jazz musician to his older brother, an only to read Shakespeare’s iambic pentameter and immediate gulf becomes visible between them. Even compare his rhythm with a contemporary poem today though the story was set in post–Korean War Harlem, that deals with the same theme. English teachers and bebop had already had a twenty-plus-year history, analyze the evolution of language, and the same can Sonny’s brother had never heard of Charlie Parker. be done with music. Murakami states that his “style The older brother saw no importance in jazz music, is as deeply influenced by Charlie Parker’s repeated and he thought that Sonny was making a big mistake freewheeling riffs, say, as by F. Scott Fitzgerald’s in pursuing it as a career. Sonny’s drug use further elegantly flowing prose,” and he takes the “quality of widened the gulf between Sonny and his middle-class, self-renewal in Miles Davis’s music as a literary model.” algebra teacher brother. His brother, as time passed, As an English teacher and student, renewal is placed no value on Sonny’s life experiences; he saw

24 Sonny’s activities as a road to an early death. In fact, for the young child is an example of what can be Sonny needed his music to live. His heroin addiction accomplished in creating a love of good jazz in young was not a means to death but a way of coping with children. (Judith Nador) the inescapable pain of life. According to Reilly, while blues singers describe Smith, Martin. “Martin Smith Explores Jazz, Racism, their personal experiences, these experiences are and Resistance through the Life of a Legend.” common to everyone in the community. The singers Socialist Review 278. never set themselves against the community, nor do . they see themselves as above the community. Sonny’s In chapter 8 of Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon, brother gains a spiritual uniting with his brother by Guitar develops a plan to avenge the death of four learning to listen both as Sonny talks about his life black girls killed in the 1963 Alabama church and feelings, and when Sonny plays his music. Reilly bombings. Guitar believes that African Americans makes an excellent point when he states that the need to “keep the numbers even,” meaning every maker of music “engages in a spiritual creation” but time a random black person is killed, a random white that creation belongs to all present. Reilly does not person must be killed. Guitar maintains his eerily calm say so directly, but, of course, the audience must be composure while passionately acting out his philosophy. open to what is stated if they are honestly going to In 1963, John Coltrane performed his own protest own the creation. This uniting of blues musicians with against the Alabama church bombings when he wrote their audiences is what Reilly sees as a metaphor for his homage to the girls, entitled “Alabama.” Coltrane the black community. opens his piece with a melancholy sound, and as Reilly’s idea would gain more strength if he he continues his music becomes more assertive and dropped the references to blues “singers” as part powerful. Martin Smith writes: of his discussion. Sonny was a pianist. He did not Coltrane wrote the song Alabama in response sing. In the story, his final communication with his to the bombing. He patterned jazz brothers and his birth brother was not verbal, the saxophone playing on Martin Luther but aural. The unity came from music, not words. King’s funeral speech. Midway through the The translation of the blues into bebop could also song, mirroring the point where King be made clearer (as it is in Tracey Sherard’s article, transforms his mourning into a statement also included in this list). But even considering these of renewed determination for the struggle difficulties or omissions, the article is interesting and against racism, Elvin Jone’s drumming rises well worth reading. (Ken Froehlich) from a whisper to a pounding rage. He wanted this crescendo to signify the rising of Slawecki, Chris M. “Jazz for Kids, Teach Your the Civil Rights Movement. Children Well.” All about Jazz, March 1, 2006. It would be an interesting interdisciplinary lesson to include Martin Luther King’s funeral oration and (accessed July 22, 2007). then play “Alabama” after a discussion of chapter 8 Chris Slawecki addresses the very problem that faces of the novel. Students could write their reactions to all aficionados of jazz as a musical genre of choice. the Coltrane song and comment on whether and/or Who will they be and how are new listeners to be how the song expresses either a narrative or if it brought to this world of music? solely evokes emotion. Next, students could read Slawecki believes that unless the people who the Smith quote and comment on whether they are involved in the world of jazz and those who agree. It is obvious to the ear that Coltrane’s piece are knowledgeable about jazz reach out to young begins peacefully and evolves into something much children and begin to build in these children a love of more assertive. Finally, it would be useful to analyze the rhythms and sounds of jazz, we may find that they how Guitar’s characterization can be compared will simply be hearing the “clattering, flavor-of-the- with Coltrane’s song. Guitar certainly does have a moment neon glare of MTV/VH1 and other corporate “renewed determination” and his actions certainly entertainment media, as music that people might have do progress from a “whisper” to a “pounding rage,” listened to at one time but certainly weren’t listening as evidenced by his membership in the ominous to today, music good for background and kitsch and group, the Seven Days. While Coltrane, Morrison, Cosby Show guest spots but not much more than that?” and her character Guitar all feel “rage,” this emotion As Slawecki points out to the reader, a movement is certainly varied, complex, and subjective. The has begun that hopes to address this very issue. aggression in the middle of Coltrane’s piece resonates The Jazz Baby (see annotation under Recordings) a spiritual melancholy; it seems that his rage is a series of recordings produced by Lisa Beth Kovetz sorrowful one, one that suggests he wishes the status

25 quo would change, whereas Guitar, though he does rhythm, there must be no extra weight. That doesn’t not see it this way, becomes a vicious murderer. mean that there should be no weight at all—just no Morrison’s intention is not for the reader to celebrate weight that isn’t absolutely necessary.” Murakami, Guitar’s actions. He ultimately shares the white man’s even in translation, has gained admiration for his greed, the exact characteristic he claims to be fighting. streamlined, fluid style. Readers may find his style just Therefore, Morrison does not share Guitar’s hostile as interesting as his subject matter. rage. Instead, Morrison presents a sort of thematic and For those teachers who are unfamiliar with philosophical answer to racism that jazz as a genre Murakami or uninterested in reading literary embraces—that it is necessary to know the past in criticism, the book does have an appealing feature order to progress into the future, which is arguably that makes it worth recommending. It contains, to what Milkman, the protagonist of Song of Solomon, my knowledge, the only English version of his short does in the novel and what John Coltrane does with story “The 1963/1982 Girl from Ipanema.” This his music. (Melissa Papianou) early, slim (only five pages) story contains many of the themes—“loss and ageing, memory and music, Books and Book Chapters (annotated) time and timelessness, reality and the wells of the unconscious, and melancholy longing for a special Rubin, Jay. Haruki Murakami and the Music of time and place”—that mark the best of Murakami’s Words. London: Haverhill Press, 2002. more mature work. (T. J. Gillespie) Author and professor Jay Rubin has had a long An abridged sampling of jazz titles that appear relationship with the works of Haruki Murakami, in his fiction follow. Please note: Page numbers refer having translated the very popular Norwegian Wood, to Vintage paperback editions, except Kafka on the the masterpiece Wind-up Bird Chronicle, and the Shore, in which case the page numbers refer to the most recent release, After Dark. In this scholarly work Knopf hardcover edition. that resembles both the insights of a literary critic and Kenneth Alford, “Colonel Bogey March” in The Elephant the praise of an impassioned fan, Rubin points out Vanishes, p. 56 a number of interesting observations that may be , “Stormy Sunday” in Hard-boiled useful to those who are interested in jazz abroad, Wonderland and the End of the World, p. 344 particularly in Japan, and how jazz influences the Frank Chacksfield Orchestra, “Autumn in New York” writing of fiction. in Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, Haruki Murakami first encountered American jazz p. 376 as a teenager when he attended a concert featuring Nat King Cole, “Pretend” in South of the Border, West Art Blakely and the Jazz Messengers. Later, before of the Sun, pp. 12, 177; “South of the Border” in embarking on his writing career, he owned a popular South of the Border, West of the Sun, pp. 15, 93, 171, jazz club called Peter Cat in a western suburb of 175 Tokyo. As one of the most popular Japanese writers John Coltrane, “My Favorite Things” in Kafka on the Shore, in the world, he continues to use jazz in nearly all pp. 339, 357 of his work. Whether it is using a particular song to Miles Davis, “Bags’ Groove” in Hard-boiled evoke a mood—essays have been written that attempt Wonderland and the End of the World, p. 362; to offer a complete discography of works referenced “Airegin” in The Elephant Vanishes, p. 138; Kind of in his stories, mixed CDs have been compiled by Blue (album) in Norwegian Wood, p. 218 fans, and even his publisher’s website streams clips of Duke Ellington, “Popular Ellington” in Hard-boiled songs alluded to in his work—or using jazz clubs as a Wonderland and the End of the World, p. 344; setting, as he does in South of the Border, West of the “Do Nothin’ till You Hear from Me” Hard-boiled Sun and A Wild Sleep Chase among others, or making Wonderland and the End of the World, p. 387 ; use of actual musicians as characters, as he does in “Sophisticated Lady” in Hard-boiled Wonderland and the short story “Tony Takatani,” Murakami infuses all the End of the World, p. 387; “Star-Crossed Lovers” in his writing with jazz music. South of the Border, West of the Sun, p. 94, 168, 205; Rubin opens his introduction with a quotation “Embraceable You” in South of the Border, West of the from a speech Murakami delivered at the University Sun, p. 107 of California at Berkeley where he examined the , Getz/Gilberto (album) in Kafka on the relationship between his prose style and the beat Shore, p. 232 of jazz: “The sentences have to have rhythm. This is , “Early Autumn” in Hard-boiled something I learned from music, especially jazz. In Wonderland and the End of the World, p. 376 jazz, great rhythm is what makes great improvising Antonio Carlos Jobim, “Corcovado” in South of possible. It’s all in the footwork. To maintain that the Border, West of the Sun, p. 89; “Desafinado”

26 in Norwegian Wood, pp. 162, 280; “The Girl From participant’s point of view, reminds us of the historical Ipanema” in Norwegian Wood, p. 162 importance of King Zulu, his Queen, and the Baby Thelonious Monk, “Honeysuckle Rose” in Norwegian Dolls on Carnival Day. We learn that what Wood, p. 171 the problems may have been in the planning of Roger Williams, “Autumn Leaves” in Hard-boiled the Zulu Parade, when the musicians begin to play Wonderland and the End of the World, p. 376 music such as “The Good Morning Blues,” tradition Lester Young, “I Can’t Get Started” in After the Quake, carries on. This music was, on its own, a cause for p. 74 celebration. The Baby Dolls, who were originally uptown prostitutes, took this day of celebration to Saxon, Lyle, Edward Dreyer, and Robert Tallant, dress up in bloomers and skirts, curly wigs, and comp. g u m b o y a -y a : A Collection of Louisiana Folk a “baby doll” hat, join the parade, and follow the Tales. St. Claire Shores, Michigan: Louisiana Library musicians, who played such songs as “Every Man a Commission, 1945. King,” Huey P. Long’s song, while dancing all the way g u m b o y a -y a —e v e r y b o d y t a l k s a t o n c e —The phrase along the parade route and enjoying their day of fun.. aptly describes this collection of Louisiana folk tales. The narrative entitled “Songs” is also important, as The book was originally published as part of the examples of ballads, chants, African American songs, WPA’s Louisiana Writer’s Program in the 1940s and is Creole songs, church music, blues, and even voodoo aimed at the mature reader. dances are represented. The words to many of the The narratives in this collection of folk tales are chants and songs are included. based upon recorded tales as well as oral interviews. The fact that a new edition of the collection is This is a classic, extremely rich collection of folk tales available attests to it being a classic of the genre. from New Orleans and surrounding parishes of Louisiana. These narratives provide the mature reader a primary While phonetic renderings of the words of source document with which to supplement the study African Americans in some of the stories may not be of the history of New Orleans and its music. (Judith Nador) politically correct, the reader should remember that the writers attempted to replicate the speech patterns Children’s Books (annotated) of the storytellers being interviewed. The folk stories being told are from the “gumbo heritage” one finds Dumont, Jean-François. A Blue So Blue. New York: in New Orleans and Louisiana in general. There Sterling, 2005. are stories from the French, the Spanish, the slaves The children’s book A Blue So Blue tells the story of a brought from Africa, Creoles, and the Acadians, or boy who lives in the middle of the city. The Prix Saint- Cajuns. It is important to note that the collecting of Exupery Best Illustrated Children’s Book of material for this book was done either by members 2004 takes the reader on a journey far from the city in of these groups or by people who have been long order to help the boy find the blue color that he sees associated with the group. For example, the stories only in his dreams. pertaining to African Americans were done mainly by The boy loves to paint; in fact, it is almost the only African American workers. Robert McKinny, Marcus thing he will do. His adventure starts with a bus trip to B. Christian (supervisor of the All-Negro Writers’ a museum. He sees a portrait and hopes it is the right Project), as well as Edmund Burke all contributed to color blue. It isn’t. The saga continues with the boy the project. Other African Americans who were not traveling to the big blue sea and the south sea skies. connected to the project contributed information He meets a turtle on the beach that tells him about the and suggestions, including Joseph Louis Gilmore, blues. The turtle explains the blues “will sing to your Charles Barthelemy Rousseve (author of The Negro soul. It’ll make you happy. It’ll make you sad.” in Louisiana), A. W. Dent (president of Dillard At this point in the story, the boy comes to University), and Sister Anastasia of the Convent of the Mississippi and goes to a club. While he hears the Holy Family. music, it isn’t the blue of his dreams. The blues While the entire book rings of the rich cultural musician, noticing the boy was upset, tells him about heritage that contributed to the music we now call his heritage in Africa. The boy heads to Africa and is jazz, the narratives entitled “Kings, Baby Dolls, Zulus, told that the blue of his dreams might not be so far and Queens” and “Songs” particularly represent the from home. The boy returns home to find the blue of deep roots of music in New Orleans. his dreams in the eyes of his mother. In “Kings, Baby Dolls, Zulus, and Queens” we get While the story is tender and thought provoking, a real feel for the activities that took place on Perdido especially considering the relationship between Street when preparing for the black celebration of mother and child, there are several interesting Mardi Gras, the Zulu Parade. This story, told from the narrative characteristics that relate to jazz and blues.

27 In the book, the boy is white and the musician rhythmic creativity and can return at an older age he meets is African American. In Africa, the boy to see the representation of each specific musician. receives important wisdom from a chief. While other One could even play musical examples in order to characters describe things like the sea and sky, the relate a composition to the musician. It would also African chief leads him home. be interesting to look at the illustrations and compare This book has amazing illustrations and can them with original portraits. be read to a child of any age. It is appropriate for The author and illustrator use clever ways to independent reading for upper elementary students. communicate the narrative material to their audience. An interesting element of this story is the meaning and Through the use of realistic yet abstract caricatures of the roles that the blues musician and chief play in the each musician and the fitting scat text, a child is told boy’s . The author also felt the importance of many things about each performer. In this sense, the narrative the blues musician, for the cover shows the boy at the element comes also from pictures and music. It seems blues club. Interestingly enough, the boy is the only to be a very simple way to introduce jazz but offers white person, and child, in the audience. complexities for interpretation and discussion. It is important to recognize that there are several While intended for smaller children with opportunities stereotypes that can be found in this book. While it for biographical exploration, This Jazz Man can also is unrealistic to imagine a little boy going on such an be used in any other educational setting to discuss amazing adventure, the reality is the author chose the jazz and its perceptions. The adapted nursery text is race of the characters. This would be a great example the main idea of the book, but the illustrations and for students that are examining the narrative roles of race additional biographies make this an excellent source and culture in children’s books. (Elizabeth Patterson) for any educator in any setting. (Elizabeth Patterson)

Ehrhardt, Karen. This Jazz Man. New York: Harcourt, 2006. Gollub, Matthew. The Jazz Fly. Santa Rosa, CA: The children’s book This Jazz Man introduces the Tortuga Press, 2000. reader to nine essential jazz performers using a clever The Jazz Fly, along with the accompanying CD, style of presentation. The author, Karen Ehrhardt, provides an entertaining story with lots of rhythm takes the common nursery rhyme “This Old Man” chances for children to join in the fun. The book and changes it to “This Jazz Man.” Taking cue from has won numerous honors and awards such as the the style of “This Old Man,” This Jazz Man follows Writer’s Digest National Self-Published Book, the the same melodic structure but uses improvisation to Benjamin Franklin Award, and Smithsonian’s Book for introduce historical material to children in a fun and Children. This book has also been featured on “West carefree context. The illustrations, by Robert Roth, add Coast Live” and major jazz radio stations throughout to the playful nature of the book. His use of color and California. The hero, a fly who speaks only jazz and shapes allows the reader to imagine jazz as exciting is on his way to perform in a fancy dinner club, finds and exhilarating. himself lost. While trying to find his way he meets The text opens with Louis Armstrong behind the different animals and asks for directions. Each animal microphone in a fun patterned suit, and instead of the gives an answer in its own language, and , with traditional text we are given words to highlight the the help of his new friends, finally arrives at the club. improvisational nature of jazz: “snap, snap, snazzy- He and his group, the Jazz Bugs, begin to play. When snap.” The man behind number two is Bill Robinson. the owner of the club is less than impressed, the Jazz He is also pictured in a colorful nature and has Fly remembers the new languages he encountered on alternate text. He performs a “tap tap shuffle slap.” the way, and new music is born. The accompanying The pattern continues with creative jazz text audio CD not only invites children to sing along but taking the place of the traditional words. The other provides them with the creativity to come up with examples include Luciano Pozo, Duke Ellington, their own ideas for their improvisations of movement Charlie Parker, Art Blakey, Dizzy Gillespie, Fats and rhythm. Karen Hanke’s illustrations are colorful, Waller, and Charles Mingus. All of these musicians are and computer enhancement of the artwork only adds represented in a positive and pleasant way in colorful to the fun. The musicians on the accompanying CD pictures with playful textual adaptations. are talented, and the music is perfectly suited to the While the majority of the book is designed in book and illustrations. (Judith Nador) a simple fashion to stay true to the context of the nursery rhyme, the author takes time in the last few Isadora, Rachel. Bring on that Beat. New York: pages to present small biographical sketches for each Putnam, 2002. musician. Ideally, a child can become hooked on Rachel Isadora’s stark black-and-white cover and this book through the lighthearted and introductory pages falsely lead the reader into a world

28 of color, sound, and striking images and information. their faith in their churches with their gospel music a Bring on that Beat, a Parent’s Choice Silver Honor big part of their lives. Steamboats, New Orleans, Louis Book for 2002, gives us a hint of what is to come on Armstrong—all of these contributing to the music we the first narrative page of the black, gray, and white know today as jazz. images of another time. We see over these images an Our young rappers and hip-hoppers of today imposition in bright yellow, orange, and red capital can use The Sound that Jazz Makes to clearly see and letters spelling out j a z z . This device makes the reader understand that their music is a result of all of the feel that it is necessary to turn the page to see what things that came before. They have had a rich heritage comes next. upon which to build the rhythms and rhymes of today. What comes next makes the stroll down memory (Judith Nador) lane irresistible. We must go on. While the text and images remain in the black, gray, and white shades, Drama (annotated) every page has a surprise for us in the guise of brightly colored, computer-generated designs that provide a Baldwin, James. Blues for Mr. Charlie. New York: Dial feeling of movement forward in time even while we Press, 1964. are enjoying the images of a past life. Blues for Mr. Charlie would not be a good selection The colors and text take us on a journey through for teaching if a teacher is looking only for jazz the beginnings of jazz in the cities where it flourished. content, but while jazz is not mentioned all that often We see children dancing in the streets while their in the play, there are constant references to music in families are listening to the saxophone, trumpet, and both the stage directions (incidental music) and in the bass players. There is a feeling of joyfulness in the play’s text. The protagonist of the play, Richard Henry, illustrations, and the simple text lends itself to readers is a jazz singer. There is, of course, the blues of the of a young age as well as being fun for the person title, and the connections between blues and jazz are who is perhaps reading to the young reader. ancient and solid. Bring on that Beat is picture-book storytelling The play would have to be taken with a mature at its best. Each and every page can be made into a class. The sexual content of the play could be complete oral story of its own. Imagine the fun an problematic at some schools. On the plus side, adult can have sharing the book with children and though, is the fact that the play is a major work by listening to their interpretations of the many stories an important African American writer. The play deals in this one book. The journey we take will be all too with several very important themes and gives some short, but look again, and there may be a whole new interesting insights into the nascent days of the civil story of the beginnings of jazz. (Judith Nador) rights movement. The play is about a jazz musician who returns to Weatherford, Carole Boston. The Sound that Jazz his southern hometown after an incarceration and Makes. New York: Walker, 2000. rehabilitation for heroin use. He is staying with his The Sound that Jazz Makes is a beautifully illustrated father, Meridian Henry, who is the town’s African (by Eric Velasquez) journey through the history of American minister. Richard rekindles a love for an old African American music and the contributions it has sweetheart, Juanita, who has obviously been waiting made to music throughout the world. While text is for his return. Marriage is discussed, but before any simple, the story told is one of universality. This book plans can be made Richard insults the town’s most can be used to introduce music history to students violent white racist citizen, Lyle Bitten. Bitten had of all ages. The book is actually a beautifully crafted, already killed one African American whose wife Bitten easy-to-read and -understand time line of the origins had been sleeping with. No punishment was given of jazz. to Bitten. Bitten shoots the protagonist when Richard We begin this journey with the African drums, refuses to apologize. Bitten’s trial is a sham, and he is kalimba, and dancers, then move to the pain felt by once more set free. the captives thrown on ships and taken to unknown On the printed page, the stage directions and the futures. When destinations are reached, we see these lighting and music cues give the reader the impression proud people being sold as if they were goods and that this play would be stunning to experience on taken into a life of slavery. Field chants were passed stage. The sets, lighting, and sound underscore the on to keep each other aware of possible escapes and human drama and deep racial division in the town. routes to follow. Richard is one of Baldwin’s troubled jazz The journey continues with “Cakewalkers” in musicians who inhabit some of Baldwin’s best Harlem, workers on railroad crews, people who kept work, in particular, “Sonny’s Blues” (listed in this on singing, playing the blues on guitars, and keeping bibliography) and Rufus from Another Country.

29 (Sherley Anne Williams in her essay “The Black to save the life of their unborn child, which she is Musician: The Black Hero as Light Bearer” offers considering aborting. She is also worried about her an interesting discussion of Baldwin’s use of jazz young son Travis. Mama (Lena) is the matriarch of musicians in the aforementioned works. Her essay the family who must decide how to use the $10,000 is also listed in this bibliography.) But music plays insurance check paid on the death of her husband. a larger role in this play than just one character’s Walter wants a liquor store, and Beneatha wants occupation. Music is everywhere in the play. There a college education. Only Ruth supports Mama are several cues for music playing on a jukebox. when she spends part of the money on a house in a The African American church is always singing white neighborhood. Besides the intrafamily issues, gospel or protest songs. Music here is not just an the family also must deal with the issues of racism accompaniment for the lives of the African American (and its close relative, segregation), poverty, and the characters; it is woven into the fabric of their lives. deteriorating southside neighborhood. Interestingly, it is noticeably absent from the lives of The play is superb for high school use. Its issues of the whites. The question for the students, of course, family, responsibility, role modeling, and identity is why? The answers could vary, but one reason for development are all issues that students understand this musical dichotomy might be that the whites do and are willing to deal with. Racism and its contingent not need the music. In Whitetown, the whites are issues are also things that are worth having students secure, confident, in charge, and comfortable. Even grapple with. While set in the past, the historical Bitten, whose store is faltering because of an African perspective is helpful, and the basic issue of racism American boycott and who is charged with murder, is sadly timeless. Existentialism and colonialism are decides to expand his business. He and his wife and issues raised by an important African character. The play also son have the backing of the law, church, and white community. allows for interesting discussions on plot, character On the other hand, music is what gave development, symbolism, and other related issues. Richard the position he needed to build his With all of this going on, how does music, and confidence so that he could challenge “Mr. Charlie.” jazz in particular, come into play? While music does The music on the jukebox gave the community a not play a strong enough role to be considered a joyous distraction from Blacktown’s troubles as the motif or even an imagistic pattern, its presence in the people dance to its tunes. The gospel music offers play is still worth looking at. Hansberry’s play is so comfort and faith in a better life to come. Blues is tightly written, the importance of the references to the music of Blacktown. Why is the play called Blues music should not be ignored. The first time music is for Mr. Charlie? Cornel West in Democracy Matters mentioned is at the end of act 1, scene 1, when Mama offers some good reasons. West states, “The blues is asks Ruth to sing a spiritual while ironing. (Ruth faints not simply music to titillate; it is a hard-fought way before she sings.) In act 1, scene 2, Beneatha receives of life, and as such it should unsettle and unnerve a gift of recordings of African folk songs. At the whites about the legacy of white supremacy.” He beginning of act 2, scene 1, Beneatha is in the process goes on to say that blues offers “hope in the face of of playing this music when the drunken Walter returns dehumanizing hate and oppression.” The African home. The siblings, usually at odds with each other, Americans sing for courage as they leave to protest the unselfconsciously and unsatirically sing and dance court’s decision on Bitten’s guilt. together in celebration of their African heritage. In act An interesting activity for the students reading 2, scene 2, Walter turns on the radio to play the blues the play would be for them to research the music of before Mama and Ruth confront him about his not this period and make selections for the placement of reporting to work. Walter tells the women that instead music at Baldwin’s sound cues. They should explain of going to work that he frequently goes to the Green their choices. An interesting question might be whether Hat, a bar, where a “cat” plays what is obviously today’s music would work as well. (Ken Froehlich) bebop jazz. The first three types of music mentioned—gospel, Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. New York: African folk music, and the blues—are all elements Vintage, 1994. that went into the development of jazz, the last music A Raisin in the Sun is not a play about music, but mentioned. All of these musical elements are a part music is part of the play’s fabric. The play is about of African American heritage. Jazz brings Walter an African American family that attempts to solve its comfort and pleasure. He says about the jazzman, many problems in post–World War II Chicago. The “he talks to me.” Questions to ask the students are, two adult children of Lena and deceased Big Walter Why does the music bring pleasure and comfort, and Younger, Walter and Beneatha, are seeking identity about what does the jazzman speak? The answers of and fulfillment. Ruth, Walter’s estranged wife, wants course could vary. But certainly the jazz speaks to

30 Walter about who he is as an African American. The contrast between thematic melodies and contrasting music offers Walter his heritage. The jazzman also lyrics. There does not seem to always be a realistic knows something about Walter’s struggle. He and his connection between the harmonic chord progressions musical genre are seeking the same acceptance and and lyrics. respectability as Walter. Jazz in the 1950s was seeking Many narrative questions are raised with the the status of art, and the jazzman wanted to be musical Ain’t Misbehavin. What role does music viewed as a serious artist. The sax player brings Walter play in popular culture? How are the emotions of comfort but also says to him that I understand you and the characters worked out through song? It would be your struggles. interesting to consider the text without the musical Hansberry’s use of the music is subtle and it does interplay. Would it still be realistic? What are the not distract from the flow of the play. It is simply part historical, social, and cultural contexts of this musical? of the play’s fabric, woven in as part of the Youngers’ The audience is led to believe that during the Harlem lives. It is just another element of this ore-rich play Renaissance young adults were focused only on love that can be mined for discussing, writing, or just and relationships. Is this truly the case? By examining thinking. (Ken Froehlich) the societal connections between music and the narrative of Ain’t Misbehavin, the audience is able to Maltby, Richard Jr., Murray Horowitz, and Fats understand the role of the show in the history of the Waller. Ain’t Misbehavin’. New York: contemporary American musical. (Elizabeth Patterson) Theatre Club, 1978. Ain’t Misbehavin’ tells the story of five characters set Films (annotated) in the 1930s during the Harlem Renaissance. While the music is written by Fats Waller, the show is set as Anatomy of a Murder. Directed by Otto Preminger. more of a tribute to him than a biography. The musical Columbia Pictures, 1959. opened on Broadway in February 1978 and had more Anatomy of a Murder offers the interested high school than 1600 performances. It stands as one of the most teacher numerous teachable moments in the areas of popular and successful all–African American musicals film and music. When it first appeared in 1959 the in history. Ain’t Misbehavin’ was recognized by the film was a bit controversial both for its discussion of critics also. In 1978 it received a Drama Desk award rape and undergarments and the evidentiary testimony in the actor and actress categories. It also was the concerning these items during the trial. Today any TV darling of the 1978 . Ain’t Misbehavin’ episode of CSI will offer more titillating and detailed earned the award for Best Direction, Best Featured discussion of body parts and fluids than the presenters Actress, and Best Musical. It took the musical theater of Anatomy of a Murder ever thought of offering world by storm on all accounts. on the big screen. The controversy that the film Ain’t Misbehavin’ is set as a musical revue. There stimulated might develop a good classroom discussion is relatively little dialogue, and the majority of the on shifting social and artistic mores that would make storytelling is told through song. The characters spend the showing of the film worth the time it would take the first act talking about the joy and happiness of for a screening. The film, with its moody black-and- love, and the second act centers on the negative white photography and jazz sound track composed elements of love. Armelia, Nell, Andre, Ken, and by Duke Ellington, could lead to a presentation of Charlaine sing about how hard it is to find love in the film noir characteristics. As a courtroom drama, the first act, but it is good when it is found. The first act film works marvelously well with James Stewart as show-stoppers include “Handful of Keys” and “The attorney Paul Biegler and George C. Scott as state Joint Is Jumpin.’” district attorney Claude Dancer setting off frequent The music echoes the early big band sentiment, sparks as they legally rub each other the wrong way. and a great emphasis is placed on the stride piano The film concerns a young lieutenant, Frederick style. The songs are stereotypically set, though, as the Manion (played by Ben Gazzara), who killed a man women sing about war, and the men sing about girls who purportedly raped his wife, Laura (played by Lee that were more than just eye candy. To them, these Remick). The defense offered is a type of temporary rare women could sing too! The musical plays into the insanity called “irresistible impulse.” There are several gender roles of the time but stick out glaringly today. interesting twists and turns as the Manions’ story The second act of Ain’t Misbehavin’ tackles the unfolds. Some of the ambiguities of the story are harsh realities of love: infidelity, a critical partner, realistically left unresolved. In real life and in good and loyalty as a form of self-sacrifice. Songs like drama, truth is not always attainable. “That Ain’t Right,” “Your Feet’s Too Big,” and “I’ve Duke Ellington wrote his first sound track for this Got My Fingers Crossed” show an interesting musical film. This fact would be reason enough for this film

31 to be of interest to Ellington fans and jazz buffs. The musical score, George Bruns featured the accordion- sound track CD (there are several available) offers like musette for French flavor, and, drawing on his several gems that are worth multiple listenings. considerable background with jazz bands in the “Anatomy of a Murder,” “Flirtibird,” and “Almost 1940s, provided a great deal of jazz music. Cried” are this listener’s favorites. There is an interview In using The Aristocrats as a teaching tool for the on the newest CD that is worth the price of the disc appreciation of jazz, the score gives the instructor a simply to hear Ellington’s elegant voice. There are wealth of songs from which to choose, notable among different versions of the same songs offered on the them “Everybody Wants to Be a Cat” (written by Floyd CD. The Dixieland version of “Happy Anatomy” is Huddleston and Al Rinker and performed by Scat Man very interesting. Crothers and Phil Harris), which has the feel of early Surprisingly little from the sound track recording jazz rhythms, harmonies, and lyrics, and in addition, appears in the film. The actual use of music in the is simply fun to hear. The underscore of the movie has film is very spare. The major use of the music, except a strong jazz feel to it. for the opening titles, is for transitional scenes when The Aristocats will set the stage for listening to characters are driving from one place to another. more jazz music by engaging the viewer with the The Paul Biegler character plays jazz piano, and he beautiful animation and the fun-to-listen-to score. plays snippets now and then in the film. He also Discussions with the students about the music will plays a brief duet with Ellington, who makes a brief enhance their interest in learning more about the appearance as Pie Eye, leader of an all–African genre of jazz. American combo for all-white dancers. Discussing A lesson plan to accompany the film could be Preminger’s use, or lack there of, of music in the film, constructed fairly easily by creating a set of simple and use of a African American band for an all-white listening exercises, questions about the music and audience might stimulate some interesting reactions how it makes one feel, and how the music helps to from the students. set the mood for the scenes in the movie. Does one Even with the paucity of played music in the get a sense of being in France? Do you feel the danger film, jazz is actually everywhere. It is just not always when Edgar, the evil butler, is in a scene? And how do played by real jazz musicians. Biegler owns many O’Malley, the alley cat, and his friends appear to you that include music from Dixieland to Brubeck. when they play their music? These and many other He constantly noodles at the piano, and his interest guiding questions can be developed easily in order in jazz is mentioned on several occasions. The state’s to work with young students when using the movie attorney is named Claude “Dancer.” The trial itself is a as a source for beginning to initiate the young to an type of “cutting session” in which Dancer loses when appreciation of jazz as a part of their lives. (Judith Nador) he commits the quintessential lawyer error when he asks a question he does not know the answer to. Chicago. Directed by Bill Condon. Mirimax, 2003. While the lawyers are the soloists, the judge is the The motion picture adaptation of the Broadway keeper of the rhythm. He constantly checks his watch. musical Chicago highlights the extreme highs and He is the timekeeper. He decides who plays, when, the dramatic lows of many popular jazz stereotypes. and for how long. There are other elements that could Narrative themes are drawn using characters, settings, allow students to pursue the analogy between jazz and dialogue. While entertaining, Chicago glorifies and the practice of law in this film. violence, sexual promiscuity, and hunger for fame. The use of this film and its sound track recording In this movie, narratives present jazz figures in should not be a matter of “irresistible impulse” but a an almost caricaturist sense. Billy Flynn, the money- matter of good, solid judgment. (Ken Froehlich) hungry lawyer played by Richard Gere, is extremely animated. He plays with the sensitive nuance of his The Aristocats. Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman. character, but the dream sequences show him as an Walt Disney, 1970. incredibly deceitful, materialistic person. His more The Aristocats is a G-rated animated feature that tells dangerous qualities are glorified, and he receives fame the story of a family of “aristocratic” cats and their and fortune through bending the rules and breaking adventures after meeting an alley cat, who turns out the law. to be the hero of the piece. This movie can be used to Velma Kelly, played by Catherine Zeta-Jones, is engage young listeners with the “jazzy” music used famous for killing her husband, who just happened as the sound track. The story is a simple one of heroes to be having an affair with her sister. Velma argues and villains, appealing to young students, and the that “he had it coming.” Roxie Hart, played by Renee sound track provides a friendly introduction to both Zellweger, is the ingénue and is also a murder. Roxie jazz and French-flavored music. For the background meets Velma in jail and plans to buy her way into

32 fame and fortune. Roxie Hart’s husband, Amos, time when African American children living in a city played by John C. Reilly, is sincerely kind and loyal could still have innocent fun, move freely around their and is looked at as an extremely weak and pathetic neighborhoods, have arguments with one another, character. and still not be in fear for their lives. There were Roxie and Velma come to fame after Billy Flynn certainly disagreements and even fights, but nobody lies his way to a mistrial or not guilty verdict. The was likely to be shot over a pair of shoes. crooked characters are willing to do anything to be While Crooklyn is not a completely “sugar and famous and are worshipped by the public. They lie spice” kind of film, it does show realistic relationships and steal and cheat to become stars. This is a mature between multigenerational family members and the film and is not appropriate for elementary or middle residents of a diverse neighborhood. In addition, the school students. variety of music in the score, 1970s R and B, pop, and Jazz is its own character in this film and is guilty Woody Carmichael’s own compositions representing by association. Jazz is presented as being extremely the world of jazz, Crooklyn could be used as an sexual, surrounded by illegal behavior, and totally introduction to the life of musicians and their families self-absorbed. At the same time, there is very little for young adults and older students. (Judith Nador) diversity. The only main character that is African American is the bandleader at the jazz club, played by Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Directed by Blake Edwards. Taye Diggs. The only woman in a respected field is a Paramount Pictures, 1961. reporter, Mary Sunshine, played by Christine Baranski. Throwing aside one of the basic rules of academic Ironically, she is a gossip reporter. It seems that major writing, I am going to ignore third-person objectivity narrative liberties are taken with the glorification of and simply write first person and personal. I feel that criminal behavior and the lack of realistic diversity. I must. The music that I am writing about has been (Elizabeth Patterson) part of my life for over forty years. For more than four decades, the sound track for Breakfast at Tiffany’s has Crooklyn. Directed by Spike Lee. 40 Acres and a been part of my record library (minus a brief time Mule Filmworks, 1994. when I went from vinyl to CD). Only Dave Brubeck’s This movie gives us a look at the life of an African Time Out can make a similar claim. American family in Brooklyn during the 1970s. The Henry Mancini, who wrote the sound track, first film is considered to be a semi-autobiographical view came to my ears when I was in grade school when I of Spike Lee’s life growing up with a schoolteacher heard his music for the television series Peter Gunn. mother, her jazz musician husband, and their five Before I saw the film or heard the sound track, the children. Crooklyn is one of only two films directed by hit song from the movie, “,” became a Spike Lee to earn a PG-13 rating in the United States, personal favorite. The song, with its sappy lyrics by the other being 1992’s Malcolm X. It is also interesting , in some ways became the theme song to note that Spike Lee and two of his siblings, Joie and for my adolescence. I attempted to keep an outward Cinque, collaborated on the screenplay. appearance of the James Dean, cigarette-smoking The story is told through the eyes of Troy, a antihero, but, in fact, I was a “Moon River” emotional ten-year-old and the only girl in the family, played blob on the inside. But I have to be fair to myself. I by Zelda Harris. We see how she views the strife wore out multiple copies of the Breakfast at Tiffany’s between her parents, typical sibling arguments and album because (besides carelessness and bad stereos) teasing, and her attempts to understand the problems I played them so often. Not just “Moon River,” but the her parents are facing. The father, Woody Carmichael, whole album. played by Delroy Lindo, is a jazz musician who insists Everything in the album—except for “Moon River,” on remaining true to his craft, refusing to play “sellable” which is a ballad that quickly became a standard—is music. His jobs are few and far between. The mother, jazz, and fun jazz at that. It is big band jazz, the likes Carolyn Carmichael, played by Alfe Woodard, is of which filled numerous sound tracks from this era overworked and underpaid as a schoolteacher and is and accompanied such musicians as on trying to keep the family together. songs such as “Walk on the Wild Side.” We are also privy to the goings-on of other members The film that the sound track accompanied was of the neighborhood and the relationships between good but not great. The best thing about the film this very diverse group of people and the Carmichael was Audrey Hepburn. I will admit that I was in love family. Although they have their differences, they come with her. Her voice could arouse me and soothe me together and support one another when circumstances at the same time. Ah, the mysteries of adolescence. and events call for this kind of action. The film was based on a Truman Capote novel. At The story line is family oriented and shows us a this time, Capote had not blown me away yet with In

33 Cold Blood. Many of the characters were unsavory. compositions created by Miles Davis. Davis, who Hepburn’s character, Holly Golightly, was a woman worked with bop drummer Kenny Clark and three who would go with any man who could raise her French musicians picked up in the studio, improvised social or financial status. The pre–A Team George all of the music in an attempt to play with the Peppard played Paul Varjak, a novelist who was a relationship between sound and image. Jazz historians kept man (kept by Patricia Neal, but still kept). Blake and music students may be interested to learn that Edwards was the director, and he and Mancini were it was during these sound track sessions, according headed to the Pink Panther movies. to the supplemental information booklet issued with Much, but not all, of Mancini’s music here is the Criterion Collection DVD, that Davis began character driven. Three songs are directly related to to develop his interest in the modal approach to Holly Golightly: “Sally’s Tomato,” “Latin Golightly,” composition—the same style that he would famously and the exquisite “Holly.” An interesting experiment employ on his landmark album Kind of Blue. would be to have the students write or talk about how However, for those interested in narrative alone, the each song reveals the identity of Holly in the minds of music operates as both a mechanism for conveying a the students. The experiment might work better if they tone and as a very real presence itself, almost as if it listened to the music first and then discovered how it were a character on screen. worked with the film. The story centers around two pairs of lovers, “Holly” opens with a short but sweet guitar solo Florence and Julien, who are planning to murder Mr. that is follow by a rich-sounding trombone section. A Carala (who just happens to be Florence’s husband tenor sax enters played over silken strings. There is an and Julien’s boss), and the juvenile delinquent Louis aching, longing quality to the song that is accentuated and his romantic girlfriend Veronique. Through a by a brief, returning guitar. The music gives Holly a series of mistaken identities, incredible strings of bad depth and complexity that her name belies. “Breakfast luck, and misunderstandings, each couple finds itself at Tiffany’s” is about Holly also. The alto sax solo and in increasingly dire situations. With the backdrop of song in general speak of a dreaminess and softness noir conventions and the attendant suspense, Malle about Holly that the character would certainly try to was primarily focused on presenting a vision of deny. that was, above all, modern. It is in this regard that “The Big Heist,” background music for a comic class discussions may evolve: What is modernism? dime-store robbery, is fun and foreshadows the Pink What are the conventions of modernism? How is the Panther music still to come. “Hub Caps and Tail film’s story modern? How does the musical score Lights” is stripper music and is very “Night Train”–ish. accomplish Malle’s aims and expand upon the image There are great drums and good sax and solos, on the screen? Students may wish to consider how the which talk back and forth with one another. It also characters—world-weary, alienated, tired by war and ends in a good, clean guitar solo. politics—are introduced. As stated before, I would be tempted to play As Malle said in an interview with Philip French the music before viewing the film. The students (reprinted in the Criterion Collection booklet), the could then verify for themselves whether or not the use of Miles Davis’s score “was not like a lot of film music evoked the proper characterization, mood, music, emphasizing or trying to add the emotion atmosphere, or whatever. The students could also be that is implicit in the images and the rest of the educated about the flute, the Latin influence, and soundtrack. It was a counterpoint, it was elegiac—and other aspects reflected in this music about jazz in the it was somewhat detached…the Miles Davis trumpet late fifties and early sixties. gave it a tone that added tremendously to the first Deep stuff? Certainly not. But certainly fun. images.” It is this idea—that the trumpet adds something (Ken Froehlich) tremendous to the images—that is definitely worth investigating in class. If you wanted to show just Elevator to the Gallows (Ascenseur pour l’échafaud). a scene or two rather than the whole film, there Directed by Louis Malle. Criterion Collection, 2006. is perhaps no better example of Davis’s evocative It may seem strange to suggest a black-and-white, playing and Malle’s conceptualization of the modern subtitled French noir film that features no jazz than in the scene when Florence (played by French musicians as characters, no nightclubs as settings, no film icon Jeanne Morreau) wanders through the lonely, black characters, no American characters, and nary an late night streets of Paris searching for her lover. The instrument in sight as a fitting tool for the discussion stark beauty of the Parisian nighttime, Morreau’s of jazz and the literary narrative. This problem can expressive look, and, of course, Davis’s cool trumpet be answered very quickly, if only superficially, by combine to create a lasting moment of desperation, pointing out the legendary score, the atmospheric fear, longing, and heartbreak. (T. J. Gillespie)

34 language, some violence, and drug use, so it is best Kansas City. Directed by . Fine Line reserved for older high school students and may Features, 1996. require some level of parental permission. (T. J. Robert Altman, the acclaimed director of films Gillespie) such as M*A*S*H*, , Nashville, and The Player, returned to the city of his youth to recreate Mo’ Better Blues. Directed by Spike Lee. Universal a city teeming with vice, music, excitement, and Pictures, 1990. danger. Kansas City in 1934, ruled by “Boss Tom” In his Mo’ Better Blues, Spike Lee fictionalizes the Pendergast’s Democratic political machine and John life of a modern-day jazz artist named Bleek and Lazia’s criminal syndicate, is a world of gambling, presents many thematic problems that may plague prostitution, hard drinking, political machinations, the jazz artist, including white business owners crime, and of course jazz. The plot is set off when taking advantage of black artists and the desire of Johnny O’Hara, a petty thief, colludes with a black the musician not to conform. For the first two hours cab driver to rip off a high-rolling gambler named of the film, Lee offers his audience an Aristotelian Sheepshan. O’Hara disguises himself in blackface tragic form, as Bleek’s (a man with seemingly but fails to consider Sheepshan’s close ties with the everything) pride contributes to his downward spiral; notorious and powerful Seldom Seen, the owner of however, Lee provides a more optimistic ending that the Hey-Hey Club, a jazz joint and gambling haven. emphasizes the importance of options for African Desperate to rescue Johnny, his wife, Blondie, kidnaps Americans to succeed instead of limiting career Carolyn Stilton, the laudanum-addicted wife of a choices to music. powerful local politician, and plans to negotiate The film opens in 1969 when Bleek is approximately her husband’s release. While the melodramatic plot ten years old. Bleek’s mother forbids him to play and the suspenseful threat of violence are enough to baseball with the neighborhood boys and insists that hook most viewers, the film’s greatest asset is in its Bleek practice the trumpet. The idea that African vivid recreation of the period, accurate replication Americans could only excel in the musical field is of the jazz sounds of the day, and superb casting of validated throughout history. Often, African Americans contemporary musicians such as Joshua , would choose to forego their medical or law studies Craig Handy, and James Carter to play the parts of to pursue a more lucrative career as a performer. The Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins, and , scene flashes forward about twenty-five years, when respectively. Bleek is the successful leader of a jazz quintet. Bleek While much of the plot centers on the tough- enjoys living in his spacious Brooklyn apartment, talking, Jean Harlow–idolizing Blondie and her loving two women, and being the charismatic center attempts to bargain with Seldom, the most appealing of the band, which always comes first. Bleek even scenes of the film are those that take place in the says to his lover, “I know what I want, my music. Hey-Hey Club. Altman makes use of many of the Everything else is secondary.” He later admits that most significant figures of Kansas City’s golden age if he couldn’t play that he would “probably roll of jazz from Young and Hawkins to a piano player up in the corner and die,” which foreshadows his named Bill Basie, who of course later adopted the title breakdown toward the end of the film. And Bleek of Count. An amusing small subplot involves a teen- certainly does put his music first, as he reprimands his age saxophone player named Charlie who rescues girlfriend Clarke for coming over an hour early and a pregnant teenager and helps her find her way to a disrupting his practice. He feels confident and proud rest home for unwed girls. That young musician, we enough to have two girlfriends and to reprimand them discover, is none other than Charlie “Bird” Parker, if they disrupt his study. His pride continues to rule the great bop revolutionary. While there are other when he chastises his popular saxophonist Shadow for elements that make the film worth recommending— spending too much time performing solos, as Bleek the allusions to important historical figures like wants to remain the crowd pleaser. Clearly, Bleek, in Marcus Garvey and President Roosevelt, the depiction classic Aristotelian form, is a man with everything who of city politics and corruption, the dangers of drug suffers from a tragic flaw, hubris. use—there is one episode in particular that could be There are also other factors that contribute shown in isolation if the class is most interested in to Bleek’s eventual breakdown, which cannot be the music of the day. Identified as “Scene 12: Dueling considered a complete downfall because he does Saxes,” this single scene presents an exciting jazz exhibit resiliency. Lee includes two white club owners session complete with rousing competition of soloists who refuse to give the black musicians more money, and is surely a highlight of the film. even though they are reason the club is flourishing It should be noted that this film is rated R for financially. The conflict between black performer and

35 white manager seems to be deeply embedded in the this theme is heard, the audience is immediately jazz culture. Another viable conflict exists between reminded of the fragile relationship between the two Bleek’s desire to play the jazz he loves and Shadow’s gangs. There is an air of violence, heard in the strings insistence that they play what the audience wants and the strict articulation of the percussion. to hear. Bleek screams, “Jazz is our music! It’s black The Sharks and the Jets both have unique jazz music! It incenses me that our people don’t realize! elements. The Sharks, Puerto Ricans that have moved Our people aren’t coming!” This scene displays the to New York City, have Latin jazz elements. The Jets, desire of the passionate artist to maintain his musical Americans threatened by the Sharks hovering on their and ancestral dignity, while others see making a profit turf, have a traditional jazz combo sound. The tension to survive as more important. between these gangs only increases as Tony, best Toward the end of the film, Giant, Bleek’s friend of Jet leader Riff, meets Maria, sister of Shark inefficient and gambling-addicted manager, is brutally leader Bernardo, at the school dance. attacked by loan sharks, and Bleek is violently hit The most brilliant use of instrumental narrative in the mouth with his trumpet, which ultimately takes place at the school dance. The audience precludes his ability to play the instrument. Bleek sees the Jets and the Sharks dancing to their own becomes unmotivated and disconnected from styles of music and being encouraged to mingle, society; he experiences a downfall, but fortunately, which backfires completely. While the attempted he also experiences a catharsis and realizes that he unity crumbles, Maria and Tony connect and fall in wants one woman with whom to lead a decent life. love. Bernstein and Sondheim do an amazing job The last scene of the film depicts Bleek’s son in the of highlighting traditional American and Latin jazz same position Bleek was once in. The son is being themes during their dance floor courtship. Maria beckoned by the neighborhood boys to play ball, but and Tony are able to see past all of the obstacles this time, Bleek lets his son be a child and play ball. that, according to Riff and Bernardo, should keep Years later, Spike Lee shows his audience that not them apart. The songs performed by Maria and Tony everything ends in tragedy and that there are other throughout the rest of the movie fuse together the options for black Americans beyond music. elements of both backgrounds. The film in its entirety may be too overtly sexually At the same time, there are several examples in suggestive for high school students, but there are the movie where racial stereotypes are suggested. scenes that can be shown to illustrate some issues that When Anita goes to tell Tony at Doc’s that Maria will arise in the jazz culture. The soundtrack also features indeed meet him, the Jets aggressively pursue her and important compositions, such as John Coltrane’s “A taunt her culture and background. The Sharks also Love Supreme,” which is used throughout Bleek’s make negative comments regarding the difference encounters with his women. (Melissa Papianou) between Puerto Rico and America on the rooftop. Cultural differences are highlighted, but Maria and West Side Story. Directed by Ernest Lehman. Tony are able to fall in love regardless. Is it safe to assume UnitedArtists, 1961. that love conquers all, even in a time of racial tension? The movie adaptation of West Side Story has earned West Side Story is a great way to introduce its place in movie-musical history. With many awards students to the role of narrative instrumental music and endless recognition, West Side Story is much in movies. Students can watch the movie and more than entertainment. From the amazing music discuss how the music sets the tone and mood and of Leonard Bernstein and Steven Sondheim to the encourages character development. Students become passionate interpretation of character by actors like extremely connected to this film, and it creates Russ Tamblyn and George Chakiris, West Side Story is opportunities for excellent classroom dialogue. West a brilliant adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. Side Story is a concrete example of how music is used The movie stays extremely honest to the stage in a narrative context. (Elizabeth Patterson) production. The sets are relatively simple and allow the focus to remain on the relationships between the Music Recordings (annotated) characters. Music and dance, over dialogue, are the integral tools for plot formation and character development. Ellington, Duke. “.” 1935. The use of jazz instrumentation and style, most specifically, The lyrics to the Duke Ellington song “In a Sentimental connect the mood and theme to the audience. Mood” highlight some of the most dramatically romantic Several musical themes act as narrative clues for elements of the jazz vocal. Ellington, responsible for the audience. The theme that is played at the opening many great jazz lyrics, had the ability to make the of the movie demonstrates the violently careless dramatic seem common. His lyrics explain the depth relationship between the Sharks and the Jets. Anytime and passion of love that some say can only be found

36 in the movies. His depiction of romance echoes the and perhaps even tell a story. drama of the jazz era and allows the listener to lose Ellington’s initial work offered eleven songs, each themselves in the story. linked to a Shakespearean character: “Such Sweet Ellington opens with the song title and stresses the Thunder” is based on Othello; “Sonnet for Caesar” effect of his love. He compares an attitude to a “flame on Julius Caesar; “Sonnet to Hank Cinq” on Henry V; that lights the gloom.” Alluding to the fiery nature “Lady Mac” on Lady Macbeth; “Sonnet in Search of of love allows Ellington to convey the power of the a Moor” on Othello; “The Telecasters” is for both the feelings he presents. Another line—“drift a melody so Three Witches from Macbeth and Iago from Othello; sweet”—draws a direct connection between music “Up and Down, Up and Down, I Will Lead Them and love. (Up and Down)” on Puck from A Midsummer Night’s Ellington uses musically complex chords to Dream; “Sonnet for Sister Kate” on Katherine from create his introspective mood. He considers the The Taming of the Shrew; “The Star-Crossed Lovers” theme, treatment, and structure of each phrase and on Romeo and Juliet; “Madness in Great Ones” on uses original harmonic thoughts to express usually Hamlet; and “Half the Fun” on Cleopatra. While conventional emotion. Middle rhymes are used some tracks work better than others as reflections as a literary tool to enhance the narrative context. of Shakespeare’s characters, each is ambitious and Opening with a tonic arpeggiation that settles on interesting in its own right and may be recommended a harmonically dissonant note on the downbeat of for classroom use. the second bar adds to the musical complexity of One of the interesting things about the title Ellington’s compositional style. track, “,” is that while it purports Comparing his mood to paradise, Ellington’s to describe the character of Othello, it is actually dramatic lyric selection echoes the graceful arc of a line lifted from another play—it is taken from his melody and patient resolution of his phrases. Hippolyta’s description of Hercules in A Midsummer He seems to be willing to spend eternity sharing Night’s Dream. Some critics have argued that the the wonder of his mood. His world has become title is actually a clever reminder of how jazz was “heavenly” for he captured the heart of his love. initially dismissed by white listeners; the full quote These lyrics demonstrate the extreme joy and is “I never heard / so musical a discord, such sweet passion that can be found in many jazz standards. It thunder.” The song itself is a twelve-bar blues based seems to be a form of escapism also, for there is no on strong drum beats and low horns, but how does mention of any cultural, racial, or societal conflict. Ellington make this piece fit Othello? This may be Is it true that this love has the ability to fade out all one of the issues worth exploring in class discussion, of the conflict in everyday life? Or, is it just a way as there seems to be no clear consensus. Stephen to imagine life in an ideal fashion? The purpose of M. Buhler, of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Ellington’s narrative lyrical design is a dynamic topic suggests that the “music is applied to Othello’s for discussion in the high school or collegiate setting. accounts of his own experiences (see Othello 1.3, (Elizabeth Patterson) 128–45). Ellington and Strayhorn factor in how these adventures and the man who endured them might have sounded to Desdemona.” Jack Chambers, in his Ellington, Duke. “Such Sweet Thunder.” Such Sweet essay “Birdland: Shakespeare in Ellington’s World,” Thunder. Sony Records, 1999. is not so convinced, saying, “unlike the other scenes, After performing two concerts at the Shakespearean however, it is only tangentially Shakespearean. It has Festival in Stratford, Ontario, in July 1956, Duke no connection to its source play. Originally titled Ellington, no doubt impressed by the brilliant ‘Cleo,’ it might have been intended as an evocation performance of a young Canadian actor named of Cleopatra’s sexuality, which certainly works, but William Shatner, was inspired to write a jazz suite instead Ellington always introduced it as (at Juan les inspired by the works of the Bard. Working with Pins in 1966) the ‘sweet swinging line of talk that longtime collaborator Billy Strayhorn, Ellington sought Othello gave to Desdemona which swayed her into to create a series of musical portraits for some of his direction.’ That does not work. It is far from pillow Shakespeare’s most famous characters. For students talk, by any criterion. Though it works perfectly as and teachers of both literature and music, Ellington’s overture, it is one of the pieces that only loosely daring work offers an exciting tool for the discussing fits the thematic conception.” An ongoing debate the individual personalities of Shakespearean concerning music and the storytelling tradition, and characterization, Ellington’s sophistication and one I won’t attempt to answer here, is whether or ambition, jazz’s musical vocabulary, and larger not music is properly equipped with the necessary questions about music’s ability to create mood, tone, devices to narrate. While there is little question that

37 music, especially in the skilled hands of a composer Productions, 2005. like Ellington, can evoke a mood, create a scene, The first of three albums,Jazz Baby, Session 1 inspire feeling, and even invite listeners to visualize introduces us to a concept of presenting jazz to young action, students may enjoy debating the question of children in a way that is entertaining to the children whether or not the tracks on Such Sweet Thunder and to the adult who is listening with them. The reveal anything about character and plot. (T. J. Gillespie) group of talented performers, as well as the highly qualified people behind the performances, make these Gillespie, Dizzy. “I Remember Clifford.” At Newport, albums particularly valuable for anyone who wishes Live. PolyGram, 1957. to encourage an appreciation of the arts, and in While Dizzy Gillespie was known to be quite the particular a love of jazz, in today’s young people. joker, hence the nickname “Diz,” there were many Lisa Beth Kovetz, whose company is Flying South times that he portrayed a musical sensitivity that was Productions, is a respected, award-winning writer incomprehensible. Such is the case with his song “I and producer. Her producing awards include the Film Remember Clifford.” As a neutral listener, there is Advisory Board’s Award of Excellence, the Pinnacle something so sad and haunting about this recording. Book Achievement Award, and the Kodak Emerging The trumpet melody may be called simple, but the Filmmaker Award. Born in Brooklyn, New York, she tone and texture of Gillespie’s playing makes it sound currently lives in Los Angeles with her husband, jazz like so much more. There has been a good deal of musician Eldad Tarmu, and their two sons. Others argument whether or not instrumental jazz music involved in the production of the Jazz Baby series is narrative. In some cases for both sides include Joel Dorn, a four-time Grammy winner; are valid and worthy of healthy discussion. At the Cengiz Yaltkaya, whose résumé includes arrangements same time, there are several songs that are so direct for Herbie Mann, Dave Sanborn, and Joe Morello; with their emotional substance that it is hard to not Tom Adams, and Cybil Shepard. Tom Adams has be moved by their themes. “I Remember Clifford” is accompanied some of the biggest names in the played with smooth lines and clean phrases. While entertainment industry, such as Anita O’Day, Keely Gillespie includes sensitive vibrato, there is no sense Smith, and Mel Torme. Cybil Shepard has a thirty- of the showman that he was known to be. This melody five-year musical history, including working with Stan was a tribute; it was meant to be absorbed. Getz and Phineas Newborn Jr. Written for Clifford Brown, “I Remember Clifford” has definite meaning and message for an audience. The performers on the albums include the following: While it does not have the contrast of Dizzy’s “A § Claudia Acuna, a native of Chile. She began Night in Tunisia” or the playfulness of “Salt Peanuts”; singing before she turned sixteen and has it does have the sadness and pain that accompanies performed at such notable venues as the Blue loss. Born in 1930, Clifford Brown was killed in an Note in New York. automobile accident on June 26, 1956. He was just § Jim Belushi, actor and musician. He beginning to be recognized as a great composer but contributes to the album a true “Blue’s was admired more for his ability to connect emotion Brothers” version of “Momma Don’t Allow to music. Gillespie was inspired by Brown’s promise No Guitar Playing around Here.” and emotional capability. It is not hard to imagine the § Freddie Cole, younger brother (by twelve impact that Brown would have had on the jazz world years) of Nat King Cole. He lends his talents if he had lived past the age of twenty-six. This song, to Session 1’s “Jamaica Farewell” and “Scarlet performed live a year after the death of Brown, tells Ribbons.” His training includes studying at through music a profound story about life, love, and loss. Juilliard and a master’s degree from the New The musical composition is relatively simple. Conservatory of Music. There is a rhythm section and trumpet. The solo is § In addition, there are performances by Megan narrative in context, for it describes the emotions Mullally, Dr. John, Janis Siegel, Billy Preston, that Brown played with and the grief that Gillespie Taj Majal, Poncho Sanchez, and Rosemary felt over the loss of his friend. The narrative is Clooney, as well as many others equally talented. constructed with simple phrase lines and is repeated The entire Jazz Baby Series lends itself easily to to demonstrate greater emotion. It is narrative because a classroom setting. Each song can be listened and it takes the listener through the story of Brown and his danced to, and stories can be told from the songs. effect on the jazz greats around him. While there are Young children will relate to the simple lyrics and they no words, the music tells the story. (Elizabeth Patterson) will easily, with a little guidance from their teacher, give you their own interpretative narrative. Kovetz, Lisa Beth. Jazz Baby, Session 1. Flying South Jazz Baby, Session 1 is a collection of

38 traditional children’s songs, or standards that appeal to they will be enjoyed even more by all, young and children, performed by a variety of vocalists interpreted old, who hear them. The recordings will provide a within a jazz (or blues) framework with a bit of swing wonderful way to introduce the literary genre of fairy instrumental interplay. The arrangements will appeal tales and the musical genre of jazz to young children. to young children and provide them with a door to the Jazzy Fairy Tales, a collaboration between world of jazz in their future. The rhythmical patterns will storyteller and musician, is a must-have for anyone also lend themselves to the development of children’s working with younger children and looking for a own developing motor skills and with guidance these foundation upon which to build a love of literature can be connected to patterning skills, which in turn will and jazz. (Judith Nador) greatly enhance the higher level thinking skills needed for comprehensive reading and mathematics. (Judith Nador) Novels (annotated)

Rogers, Louise, Susan Milligan, and Rick Strong. Kerouac, Jack. Part 3, chapters 4 and 10. In On the Jazzy Fairy Tales. RILO Records, 2007. Road. Reprint, New York: Penguin, 1985. The playfulness of jazz gives new life to such standard While the entirety of Kerouac’s 1957 novel has been tales as “Three Little Pigs,” “Three Billy Goats Gruff,” described as being written with the spontaneity and and “Three Bears” through the reinterpreted songs spirit of jazz musicians, teachers who don’t have “The Jazzy Pigs,” The Jazzy Goats,” and “The Jazzy the time or interest in assigning the whole work may Bears.” Storyteller Susan Milligan and jazz artists be served by focusing on just these two chapters, Louise Rogers and Rick Strong make these tales come both of which focus narrowly on jazz performance alive with blues, boogie, and scat. The jazzy rhythms and feature some of Kerouac’s most stylized prose. prepare little ones for reading and patterning in As a general introduction, the story, written in long general. The revised stories teach conflict resolution. stream-of-consciousness passages, is the fictionalized Children can listen, get up and dance, and sing along account of Kerouac’s travel adventures as he and to the be-bopping songs. partner-in-mischief Neal Cassady crisscross the Strong’s bass, Rogers’s voice, and Milligan’s country looking for kicks. Transformed into the storytelling come together beautifully to present a characters of Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty, Kerouac completely delightful introduction for children to and Cassady, seeking the elusive it, embody the learn to listen to jazz and to incorporate the sounds restlessness and rebelliousness of a generation of and stories into their developing repertoire of music youth that would come to be known as the Beats. and literary appreciation. As the young men continually reject contemporary Susan Milligan received a bachelor’s in English American culture as vacuous and stifling, they find literature from Farleigh Dickerson University and a pleasure and freedom and energy in the music of master’s in drama at New York University. She also black bop musicians. While Kerouac’s description of has a master’s in early childhood education and is the players is filled with awe and reverence, the whole presently head teacher for four- and five-year-olds picture may be more complex, as it once again raises at the Medical Center Nursery School, an affiliate of questions about the relationship between black artists Columbia University. Louise Rogers is a leading force and white audiences. in the field of jazz education for children and is also Chapter 4 of book 3 is set in a sawdust saloon an accomplished performer. In addition to performing, in San Francisco where Dean, Sal, and a group of Louise runs a children’s jazz choir and works regularly women watch a small combo on stage giving an with students from preschool through high school. uproarious, wild, frenetic performance. The audience, She is the music specialist at the Medical Center rocking and standing on chairs, is ushered into a Nursery School, a teaching artist in NYC and Long kind of ecstatic trance, and Kerouac’s prose races Island, and a voice instructor at Roxbury High School along: “Boom, kick, that drummer was kicking his in New Jersey. She is frequently hired as a clinician drums down the cellar and rolling the beat upstairs to work with jazz choirs, primarily involving vocal with his murderous sticks, rattlety-boom!...everything improvisation instruction. Her husband, Rick Strong, came out of the horn, no more phrases, just cries, provides the bass for the album. cries, ‘Baugh’ and down to ‘Beep!’ and up to ‘e e e e e !’ and down to clinkers and over to sideways-echoing Student participation will be a given when you place horn-sounds.” In passages like this, students might be this recording in the tray. Neither kids nor grown-ups able to see how Kerouac adjusts his writing to mimic will be able to resist the toe-tapping music and the the sounds he hears at the club. Kerouac continues jazzy lyrics that tell these stories. Indeed, new life is descriptions like this and even offers an abbreviated given to the age-old stories, and due to this addition, history of jazz in chapter 10 of book 3, when Sal

39 and Dean are in Chicago. Teachers may then ask Despite this apparent omniscience, the narrator on questions about what Kerouac and his compatriots occasions claims not to know certain things and is find so appealing about jazz music and the musicians actually wrong on some points (such as a predicted in the first place. What attitudes do bebop jazz artists murder at the end of the novel). There are times when espouse? What might white Beat poets find inspiriting the narration and point of view shift between other in black jazz music? characters, both major and minor, in the novel. While most Another interesting point to address is how the of the story takes place in the middle and late 1920s, Beats treat the jazz musicians. Bebop historian and there are numerous shifts back and forth in time. University of Virginia professor Scott DeVeaux, author Things can be sorted out, but there are challenges. of The Birth of Bebop: A Social and Musical History, A challenge of sorts is set up even before the has claimed that the Beats, and Kerouac in particular, beginning of the actual novel. Before the novel have a distorted and perhaps even racist view of jazz begins, Morrison offers the reader a brief quotation musicians. In claiming that the musicians “blow” from a long poem called “Thunder, Perfect Mind.” by instinct rather than play by intellect, Kerouac is The poem is a part of the Nag Hammadi Library. perpetuating the myth of primitivism and reinforcing The quotation reads: “I am the name of the sound / stereotypes about black musicality. In Chicago, and the sound of the name / I am the sound of the listening to an alto sax solo, Sal says, “it came from letter / and the designation of the division.” A quick angelical smiling lips upon the mouthpiece and it trip to the computer can give the students a context was a soft, sweet, fairy-tale solo on alto. Lonely as for the quotation and a commentary on the poem America, a throat-pierced sound in the night.” Is this (http://deoxy.org/thunder.htm). The poem goes on for depiction laudatory, or is there an undercurrent of several pages, giving numerous antipodal statements, prejudice? Is Kerouac unconsciously reflecting the for example: “I am the honored one and the scorned values of his era even as he tries to run away from one. / I am the whore and the holy one.” (Veronique them? Questions about jazz and race, music and Lesoinne in “Answer Jazz’s Call: Experiencing Toni social rebellion, the relationship between artist and Morrison’s Jazz” offers some interesting and helpful audience can all be illuminated through a close comments about the speaker in the poem and reading and a careful discussion. (T. J. Gillespie) the narrator of the novel. There are also pertinent comments about Morrison’s use of jazz in the novel. Morrison, Toni. Jazz. New York: Knopf, 1992. Lesoinne’s essay is listed in this bibliography.) The Bluest Eye and Sula are frequently taught at the The novel offers numerous opportunities for the high school level, and Beloved less so. Jazz could teacher and the student to deal with jazz and related also be part of the high school–taught cannon of Toni issues. For example, why is the novel called Jazz Morrison’s books. It does present some difficulties, when the word “jazz” is not used (as far as this reader though. The novel would be best used with upper can recollect) even once within the novel? Tracking level students (juniors and seniors) who have solid down the various meanings of the word should lead reading abilities and have a willingness to face the students to one of its slang meanings: sex. While the challenges of a difficult work of art. sex is presented in very restrained and tasteful fashion, When the basic story is presented in summary it is also rather ubiquitous. Interestingly, the sex is also form, the material seems deceptively simple. There usually connected to love, generally not stimulated is a married couple, Joe and Violet Trace. They meet solely by lust. Love, and the need to have people under a tree next to a cotton field, fall in love, marry, to love and love the lover back, is a theme worth live briefly in the South, and migrate to New York. At pursuing in this novel. fifty, after years of faithfulness, Joe has an affair with a Though unnamed, jazz as music is constantly teen-age girl named Dorcas. He shoots her when she present in the novel. In fact, Lesoinne speculates that wishes to end their relationship. Joe is not prosecuted jazz could be the narrator of the novel. A more easily because there is no real evidence against him. Violet recognized use of jazz in the novel thought is the cuts the girl’s face while the corpse is laid out at the frequent mention of old record labels, such as Okeh, funeral. Violet becomes known as Violent. Joe morns; that recorded early jazz tunes. Jazz clubs and dance Violet seeks an understanding of the situation. After halls are part of Joe and Violet’s cityscape. Musicians several years, Joe and Violet reform their relationship. even practice on the rooftops. Speaking of the city, it Where do the complications arise? There are many surely is New York, but New York is never named. It characters whose lives move around Joe and Violet. is simply called the City. It is really a character in the The narration is fractured and complicated. There is novel. Joe and Violet dance to the music of the City an important first-person, and oddly omniscient, in their train car (which they had to change numerous narrator whose identity and gender are indeterminate. times in the South because of Jim Crow laws) as they

40 approached their new home. The juxtaposition of the pain of a changing, learning, hurting, and yet mostly city and country (the South) could lead to fertile surviving African American people” (Ellison). discussion and research. The African American diaspora In the poem’s second verse, Baraka commands his from the South and its impact on jazz could be audience to consider the expeditious speed of time discussed as part of the novel and as a historical event. and the fleeting nature of a lifetime. When Baraka Morrison’s structuring of the novel and narrative writes, “And those few sounds / that we breathe / in approach obviously have something to do with that incredible speed / blurs of sight and sound / the jazz. The same scenes are often played out from wind’s theories,” he suggests that a human’s short different characters’ points of view. But the reader life, perhaps made shorter by circumstance, leaves is not left with a Rashamon-esque set of separate an eternal impact in the past, present, and future, just tales stemming from the same incident, obfuscating as music does. The phrase “breathe in that incredible the truth rather than revealing it. Instead, Morrison speed” also intimates that the actual playing of music, gives separate ways of looking at the same event, paradoxically, does not blow away in the wind but whether it is the first time that Joe meets Dorcas, or remains in the air and in people’s spirits to allow the slashing of Dorcas’s face. A detail is added here, communication from one generation to the next. another is dropped, much in the subtle way that good (Melissa Papianou) musicians play their improvisations on their separate instruments. The separate improvisations merge to Short Stories (annotated): complete the performance. The perspectives of the characters merge to bring the reader closer to the truth. Baldwin, James. “Sonny’s Blues.” In Baldwin: Early The novel is too rich to allow for exhausting its Novels and Stories. Edited by Toni Morrison, 831–64. possibilities in the classroom, but its richness should New York: Library of America, 1998. not be a reason to avoid its use. It is often said that no “Sonny’s Blues” is a James Baldwin gift to high school two jazz performances of the same tune, even played English teachers. Because it does not contain any of by the same musician, will ever be the same. It is also the sexual themes that make some of Baldwin’s other safe to venture the opinion that no two teachings of works, such as Another Country, problematic for the Jazz by the same or separate teachers will ever result high school classroom, this story is the perfect vehicle in the same conclusions. The joys of good jazz and for introducing students to this very important African good literature are in many ways the same. Vive la American writer. The story is beautifully written but différence. (Ken Froehlich) is very readable for even an average-reading-ability ninth grader. The story uses a first-person narrative that Poetry (annotated) moves back and forth in time through reminiscences, but the time shifts are easy to follow and will Baraka, Amiri. New Music/New Poetry. Chicago: not present any special difficulties for students in Third World Press, 1965. following the narrative flow. Amiri Baraka believes that blues and jazz contain For many reasons, the story itself should hold the painful story of African American history and that some innate interest for the young reader. Sonny, this music must be heard by African Americans to of the title, finds himself at odds with the older understand that past and to progress into the future. generation when he becomes the ward of his older In his poem “Ballad Air and Fire,” Baraka’s rhythmic brother when both of their parents die in fairly quick style enhances the theme that music has an indelible succession. Sonny has no real means of support as past that influences the present and the future. he attempts to finish his high school education. His The short lines in the first stanza create a fluid, older brother, the nameless narrator of the story, is in jazzlike pace. The poem begins, “There is music / the military during the Korean War. Sonny grudgingly sometimes / in lonely shadows.” The italicized is agrees to live with his brother’s wife and her mother emphasizes a stress on the word and its consequent and father. Sonny concedes to this arrangement idea that even in “lonely shadows” music is present; because the family owns a piano, which would allow it is a gift bequeathed “from crowds / of people / him to practice his music. listening and singing / from generation / to generation.” The music, jazz, is the main area of disagreement Baraka’s “few sinuous words” mirror the “pure between Sonny and his brother. The brother does melancholic curve of a tenor sax played by John not even know who Charlie Parker is. Jazz for the Coltrane or ” (Mary Ellison). Also, Baraka’s older brother is represented by Louis Armstrong. The seemingly simple syntax helps to encapsulate his theme brother sees Sonny’s interest in jazz as regrettable, an that this “blue music” heard in “lonely shadows” has avoidable mistake. He does not grasp Sonny’s need for been passed down and that there is a “continuous the music. It is Sonny’s only real interest, and it makes

41 him complete as a person. Alive, 103–24. New York: Random House, 1977. Sonny leaves his sister-in-law’s home when he is High school teachers may be familiar with Toni chastised for missing school. He realizes that his hours Cade Bambara’s frequently anthologized short of practicing and listening to records have disrupted story “Gorilla, My Love,” but in her 1974 short the lives of the other people in the household. He is story “Medley,” Bambara uses the story of a young perceptive enough to realize that he is tolerated not manicurist as a way to express some of the most for himself or his music but because of the family’s important themes that dominate her oeuvre: black relationship with his brother. Sonny joins the navy. female consciousness, the role of women in African The gulf widens between Sonny and his brother. American culture, and their place in larger society. The older brother has no respect for Sonny’s interest, What makes this story worth recommending is lifestyle, or friends. He feels that he has made it. He is Bambara’s central contention that jazz is an important a math teacher with a respectable family. His middle part of black women’s lives and it carries a unique class values are antithetical, in his mind, to everything position for reclaiming strength and individuality in that Sonny stands for. The death of his child gives both personal relationships and the world at large. him some insight into his brother’s and other people’s The narrator, Sweet Pea, is not a musician herself suffering. He contacts Sonny to tell him of the child’s but rather the inamorata of a dynamic but not very death, but the gulf between them remains. successful bass player named Larry Landers. Despite Sonny’s arrest and institutionalization for heroin his lack of real musicianship, he has “these long arms use and possession does not do much to ameliorate that drape down over the bass like they were grown the situation. But a remembered conversation with for that purpose,” and he’s got a special talent: “Larry their mother in which he promised to “be there” for Landers was baad [sic] in the shower.” This passionate Sonny causes him to invite his brother to live with sexuality, then, is at the heart of the relationship. his family after what would be called today rehab. By Larry and Sweet Pea never feels so close as when they learning to listen to Sonny and his music, the older sing in the shower. “My Funny Valentine,” “Green brother gains some genuine insight and respect for Dolphin Street,” Jelly Roll Morton’s “Deep Creek his brother’s ideals, life, and vocation. The story ends Blues,” Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Betty Roche, and on an optimistic note, at least for the developing others all are sung with love and desire and longing. relationship between Sonny and his brother. Drug However exciting and pleasurable the relationship is, addiction still hangs over Sonny’s head. The dark Sweet Pea begins to see that Larry’s magnetism hides outside the window, a reoccurring image, is still there, a suspicious and possessive side. After establishing a but, as this story realistically illustrates, other people very lucrative professional relationship with a gambler can help in dealing with it. named Moody, Sweet Pea asserts her true aim: “My The conversations between Sonny and his brother agenda is still to make a home for my girl.” In the contain great verisimilitude. In fact, everything about final climactic scene, Sweet Pea and Larry, singing in the story is saturated in truth. The sea change on the shower for one last time, begin to move through their part of the older brother is made totally believable. repertoire, improvising and changing the melody line, The search for identity and fulfillment are themes adding scat and a vocal pattern described as “Swahili that young people can relate to. The gaps between Wailing.” Finally, Sweat Pea is soloing, singing on her generations will never cease to exist. These themes own, not dependent on Larry’s supporting line, singing are universal and are always worth discussing and for her little girl, singing for herself. (T. J. Gillespie) contemplating. The story also offers the teacher opportunity to Ellison, Ralph. “A Coupla Scalped Indians.” In Living discuss a crucial time both in history in general and with Music: Ralph Ellison’s Jazz Writings, edited by the development of jazz, bebop in particular. The Robert G. O’Meally, 179–95. New York: Modern development of the civil rights movement and the Library, 2001. attempts to have bebop accepted as a legitimate Ralph Ellison’s “A Coupla Scalped Indians” features art form are both at critical junctures. The use of two African American boys who create and recordings, documentaries, and research projects implement initiation tests using, ironically, an old could enrich not only an understanding of this Boy Scout manual, an organization that forbade story but an important time in social, political, and African American membership. The short story deals cultural history. This bibliography contains three heavily with the importance of initiation and uses critical studies that should be useful to the teacher in jazz to show that the protagonist, whose lack of a developing lesson plans for this story. (Ken Froehlich) name suggests his lack of identity, will evolve into a man who is influenced and inspired by the art of his Bambara, Toni Cade. “Medley.” In The Sea Birds Are Still ancestry. From the beginning of the work until the

42 end, jazz serves as a symbol of the male maturation than something merely light and fun. The narrator process, as the protagonist experiences a rite of has experienced many rites of passage, including passage that motivates his entrance into manhood. circumcision, self-created tests in the woods, and the The story opens with a figurative description of touch of a woman. It seems that the horns no longer “horns bursting like bright metallic bubbles against the blow for his boyhood pleasures, but rather they invite sky,” and the nameless narrator continues to describe him to adulthood. (Melissa Papianou) the horns as “sounding like somebody flipping bright handfuls of new small change against the sky.” These Hughes, Langston. “The Blues I’m Playing.” In The similes suggest that the horns offer advancement into Ways of White Folks, 99–125. New York: Vintage a promising world, as the word “bright” connotes Classic Books, 1990. positive promise. The two young, wistful boys have One could very easily teach all of the stories included recently been circumcised, an obvious rite of passage, in Langston Hughes’s 1933 collection The Ways of and are suffering from the physical consequences, White Folks as an exploration of the relationship but the “horns made [them] forget [their] tiredness between jazz and fictional narrative. From the and pain” as they wander farther into the woods. tragic homecoming of ailing musician Roy Williams The music invites them to transcend their childhood returning from Europe only to find brutal prejudice and journey into adulthood. It is important to note in “Home” to the dissipated Mr. Lloyd, the that the music is almost exclusively described using white socialite in “A Good Job Gone” who goes metaphoric language; the narrator even describes slumming in Harlem for drink and women, Hughes his friend Buster’s voice “like a trombone with a big, writes movingly and convincingly of whites and fat pot-shaped mute stuck in it.” The implication blacks negotiating their place in a changing American seems to be that music surpasses literal translation. culture. In “The Blues I’m Playing,” Hughes explores The metaphoric descriptions continue as the narrator several issues central to the understanding of jazz describes the sound coming “through the trees like in American life, namely the complexities inherent colored marbles glinting in the summer sun.” in a relationship between black artists and white As the boys continue their journey, the instruments audiences, the misreading of European classical become a part of their dialogue. Buster translates what the traditions as a musical standard, and the unique instruments’ sounds mean in words. Buster jokes about conflicts that exist for female artists. the meaning of the sounds and says the “trumpet’s got The story’s principal characters are Oceola Jones, a real nasty mouth.” When the narrator warns Buster a church choir director and music teacher from that they need to stop cursing because whites do not use such Harlem, and Mrs. Dora Ellsworth, an incredibly language, Buster replies, “Who wants to be just like wealthy white woman whose only hobby seems to them? Me, I’m gon be a scout and play the twelves be acting as a generous benefactor to needy artistic too!” Buster uses the instruments as something that he protégées. Despite her passion for “beauty,” Mrs. can relate and aspire to. He assertively acknowledges Ellsworth had never acted as a patron for a black artist that he does not have to play like white people and before, but Oceola’s piano playing—she performed that the trumpet will allow him, particularly in his Rachmaninoff, Liszt, and “The St. Louis Blues” at adulthood, the freedom to express himself. their first meeting—had been so striking that the old Soon after their conversation about instruments, woman took an immediate interest in her life. Very the narrator comes into contact with the elusive quickly, Mrs. Ellsworth takes inventory of Oceola’s Aunt Mackie. She tries to seduce the eleven-year-old whole life—from where works, where she lives, and narrator, and he becomes mentally and physically with whom she associates—and begins to institute agonized. His circumcision, her advancements, changes, all in the name of art. Things become even and his resultant shame all pain him. When Aunt more conflicted when Pete, a prospective suitor of Mackie discovers that the narrator is only eleven, she Oceola, makes his romantic intentions known. brutally demands that he leave. The narrator is left One of the themes that classes may find most with confusion and wounded pride because of this interesting is the underlying significance behind the disturbing rite of passage. The narrator says that he obvious differences between the two women’s views “felt much older” after this unexpected, premature, on music. For Oceola, music demands “movement and harmful initiation into adulthood. Consequently, and expression, dancing and living to go with it.” In the horns are no longer described as bright and jovial; Harlem, she visits house parties, and later in Paris instead the penultimate line of the story reads, “I was she prefers West Indian ball rooms and Bricktop’s again aware of the imperious calling of the horns and nightclub; she loves spirituals and blues and jazz. moved again toward the carnival.” The horns now Mrs. Ellsworth, however, prefers symphonies and connote something domineering and necessary, rather string quartets, Schubert and Beethoven; she “still

43 believed in the art of the old school, portraits that jazz musicians answering questions such as “What really looked liked people, poems about nature, instrument do you play and how did you select that music that had soul in it, not syncopation.” Here then instrument?” A brief video shows the musician with we see an illustration of one of the first great truths his instrument and a brief answer to the question. The concerning jazz: African Americans are creating other links on the pages are also excellent for use as their own virtuosic compositions independent of the an educational tool to begin the study of jazz for the Western classical authority. Students can examine younger fans. this further by exploring notions of modernism vs. Overall, the site will provide the teacher and the primitivism, experimentalism vs. traditionalism, students with a solid base from which to proceed to popular music vs. high art, and by seeking to build future fans of the genre. The included Lesson identify the criteria that establish an artistic standard. Page provides even the newest fans with a solid Other areas worthy of discussion may include an foundation to begin the study of jazz with their young examination of Mrs. Ellsworth’s aesthetic philosophy students. The very first lesson included, “Learning as opposed to Oceola’s more practical considerations, through the Duke,” gives the teacher a clear, step- the romantic complications involved in the artist’s life by-step outline of objectives, materials, procedures. (as seen with the conflict involving Pete), and finally Included as well in the lesson’s activities is the section the role of emotion and personal expression play in “Can you hear a story?” The students are encouraged the performance of music. (T. J. Gillespie) to take what they have heard and create narratives, both literary and musical, using the moods and Websites (annotated) feelings evoked by the music they have heard. In this manner the study of the music can be linked http://pbskids.org/jazz/index.html. “Jazz.” PBS Kids Go! to other art forms such as storytelling and musical This website provides an introduction to jazz for composition. (Judith Nador) young future fans. The site is useful for teachers of elementary grades K–5 to provide an introduction for younger students to the world of jazz. In addition, the site can, with modification, be used with somewhat older students to provide a basis for further research. The very fact that the information is on the web will grab the interest of the students. Once the students are engaged the site can be used as an introduction to jazz, and the transition to more intensive study (for the older students) will be made that much easier. The home page of the site is straightforward and easy to use with minimal instruction. There are clearly labeled links for the various aspects of jazz: Timeline, Join the Jazz Band, Jazz Greats, Bandleader, Meet a Musician, and Lesson Page. Clicking on each of the buttons takes the user to a new link with more information. There are brief videos and sound clips that can be easily accessed. The Timeline link takes the student to an interactive map with a time line of dates from the 1700s up to the 1960s. By clicking on either the map or a date on the time line, the user is taken to a site with photographs representative of the era, and historical information is provided. The link for Jazz Greats is also easy to use and provides the student with a wealth of information. When the new page comes up, the student need only click on the picture of the musician, and a brief biography containing both personal and professional information about that musician can be seen. Meet a Musician is another of the links that the students will find interesting and exciting. They will be able to access present-day

44 Jazz and Gender easier to live as a man than to perform as a woman. Jazz, Gender, and Sexuality: Who’s Left Out and Why? Queer Noises by John Gill is an excellent source as Amy Dilts, Aimee Hendrix, Hope Rias, and Franklin Webster a basis for thinking about the influences of sexuality, gender, and homophobia in the music industry as One of the simplest of our objectives in putting well as providing distinct stories about musicians and together this list of resources on jazz, gender, and moments in musical history. Our intention and hope sexuality was to collect attempts to recover what has in selecting these sources along with the others listed been left out of the story of jazz either because of here is to provide educators with a wide variety of bias within the industry and art form itself or because resources for building background knowledge of this of biases in the nature of recording history. To that topic and also to provide concrete and accessible end we have included books, articles, visual art, film, sources for designing lessons. and recordings about and by female jazz musicians from the history of jazz as well as current female Books and Book Chapters performers. Though this is not a completely separate Albany, A. J. Low Down: Junk, Jazz, and Other Fairy category we have also included the same types of Tales from Childhood. New York: Bloomsbury, works concerning musicians whose contributions to 2003. jazz as gay musicians have typically been erased. Bolden, Tonya. Take-Off: American All-Girl Bands Since studies of gender and sexuality are not during World War II. New York: Knopf Books merely about the important work of capturing for Young Readers, 2007. marginalized individuals to mix into history, we have Boutry, Katherine. “Black and Blue: The Female also included materials that either analyze or inspire Body of Blues Writing in Jean Toomer, Toni analysis of how gender and sexuality function within Morrison, and Gayl Jones.” In Black Orpheus: the world of jazz music. The issues addressed are Music in African American Fiction from the real or perceived masculinity associated with the the Harlem Renaissance to Toni Morrison, jazz world, the challenges faced by female and/or edited by Saadi A. Simawe, 91–118. New gay musicians, the ways in which gender issues may York: Garland, 2000. transcend or collide with other categories of identity Dahl, Linda. Stormy Weather: The Music and Lives such as race and sexuality, and the gender coding of of a Century of Jazzwomen. New York: instruments and band roles. Information can also be Pantheon, 1984. found on the perspectives of females concerning jazz DeVeaux, Alexis. Don’t Explain: A Song of Billie and gender construction in film and art. Holiday. New York: Harper and Row, 1980. While not exhaustive, we feel that our list Enstice, Wayne, and Janis Stockhouse, eds. represents a great starting point for thinking about Jazzwomen: Conversations with Twenty-One numerous aspects of jazz, gender, sexuality, historical Musicians. Bloomington: Indiana University record, marketing, and marginalization. Though this Press, 2004. topic area is perhaps not as densely loaded with Goose, Leslie. Madame Jazz. New York: Oxford sources as some others, what we did find was rich University Press, 1995. in content. The photographs of jazz musicians in Hadju, David. Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Friedman’s The Jazz Pictures, for instance, though Strayhorn. New York: Farrar, Straus, and simple and accessible on one level, contain a variety Giroux, 1996. of subtle messages about gender for students to tease Hayes, M. Eileen, and Linda F. Williams, eds. Black out through analysis. The chapter on Lil Harden in Women and Music: More than the Blues. The Louis Armstrong Companion could easily provide Urbana: University of Press, 2007. a student or educator with a clearly defined example Holiday, Billie, and William Dufty. Lady Sings the of a woman challenging and negotiating with the Blues. New York: Harlem Moon, 2006. expected gender roles of her time through her own Jones, Hettie. Big Star Fallin’ Mama: Five Women in career and her marriage to Louis Armstrong. The Black Music. New York: Penguin Group, 1974. documentary The Women of Tin Pan Alley stands Wyman, Carolyn. Ella Fitzgerald: Jazz Singer Supreme. out in significance for its representation of female New York: Franklin Watts, 1993. composers whose contributions have stood so long as popular American standards. Suits Me, the biography Encyclopedia Entries of Billy Tipton, a female musician who spent fifty Kahlberg, Jeffery. “Sex, Sexuality.” Grove Music Online. years of her life performing and living as a man, Edited by L. Macy. is notable in its comment on the plight of female instrumentalists. It is very telling that she found it (accessed July 19, 2007).

45 Films Websites Billie Holliday: The Ultimate Collection. Produced by http://www.internationalwomeninjazz.com Toby Byron. Universal Music Enterprises, 2005. http://jazzwomen.org/ Jazz Icons: Ella Ftizgerald. Produced by David Peck http://www.pbs.org/jazz/time/time_women.htm and Phillip Galloway. Reelin’ In the Years http://www.womeninjazz.org/ht/about.html Productions, 2006. Lady Sings the Blues. Directed by Sidney J. Furie. Books and book chapters (annotated) Paramount Pictures, 1972. New Orleans. Directed by Arthur Lubin. Majestic Barrett, Joshua. “Lil and Louis: Satchmo and Me.” In Productions, 1947. The Louis Armstrong Companion: Eight Decades of On the Road Again: Down Home Blues, Jazz, Gospel, Commentary, 42–45. New York: Schirmer Books, 1999. and More, 1963. Produced and directed This book is a compilation of interviews, excerpts by Sherwin Dunner and Richard Evans. from books, and articles from magazines. The people Shanachie Entertainment, 1999. involved in all of these things interacted with Louis Orchestra Wives. Directed by . Twentieth Armstrong in one way or another. They were spouse, Century Fox, 1942. family, friends, coworkers, and people influenced Swing. Produced and directed by Oscar Micheaux. by his music. So the excerpts go from how he met 1938. (Available from www.midnightramble. one of his spouses to a friend telling about a funny com) experience with Mr. Armstrong. The author says that Tiny and Ruby: Hell Diving Women. Directed by the main focus of the book is for people to get an Greta Schiller and Andrea Weiss. Jezebel idea of what Louis Armstrong’s spirit was like and his Productions, 1997. contributions to twentieth-century entertainment. There is an excerpt in this book from Lil Harden. Magazine and Newspaper Articles Lil Harden was Louis Armstrong’s second wife. It tells Ireland, James. “Two for the Road: Gay Jazz Singers about how they met and married. The expert also tells Ian Shaw and Steven Kowalczyk.” The how she perceived jazz at this time. This is important Advocate, March 18, 1997. because she was also a very well known musician. Robinson, Greg. “: A Candid Conversation How women perceived jazz is one of the things that with the Pianist concerning Music, this section, Jazz and Gender, focuses on. This excerpt Homosexuality, and the Gay Community.” also shows the gender roles in the case of Louis Jazz Times, September 1994. Armstrong and his second wife, Lil Harden. White, Dave. “Openly Bey.” The Advocate, March 16, In the excerpt from the book, Lil Harden explains 2003. that her perception of jazz was not very strong when she met Louis Armstrong. She said that it was just Music Recordings good because she was getting paid to sing it. She says Armstrong, Lil Hardin. Lil Harden Armstrong and that as she got older her perception of jazz became Her Swing Orchestra, 1936–1940. France: more in depth but during that time she was just in it Classics, 1991. for the money. This may be how some musician felt Fruit Cocktail: A Gay Lounge Collection. Streeter when they played jazz at first, not just female but Music, 1999. 1005. Compilation of music male also. They were interested in making the money from Irene Farerra, Blazing Redheads, Tom and playing what people would like to hear. Robinson, Lea Delaria, Steven Grossman, The excerpt shows the gender roles in their Melinda di Maio, Judy Barnett, Ian Shaw, relationship. In this relationship Lil Harden seemed to Holly Near, David Downing, Maja, Kellye make all of the decisions. She showed Mr. Armstrong Gray, Rhiannon, and Steven Kowalczyk how to dress, what to do with his money, and how Sissy Man Blues: Straight and Gay Blues and Jazz much he should be charging for his shows. She really Vocals. Jass Label, 1989. cared about his carrier because she saw how good Williams, Mary Lou. Mary Lou Williams, 1927–1940. he was. She was very instrumental in getting Louis France: Classics, 1992. Armstrong well known to the people. So during this time she was not the norm as far as gender roles are Scholarly Articles concerned. (Franklin H. Webster) Kastin, David. “Nica’s Story: The Life and Legend of the Jazz Baroness.” Popular Music and Bowers, Jane. “Writing the Biography of a Black Society 29 (July 2006): 279–98. Woman Blues Singer.” In Music and Gender, edited by Pirkko Moisala and Beverley Diamond, 140–65.

46 Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2000. them is he wants it to give an accurate account of Lil Bowers took on writing the biography of an Harden Armstrong and jazz history. The second topic outstanding and creative American blues singer, is that he wants to establish Lil Harden Armstrong as a Estelle “Mama” Yancey, who lived from 1896 to 1986. very important person in the history of jazz. Mama Yancey has a unique story, as she began her Lil Armstrong was a very good female jazz career later in her life, after the passing of her instrumentalist and was involved in many great jazz husband. In 1983, at age eighty-seven, her expressive recordings—one of the greatest being the “Hot Five” performance touched an audience of all ages, proving with Louis Armstrong. However, as with many female that age could not limit her musical expression and jazz artists she is often forgotten when talking about soul. Bowers states that finding accurate information some of the great jazz instrumentalist. She is often just on this fine and expressive musician proved difficult, placed in history as Louis Armstrong’s second wife, as there is a substantial lack of information written but she is so much more than that. about her. Another point of frustration in writing Lil Armstrong was a well-established musician this particular biography was that Yancey was before she met Louis Armstrong. Also while married contradictory in her accounts of her own life in to Louis Armstrong she help to build his career. Lil interviews, often giving different answers to similar Armstrong was an instrumentalist, supporting wife, questions through the years, as well as contradicting and manager for Louis Armstrong. She arranged herself over the course of one interview. the way he dressed, she told him how to spend his Mama Yancey made only a few recordings on money, and she negotiated some of the salaries for his small labels and had few public performances, which paying gigs. She was a very strong woman that stood has led to little being written about her work. Bowers’s by her husband and made some very good business sources of information do include interviews of the decisions for him. The gender roles for women during people who worked with Mama personally, as well this time did not apply at all to Lil Armstrong. She as interviews with her niece, with whom Mama was was in charge and tried to get the best for herself and close. Bowers comes to conclusions about Mama’s her husband. This book would be something very personality and activities through the compiled entertaining and informative to high school students. information and stories. This essay gives a very detailed (Franklin H. Webster) account of the facts of Mama’s life, as cited through specific sources. Bowers states outright that she also Friedman, Carol. The Jazz Pictures. Santa Fe: Tondo considers Mama Yancey’s life story through different Books, 1999. and varied perspectives, including the narratives of An incredibly useful tool in any classroom where male blues musicians, the male blues role, blues women’s jazz music or jazz history is taught, this book of roles and images, black women’s history, and the photography is a beautiful collection of Carol writing of feminist biography, doing so in depth. Friedman’s portraits of jazz musicians. Included is a In summary, this essay includes the background thoughtful foreword by Gordon Parks, who eloquently history of what methods and approaches Bowers used and complimentarily describes Friedman’s work in this to compose Mama Yancey’s biography. This work collection. An essay by Stanley Crouch calls Friedman would be appropriate in a high school class focusing a “master” and calls her work the “counterpart of on gender or gender as it relates to the music industry. the art of the invisible, which is music.” He artfully Students might grapple with the question of why so describes and highlights the best features of chosen little documentation exists for such an accomplished photographs. The portraits themselves stand alone, female musician or examine the details of her life to unobstructed by text beside or around them. The better understand the woman, her life decisions, and book is oversized, and each portrait takes up the her contributions to jazz. (Amy Dilts) full side of one or two pages. The portraits are all black-and-white. What makes this collection Dickerson, L. James. Just for a Thrill: Lil Harden unique and Friedman outstanding is that she makes Armstrong, First Lady of Jazz. New York: Cooper viewers feel as if they are experiencing a moment Square Press, 2002. with each musician. The portraits are full of life, full This book is about the life of Lil Harden Armstrong. of personality, full of the musicians’ unique voice. Lil Hardin Armstrong was the second wife of Louis Photographs of males far outnumber the photographs Armstrong. The writer gives an account of her life of females, but Friedman’s approach to each musician from childhood to her death. He describes how she seems to be just that: she approached a music master, became involved in music and how her and Louis not a gender. Photographs of each subject, be it a male or Armstrong met. The author states that he wants two female musician, are equally stunning and respectfully main topics to be addressed in this book. One of done. Photographs were taken between 1976 and 1998,

47 documenting more than twenty years of jazz greats. power that a plantation boss held over his subjects. I strongly suggest that this book of jazz portraits is He describes jazz critics as security guards outside added to every classroom collection. (Amy Dilts) of jazz musicians’ closets. In a manner that some might find off-putting, and others refreshing, Gill Gill, John. Queer Noises. Minneapolis: University of is unapologetic and unwavering in pinning down Minnesota Press, 1995. instances of homophobia and assigning blame in the John Gill’s book is about music, homosexuality, and chapters on jazz and in the stories of other types of most prominently the homophobia that has distorted music. The narratives in his book have the effect of the way in which musicians’ lives get perceived, poking holes in the heterosexually biased stories that portrayed, and recorded. Gill acknowledges many have been told (or not told, as sometimes is the silent factors contributing to this homophobia but focuses case) in music history and music journalism. intently on the role of the critics, historians, and This book would be a great asset for an journalists in perpetuating it. educator wanting to do what Gill describes as “tracking The book is organized into distinct chapters and tagging” queer musicians for the purpose of either on different topics within music, but each is sewn lesson planning, or just the full sort of understanding together with ideas that develop as the book of a queer musician’s history that we often have for progresses. As such I recommend the entire book as heterosexual musicians. The book certainly represents a read, even if jazz is the specific area of interest. scholarship but does not use an abundance of For instance, in the opening chapter on the Pet Shop scholarly jargon. Thus, excerpts of the book could be Boys, Gill introduces the idea of the “glass closet,” used in the classroom. (Aimee Hendrix) wherein a musician’s queer sexual orientation is not exactly a secret but is never discussed—maybe out of Gourse, Leslie. Sophisticated Ladies: The Great Women respectful privacy, or maybe as a sort of unspeakable of Jazz. New York: Dutton Children’s Books, 2007. embarrassment. He then goes on to discuss the ways Sophisticated Ladies is a children’s book that in which the media erases the story of Benjamin introduces fourteen famous women of jazz. The Bishop’s sexuality, then through a discussion of book is illustrated, offering a colorful drawing of Bessie Smith’s undeniable lesbian affairs moves on each artist at the start of each chapter. It is intended to the various factors that have contributed to the for elementary school children. The book provides erasure of the acceptance of homosexuality within an introduction to a number of female jazz greats, black communities. The concepts in those chapters including Ethel Waters, Billie Holiday, Peggy Lee, are necessary for understanding the issues that Gill and contemporary artist Diana Krall. Chapters are raises in his three chapters that address jazz directly: organized chronologically by the years in which “And His Mother Called Him Bill,” “Miles in the the artists began performing. Although the book is Sky,” and “Two Live Ones: Gary and Graham.” in children’s language, the author gently discusses The first two in this list comment on the effects of complex issues for female artists. For example, the homophobia, the macho associations of jazz, and author writes about the discrimination that some rumor in policing what information is allowed to black artists faced. Gourse touches upon drug use be expressed or preserved concerning a musician’s that hurt the careers of some. Gourse even blatently sexuality. , Billy Strayhorn, Miles points out that for artist Diana Krall, her good looks Davis, , and Wilbur Ware are discussed in the became famous before her music. Gourse has two chapters. “Two Live Ones” is decidedly more managed a very difficult task. She has given these personal, discussing his own personal relationship artists an introduction that respects their complexities. with jazz musician Graham Collier and the backlash However, she has managed to write about these against their casual inclusion of their relationship in a complexities in gentle ways. Teachers reading this documentary about Collier. This chapter also includes book to their students can decide to pursue the issues a powerful narrative from vibraphonist Gary Burton. of discrimination or drug abuse, if they choose. This is The story of his closeting and decision to come out a very good book to introduce students to women of provides a very concrete example of the homophobia jazz. Children who read this book may be encouraged within jazz culture and the extent to which gay to ask what was different about being a female jazz audiences do not perceive jazz as a music they can artist than a male jazz artist. They may also ask why identify with. there were many famous jazz musicians at a certain In a perfect example of Gill’s attitude toward jazz time period. This opens the to door to discussions homophobia, he says that “jazz criticism is one of the about jazz being a cultural movement and not just a last bastions of intellectualized homophobia,” calling style of music. The book can be used as the gateway it a “virulent bigotry” and likening this practice to the for students to learn more about jazz. (Hope Rias)

48 Middlebrook, Diane Wood. Suits Me: The Double became a part of her act as a man. In fact, when her Life of Billy Tipton. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998. “wives” were not around, Tipton was said to be an This brilliantly written biography of jazz musician aggressive flirt (with women). Billy Tipton researches one of the most complex issues The book is well written and uncovers the very of gender to date. Billy Tipton was born a woman secretive life of an important jazz musician. Because yet lived convincingly as a man. Tipton’s secret was of the nature of the story, the author does offer not discovered until after her death in 1989. Because detailed descriptions of Tipton’s sex life with her Tipton left no journals or memoirs, the author is wives. This book is appropriate only for mature high left to reconstruct her life based on interviews with school students. It is a fascinating biography and also relatives and friends. The author does a wonderful an incredible investigation of gender and sexuality. job in uncovering how and why Tipton was able to (Hope Rias) successfully live as a man for more than five decades. Dorothy Lucille Tipton was born in Oklahoma in Morgenstern, Dan, and Ole Brask. Jazz People. New 1914. By the time she was nineteen years old, she York: Da Capo Press, 1993. was clear about her goal to become a professional This book was first published in 1976 and was musician. She believed that opportunities to find reprinted in 1993. The book contains only black- steady work would only present themselves if she and-white photographs of the jazz “giants.” pretended to be a man. It appears that Tipton’s initial Descriptive stories and histories of each artist reason for dressing as a man was economic. While are printed alongside the photographs. The book relatives found her choice distasteful, close friends begins with a foreword by Dizzy Gillespie and an who knew Tipton were accepting of her choice. introduction by James Jones, which makes the book The plot thickens when Tipton becomes involved worthwhile in itself if one was to consult it just those in her first romantic relationship. Tipton’s first love sections. Gillespie’s fantastic foreword is an essay is an avant-garde female entertainer, Non Earl, on his feelings about where jazz is headed (from his who rejects conventional ideas about how women perspective in 1976), about the role of photography should behave. Tipton and Non Earl live together as it serves as a representation of jazz musicians, as husband and wife for nearly seven years. Here, the different contributions of different generations of again, the author takes the opportunity to delve into jazz artists to jazz, and how as the world changes so interesting and complex issues of gender. The most does the sound of jazz. The earliest photograph in the obvious question is, was Tipton gay? If so, why did she book is of the Superior Band of New Orleans, circa choose to live as a man and not as a lesbian? Through 1910, and the book concludes with pictures of the extensive interviews, author Diane Middlebrook more contemporary artists Grady Tate, , discovered that many of the couples’ friends would Anthony Braxton, Dizzy Gillespie, and Jon Faddis. have been very accepting of a lesbian couple. Contents are divided into two major sections, This book raises questions about what sexuality “The Music,” commenting on where jazz came from, really is. Is it possible to be straight and find love with where it’s been, where it is, and where it’s going, and someone of the same gender? Tipton “married” (the “The People,” which includes what Morgenstern calls legality of her marriages is questionable since Tipton the “jazz masters, giants, and keepers of the flame.” married under a false identity) five times. Each time, The collection features bands’ publicity shots, jazz she married a woman. The author concludes that musicians together and alone in session, as well as Tipton’s sexuality was not in question. Her career posed portraits of the musicians—a full variety of style of options were. Middlebrook believes that Tipton photograph. Also contained in the book is a selected found it less threatening to live as a man and have biography of recommended reading as well as a relationships with women than to live as a woman selected discography of recommended jazz listening. attempting to make a career in music. Living as From a gender perspective, there is unfortunately a man was an easier option for Tipton than living very limited female representation in the book. Mary as a lesbian. Fundamentally, this raises questions Lou Williams is pictured (surrounded by children, a about American society at the time. What were typical female role as teacher/nurturer) in the section Americans ideals about the roles of women, and why “More Giants of the Golden Age.” The text written for were those ideals so constrained? Finally, the book her includes the statement “she keeps busy touring, raises questions about the gender identity of men in recording, writing, helping others, and staying young.” America. As a jazz musician, Tipton embraces the Marian McPartland is the only female featured in traditionally male role. She participated in bawdy the “Keepers of the Flame” section. Morgenstern entertainment and was famous for blue humor writes that she is “bright and personable,” a very routines. It appears that publicly degrading women “hip lady.” In his final thoughts of her, he says of her

49 musicianship that “she is no match for fellow pianist edited by Sophie Fuller and Lloyd Whitesell, 293– Billy Taylor.” 310. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2002. Nine females were pictured in “The Singers” This article by Sherrie Tucker is decidedly scholarly. section, the section that contains the most women. I I don’t believe that the majority of secondary admit that I was looking for signs of gender classification, students will find reading it in its entirety valuable; and I noticed that three women were pictured with in fact, it has enough jargon specific to gender and flowers, and one was photographed in a kitchen. sexuality studies that a reader will need to have some For its pictures, this book could be used in any background in that area to make the whole essay aged classroom to introduce and categorize historical navigable. Even if that presents some problems for jazz musicians. Eighth through twelfth graders will the reader, I think it would be very useful to someone find the biographical information and history useful researching the ways in which gender and sexuality, in their studies. A gender class could dissect the along with other things, intersect within the history contents of the book: what it is missing as far as race of jazz. This would be especially so if the researcher or gender classification, and what it does contain and has become frustrated to any degree with the lack of represent, and how it represents it through word and information available on this topic or is still struggling photograph. (Amy Dilts) with even pinning down the relevance of sexuality within the story of music. Tucker, Sherrie. Swing Shift: “All-Girl” Bands of the Tucker tells the story of how as a researcher of all- 1940s. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2000. girl jazz bands, a researcher determined not to isolate Based heavily on the interviews of one hundred sexuality from her discussions of gender, she originally female jazz musicians who were professionals in the set out to explore how all-girl bands of the 1940s may 1940s, Tucker takes a feminist approach in relaying have functioned as a safe space for women to practice the stories and the history of the all-female jazz bands nontraditional sexuality. Throughout the course of her of the World War II era in America. Tucker focuses research, she interviews many women, often in their on why the swing jazz world was segregated by both own homes, and is somewhat disappointed that no gender and race, and why also many women of jazz one “came out.” She notices over and over again how were omitted from the major historical texts about carefully constructed the interviews and interview this era and music. Major topics include the effects settings are—requests to discuss only music rather of WWII on the careers of female jazz musicians, than anything personal, being shown the separate the effects that racism and segregation had on the bedrooms of two cohabitating women, etc. female bands as compared with the male bands, and Tucker sticks with her hunt, but when it still fails how it was for women to travel and star in the USO to provide her with the first-hand lesbian foremother shows of that time. Tucker fights the long-standing narrative she thought she wanted, she has to belief that all-girl bands were not professional reexamine her goals. The new avenues that this opens bands or important to jazz history. She explores the for her were very enlightening for me as an educator ideological, social, and political reasons why they who works specifically with GLBTQ youth because I were considered to be “inauthentic” and compares realized that I, too, had been assuming that the out-in- her findings with the major texts that cover the history the-open homosexual is the primary model of queer of swing and jazz bands but do not cover the major heroism, and to the extent that I have acknowledged female bands. Tucker explains that female bands that coming out isn’t the only option, I’ve had trouble were not given full and proper recognition for their articulating that to my students. Tucker looks closely contribution to jazz history in part because of the why she wants to know who was a lesbian and gender construction, political propaganda, media examines the metaphor of the closet, citing the ideas propaganda, and social norms and values held by the of others who point out that the closet is a thing that blue-collar working class of the time. must constantly be negotiated by those out as gay, This text includes an extensive bibliography, many those in the gay closet, and straight individuals. Over- photos, and opens each chapter with selected quotes. reliance on the tool of “coming out” has produced the This is a suitable and relevant source for a high school myths that coming out fixes everything and that the jazz or history course that is focusing on the history of past, which often necessitated closeting, was abysmal women in jazz, and the social and political struggles for gay people. that came with being female professionals before, Eventually Tucker gets one of her interviewees during, and after WWII. (Amy Dilts) to talk about the presence of lesbians within all-girl bands of the 40s. Though the subject does not deliver Tucker, Sherrie. “When Subjects Don’t Come Out.” the profound narrative Tucker was originally after, she In Queer Episodes in Music and Modern Identity, does explain that there were lesbians within the band.

50 This section of the essay is excellent for understanding The article on musical theater, jazz, and popular the issues that female musicians faced. The musician music also addresses issues that continually surface on talks about the extent to which all the girls, regardless of this topic. It explores the reasons why musical theater sexuality, had to police their behavior and represent has often been a place for gay identification (though only the most acceptable form of femininity in order to notably not always gay content), while jazz has been work at all. Tucker concludes that the discreet lesbians typically thought of as a thoroughly heterosexual were more respected than those less so because in space. The story of jazz and sexuality is addressed the context in which they performed, it was that through discussion of Billy Tipton, a transgender discretion that allowed them to keeping working and instrumentalist, and Billy Strayhorn, a gay composer continue in the struggle that was important to them— known for his works for Duke Ellington. The section the struggle to be accepted as real musicians. on popular music contains an interesting discussion of In the end, Tucker, like so many who write about how, and why, representations of homosexuality have jazz and sexuality, is left with more questions than alternately flared up and died down in popular music. answers. Her work has taught her to “read” the Other articles provide information on the gay and closeting for the messages it tells and that what seems lesbian movement (pre-Stonewall through the present) like an important struggle to her as a postfeminist and its effect on music and musician, the impact of researcher of jazz and gender is not necessarily the AIDS on music, the admiration of music divas by most important thing to her subjects. In the end, she gay audiences, the rise of gay-identified, politically still isn’t sure what to do when her “subjects won’t assertive artists in the 1990s, and the treatment of come out” and turns the question over to her readers. homosexuality in music in non-Western cultures Anyone wanting to do research in this area will likely and times other than modern. Though these articles face similar problems; thus I think this is a must-read don’t address jazz directly, they do provide valuable for any such researcher or anyone interested in this information for understanding the intersection of topic. (Aimee Hendrix) music and sexuality. (Aimee Hendrix)

Encyclopedia entries (annotated) Films (annotated)

Brett, Philip, and Elizabeth Wood. “Gay and Carmen Jones. Directed by Otto Preminger. Lesbian Music.” Grove Music Online. (accessed July 19, 2007). original French opera by Georges Bizet. While the This collection of articles in the Grove Encyclopedia music performed in the film isn’t jazz, the film speaks under the heading of “Gay and Lesbian Music” works to the rise of jazz in America. Early jazz was seen as as both a starting point for thinking about music and sexuality a low class, black style of music. The musical Carmen and an informative source. Its stated purpose is to Jones was, in part, created to show that blacks could consider the record of the “struggles and sensibilities sing opera. It served as proof that black Americans of homosexual people of the West that came out in could perform high art. their music, and of the contribution of homosexual This film provides a wonderful opportunity to men and women to the music profession.” deconstruct issues of gender. In Carmen Jones there The first article in the entry, “Homosexuality are two types of women: good and bad. The good and Musicality,” contains theoretical explanations women did not sing (not much) and the bad women of sexuality, queer theory, and the perceived sang all the time. Carmen is sexy, promiscuous, and connections between homosexuality and musicality. aggressive. Her sex appeal, which is expressed through Discussion includes the effects of the Oscar Wilde song, leads to pain and death. While the men in the trial on acknowledging gay contributions to music, film begin as strong characters, they eventually all fall the doctrine of autonomy that developed historically victim to the evil ways of the sexy, immoral singer. in an effort to disassociate music from social issues, This film raises questions about jazz being the many mechanisms used by various artists (list associated with vice. Was it true that jazz clubs included) for both covering up and displaying contributed to smoking, drinking, and violence? If so, homosexuality within music, and the layers of why would it be true? Students may also question why complexity added by other categories of identity such the women in the film seem to always be the cause of as gender, race, and class. Though dense, it does the trouble. This film is appropriate for middle through provide rewarding explanations of issues that pop up high school. (Hope Rias) over and over again when reading about jazz, gender, and sexuality.

51 Hoodlum. Directed by Bill Duke. United Artists a dancer. When it became painfully obvious that Pictures, 1997. she couldn’t dance, she turned to singing. Career The movie Hoodlum takes place during the 1930s in opportunities for black women were limited. Likely Harlem, and its main focus is gangsters trying to get career options for Holiday were to become a maid, a control of the numbers racket. The gangsters involved prostitute, or a musician. She chose the latter. in this movie are , , and The film traces the discrimination that Holiday Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson. In the movie, Dutch faced in her career. When she accepted a job with Shultz is trying to take over the numbers racket in all , she became one of the first black artists to of Harlem and in the process is killing many innocent headline a white band. On occasion she would not African Americans. Bumpy Johnson is a leader of the be allowed to perform in the clubs in which the band African Americans that control the numbers racket in had been booked. Shaw would have to substitute a Harlem that Shultz has not taken over yet. The two white female singer to perform the songs that had gangsters are fighting during the whole movie, each been arranged for Holiday. trying to outdo the other with more and more people Billie Holiday is less famous for her good voice getting killed. Eventually Bumpy Johnson uses Luck than she is for her dead-on emotional delivery of Luciano to get rid of Dutch Shultz. a song. This is obvious in the clips shown of her The movie has a lot of violence, sex, and performing. The film clip of her performance of gambling, and there is always jazz playing in “Strange Fruit” is the best example of this. Holiday the background. I believe that this feeds into the used her voice to record a groundbreaking protest stereotype of the time that jazz was related to all of song, called “Strange Fruit.” The song, with its painful these things. One of the most exciting and violent lyrics, gives a graphic description of the lynchings that scenes takes place in the Cotton Club while Duke were prominent in the South. Only a woman could Ellington is performing “It Don’t Mean a Thing if It have sung this song. Holiday’s gentle delivery of such Ain’t Got that Swing.” Another scene takes place at a explosive lyrics could have easily provoked mass “rent party” with a piano player doing a jazz tune and violence. Instead, the song made her famous. a man singing some rather explicit lyrics. Holiday was also an actress. The filmNew Orleans This movie also relates to jazz and gender in a starred Billie Holiday and Louis Armstrong. Holiday way. The second focus of the movie is the relationship was cast as a maid. Although she was one of the most between Bumpy Johnson and his newfound love, famous musicians of the time, American audiences Francine Hughes. Francine Hughes is a church-going wanted to see black women in certain roles. The film woman that helps the poor and is against the numbers deals with the irony of Holiday (rich and famous) racket and other illegal activities. However, soon after being cast as a maid. It raises interesting questions she meets Bumpy Johnson she is attracted to him and about stereotypes about blacks in America. seems to forget his evil ways. She is then thrown into While the documentary brushes past Holiday’s this world of violence and gambling. This is the classic drug problems, it does suggest that loneliness may story of how women were portrayed back in this have been a contributing factor. Because the jazz day. Women are tricked into the life of jazz, sex, and world was predominately male, Holiday attempted to violence. These stereotypes of jazz may not have been do what men did. She drank, smoke, and took on the intentional by the writer but they are definitely there. recreational habits of men. The film suggests that her (Franklin H. Webster) many failed relationships and lack of true friendships contributed to her drug use and, ultimately, her Masters of American Music: Lady Day: The Many demise. It raises the questions of what the unique Faces of Billie Holiday. Directed by Toby Byron and difficulties were of being a female musician. (Hope Rias) Richards Saylor. Kultur, 1991. This film is a documentary of the life of jazz great Masters of American Music: Yours for a Song: The Billie Holiday. It uses film clips from original Women of Tin Pan Alley. Directed by Terry Benes. PBS performances juxtaposed with clips of modern Home Video, 1998. interviews of musicians who knew Holiday. Ruby Dee This documentary presents the stories of four female provides the voice that reads the words from Holiday’s who became famous in the Tin Pan Alley autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues. This work is era. The documentary follows the careers of Dorothy intended for viewers who are somewhat familiar with Fields, , Dana Suesse, and . The the life and legacy of Billie Holiday. It is a well-done documentary shows photos and clips of performances biography. from the women when they were writing during The film explains how and why Holiday became the Jazz Age and shows interviews with friends and a jazz musician. She first attempted to take a job as relatives of the women from modern times. The film

52 shows that these women played an integral role in the with it, and it is shown near the bed in another scene. music industry. Connections are made about the trumpet being a This film is a useful tool to hear music that was masculine object and instrument, as well as being produced at the time. Students might be shocked the main draw for these women’s sexual attraction to to know that many of the tunes that are familiar to Bleek. The women’s characters are portrayed as rather them were written by women. Music is played and weak, as neither is fulfilled in her relationship with performances are shown throughout the film. It gives Bleek, yet they stay with him despite their heartache. students a rare opportunity to actually see the writers Bleek is absolutely in charge of the direction of the and listen to the music at the same time. The film is relationships; he is the one in control. His all-male very positive in its recounting of the experiences of quintet has pinup pictures in their dressing rooms, and these women. It shows the bright spots of their careers all female characters in the movie play no other role and credits their hard work and talent for their success. than the band’s supportive and admiring girlfriends. This film raises several questions. Students may A jazz song sung by one of the girlfriends (the only wonder why no women of color are profiled. It is an music we see a female making in the movie) is a opportunity to discuss which groups of people were song sung about the “man I love,” which serves to marginalized during this time. Questions also arise enforce the idea that a female jazz musician must about what kind of problems and roadblocks the be, of course, a singer. After a year of ignoring her women of Tin Pan Alley faced. Finally, students may communication, Bleek returns to one lover after he ask how these popular songs have been reinterpreted. has lost the ability to play his trumpet and perform. This documentary could be a springboard to research Only now is he ready to make a relationship with her the various artists who have recorded these popular his first commitment, and though she is upset and songs. This film is appropriate for middle and high resistant to him, it only takes a few minutes for her to school students. (Hope Rias) succumb to his suave charm, and they are reunited. She bears him a child, and she insists that the child Mo’ Better Blues. Directed by Spike Lee. Universal learn to play and practice the trumpet, much like Studios, 1990. Bleek’s mother insisted for him. In viewing “Mo’ Better Blues” from a jazz-and-gender Clearly, females play a secondary and submissive perspective—meaning, how males and females are role in this film, and in the context of jazz they play portrayed in a jazz context—I can say that this movie the predictable roles of enamored audience members, hits heavily on some long-standing stereotypes of jazz the enamored lovers of the music makers. Jazz music musicians. That is, men play the role of musical leader brings on a sexual desire in the women, and the and genius, and women are drawn to them because music serves to empower the males who make the of their skill and music-making ability. The movie music. Connections with the music are masculine opens with a sultry overture, a colorful collage of jazz ones, as are the instruments used to make the music. instruments intertwined with images of lovers. It takes If a female is a jazz musician, she sings. This movie place in New York City and is about a fictional jazz could not be shown in its entirety to a high school musician named Bleek. Bleek struggled as a child, as class, due to several graphic scenes, but certainly clips he was repeatedly instructed by his parents to practice could be used in a class discussing jazz and gender to his trumpet instead of doing what he wanted to do at show the media’s impact on the viewer’s impressions the time, which was mostly leaving the house to play of gender and jazz. This movie takes old stereotypes with friends. Flash-forward to his adult life and Bleek of jazz musicians and the story of their lives and puts is the leader of a jazz quintet in the city; he loves it in a contemporary setting. It reinforces outdated what he does and is the best at it. He is involved with notions about the life, loves, and priorities of a jazz two women who admire and idolize him. He “likes musician. (Amy Dilts) them both” and enjoys dating them both. The very first line of one of his girlfriends is “my mother told Storyville: The Naked Dance. Directed by Anne O. me not to date or marry a musician; it would only Craig. Shanachie, 2000. lead to grief, pain, tears, and heartache.” The viewer The movie Storyville: The Naked Dance is a is now set in the belief that musicians are unable to documentary on a place in New Orleans called commit to the demands of a relationship, as music Storyville. Storyville was a section of town that was will always take first place in their lives. Bleek does located right next to the French. It was also one of not disappoint us in what we expect. He is very vocal the only legal red light districts in 1898. The fact in telling both lovers that music and his trumpet that it was a legal place makes it a very historical come first; all else is secondary to him. His trumpet documentary. It is a history that most people would is included in each love scene: he caresses his lover like to forget but it is still a part of history. The movie

53 is narrated by a woman that worked in Storyville and and visuals of the movie would not be allowed in any is telling what she remembers about it. The rest of the other area besides a college classroom. (Franklin H. Webster) movie is filled with interviews from people that were around during the time of Storyville or people who Swing Kids. Directed by Thomas Carter. Buena Vista have studied it. The movie gives you an idea of what Home Entertainment, 1993. it was like there, the types of people that lived there, This film is Hollywood’s version of the story of and the people who were well known in that area. German teens rebelling against the culture of Nazi This movie is related to gender in many different Germany by listening to jazz. Jazz music and dance ways. The movie lays out specific gender roles for are used as characters in the film. The film’s treatment females and males. It answers a question like how of gender is very gentle. All of the jazz musicians females and males are portrayed in this time. It in the film are men. When the students go to dance portrays all of the women in a certain way. The movie halls, gender construction is obvious. Men lead the shows that females were classified in two different dances and men choose the women to be their dance categories: “women” or “ladies.” “Women” were partners. Women are seen as complementary to men. females who were promiscuous, curious, or involved Women assist but do not lead in the jazz movement. with sex in anyway. “Ladies” were wives; they were The film is less gentle in its gender construction of the females that a man should marry. “Ladies” were men. Men who did not listen to jazz were considered not supposed to think about or desire sex. They were cold, unfeeling, harsh, and robotic followers of the to take care of the children and do the housework. German government. The men who were jazz lovers The movie lays out these to gender roles for females were portrayed as passionate, creative, and free. Men very specifically. Any female that was a “woman” who listened to jazz attracted pretty girls. This is a was considered reckless and not the norm in society. common gender construction in jazz. While the film “Ladies” were high class and would not involve does not focus on gender, the issues are present. themselves in things of a sexual nature. However, This film raises questions about why the Nazi the movie points out that the “women” were not so government would feel threatened by jazz. What much sexually promiscuous but just needed money social constructions were associated with the music? and that it was a lucrative business. The movie points It also raises questions about why young audiences out the fact that the driving force of Storyville was were so attracted to this style of music. The idea of money. It was not just a group of females who loved young people gravitating toward any art form that is sex; it consisted of females that needed to make restricted may resonate with students. This film is rated money to support themselves. This movie also portrays PG-13 and would be appropriate for middle school men in a certain way. The perception of women (age thirteen) and high school. (Hope Rias) is clear: they were either housewives or “working girls.” However, the perception of the men was that “Swing Sally.” In “Musical Madness,” vol. 4 in Betty they were supposed to be involved in this area. They Boop: The Definitive Collection. Republic Pictures, 1996. were not considered reckless or a blight on society if This cartoon episode features cultural icon Betty Boop they frequented Storyville. The movie made it clear as a business owner who desperately needs to book that males were not looked down upon if they were a jazz singer for the night’s big show. Betty auditions involved with Storyville; it was just kept a secret and several acts but none meets her standards. Finally, considered normal. If a man wanted to go there after she hears her cleaning lady singing jazz and knows, work and relax, it was generally considered okay. The instantly, that she is who Betty has been looking for. gender roles laid out in this movie are clear. The show is successful. Storyville and jazz in New Orleans came about Early episodes of Betty Boop are sexually and during the same time period. Jazz was labeled racially provocative. This mild episode is likely from as bottom-feeding, reckless, no-class, sexually the later collection of Betty Boop cartoons. This promiscuous music. These are the same things that episode may be a good tool to interest students in people said about Storyville. This is why the two jazz. The music played in the cartoon is swing and became synonymous with each other. The music that it is sung by a woman. The story line shows that, they played in the brothels while the ladies sang and initially, the club owner is furious that this type of danced was jazz. Jazz music played a big part in music is being played in his club. Eventually, even he showing the gender roles during this time. The music’s falls in love with the music and joins Betty Boop and lyrics and rhythms made it seem that the “women” Swing Sally on stage to dance. that danced to or liked it were not the norm in society. This cartoon raises interesting questions about If this movie was used in a classroom setting it women in jazz. The animators may have been making would have to be in a college class. The language a statement about jazz being associated with the

54 lower class when they decided to give the cleaning careers as females, as lesbians, and as a couple. In lady the jazz voice. Atypical of perceptions of jazz, addition, the article talks about the ways in which the actual jazz singer was dressed very conservatively they interact with each other through music (and for her performance, while Betty Boop appeared the ways in which they don’t, as they never play in sexy clothing. Again, it appears that Betty’s sex together), and the ways in which their status as openly appeal was tuned down in this episode. The cartoon gay musicians influences their playing. Both feel also raises questions about why jazz music was so that they are better able to communicate with their objectionable and why women were often absent in audiences because they are open and comfortable the jazz world when, clearly, they could perform the with their identities. The two assert that they never music. By creating a female talent agent and female compete with each other because jazz is competitive singer, this cartoon seems to celebrate women in jazz. enough for women, particularly gay women. Bailey It is appropriate for all ages. (Hope Rias) addresses jazz and gender by saying that gender has been her clearest obstacle and lamenting that things Magazine and Newspaper Articles may have happened sooner for her if she wasn’t a female musician struggling to be recognized in the Davis, Francis. “In the Macho World of Jazz, Don’t traditionally male world of jazz guitar. She doesn’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” New York Times, Art and Leisure, dwell on that, though, and in general the tone is September 1, 2002. positive and upbeat—concerning both their careers In this brief article, Mr. Davis presents far more and their relationships. questions about jazz and homosexuality than he This article might not provide much for someone answers, but they are all important questions and looking for in-depth information about jazz or a a great place for anyone to start thinking about jazz musician’s career, but I think it could be very the relationship between sexuality and music. useful for representing the wide range of people The discussion is anchored by his recounting of creating jazz music. Not only does it elaborate on an April 2002 Village Vanguard panel on jazz and what contemporary jazz musicians are like, but homosexuality, the first of its kind. (See annotation of it also provides one real world example of what transcript.) Various musicians, such as vibraphonist lesbians, lesbian-identified musicians, and more Gary Burton, asked questions like why is race importantly lesbian couples are like. For most, few considered such a rich topic within discussion of models of healthy homosexual relationships will be jazz, while sexuality is often absent. Questioning this encountered in education, and perhaps not even in erasure of sexuality is a chief purpose of this article. popular culture. I believe that the representation of The author asserts that the unwritten policy is “don’t the two women as a three-dimensional, functional ask, don’t tell” within jazz culture but wonders if this unit—and also vibrant autonomous individuals within is because it is considered nobody’s business or if it that unit—provides much needed information on what is the result of homophobia with jazz communities. positive relationships, lesbian or otherwise, are like. The article also discusses the general masculinity of The article does contain one instance of profanity jazz and wonders how this might affect gay male that will probably not be considered acceptable in musicians and female musicians of all sexualities, most classroom situations. Otherwise, the article both potential outsiders to what is often considered would be age appropriate for middle and high school a boys club. The author leaves us wondering about students. In general, I recommend The Advocate as a all of these issues, including the very relevance of source for highly readable and positive articles about the answers, but he makes it clear that we just don’t gay individuals. (Aimee Hendrix) know the answers because the very jazz culture that is known for being progressive musically and socially Music Recordings has looked away on the issue. (Aimee Hendrix) Cats vs. Chicks, “Anything You Can Do” and Various artists, “A Woman’s Place Is in the Groove.” Forty DuLong, Jessica. “Jazz Lovers.” The Advocate, July, Years of Women in Jazz. Jass Records, 1989. 22, 2003. This double CD is a compilation of some of the This article profiles an openly lesbian couple female instrumentalists from the 1920s through the comprised of two jazz musicians, singer-pianist Dena 1960s. The first CD contains female instrumentalist, DeRose and jazz guitarist Sheryl Bailey. Both were and the second CD has all-female bands performing. named, individually, to Jazz Week’s Top Ten in 2002 This CD only contains some of the many female and are successful nationally and internationally. The instrumentalists during this time. This CD is very profile is about more than just their musical careers important because during the time of these recordings though; it is about how they have negotiated those women had the choice of being a piano player or a

55 singer. If they wanted to play another instrument it was as the birth of “free jazz” and focuses on what also very hard for them to find work. The CD cover indicates went along with this musical movement. In his essay, that the selection process for the instrumentalists Ake reviews the “historical crisis” that took place both included two criteria. These were the dates the in and out of jazz between the ending of the second recordings were made and the female instrumentalists World War and 1959. He explores the breakdown that they thought should be recognized. of the established codes of masculinity and how the There are many great songs on these CDs. bebop world of jazz reflected those changes. Ake However, I choose two specific songs that I thought delivers his argument by meticulously describing were relevant to jazz and gender. The two songs I and musically analyzing the song “Lonely Woman,” choose were “Anything You Can Do” and “A Woman’s from its nonconventional, nonobjectifying title to its Place Is in the Groove.” These two songs represent complete lack of tonal center and rhythmic pulse. what many women had to deal with when looking At approximately 2 minutes and 40 seconds into the for work during this time. They had to deal with the performance, Colman’s phrasing in his solo “does not discrimination because of their sex. So when they serve to stimulate carnal desire in the listener, but to got a chance to perform music they had to be able to bear witness to—and for—the ‘lonely woman.’” do it better that their male counterparts, just so to be Outside of “Lonely Woman,” the essay goes considered “worthy” of being a jazz musician. Male on to explore the offstage representations of jazz artist only had to be able to play well to be accepted. masculinity specifically through describing the Female artists had to be able to play great, look nice, influential jazz album covers of the late 1950s and and still be a lady. I am sure this made it hard for early 1960s. Coleman’s covers are compared with many women to find work. those of and Jimmy Rowles, which serves The tempo of both songs is kind of like a again to prove that Coleman was a trend breaker conversation going back and forth. The songs sound when it came to jazz consistently being infused with like the males are telling the women that they do not hip male sexuality by others. belong, and the women are coming back stronger To conclude, Ake defends his assertions that to prove the men wrong. The songs have a very strong helped influence the sound, sound to them to help prove that the women are look, and sexual implications of jazz music both supposed to be included when talking about jazz in Coleman’s own time and in the times to come. instrumentalists. The instruments that they use come out Coleman was an important “model of identity” loud and clear when expressing how the women feel concerning gender and the jazz world. Ake states, about being told they do not belong. In my opinion “In many ways, the challenges posed by Coleman’s when the women are responding the instruments are group are far from resolved to this day.” This article played louder and better. (Franklin H. Webster) contains an in-depth look at the cultural, social, and musical history of America from the late 1940s into Scholarly Articles/Essays the early 1960s. The article would be appropriate for a high school jazz and gender class exploring how Ake, David. “Re-Masculating Jazz: Ornette Coleman, the accepted notions of jazz and male sexuality were ‘Lonely Woman,’ and the New York Jazz Scene in changing during that time period, why they were the Late 1950s.” American Music 16, no. 1 (Spring changing, and who in the jazz world was behind 1998): 25–44. those changes. (Amy Dilts) This article focuses on the well-established codes of masculinity that existed in jazz until the late 1950s Lawrence, Ava. “Rosetta Reitz: Rediscovering Women and the particular performer that challenged those in Jazz and Blues.” Association for Recorded Sound established codes in 1959. Jazz was, since its earliest Collections Journal 36, no. 2 (2005): 214–23. days, a male-dominated domain. As social and This article is a summary of Rosetta Reitz’s role in cultural climates in early twentieth-century America female jazz music. She was one of the women that changed, so jazz musicians too had the flexibility started a record company that was made to help through their genre to change and challenge the women’s jazz and blues music become known. Her image of what it was to be a man in the jazz world. company was called Rosetta Records. It explains Ake focuses on Ornette Coleman’s performance of how and why she became involved with music and the song “Lonely Woman” in 1959 at New York’s also why she decided to become involved with the Five Spot jazz club as an example of a time when the women that played music. She started out finding notions of jazz and gender were represented in an music by women and letting her girlfriends listen to alternative way, undermining the accepted notions of it and making copies of what they heard. She was jazz and masculinity. Ake regards this performance very adamant about getting women’s music its own

56 identity. Her record company is no longer in business Pollock, Mary S., and Susanne Vincenza. “Feminist but she is still very involved in getting the music of Aesthetics in Jazz: An Interview with Susanne women listened to. Vincenza of Alive!” Frontiers: A Journal of Women In the article Reitz says that she wants to answer Studies 8, no. 5 (1984): 60–63. questions like “Where were the women? Weren’t This is a fascinating article about an all-female jazz women interested? Or weren’t they involved? So I group from the late 1970s. The band Alive! was started hunting about and looking for the women... created when three women met at San Francisco’s But were they only vocalists? Who were they? What Jazz Workshop in 1977. Bass player Susanne were they singing about?” She goes on to say that Vincenza, singer Rhiannon, and percussionist Carolyn women were always involved in the music but that Brandy formed the innovative group to compose and the problem is that they were not recognized as being perform feminist-driven jazz music. In 1979 the group “worthy” of being considered musicians. All of the expanded to include drummer Barbara Borden and things that Reitz is addressing in this article is what pianist Janet Small. The group put out three albums in this section, Jazz and Gender, is relating to. These are the early 1980s, the first of which was calledAlive! , the questions that people ask about jazz and gender. recorded in 1980. Their second was the live album This article on Rosetta Reitz helps to shed some light Call It Jazz, and their third, City Life, was recorded on on the answers to some of these questions. (Franklin their own label. The group was a success because of H. Webster) their empowering lyrics, eclectic musical innovations, and unconventional approach to the male-driven McKeage, Kathleen. “Where Are All of the Girls?” jazz world. These women rose above the stereotypes Gender, Education, Music, Society 1 (Spring 2002). of women in jazz and were a commercial success, the major women’s music festivals. They found This author of this article is a senior lecturer at the success in writing lyrics that had a feminist emphasis, University of Wyoming, where she teaches double an element the jazz world did not have enough of bass, aural theory, and courses in music education. until that time. The article contains an interview She decided to study the issue of why there were not with Vincenza, which offers the reader a voice from many women involved in jazz at the university level. the band answering questions about their unique The reason she did this is because one of the visiting musical “sound,” their choice of instrumentation, their students that was thinking about joining the jazz band own jazz role models, and why it is so difficult for asked where all the women were. So she looked at women in the industry to be taken seriously as jazz the jazz courses offered, interviewed jazz ensemble instrumentalists. directors, and chose three female participants to study This article should absolutely be shared with over a four-month period. The female participants all middle and high school jazz and gender classes as a had a similar background in jazz. They all played in success story of a contemporary and innovative all- the jazz band in high school for three years, each had female jazz band. (Amy Dilts) participated in a particular jazz course freshman year, and each had moved to vocal jazz class during Websites (annotated) her sophomore year. Also all of them attended jam sessions but did not play in them very often. In the article http://www.najp.org/events/talkingjazz/transcript1. Mrs. McKeage comes to the conclusion that three html. “Talking Jazz: Three Panel Discussions: factors contribute to why some females are not involved Destination Out.” National Arts Journalism Program, in jazz at the university level. One is the lack of female Columbia University (accessed July 15, 2007). role models as jazz instrumentalist. Another is that the females This transcript of a panel discussion provides highly are pressured to concentrate more on traditional forms interesting firsthand accounts of experiences and of expression with music. Finally she says that there is opinions of jazz and homosexuality from individuals a lack of a positive learning environment. active within the jazz community. The panel This is a very good article to relate to jazz and discussion, called “Destination Out” was one of three gender. It tries to answer the question it poses in a discussions in a conference called “Talking Jazz” scientific way. It uses facts to come to the conclusion sponsored by the National Arts Journalism Program at of why more female instrumentalist are not seen in Columbia University at the well-known New York City jazz ensembles. The reasons the author comes up with jazz space, the Village Vanguard. Participants included may not be true in all cases. However, the reasons journalist and moderator Francis Davis, jazz historian that the author concludes do make a lot of sense. Grover Sales, and gay and out musicians Fred Hersch, (Franklin H. Webster) Andy Bey, Charlie Kohlhase, and Gary Burton.

57 Transcribed is an introduction by Mr. Davis noting section, “Queer Jazz” contains pictures, playlists, and the difficulty of finding a truly representative panel, information on gay jazz musicians, such as current outlining the careers of each of the participants, out lesbian musician Patricia Barber and historical and posing an opening set of questions for the figures like the respected composer Billy Strayhorn. musicians. He asks and the musicians comment Though the actual tracks are not available, a playlist on what it was like for each of them to come out from the show can be found separately or integrated as gay, what led to that decision, what they feared, into the transcript of the show. In addition to the and what the actual results have been. Most of the music, the transcript of the show contains some experiences reported were positive; the musicians commentary such as the introduction, in which the experienced support from audiences and other producer discusses his opinions on why jazz has musicians. Negative experiences included a letter historically not been a very “out” type of music. to Jazz Times condemning gay jazz musicians as not The website and radio show are put together for swinging. Andy Bey, who discussed the difficulty of the purpose of entertaining and providing exposure on being a black, gay, and HIV+ musicians, reported a wide range of topics. As the depth of the information experiencing more homophobia from both writers and is not very deep, this website is great for providing club owners, including the very club where the panel numerous jumping off points for further research; if discussions occurred. Many of the musicians also say you want plentiful information on any one topic, it that the openness in their lives has had positive effects will be necessary to look beyond the website. Doyle on their music. does provide numerous links for this purpose, though The panel also engages ideas from the work some of them are no longer working. As far as the of Mr. Sales about why jazz seems to exclude gay long-term stability of this website, it seems that it will people—musicians and audiences. In addition, the exist and be added to for at least as long as the Queer musicians weigh in on queer musicology, which, Music Heritage radio show exists. (Aimee Hendrix) among other things, seeks to read codes of queerness within music. Once questioning is turned over to the audience, there is a good deal of exploration of why homosexuality and jazz are not written about more often. Is it because it is a private issue with no relevance to music? If so, why are straight musicians’ wives deemed relevant topics within jazz interviews with straight musicians? As a somewhat free-flowing discussion of issues, not every issue here is explored as thoroughly as it might be in a scholarly article, but the panel highlights the dominant issues within studies of sexuality and music, and the firsthand information is extremely compelling. The transcript would probably be most useful to an educator exploring this topic; however, students with moderately strong reading skills and an interest in the topic might also find it useful. Another option for students would be one of the summaries of this discussion, such as Mr. Davis’s newspaper article referenced in this bibliography. (Aimee Hendrix) http://www.queermusicheritage.us/feb2003.htm. “Queer Jazz.” Queer Music Heritage l (accessed July 17, 2007). Queer Music Heritage is a Houston radio show and website that takes the position that gay is not just an identity but a culture. As such, the producer, J. D. Doyle, does his radio show and posts related info on the website in order to showcase music in gay culture. This would be a useful website for anyone wanting to explore that broad topic, but for information on jazz and gay culture specifically, the February 2003

58 Jazz and Race a slanderous way to belittle a race. In brighter times, it Robert Evans, Allen Stith, Herbert West, led the way for social change (e.g., desegregation) by and Keith Westbrook providing a model for interracial collaboration. One resource that highlights the way jazz music has led To suggest that jazz is a true American art form for social change is a recording by Max Roach, We requires that it be composed of and proclaim the Insist! Freedom Now Suite. It could be known as the thoughts, fears, and beliefs important to the American opening soundtrack to the Black Power movement. identity. It is the role of an art form to comment Recorded in 1960, five years after the Montgomery on and influence the world in which it is created. Bus Boycott, it shocked listeners with songs such as Therefore, it is no surprise that jazz music has strong “Freedom Day,” “All Africa,” “Tears for Johannesburg,” connections to one of America’s greatest areas for and the piercing centerpiece sung by Abby Lincoln, shame: race. This section is designed to offer teachers “Triptych: Prayer, Protest, and Peace.” There are a look at resources that show the connection between also a number of resources that are identified with jazz and race. These resources were not chosen to be the civil rights movement, including “Strange Fruit” the definitive answer to understanding jazz and race. and “Alabama,” musical selections that lamented They were chosen to show the complexity and depth the social injustice of racism and segregation while of the issues as they relate to jazz and race. For those providing hope for change. interested in studying humanities, the role of jazz and Race and jazz has been the subject of intense race is a vital category to engage multiple disciplines dialogue. The two are connected on multiple in understanding American culture. levels. Conversations associated with jazz and race In our study of jazz and race, one complex issue have been ongoing since its inception. Multiple was that of authenticity. The argument is not so much questions arose about the intersection of jazz and that all jazz musicians are African American but that race throughout the research for the resource guide. most significant contributors and innovators have These questions only created more questions, thus been African American—like Louis Armstrong, Duke demonstrating the complexity of the issues related Ellington, Count Basie, and Miles Davis. This view, to jazz and race. There are many resources included of course, is very controversial, because there are in this bibliography that are helpful in teaching and others who view this music as a creation of many understanding the complex issues surrounding jazz different people. There are many white artists—such and race. as and Dave Brubeck—who have contributed as well. Some, like Albert Murray, argue Articles and Essays that the ability to play the blues is the definitive Austerlitz, Paul. “Jazz Consciousness: Music, Race, trait of authentic jazz musicians, but when jazz was and Humanity.” Music and Letters 88, no. 2 becoming popular African Americans and whites (May 2007): 335–40. were playing similar forms of the music. We found , Carissa K. “The Coloring of Jazz: Race the dissertation by Patrick Burke an enlightening and Record Cover Design in American Jazz, source for working through issues of authenticity or 1950–1970.” Design Issue 23, no. 1 (Spring ownership of jazz. The filmNew Orleans is another 2007): 47–60. source that will engage students in discussions centered Gray, Herman. “Black Masculinity and Visual on the question, Who can claim ownership of jazz? Culture.” Callaloo 18, no. 2 (Spring 1995): As with many attempts to oppress ethnic groups, 401–5. stereotypes can be used to create division and Peretti, Burton W. “The Creation of Jazz: Music, Race, humiliate. The essay “: Race, Jazz, and Cartoons” and Culture in Urban America.” Popular allows students and teachers the opportunity to take Music 13, no. 1 (January 1994): 123–26. a historical look at stereotypes in cartoons and the way jazz intentionally and unintentionally perpetuates Books and Book Chapters those stereotypes. This work forces the reader to Baraka, Amiri. Black Music. New York: William question the existing power structure. Again, a Morrow, 1967. question of ownership comes into the debate. African Berrrett, Joshua. Louis Armstrong and : Americans rarely owned the means to develop their Two Kings of Jazz. New Haven, CT: Yale own cartoons but lacked the resources to market their University Press, 2004. sound. Due to the lack of capital and exposure in Crouch, Stanley. Considering Genius: Writings on the existing structure, African Americans subjected Jazz. New York: Basic Civitas Books, 2006. themselves to denigrating caricatures. Daniels, Douglas H. One O’Clock Jump: The In some historical moments, jazz has been used in Unforgettable History of the Oklahoma City

59 Blue Devils. Boston, MA: Press, 2006. Armstrong, Danny Kaye, Virginia Mayo, Davis, Angela Y. Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, and Lionel Gertrude “Ma” Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Hampton) Billie Holiday. New York: Vintage Books, Stormy Weather. Directed by Andrew Stone. Twentieth 1999. Century Fox, 1943. DeVeaux, Scott Knowles. The Birth of Bebop: A Social and Musical History. Berkeley: University of Music Recordings California Press, 1997. Brubeck, Dave, and Louis Armstrong and His Band. Gaines, William, and Howard Reich. Jelly’s Blues: “Cultural Exchange.” , The Life, Music, and Redemption of Jelly Roll Columbia, 1962. Morton. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, Burns, Ken. Jazz: The Story of American Jazz. 2003. Columbia/Legacy, 2000. Panish, John. The Color of Jazz: Race and /Ntu Troop. Harlem Bush Music Ghuru. Representation in Postwar American Culture. Milestone Records, 1971. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press, 1997. Morton, Jelly Roll. “Black Bottom Stomp.” The Radano, Ronald. Lying Up a Nation: Race and Black Smithsonian Collection of Jazz. Disc 1, Music. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, Smithsonian Collection, 1992. B0000048H9 2003. Shepp, Archie. Poem for Malcolm. BYG Records, 1969. Smith, Catherine Parsons. William Grant Still: A Study in Contradictions. Berkeley: University of Articles and Essays (annotated) California Press, 2000. Smith, R. J. The Great Black Way: L.A.’s in the 1940s Goldmark, Daniel. “Jungle Jive: Race, Jazz, and and the Lost African-American Renaissance. Cartoons.” Institute for Studies in American Music New York: PublicAffairs, 2006. Conservatory of Music, Brooklyn College of the City Starr, Larry. American Popular Music: From Minstrelsy University of New York Newsletter 34, no. 2 (Spring to MP3. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005) . Weinstein, Norman. A Night in Tunisia. Lanham, MD: In “Jungle Jive: Race, Jazz, and Cartoons,” Daniel Scarecrow Press, 1992. Goldmark tells the story of jazz in cartoons. He gives a historical overview of the music in cartoons Children’s Books and how the music has changed. According to the Collier, James L. The Jazz Kid. New York: Henry Holt, article, jazz in cartoons began as early as the 1920s. 1994. Goldmark describes the role of jazz in the cartoons. Its initial role in the cartoon began as the sound track Dissertation for the cartoons and ended as the basis for the story Cawthra, Benjamin. “Blue Notes in Black and on a number of occasions. At one point in animation White: Photography, Race, and the Image of history, the title, entire plot, and characters were all Jazz, 1936–1965.” Ph.D. diss., Washington jazz based. Goldmark also identifies some of the University, 2007. different jazz bands that were participated in the animation. Fiction The underlying message of the article is centered Santon, Thomas. Songs for My Fathers: A New on the theme of race and jazz, as is clear from the Orleans Story in Black and White. New York: title. The author makes the connection between jazz Other Press, 2006. and race early and often. He begins by arguing that jazz in the early part of the century was viewed as Films primal and exotic. He supports this argument by Birth of the Blues. Directed by Victor Schertzinger. suggesting that the use of the jazz in cartoons usually Paramount Pictures, 1946. takes place in jungles or in nightclubs. Goldmark Harlem Nights. Directed by Eddie Murphy. Eddie identifies in great detail the perceptions of jazz and Murphy Productions, 1989. African Americans during this period of U.S. history. The Jazz Singer. Directed by Alan Crosland. Warner The writers of the cartoons based their story lines on Brothers, 1927. the prevalent stereotypes of African Americans and : Live at Ronnie Scott’s. Wadham Film, 1985. the ideas that suggested jazz music was primitive A Song Is Born. Directed by Howard Hawks. and exotic. Were the black jazz bands depicted HBO Home Video, 1992. (Features Louis as primal and exotic because they were black, or

60 because they played jazz? How did the images of career in jazz. Morgan was a teen-age phenomenon jazz and African Americans in cartoons perpetuate from the streets of Philadelphia and the son of poor negative stereotypes? Why black musicians allow African American migrants from the South. As a high such a portrayal to be presented? Did white musicians school student he was playing in clubs with his own experience the same type of treatment? Were white ensembles and sat in on jam sessions with several jazz bands depicted in a way that was viewed as great African American musicians. The speed of his primitive? musical meteoric rise increased when he became The article is short and informative. It provides the eighteen. He moved to New York City to join Dizzy reader with a historical and critical analysis of race Gillespie’s big band and within weeks was offered and music, specifically jazz in the United States. The recording work as a leader himself. In a little over a article looks primarily at the first half of the twentieth year he recorded six albums under his own name and century. Due to the nature of some of the language, appeared as a sideman on numerous others. this article is best reserved for high school students. In 1957, at the young age of nineteen, Morgan (Robert Evans) began years of drug addiction, although he continued to play with several bands. His sound and styling Haley, Alex. “Miles Davis: Candid Conversation.” made him one of the more sought after jazz players. Playboy, September 1962, 57–66. He joined the Jazz Messengers in 1958 and was Miles Davis—born May 26, 1926, in Alton, soon a heroin addict. While working with the Jazz Illinois, and died September 25, 1991, in Santa Messengers, Morgan formed a great partnership with Monica, California—made his mark in jazz through several giants of jazz—Benny Golson, , neither technical mastery like Charlie Parker nor a and Wayne Shorter—until his heroin problem forced single identifiable style like Thelonious Monk but him to leave the band in 1961. rather through his constant evolution and stylistic After this setback, Morgan returned for a few years innovation. Davis three times altered the history to his hometown, Philadelphia, where he maintained of jazz, by introducing cool jazz, modal jazz and a low profile while battling his addiction and working fusion. Miles’s first great quintet included John occasionally with saxophonist . In 1963 Coltrane, Red Garland, , and Philly Joe he returned to New York and recorded his most Jones. They produced classic albums such as Miles successful tune, “.” He entered his Ahead (1957) and Cookin (1956). Miles’s second greatest period, recording one memorable album great quintet included Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, after another, writing “Ceora” and “Speedball,” and Tony Williams, and Wayne Shorter. This rhythm spending a second period with Blakey (1964–65). section is generally considered one of the best all- As Morgan continued to make new attempts to time jazz units. In 1962 Miles made Quiet Night move away from drug addiction, he moved toward and Sorcerer. He also did an interview for Playboy a new community of politically active African magazine the same year. Americans. In them he found a new consciousness The brilliant bad man of jazz unburdened that would get him involved in the African American himself of his hate and anger for a nice, candid liberation movement in the 1960s. He began to attack interview. Davis shared his opinions on his bad boy the white control over African American musicians. reputation, racism, jazz, Louis Armstrong, women, At this point he wanted the music to be viewed as an critics, and European audiences. Here’s a response African American product, with more visibility and to a question regarding his tough guy image: “I’m equal pay. Morgan is now becoming a vociferous like I am and I ain’t planning to change. I ain’t scared campaigner for African American musicians’ rights of nothing or nobody. I’ve already been through too and representation. much. I ought to be dead from what I went through Tom Perchard’s biography of is a when I was on dope. I just say what I think, and that great reading experience for high school seniors who bugs people, especially a lot of white people, when are blind to the world of some African American they look in my eyes and don’t see no fear, they know musicians. It can support a serious discussion of it’s a draw.” (Keith Westbrook) the economic and racial plight that many African Americans encountered. Also, the book will give Biography and Autobiography (annotated) students the chance to analyze why so many African American musicians became involved in drugs and Perchard, Tom. Lee Morgan: His Life, Music, and provides the opportunity to examine the lines of white Culture. Oakville, CT: Equinox Publisher, 2006. musicians in regards to African Americans. The biography of jazz musician Lee Morgan tells the Although Morgan was actively demanding a better story of his plight to balance his life while pursuing his position for African Americans in the jazz world,

61 his life remained troubled. During a fight with his Age, or the Harlem Renaissance. (Robert Evans) common-law wife, Helen Moore, he was shot and died on February 19, 1972, at the young age of thirty- Books and Book Chapters three. (Herbert West) Baraka, Amiri. Blues People: Negro Music in White X, Malcolm. The Autobiography of Malcolm X. America. New York: William Morrow, 1963. Contribution by Alex Haley. New York: Random Amiri Baraka was born October 7, 1934, in Newark, House, 1964. New Jersey. He is a prolific writer, playwright, activist, Malcolm X, with the help of Alex Haley, tells the story and intellectual completing important works in poetry, of his life. The socially constructed idea of race is drama, jazz, history, and nonfiction. Baraka was a introduced early and continues throughout the entire key figure in the avant-garde movement of the New book. In the beginning of the book, he explains his early American literature in the 1950–1960s, as well as childhood and the tragic death of his father. The death the black arts movement in the late 1960s and early of his father sent things in his life spiraling downward 1970s. His plays Dutchman and The Slave (both and out of control. He uses specific examples to 1964) combined experimental theater with militant explain how race and the racial discrimination and violent assertions of black pride. Baraka was mentally crippled his mother and dissolved his family deeply influenced by jazz musicians such as Ornette structure. Malcolm details his adolescent adventures Coleman, John Coltrane, , and Sun Ra. In and his migration amid the discouragement from the 1950s and 1960s many jazz musicians produced school and his stay in the foster care system. avant-garde art rooted in African American cultural Throughout the book, Malcolm addresses love, sex, traditions. In 1963 Baraka published Blues People: his criminal life, prison, and the changes that the Negro Music in White America. Nation of Islam provided his life. Finally, Malcolm Blues People was the first analytical and historical recounts his break from the Nation of Islam and his study of jazz and blues written by an African discovery of the broader world, greater Islam, and self. American. The book suggests that music can be used This book serves as one man’s story for as a gauge to measure the cultural assimilation of understanding race relations in the United States. Africans in North America from the early eighteenth As it relates to jazz and race, The Autobiography century to the twentieth century. Baraka contends of Malcolm X is very provocative and informative. that although slavery destroyed many formal artistic There are chapters in the book that have specific traditions, African American music represents certain jazz undertones. From his best friend, Shorty, taking African survivals. saxophone lessons and eventually playing in a band Baraka also argues that while Africans adapted to the numerous jazz musicians that he watched their culture to the English language and musical play and got a chance to meet, jazz is definitely a instruments, they maintained an ethnic viewpoint that recurring motif in the book. The motif can be viewed is preserved and transmitted by their music. Stylistic on at least two levels, if not more. On one level, changes in the music mirror historical changes and Malcolm describes the way the music makes him feel. social conditions of African Americans. The chapter He enjoys listening to it and enjoys dancing to it. On “Enter the Middle Class” discusses the middle class another level, his encounters with artists like Count abandonment of certain African forms. “Only Negro Basie, Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton, and others music, because perhaps, it drew its strength and take place in environments that are predominantly beauty out of the depths of the black man’s soul segregated. Malcolm even used the term improvise to and because to a large extent its traditions could describe “Showtime” at the Roseland Ballroom and be carried on by the ‘lowest classes’ of Negroes, dance styles of people from different races. Malcolm has been able to survive the constant and willful suggested that one style was mechanical and the other dilutions of the black middle class and the persistent as free. How would Malcolm X define jazz? Malcolm calls to oblivion made by the mainstream of the also enjoyed Benny Goodman, a white jazz musician. society.” Blues People offers an interesting view Would he limit jazz to an African American music? of how cultural products determine other social What challenges did the musicians he met face? developments. It is broad in scope and insightfully The segregation in jazz provides an appropriate opinionated. (Keith Westbrook) starting point to begin understanding the complex history of jazz and race in the United States. This book Keepnews, Orrin, and Bill Grauer Jr. A Pictorial is a popular account of his life intended for at least History of Jazz: People and Places from New Orleans high school students. It would be a great supplement to Modern Jazz. New York: Crown Publishers, 1955. to any discussion on race relations in jazz, the Jazz A great deal can be learned about a time, place, and

62 people by studying pictorial records. This collection What pictorial evidence exists to argue that jazz is an of unique photos is an excellent resource for seeing American art form? Is the term “jazz” limited to music the development of a culture without the bias often or are there other associations that can be made? found in written accounts. Photographs of individual This is a resource that provides numerous facets players, bands, personal letters, posters, and recording for studying jazz and race. (Allen Stith) documents from the nineteenth century to the middle twentieth century are contained within this collection. Werner, Craig Hansen. A Change Is Gonna Come: The pictorial account is divided into sections, Music, Race and the Soul of America. Ann Arbor: somewhat chronological, that highlight the major University of Michigan Press, 2006. places, players, and trends in jazz history. Beginning The author pens this book in an attempt to “renew with New Orleans, the book depicts the development a process of racial healing that at times seems to of Dixieland, Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, have stopped dead.” Craig Werner writes from the Chicago jazz, Kansas City swing, the New York jazz perspective that music plays an important role in scene, big band, and bebop. establishing our identity and, in the case of race, As jazz grew, photography became more prolific. healing. Starting with the 1950s, Werner examines Therefore, many of the photos that documented the the historical events in America and the dialogue that swing era thru bebop are easily accessible today. took place between white and black voices. However, many of the photos from the early days of Werner exhausts a number of musical styles, jazz in New Orleans are unique records. Pictures of from gospel to hip hop, in exploring the role of music New Orleans in its infancy (4–9) highlight slave trade, in race relations. Many chapters are very enticing New Orleans in the 1850s and early 1900s, and the reads, including his chapters “The View from Black development of zoned districts (divided by skin color) America” and “Duke Ellington for Our Time: The for legal prostitution and the other vices. Symbol Formerly Known as Prince.” Of particular Of particular importance to the issue of jazz importance to this category of study is the chapter and race are photographs that show the integration “Black Is an’ Black Ain’t: JB, Miles and Jimi.” This of many ethnic backgrounds (regardless of skin chapter juxtaposes the creative processes of three color) in the first brass bands and jazz bands. Some musicians who shared a desire to reach a higher photographs suggest that there were many segregated understanding of their identity as black men. They ensembles, but segregation did not rule the landscape. were contemporaries and well aware of the African One is also able to see the development of jazz influences that each was brining to the forefront of the from its humble beginnings (players in impoverished musical landscape. Brown, for example, basically surroundings, ragged instruments, and little-cared-for abandoned the elements of melody and harmony in appearance) to a highly professionalized culture (see exchange for the rhythm that became the heart of images of the Onward Brass Band and other groups . Werner discusses the impact that Brown had on dressed tuxes or uniforms, 10–18). Photographic African music (becoming more popular than Ella) and depictions of jazz music taking place in areas known the evolving style that allowed blacks to claim pride for vice (e.g., Storyville) assist in demonstrating the in their heritage. Werner points out, however, that early connotation of jazz as a dirty musical form. this new sound that celebrated black pride eventually Though photographs are often considered safe became a stereotype for the black sound. from bias, the inclusion of some photos and exclusion Werner spends a fair amount of space discussing of others is a subjective process. Awkwardly, as one the importance of Miles Davis’s album Bitches Brew peruses the book’s later pages, there is almost a tacit as a seminal effort to infuse the new sound of James bias in the collection of these particular documents. Brown with his appreciation for German composer In other words, most of the pictures chosen show Karlheinz Stockhausen. There are several quotations jazz performed in segregated groups. For high school attributed to Miles that speak directly to the role students studying a historical artifact, there is value of race in jazz. Like Armstrong, Miles also faced in exploring the underlying presuppositions (biases, criticism for using white musicians in his bands. prejudices) that were at work when compiling this Werner uses this issue to point out the ways that Miles book. There are also several ways this book can be best embodied what it meant to be a jazz musician. used to discuss the relationship between jazz and Like many jazz musicians who chose to play in race. When examining early photographs, is there integrated bands, the reasons were both aesthetic and evidence that jazz musicians were more concerned economic. It is a true American ideal to say that the with the quality of musicianship over skin color? color of the skin did not matter as much as the color What changes occurred in society to take away the of the paper in one’s pocket. The best players helped altruistic nature of jazz in regards to race integration? to produce the best records.

63 Werner concludes his comparisons by examining explain how they might have affected race relations the role of . Though many think of rock the United States. (Herbert West) ’n’ roll when they first hear the name, the author points out that Hendrix was a “jazz musician trapped Children’s Books (annotated) in a rock format” (141). Attention is also given to the way Hendrix preferred to live in a world that was not Curtis, Christopher Paul. Bud, Not Buddy. New York: so obsessed by color and the role of his own heritage Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 1999. in developing his musical identity. Bud, Not Buddy tells the story of a ten-year-old boy Excerpts of this book are appropriate for high school during the Depression year of 1936. Set in Michigan, juniors or seniors with proper notification that strong the story details the journey of Bud, an orphan, as language is often used in quotations of musicians. he searches for the father he never knew. Bud is a Most chapters are brief (some only two to three pages) resourceful young man. Upon running away from his and encourage students to ask more questions about cruel foster parents, he manages to travel across the the role of race in jazz music. (Allen Stith) state and find meals along the way. Bud finds the man he believes is his father. However, the homecoming is Cartoons (annotated) not quite what he expected. In this fictional account, jazz and race are subtly “Jazzy Guest Stars.” In “Pre-Code,” vol. 2 in Betty Boop: intertwined. Bud is an African American kid living The Definitive Collection. Republic Pictures, 1996. in a time when race and racism are major problems. Politically Incorrect Cartoons. Yo Ho Video, n.d. The father that Bud is looking for is a famous jazz During the 1940s there were several attacks on jazz. bandleader, Herman Calloway. One of the ways jazz In some cases people viewed it as primitive, junglelike and race in this story are connected can be seen by gutter music. Some people traced it back to a vulgar the racial makeup of the band. The band is all black term used for sexual acts, and some of the sounds of with the exceptions of one white musician, Roy jazz were associated with whorehouses and “ladies “Dirty Deed” Breed. Dirty Deed is also responsible of ill repute.” To make matters worse some protested for booking gigs for the band. Why was it necessary against this music through animated cartoons. to have Dirty Deed in the band? Did having Dirty Two prime examples of this would be Betty Boop: Deed give the band legitimacy? Did this kind of thing The Definitive Collection and Yo Ho Video Presents happen often in 1936? The property that Calloway Politically Incorrect Cartoons. owns is in the name of Dirty Deed. According the In these videos we are provided with some story, African Americans in 1936 Michigan were not seriously negative images of African Americans while allowed to own property. Other characters in the story jazz music is being expressed. In Betty Boop we see suggest that Dirty Deed is an exceptional player. They women often as sex objects with rhythms and coded also stated that the music would not be compromised language used. When jazz sections are shown we and his race did not matter. Does this mean that see some of the most important jazz musicians of the anyone can play jazz? Why were they willing to time portrayed as buffoons and other negative and accept Dirty Deed into the band? Would the black degrading images. In the Politically Incorrect Cartoons musicians have had the option of playing in a white we are showered with several short cartoons that band in 1936? show lazy, happy-go-lucky people, fat and robust The examples of the connections between individuals who are lost in life. jazz and race are simplistic and shallow but are The tragedy of these cartoons is that they are appropriate for the intended audience. This is a designed to express negative images of jazz and very interesting read and will best serve students in African American people. These videos are ideal elementary grade levels. (Robert Evans) use for an African American history class. They will allow the students to challenge these images and Monceaux, Morgan. Jazz: My Music, My People. allow them to develop a good discussion on jazz. New York: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 1994. Through analyzing these videos in the class, students Morgan Monceaux grew up listening to and singing can share with others why these videos were made music, specifically jazz. InJazz: My Music, My and what they really represented. The videos can People, he tells the story of jazz as it was told to also assist the students in understanding that these him. Not only does Monceaux retell the story, he are not images of African Americans and that their also creates all of the illustrations for this children’s real purpose, perhaps, was to taint jazz music. As a book. He offers short biographies of many blues and class assignment, have the students write individual jazz musicians, including Buddy Bolden, Sidney reaction papers to what they see in the videos and Bechet, the International Sweethearts of Rhythm,

64 Sarah Vaughan, and John Coltrane. Monceaux also Eventually, some grew tired of the playing dances and insightfully lists some of the different eras of jazz standard riffs. A place for authentic expression and creative beginning with the shaping of jazz, followed by the exercise was needed. Burke discusses how a close-knit swing years and ending with bebop and modern group of musicians began to meet in small clubs for jazz. The introduction to the book sets the stage for a jam sessions. Race played a major role in the music captivating trip through history. Buddy Bolden is the produced during these sessions. Burke points to 52nd Street subject of the foreword by Wynton Marsalis and the as a place where many white musicians collaborated first biography in the book. The end of the book offers under the influence of African American musicians. a glossary of musical terminology and terms specific Though it was a complex relationship, as some merely to jazz. used the stereotypes of black minstrelsy, there was a The rich history of jazz has been documented in definite adoption of black styling in their playing. several works. The intersection of jazz and race are Burke explores the importance of the Onyx Club visible points in this account. From the early years as a place where jazz musicians sought refuge from to bebop and modern jazz, Monceaux includes only the social pressures they faced during their day gigs. the African American contributors to jazz. Why? The It was in clubs like the Onyx where jam sessions contributions of African Americans to the creation cultivated the birth of a new style: bebop. With regard and formation of jazz are immeasurable. Racially to race issues, it is important to examine Burke’s speaking, were the contributions of people from other writings in his section “Playing Black” (45–66) to get a groups not valuable? This is part of the ongoing debate sense of the way that white and black musicians were about jazz. Are there other genres of music that are able to create an environment that was a playground associated or claimed by racial or ethnic groups? If for musicians to be themselves—creators and artists— not, then why is there a need in the United States for regardless of their skin tone. African Americans to claim jazz? Maybe Monceaux The issue of authenticity is one that must be chose to only focus on the individual contributions of addressed when dealing with jazz and race. African African Americans because they are so marginalized American performers on 52nd Street had to deal with the in “traditional” history books. stereotypes that associated jazz as black, irreverent, While the book is classified as a children’s book, it anticommercial, and lascivious. During this time period is best suited for students in middle school and junior white musicians were able to temporarily assume high. It is an engaging first book on jazz for students. black personas for performing jazz. However, African However, due to the fact that it does not address the American musicians did not have such a privilege of contributions of jazz musicians of races other than transference. Clearly, there existed a very complex African Americans, supplemental information will social construct that was full of hypocrisy and prejudice. need to be provided to the student readers. (Robert Evans) Sometimes it is best to look at one area to gauge how social beliefs sculpt a culture. For teachers Dissertation (annotated) interested in having students explore a complex world where race and jazz meet in the mud of social inequality, Burke, Patrick Lawrence. “Come In and Hear the this dissertation provides many avenues for adventure. Truth: Jazz, Race, and Authenticity on Manhattan’s Though much of the content mentioned here is from 52nd Street, 1930–1950.” Ph.D. diss., University of Burke’s first chapter, other chapters provide more Wisconsin–Madison, 2003. insight on racial and authenticity issues. (Allen Stith) This resource is a good reference for teachers who are interested in learning more about the role of race Films (annotated) in the development of the jazz scene in Manhattan from 1930 to 1950. A time period of great commercial Charles Mingus: Triumph of the Underdog. Directed development for jazz in New York, there were also by Don McGlynn. Shanachie Entertainment, 1999. a number of ways blacks musicians were left out Charles Mingus was a complicated melody. He of the commercial success enjoyed by many white was a bassist, bandleader, and composer. In this musicians. The gigs that paid the most belonged documentary, his friends and family highlight his adult almost exclusively to whites. Racist attitudes not only life and exceptional composing ability. Throughout left blacks out of the best jobs, their influence on jazz the film there is also mention of the impact that Duke was also under fire. Ellington had on his life and his music. He challenged The first chapter of this dissertation deals with himself to compose better on multiple occasions the development of the jazz scene in New York that due, in part, to the influence of Ellington. In 1989, catered to musicians first. Prior to this time, many ten years after his death, his unknown masterpiece, musicians worked a day job and played a night gig. Epitaph, was performed by musicians from all over the

65 country, including Gunther Schuller, John Handy, Don during the 1960s. After reading The Autobiography of Butterfield, Wynton Marsalis, and Snooky Young. This Malcolm X he identified with the Nkrumahist ideology performance signifies the life of Mingus coming full of Pan-Africanism. While in the United States he met circle. Ultimately, the documentary looks at the rise, members of the Black Panther Party, , and fall, revitalization, and tragedy of Charles Mingus. played briefly with jazz musician Roy Ayers. Triumph of the Underdog will provide Returning to Nigeria in 1973, Fela form his own opportunities for different types of conversations band, Nigeria 70. When performing onstage there on race in the classroom. It opens with Mingus might be thirty to forty musicians and dancers at one commenting on how he fits in in the United States time. He attacked government corruption in his songs racially and describes himself as feeling alone in the and criticized European standards in religion, politics, world. Charles Mingus was of mixed heritage. His feminine beauty, dress customs, and more. father was the product of an African American man Music Is the Weapon is the definitive documentary and a Swedish woman, while his mother’s parents on Fela. This DVD contains two version of the film, were African American and Chinese. Throughout English and French, and is an essential film for all who the documentary, he is visually frustrated at the wish to learn more about the artist. Shot in Lagos in state of race relations in the United States. He was 1982 by Stephane Tchal-Gaddieff and Jean Jacques exceptionally vocal and critical of the United States Flori, this documentary takes you from the “Kalakuta as it related to race. This frustration may or may not Republic” to the mythical Shrine nightclub. At the have had something to do with his racial background, height of his popularity in Nigeria, Fela wanted to be as the topic of racial identity was not explored president. He stated: “no food, no water, no lights, throughout the film. As it relates to jazz and race, no government. have been lost, but I see Mingus was also disappointed at the classification a future in my party. Pan-Africanism is in the minds of jazz. In the documentary, he simply felt like it of everybody.” The army responded by attacking and should be referred to as music, and not black music. ransacking his community, raping his wives, and This brings forward some really thought-provoking throwing his mother from a window, who later died questions for the classroom. What is black music? from her injuries. What classifies someone as a jazz musician? Did After returning from time in prison, Fela was Mingus play jazz? Would he classify himself as a jazz more determined than ever, along with his wives. The musician and composer? film includes versions of the songs “ITT,” “Army This documentary is a great account of his adult Arrangement,” “Power Show,” and “Authority Stealing life. However, it should be noted that if you are (Live at the Shrine).” Fela transmits on camera his expecting to watch or show this film as a biography, thoughts on politics, Pan Africanism, music, and you will probably be disappointed. The film does not religion. He fearlessly confronts the neocolonial address his early childhood or adolescence. It does Nigerian government in a race war to the end. Most not discuss his initial desire to play or the impact of people think that the fight is between white and black, his ability as an instrumentalist and focuses primarily but rather black on black. The British have physically on his composing ability. Therefore, the film should be left Nigeria but still rule economically through black used to supplement information presented about the puppet regimes, which are Fela’s favorite target in his life of Charles Mingus. Due to the nature of some of music. (Keith Westbrook) the language, this film is best reserved for high school students. (Robert Evans) High Society. Directed by Charles Walters. Bing Crosby Productions, 1956. Fela Kuti: Music Is the Weapon. Directed by Stephane A musical interpretation of the movie The Philadelphia Tchalgadjieff and Jean-Jacques Flori. Universal Music Story, this classic film features performances by Louis Group, 2004. Armstrong among an all-star cast, including Frank Born October 15, 1938, in Abeokuta, Nigeria, Fela Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Grace Kelly. Kuti, the self-proclaimed black president of Nigeria, The plot is centered on a “society” wedding that takes made more than eighty albums during his twenty- place in Newport, Rhode Island. Throughout the story, five-year career. Flamboyant, he often performed and Tracy Samantha Lord (Grace Kelly) is torn between conducted interview wearing only his underwear. In marrying a man who is new to the society life and her 1978 Fela took twenty-seven wives, mostly singers feelings for her ex-husband, songwriter C. K. Dexter- and dancers from his own band. In 1986, after Haven (Bing Crosby). A series of events told in song serving twenty months in prison on drug charges, he and dance lead Grace Kelly’s character to fall back divorced them all, stating he no longer believed in in love with her ex-husband. In dramatic fashion, of the institution of marriage. He lived in Los Angeles course, her decision is made moments before her

66 wedding is to take place. Embarrassment in front of all after white supremacists burned a church, killing four the social elite who made their way to the wedding is young black girls in Alabama, Coltrane and his quartet avoided when she decides to remarry her ex-husband. went into the studio to record a musical response. Originally released in 1956, the film relies heavily Although Coltrane avoided attaching a political on popular jazz music. Louis Armstrong and his band statement to “Alabama,” LeRoi Jones memorializes make a appearance as the featured musicians how Coltrane felt “something that I saw down there for a jazz festival that happens to be taking place at translated into music from inside me.” One might the same time as the wedding. Armstrong also plays infer that the work is at least Coltrane’s eulogy for the the role of a narrator, setting up the scene at the very death of innocent children and, in a larger way, the opening of the film as his band arrives in Newport on apparent death of justice in our society. its tour bus. Another important work for examining the High Society is a good resource for showing high relationship between jazz and race is the performance school students what American culture was like in of “Afro Blue” featured on this video. Coltrane’s the middle of the twentieth century. It is especially involvement in the civil rights movement is somewhat helpful to observe the way race and gender roles are limited to “Alabama.” Looking at a discography, it is portrayed. Students will be forced to grapple with much clearer to see that Coltrane went out of his way questioning the tacit prejudices that surround the to relate his musical work to the heritage of Africa. production of the film as well as the audience it was Many of his compositions feature the word “Africa” originally intended for. or a derivative. Therefore, this recording is helpful The most obvious connection between race and in encouraging students to explore the complex jazz displayed in this film is the inclusion of Louis relationships between jazz and the roots of jazz in Armstrong. Armstrong and his band members are African music. (Allen Stith) the only African Americans featured in the film. Moreover, there is a great contrast between the New Orleans. Directed by Arthur Lubin. Majestic lifestyles of the jazz musicians and the Newport high Productions, 1947. class they entertain. In the opening scene, Armstrong’s The movie New Orleans is a fictional account of band pulls up to a mansion and begins its role as life in the city of the same name beginning in 1917. entertainers on call. The cast of characters for the movie includes jazz Some have accused Louis Armstrong of being an greats Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, and Woody “Uncle Tom” because of the way he acts in films like Herman. The cast also includes notable actors Arturo this one. Teachers may choose to engage their classes de Córdova as the leading man and Dorothy Patrick in discussions about race and jazz by asking students as the leading woman. This movie has multiple to contemplate the following questions: How is jazz plots that run simultaneously throughout it. In the presented in the film? High art or minstrel folk song? movie, the story of jazz is born amid the dark and Why would some in the black community be upset seductive streets of Storyville, the red light district with the way Louis Armstrong portrays his character? of New Orleans. The movie also details the trials What does the musical collaboration of white and and tribulations of the people involved with jazz, black musicians say about jazz? (Allen Stith) specifically Nick, Miralee, Louis, Endie, and Henry Ferber. Finally, the movie carefully describes the Jazz Casual: John Coltrane. Produced by Ralph J. dissemination of jazz to other parts of the country Gleason. Koch Entertainment, 2002. and its rise above acceptance to high class. While the This video resource documents a period of Coltrane’s story of jazz is being told, there is also a story of love development between his performances with Miles taking place. Davis and his experiments in the avant-garde. It is New Orleans seems to be connected by the a great resource for high school teachers wishing to theme of race and class. The appropriation of jazz by discuss the contributions of John Coltrane during the white people is just one example of connections that civil rights movement. exist in the movie. In one story line, a black maid, Originally broadcast as a television performance played by Billie Holiday, enjoys singing jazz. Her in 1964, there are three musical selections featured employer, a wealthy white woman, is dismayed with in the thirty-minute film. The John Coltrane Quartet the music, which she associates with vice. However, performs “Afro Blue,” “Alabama,” and “Impressions,” her daughter, Miralee, is completely engaged and with Coltrane on , pianist McCoy Tyner, hypnotized by the music. She inquires all about bassist Jimmy Garrison, and drummer . jazz and in the end is one of the people that brings Coltrane wrote one song that had a direct legitimacy to jazz. The story of Miralee and her maid connection to the civil rights movement. Two months is a microcosm of the entire movie. Initially, jazz was

67 associated with vice, as it was born in Storyville. By keyboardist, and composer from 1980 is sixty minutes the end of the movie, jazz finally penetrates high art of eccentric entertainment. Speaking in front of and culture. But, in the process, the initial musicians, Egyptian hieroglyphs, Ra says, “I don’t consider myself singers, and composers of the music become one of the humans. I’m a spiritual being.” Some jazz completely invisible in the United States. Why is it musicians indulge in the vices of the street, but Ra that only after African Americans are phased out can and the Arkstra escape only through the joyful noise jazz achieve high art? Why was it that the standard that produced 24/7. The music is infused with a strong of success for jazz was to have a stage and audience sense of discipline and precision. equivalent to ? Another theme that It’s free, sometimes chaotic, and clearly blues exists in the movie is the connection between based. Somewhat reminiscent of Monk or Mingus, Ra minstrelsy and buffoonery to jazz. Most of the African clearly loves having an audience. Standing in front of American men, led by Louis Armstrong, behave in a the White House he declares, “If you have a White manner that goes beyond mere entertainment. Why House you must have a Black House. Universal laws was this common for the men in the movie? What is require parallel opposites.” the significance between aloof behavior and the way Along with making great music Sun Ra confronts African Americans were viewed in the Untied States racism. Whether standing in a museum surrounded during this time period? by Egyptian artifacts and discussing the racial bias in This documentary is a great fictional account of educational system, or standing at the White House the story of jazz. However, it should be noted that gates, Sun Ra preaches racial separation, starting with there are some truths that can be picked out of the him first. This DVD is a necessary purchase for all jazz story. The movie subtly addresses some of the major fans. (Keith Westbrook) racial problems that existed in the United States in the early part of the twentieth century. This movie is easy Music Recordings (annotated) to follow and can be used with students in middle and high school. (Robert Evans) Armstrong, Louis. “I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead, You, Rascal, You.” Louis Armstrong: The Complete Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise. Directed by Robert Mugge. RCA Victor Recordings. Bluebird, 2001. Winstar Home Entertainment, 1998. This recording was made in Camden, December Sun Ra was born Herman “Sonny” Blount in 1932, during Armstrong’s first sessions with RCA. Birmingham, Alabama, on May 22, 1914, and Accompanied by his orchestra, Armstrong solos on died in same location May 30, 1993. He studied trumpet and sings the vocals for this song, which is music at Alabama A & M and moved to Chicago in based on the chord changes and form of “When the 1946. He played with , Gene Saints Go Marching In.” This is in no way an epic Wright, Coleman Hawkins, and . At work or a watershed recording from the Armstrong around this time he renamed himself Sun Ra and anthology; however, it is a good example of the joyful became interested in the history of ancient Egypt, exuberance that Armstrong brought to jazz music. along with Arkestra members John Gilmore and Pat Though revered and beloved by many, Louis Patrick. According to Ra, in space the idea that the Armstrong endured criticism from fellow African planet he lives on can provide a fair alternative for Americans for the ways in which he carried himself Africans looking to create a self-sufficient society. His during concert and film performances. To some philosophy deeply impacted the music in the mid Armstrong sold out to the white upper class and to late 1950s. He adopted futuristic costumes for played up racial stereotypes to further his career. In performances and gave titles related to outer space defense of his true motivations, one might analyze the and Egypt to numerous compositions. He also history and use of this song. “I’ll Be Glad When You’re began to emphasize percussion by using multiple Dead, You Rascal, You” was dedicated by Armstrong drummers. Ra was a pioneer in jazz with the use of to the city police of Memphis, Tennessee, after they electric keyboard and two bassists, before Ornette arrested Armstrong and his band for traveling on Coleman. Ra, a separatist in jazz circles, believed in a bus with a white woman, their manager’s wife. communal living for his band, which they did first in Armstrong took a risk in making a public statement Chicago and then Philadelphia. When Sun Ra moved that humiliated the police (at least those not too naive to New York in 1961, he marked the beginning of to notice). what may be considered his “free jazz” period. From High school age students can use this recording the 1970s to the early 1990s he continued to use and as a starting point for debating the role that Armstrong extend the techniques he developed during the 1960s. (and jazz) had in fighting racial injustice. Teachers This Robert Mugge profile of the late bandleader, should encourage students to investigate more about

68 Armstrong and the evidence some use to suggest that night club, introduced the song to Billie Holiday Armstrong had sold out or betrayed his black heritage. and she performed it. She later stated the imagery in (Allen Stith) “Strange Fruit” reminded her of her father’s death, and that played a role in her persistence in performing it. Brown, Oscar Jr. Sin and Soul. Columbia, 1960. Holiday recorded “Strange Fruit” with Commodore, Jr. was born in Chicago and was a Milt Gabler’s alternative jazz label, in 1939. It singer, actor, poet, and composer. He busted his way became her biggest selling record. Until the end of to prominence in the early 1960s with the album Holiday’s life “Strange Fruit” remained a fixture in her Sin and Soul on Columbia Records. The songs on performances; whenever she sang it, it was an event. the album spring from the folklore, tunes, rhythms, This song is a good teaching tool for eleventh and chants, calls, and cries of African oral traditions. The twelfth graders who are critical thinkers and who will words of “Dat Dere” in African vernacular: be able to understand the story of lynching through Hey Lookit ober dere! music. The basic content of the work is the graphic Hey wat dey doin dere? picture and the history that the song presents. This N’where dey go dere? song presents a vivid picture of some of the racial N’daddy can I hab dat interaction and it provides a description of the horror big elepunt ober dere? of lynching. A good assignment could be to have His lyrics are verses about feelings of a single the students listen to the lyrics of the song and write artist communicating the collective experience a reaction paper to what they think is taking place. of a voiceless, oppressed mass in the African folk Have the students discuss how this (lynching) might tradition. Appearing on the front cover of the album have affected Billie. Finally, have the students discuss are quotations by various people in entertainment whether music should be used to address social like Steve Allen, Lorraine Hansberry, and Nina issues. (Herbert West) Simon. One such quotation says, “He is beyond all categories. One of the most gifted and imaginative Mingus, Charles. “Fables of Faubus.” Mingus Ah Um. artist that we have.” The signature songs on Sin and Columbia, 1959. CK 40648. Soul are “But I Was Cool,” “Bid ’Em In,” “Signifyin’ Recorded in 1959 as a protest against social injustice Monkey,” and “Dat Dere.” Brown portrays clueless taking place in the south, “Fables of Faubus” is a losers, slave auctioneers, and clever underdogs in seminal composition that reflects the climate of U.S. tender ballads delivered like theatrical productions. race relations during the civil rights period. The first His lyrics are socially conscious, reflecting various recording, produced in 1959, was only instrumental. themes on racism in America. Brown’s songs are Columbia Records considered Mingus’s lyrics too not all neutral; the majority are pro-black, exploring controversial, as they directly criticized the actions Africa, slavery, or the African American experience of Arkansas governor Orval E. Faubus, who blocked from the viewpoint of an insider. (Keith Westbrook) the integration of a Little Rock high school in 1957. In 1960 Mingus finally was able to record the song as Holiday, Billie. “Strange Fruit.” Commodore, 1939. originally intended (with lyrics) for the independent All through the early history of jazz—the music label Candid. Mingus often performed the song on many people view as “America’s classical music” or recordings and in concert. “African American classical music”—it has been filled Mingus was not a passive artist. He engaged the with race and race issues. Thus was the case of the world around him and was willing to use his talent song “Strange Fruit,” which was famously performed to influence change. “Fables” is one of many protest by Billie Holiday and which condemned American songs for social justice. Others included the “Haitian racism. The song expressed the practice of lynching Fight Song” and “Prayer for Passive Resistance.” In his and burning of African Americans that was prevalent own words, “I was always doing revolutionary things, in the South when it was written. things that would alert people.” It was first introduced as a poem written by a The use of this recording is intended to engage high Jewish teacher in New York City, who expressed the school students in learning about the historical events horror at the lynching of two men in Marion, Indiana. of the civil rights movement. The Columbia recording According to her autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues, demonstrates the concessions black musicians were Holiday, along with her accompanist and arranger, sometimes forced to make. Comparing the Columbia put the poem to music. Although the song had been instrumental recording and the later Candid recording performed by several people, it did not bring major with vocals demonstrates how censorship of art is attention until 1939. At this time Barney Josephson, used to suppress social comment. the founder of Café Society, New York’s first integrated “Fables of Faubus” provides students with

69 an opportunity to explore complex social issues music became a part of the civil rights movement. surrounding the civil right movement. One may chose There were many forms of music involved in to investigate how other prominent jazz musicians this period, and without reservation jazz played a reacted to social injustice. Also, questions can be very important role in bringing out the social ills of raised about why Mingus conceded to recording the America. One of the most profound individuals to instrumental version with Columbia instead of taking get involved in this musical movement was Eunice a stronger stand. Finally, one can explore how jazz Kathleen Waymon, better known as Nina Simone. musicians modeled social justice and provided a She was an amazing songwriter, pianist, and most nonviolent method for social change. (Allen Stith) all a civil rights activist. Her preface was not to be categorized as a singer but was generally classified as Roach, Max. We Insist! Freedom Now Suite. Candid a jazz musician. Records, 1960. Nina’s civil rights movement participation Max Roach was born January 10, 1924, in Elizabeth perhaps started when she was a teenager living in City, North Carolina, and grew up in Brooklyn, Philadelphia, where she taught piano. With this New York. He began playing drums at age ten and job, her hope was to earn enough money to pay studied at the Manhattan School of Music. During the a private tutor to prepare her for admission to the 1940s and 1950s he performed with Charlie Parker, Julliard School of Music to study classical music. Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, Coleman Hawkins, Unfortunately, she was rejected. Simone believed this Dizzy Gillespie, and Clifford Brown. Although he rejection was due to the fact that she was an African has collaborated with various artists, composers, and American woman. This perhaps ignited her hatred for arrangers, he has been the composer on most material racial injustice in America. performed on the drums. In 1960 he gave birth to In 1964 she went through a strong musical militant jazz with We Insist! Freedom Now Suite. transition by changing record label and the content of It could be known as the opening sound track to her recordings. In the past she had always included the black power movement. Roach delivers a musical songs in her repertoire that hinted to her African journey through the African American experience American origins. On her first album under her new in five parts. “Driva’ Man” begins on the plantation. label she openly addressed the racial inequality Abbey Lincoln provides piercing vocals of being a that was prevalent in the United States with the victim to the slave master’s brutality. Coleman Hawkin song “Mississippi Goddam.” This song of protest delivers a saxophone solo. “Freedom Day,” with was written after the murders of Medgar Evers in lyrics by Oscar Brown, expresses the joy that many Mississippi and four African American school children slaves felt right after the Emancipation Proclamation who were bombed in Birmingham, Alabama. From . “Triptych: Prayer, Protest, Peace” is the centerpiece then onward, the civil rights message was standard in of the recording. Max Roach plays the drums, and her recording repertoire. Oftentimes she surrounded Abbey Lincoln provides vocals. Lincoln sings, shouts, herself with her friends Langston Hughes, James cries, and moans to convey more than any words Baldwin, and Lorraine Hansberry, who were activists could. Michael Olatunsi of Nigeria is highlighted in their own way. on the last two pieces, “All Africa” and “Tears for In 1967 she recorded “I Wish I Knew How It Johannesburg,” confirming unity in struggle between Would Feel to Be Free.” In the eyes of many African African Americans in the United States and Africans American activists this song was regarded as a on the continent itself. A point could be made on the civil rights anthem. Thus, these songs, “Mississippi positive relationship between hard bop and the civil Goddam” and “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel rights movement. This should be remembered as a to Be Free,” can be used to teach how it takes many piece of African American history. (Keith Westbrook) avenues to end racial injustices. To get students more involved, teachers should allow the students to Simone, Nina. “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to examine the lines of each song. Engage the students in Be Free.” Silk and Soul. RCA Victor, 1967. a discussion on Simone and her role in the civil rights ———. “Mississippi Goddam.” Nina Simone. Philips, 1963. period. Finally, have the students create a protest song These songs were written and recorded during the for the time period for comparison. (Herbert West) turbulent period called the civil rights period. This period lasted from the 1950s through the mid 1970s. Websites (annotated) It was a time when African Americans were striving to knock down the walls of segregation and racism in http://www.redhotjazz.com/blackswan.html. “The America. These songs can provide high school social Rise and Fall of Black Swan Records” by Kitu Weusi. studies students with some understanding of how Red Hot Jazz (accessed July 11, 2007).

70 “The Rise and Fall of Black Swan Records” is a website that tells the story of self-sufficiency, self- determination, black nationalism, and capitalism. Black Swan Records was a recording company founded by Harry Herbert Pace. He was a pioneer in the music industry and an advocate for black self- determination. However, he has been relegated to the back shelves of history. Pace created the company because of the racially discriminatory practices of the recording industry. The website, created by Kitu Weusi, documents the history of Black Swan Records and provides a historical account of the rise and fall of the company. Founded in 1921, Black Swan Records served many jazz composers, singers, and musicians, most notably Fletcher Henderson, Ethel Waters, and William Grant Still. According to the author, Harry Pace encountered many obstacles in his quest to form and maintain the company. At the height of its short success, Black Swan Records and Harry Pace distributed seven thousand records daily. “The Rise and Fall of Black Swan Records” will provide students with an opportunity to examine early forms of racism in the music industry, specifically jazz. The author uses the website to tell a story that has been neglected in mainstream education. The story he tells begins with a brief history of the early life of Pace and his education. He was a student of W. E. B. DuBois, and the education he received helped to shape him into an individual that was aware of the circumstances of African Americans in America. There are numerous connections throughout that relate to jazz and race; some are shallow, yet some of them are really deep and profound. For example, Pace encountered a number of internal obstacles. He initially advocated for all blacks in the company, but success meant that he had to expand the company. This expansion allowed whites to get involved with the company, and many black artists were upset by this move. Other examples include the impact that Fletcher Henderson and William Grant Still had on jazz and the jazz scene and the role of the mainstream (white) recording companies in the decline of Black Swan Records. The success of Black Swan Records caught the eye of larger recording companies. Ironically, after ignoring and marginalizing black artists, the mainstream companies began to heavily recruit them, which resulted in artists’ departure from Black Swan Records. “The Rise and Fall of Black Swan Records” is a very informative website. The website is dedicated to jazz. It provides a comprehensive look at essays, films, and musicians. This website is easy to read and can be used with students in middle and high school. (Robert Evans)

71 Jazz and the Urban Landscape is infused into the historical concepts. Fats Waller’s Monica Freese, John Gornell, Patrick Harris, “The Joint Is Jumpin’” provides both an inspiring look Mark Halperin, and Jerome Love into the importance of music in the everyday life of people and insight into the phenomenon of the rent We often think of jazz as the music of cities. party. Autobiographies such as I Paid My Dues by From its origins in New Orleans through its years of Babs Gonzales demonstrate the effect of the city on development in Kansas City, Chicago, and New York, the lives of individual artists. Young adult novels like jazz has been music that was made by city people Harlem Summer by Walter Dean Myers can help for city people. Like all generalities this idea could students see vivid pictures of urban areas during the be challenged, but it makes sense to examine the Great Migration of the 1920s. symbiotic relationship between jazz and the cities in which We hope that our selective bibliography it was created and recreated. We have attempted to and annotations will help teachers to navigate a assemble a bibliography of works that show not only rather immense topic and will help them to bring the how jazz has been the product of the cities but also essence of urban jazz into their classrooms. the effect that jazz had on the cultural life of the cities in which it thrived during its formative years. Articles and Essays There are many trends that recur again and Levine, Lawrence. “Jazz and American Culture.” again when examining jazz in the urban landscape. Journal of American Folklore 102 (January– The Jazz Age of the 1920s is set during . March 1989): 6–8. Connected to Prohibition are other factors that are Walling, William. “The Politics of Jazz: Some woven through the fabric of the Jazz Age and beyond. Preliminary Notes.” Journal of Jazz Studies 2, , crooked politics, and the culture no. 1 (December 1974): 46–57. of are part of the urban landscape. Powerful urban political machines zoned African Books and Book Chapters American neighborhoods for vice, which connected Early, Gerald, ed. Miles Davis and American Culture. jazz with prostitution and drugs. While born in the era St. Louis: Missouri Historical Society Press, of Prohibition, these aspects of the jazz experience 2001. persisted through much of the history of jazz. In fact, Hawes, Hampton. Raise Up Off Me: A Portrait of this music was a divisive element within the African . New York: Da Capo Press, American community, where some people called it 1979. “devil’s music.” Lewis, David Levering. When Harlem Was in Vogue. The jazz of early decades struggled for New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. acceptance by the musical elite. This struggle parallels Reprint, New York: Penguin, 1997. the struggle for economic survival faced by many of Meltzer, David, ed. Reading Jazz. San Francisco: the musicians in a segregated urban environment. Mercury House, 1993. Events such as the closing of Storyville and race riots Osofsky, Gilbert. Harlem: The Making of a Ghetto: after World War I fostered the migration of many Negro New York, 1890–1930. Chicago: Ivan African Americans to cities like New York, Chicago, R. Dee, 1996. and Kansas City. Challenges of segregation persisted Owsley, Dennis. City of Gabriels: The History of Jazz in these cities, too. Elements like “rent parties,” in St. Louis, 1895–1973. St. Louis: Reedy “whites only” nightclubs, and competition for jobs Press, 2006. illustrate the challenges faced by many jazz musicians Peretti, Burton W. The Creation of Jazz: Music, Race, in northern cities. and Culture in Urban America. Urbana: The complexities of the urban landscape University of Illinois Press, 1994. can be taught through several media. Personal accounts woven into the history of a region bring Children’s Books the realities of the jazz scene to life. Books such Burleigh, Robert. Lookin’ for Bird in the Big City. New as Goin’ to Kansas City and Swing City: Newark York: Silver Whistle (Harcourt), 2001. Nightlife 1925–1950 provide rich anecdotal histories Curtis, Christopher Paul. Bud, Not Buddy. New York: of the social and political culture of the city through Delacorte Press, 1999. dozens of interviews. The story of St. Louis is unfolded and brought to life through audio and video Fiction and Poetry interviews with artists in the documentary Collective Baldwin, James. Sonny’s Blues. New York: Vintage, 1957. Improvisation: The Story of Jazz in St. Louis. The Blackburn, Paul. “Listening to Sonny Rollins at the individual descriptions are enhanced when music Five Spot.” In The Collected Poems of Paul

72 Blackburn, 15. New York: Persea Books, 1985. work as a means of looking at the development of Carruth, Hayden. “Paragraphs.” In Brothers I Loved his music. His career spanned many of the major You All, 81–99. New York: Sheep Meadow movements in modern jazz and as an artist he Press, 1978. adapted to each new terrain. The author contends that Ellison, Ralph. The Invisible Man. New York: Random through all of his music, blues seems to be his base. House, 1952. The article looks at the development of his music Hughes, Langston. “The Blues I’m Playing.” In The from the Afro-modernism perspective. This thought is Ways of White Folks. Reprint, Vintage Classics that music is a social phenomenon and is not detached. Edition, 1990. Looking at his music from this perspective it is Shange, Ntozake. Ellington Was Not a Street. New presumed that the urban environments that he lived York: Simon and Schuster, 2004. in had an impact on his music. The author makes this Welty, Eudora. “Powerhouse.” The Atlantic Monthly, case by contrasting Davis’s childhood with the fact June 1941, 707–13. that he plays the blues. He was the son of a wealthy dentist in East St. Louis and went to Julliard but Films played a music that was thought to be representative Bird. Directed by Clint Eastwood. Warner Brothers, of the poor in the South. The article speaks to Davis 1988. trying to break the stereotype of blues being a rural The Cotton Club. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola. music about suffering and sadness. Looking at his Orion Pictures, 1984. music through the lens of the Afro-modernism gives Devil in a Blue Dress. Directed by Carl Franklin. insight into how the urban landscapes he was part of TriStar Pictures, 1995. influenced his music. Gaslight Square: The Forgotten Landmark. Produced This article is for the advanced student or the by Bruce Marren. Callop, 2001. teacher. It can be used as a guide to the music The Naked City. Directed by Jules Dassin. Hellinger referenced in the article. The article will provide many Productions, 1948. avenues for discussion and analysis. (Monica Freese) Young Man with a Horn. Directed by Michael Curtiz. Warner Brothers, 1950. Children’s Books (annotated)

Music Recordings Myers, Walter Dean. Jazz. New York: Holiday House Ellington, Duke. “Take the ‘A’ Train.” Never No Books, 2006. Lament: The Blanton-Webster Band. RCA, This book is a fun way to start the story of jazz. 1939. Its fifteen poems trace the history of jazz and are Humphreys, Bobbi. “Harlem River Drive.” The Best of accompanied by illustrations that will engage students Bobbi Humphreys. Blue Note/Capitol, 1992. immediately. ———. “New York Times.” . Blue Note, The poems give a rhythmic beat to the history 1974. BN A 344 G implanted in each. The book covers many of the jazz The Jazz Age: New York in the Twenties. BMG Music, styles from its inception to the smooth sounds of jazz 1991. today. The city of New Orleans is directly referenced Jones, Quincy. “Harlem Nocturne.” Quincy’s Got a through a funeral procession poem and a later poem Brand New Bag. Verve Reissues, 1992. about jazz today. Although New Orleans is the only The Real Kansas City of the ’20s, ’30s, and ’40s. Sony, urban environment directly referenced, the poems can 1996. be used to introduce the stylistic influence that other Simone, Nina. “Mississippi Goddam.” Nina Simone in urban environments have had on the development of Concert. Phillips, 1964. PHS-600-135 jazz. The illustrations alone can be used to discuss Stolen Moments: Red, Hot, and Cool. GRP Records, the urban environment. They are vibrant and full 1994. GRD-9794 of activity, which can be used to discuss the urban environment at the time the music the poems refer to Articles and Essays (annotated) was being played. For example, the two pictures that illustrate the funeral procession provide opportunities Magee, Jeffrey. “Kinds of Blue: Miles Davis, Afro- for discussions regarding the parade’s influence on the Modernism, and the Blues.” Jazz Perspectives 1, no. 1 development of music in New Orleans. The poems (April 2007): 5–27. and illustrations provide a lively introduction to the This article provides insight into the music of Miles styles of jazz in other urban environments. Davis and the influences that are infused into his The book has a wonderful time line at the back music. The article dissects several pieces of Davis’s that outlines major events in jazz history. The time line

73 also makes reference to major urban environments students. Yet, it is an important resource for teachers like Chicago and New York. The younger student can interested in teaching their students about the early enjoy the book as it is, and the older student can be days of jazz in Manhattan. engaged in the discussion of the urban influence by In her attempt at being all-inclusive (at times using the poems and the illustrations as a starting point. one feels that everyone listed in the Manhattan This book is intended for children ages four to phone directory in 1922 is mentioned in this book), eight but can have applications for a wide range Professor Douglas has produced a book that is full of of students. The book can be used to reinforce or information that it would be difficult to find in any complement a particular urban environment. The other place. Her chapters on black Manhattan and book’s lively poems and illustrations will be sure to blacks in the entertainment industry are especially engage a conversation. (Monica Freese) important for teachers trying to figure out how jazz fit into the general social fabric of New York. Books and Book Chapters (annotated) She is especially good on the convergence of jazz and the Broadway musical. She explains why Bryant, Clora, ed. Central Avenue Sounds: Jazz in Los Shuffle Along was a breakthrough show musically Angeles. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998. and socially. In doing this she reminds us of the In this book, the musical and social history of importance of Sissle and Blake in the development Los Angeles’s black community from the 1920s of the all-black musical. She describes the early through the early 1950s is spoken about in this development of entertainers like Ethel Waters and oral history collection. Recounted by the musicians John Bubbles, who had parallel careers, appearing who performed on L.A.’s Central Avenue during on stage in New York in the 1920s and in Hollywood those years, a clear vision of the Avenue’s place in films in the 1940s. She also notes that the prestigious American musical history takes shape. Central Avenue critic Alexander Wollcott wrote about the obvious is depicted as the economic and social center for separation of the audience in his review of Shuffle blacks in Los Angeles during the day. At night, it was a Along: The wealthy white people sitting up front and hub for Southern Californians, black and white, who the poorer black people sitting in the cheap seats in wanted to hear jazz music. the back of the theater. Because it is based on interviews of the musicians, She also does well in describing the connection this book provides firsthand accounts by and about between black entertainers and the mostly Jewish some of our great jazz legends. For instance, Art songwriters of Tin Pan Alley. Sometimes they would Farmer recalls the first time Charlie Parker and Dizzy interconnect in unexpected ways. The Gershwins, Gillespie played bebop on the West Coast; Britt who had begun as Tin Pan Alley song pluggers, Woodman tells of how Charles Mingus switching from decided to cast Porgy and Bess as an all-black cello to bass; and female trumpeter Clora Bryant talks musical, but they had considered using white about the hard times on the road with Billie Holiday. performers in black face. According to Professor Additionally, there are tales of how Hollywood Douglas, Al Jolson actively campaigned for the role of affected the local culture, the precedent-setting Porgy. Try to imagine that performance. merger of the black and white musicians unions, and This book is full of the kind of detail that you can the repercussions from the racism in the Los Angeles use to focus and enliven your lessons. The one part police department in the late 1940s and early 1950s of the book that you might consider using with your to prevent “race mixing.” Central Avenue Sounds not students is Professor Douglas’ section of photographs. only tells the story of the cultural history for blacks These are not the standard photos that most of us in Los Angeles, but it also shows the influence of a have seen before. There is an excellent selection of community whose role became as significant in the photos of African Americans, including a dashing and jazz world as that of Harlem and New Orleans. youthful Fats Waller. There is even a picture of the While this is an academic text, this would be a outside entrance of the Cotton Club that would make great source for high school teachers to review with an point of departure for a discussion of street life in the students or as a reference for the instructor to aid Harlem. (Mark Halperin) in the creation of a comprehensive lesson plan on jazz in Los Angeles. (Patrick Harris) Kukla, Barbara J. Swing City: Newark Night Life, 1925– 1950. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1991. Douglas, Ann. Terrible Honesty: Mongrel Manhattan Swing City is a broad history of nightlife in Newark, in the 1920s. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1995. New Jersey. Kukla uses interviews with musicians, This is a long and dense work that would be singers, dancers, comedians, bartenders, waitresses, unsuitable reading for any but the most dedicated of nightclub owners, and their families and more than

74 a hundred photographs to tell the story that Newark The book is a biographical look at Tom Pendergast. could swing as well as better known jazz cities like However, a look into his politics can provide insight New York and Chicago. But Kukla’s best depictions into how a relatively small midwestern venue became are those of African American social and economic a major player in the jazz scene. survival in the segregated urban landscape of The authors contend that Tom Pendergast had 1925–50. Kukla covers the musicians who started enough power over the statewide Missouri politicians at Newark’s Orpheum Theater and went on to join and courts to allow him to suppress any involvement famous bands. She also describes the house rent into the politics and activities of Kansas City. He parties of the 1930s, the “colored only” clubs, the is thought to have been a sort of silent partner in a entertainment at Newark’s one thousand saloons very liberal entertainment industry. The strength of during Prohibition, and the Coleman Hotel, where his political machine is what made this possible. Billie Holiday often stayed. His machine was so powerful that during a time of Kukla begins her book with a description of national prohibition, Kansas City became a center the layout of the city and its residents. She offers a for those looking for drink and the more subversive short history of jazz and how it came to Newark. entertainment of the day. The book examines how the She also offers a couple of excuses for why Newark Pendergast machine manipulated elections in order to is not hailed with the other great cities of the swing control the politics and keep control over his interests. era. The bulk of the book is divided into three big This book is a good reference for background chapters: “The Performers,” “The Bands,” and “The information on Kansas City. It only addresses the jazz Clubs.” These chapters are full of wonderful personal scene once, and with little detail. However, the book anecdotes. Another chapter examines addresses the openness of the urban landscape and and the “Negroes only” Coleman Hotel. Lastly, sixty the corruption of its politics. The development of the pages of appendices list the who’s who in Newark jazz scene can be inferred, but further details would nightlife and who played where and when. need to be added to complete the picture. This book Kukla describes the city as a mosaic of ethnic would complement a book studying the jazz scene in enclaves, including Irish, German, Italian, central Kansas City. (Monica Freese) European, and African American. She focuses primarily on the African American experience, Ogren, Kathy J. The Jazz Revolution: Twenties though. Kukla explains how nightlife was a source America and the Meaning of Jazz. New York: Oxford of hundreds of jobs for the African American University Press, 1989. community in a segregated environment where other An educator looking for information on the impact of opportunities were rare, especially in the 1930s. jazz during the 1920s will find that Ogren’s book is One good classroom discussion prompted by Swing filled with a wealth of information. Ogren accesses City can cover the relationship between a segregated the subject of jazz in the 1920s from several different economic and social environment and a thriving African angles. She opens with a fascinating account from a American nightlife. Is it a causal relationship or are 1926 New York Times article that summarizes that the these features of Newark independent of each other? Salvation Army in Cincinnati obtained an injunction Swing City is an excellent source for images of to prevent the building of theater next to their girls the urban environment. During the decades between home on the grounds that the music from the theater the twenties and forties Newark was a city of crooked would implant “jazz emotions” in the babies born at politics, jobs, joblessness, hooch, numbers running, the home. Ogren claims that the readers of this article prostitution, and, of course, music. Newark was a would not have been surprised because there was a veritable maze of thriving theaters, clubs, and after- growing controversy concerning the influence of jazz. hours joints. Educators may want to discuss why jazz Ogren offers her theory of the growth of jazz thrived in this environment. Some students may be during the 20s to the reader in the introduction of the surprised to see the degree of segregation described book. She traces this controversy in the social and by Kukla. Swing City could also support a discussion cultural context of 1920s America and sheds new on segregation in the North. (John Gornell) light on jazz’s impact on the nation as she traces its dissemination from the honky-tonks of New Orleans, Larsen, Lawrence H., and Nancy J. Hulston. New York, and Chicago to the clubs and cabarets Pendergast! Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1997. of such places as Kansas City and Los Angeles and Any look into the jazz scene in Kansas City must also further to the airwaves. Ogren argues that certain include a look at Tom Pendergast. Pendergast was the characteristics of jazz—notably the contributory legendary and infamous “boss” of Kansas City. The nature of the music and its unusual rhythms and book explains his dominance in Kansas City politics. emphasis—gave it a special character for a society

75 undergoing rapid change. Those who resisted The personal anecdotes from the interviews are the changes criticized the new music; those who particularly remarkable in these chapters. Some are accepted them embraced jazz. graphic, and educators should use caution before This book has significant value in expressing assigning any to high school age students. “The “Jazz and the Urban Landscape” in that it could Musicians’ Nightlife” provides the bridge from these provoke discussion around who were the people chapters primarily about the city back to chapters who criticized the new music and why. Additionally, primarily about the musicians. (John Gornell) discussion could be centered on how the spread of jazz affected the cultural landscape of the cities it Sengstock, Charles A. Jr. “Jazz Music in Chicago’s migrated to during the 1920s. (Patrick Harris) Early South-Side Theaters.” Northbrook, IL: Canterbury Press, 2000. Pearson, Nathan W. Jr. Goin’ to Kansas City. Urbana: An educator looking for information on jazz in University of Illinois Press, 1987. Charles Sengstock’s fifty-five-page pamphlet “Jazz Author Nathan W. Pearson tells the stories of Kansas Music in Chicago’s Early South-Side Theaters” may City and its great bands through firsthand accounts be disappointed. A better title for this publication of the people who lived and played music there. would be “The Rise and Fall of Great Jazz Age Pearson also examines the social and political culture Theaters on Chicago’s South Side.” Sengstock pulls of the city and explains why Kansas City was such several different articles together that describe the an important center for jazz in the 1920s and 1930s. many theaters that thrived in Chicago’s mostly African Each of the eighteen chapters begins with a relatively American south side. Four of the articles were written short account of the history from Pearson followed by between 1959 and 1963, when much of the once extensive excerpts from forty-one different interviews bustling neighborhood was being razed to build the conducted between 1977 and 1980. The interviews Illinois Institute of Technology. Each article is nostalgic are a rich source for anecdotal history. Pearson for the heyday of the 1910s and 1920s but also offers supplements his accounts and interviews with many an optimistic view of the future through the plans of contemporary photos and a few political cartoons. urban renewal. Pearson’s audience is any adult with an interest in Sengstock, publishing in 2000, offers a few pages jazz history. With all the personal quotes, the book of preface and introduction to the reader. It is in these reads like an insider’s guide. The reading level is not pages where one finds the most information on the challenging; however, there is some adult content in important role of Chicago’s south-side theaters in the some of the chapters covering Kansas City vice. While spread of jazz music to a national audience between the book is primarily about the lives and personalities 1915 and 1925. He recounts how jazz, first played of the music makers themselves—including Bennie before a predominantly black audience, found a fertile Moten, Count Basie and Jay McShann—it does environment in many south-side clubs and ballrooms provide a good glimpse into the urban and, to a lesser and was soon being recorded by small record labels. degree, rural lifestyles in and around Kansas City in The articles, however, offer little more than the 1920s and 1930s. Pearson describes Kansas City straight, factual accounts of when landmark theaters as a “loosely controlled free spirited city where those were built, who played there, and when they were with cash could find anything they wanted” since as closed. The musicians who played these theaters early as the 1880s, but he credits the environment and clubs include many jazz greats like Jelly Roll created by the corrupt but socially progressive Morton, Joe Oliver, and Kid Ory, to name just a few. political machine of Tom Pendergast for the Some theaters offered a multitude of acts, including development of jazz in Kansas City. The confluence vaudeville and cabaret as well as jazz. Others put an of money and vice encouraged job growth for many emphasis on movies. Virtually all thrived in the 1920s, musicians—even during the Depression years, during and virtually all closed in the economic depression which the Kansas City vice economy flourished. of the 1930s. Any structures that were still standing Four chapters in particular examine the social and in the 1950s fell to the wrecking ball in the 1960s to political aspects of the urban landscape of Kansas build the Illinois Institute of Technology. City. “The Road Leads to Kansas City” examines Sengstock’s book has some value in painting why musicians were drawn to the city even before the urban landscape of Chicago’s south side during the Pendergast years. “The Pendergast Years” and the 1910s and 1920s. It could support a limited “The Wide-Open Town” explain the operation of the discussion that considered why jazz found fertile Pendergast machine and the positive and negative ground to take root and grow there. But since this aspects of major vices during those years: gangsters, pamphlet is more about the theaters than about the gambling, prostitution, and bootlegging and narcotics. music, the richer discussion may be about why it is

76 not there anymore. Why did theaters showing movies but as a general result of the lifestyle these men have endure longer through the Depression than those that chosen for themselves. The poem comes across as a featured jazz bands? This pamphlet could also launch light treatment of a serious subject. (Mark Halperin) a discussion about urban renewal. Razing African American neighborhoods in the name of urban Morrison, Toni. Jazz. New York: Penguin, 1992. renewal was common in most American cities during In studying “Jazz and the Urban Landscape,” a useful the 1950s and 1960s. How does the jazz of the 1960s source for how jazz is used to portray the urban reflect this? (John Gornell) environment can be found in Toni Morrison’s 1992 novel Jazz. Due to the subject matter, this text should Fiction and Poetry (annotated) be geared toward high school level students. Within the context of the story, the characters are faced with Brooks, Gwendolyn. “We Real Cool.” In The World of many issues from a historical standpoint that many Gwendolyn Brooks, 315. New York: Harper and Row, 1971. African Americans faced: race riots, migration from The story told about this poem is that Gwendolyn rural roots to metropolitan areas, and the influence Brooks actually met a group of teenagers playing pool that jazz had not only on these new communities but at a local poolroom, when they should have been also how it affected the spirit of the people. at school or could have been working. Students of The title of the novel itself is a play on the musical all ages would respond to the poem’s rhythm, which genre. Throughout the novel, the idea of music is seems deceptively simple. It could be scanned in discussed. While some of the characters interpret the several ways, none of them very satisfying. I believe “jazz” music in the novel as the anthem of hell, others that the beats of the poem should be read as if they find passion and pleasure in the music. In fact, the were beats in music, and that each word of the novel directly deals with the notion that jazz within poem should carry a beat. The spaces between the the confines of an urban area that brings with it many words should be treated as if they were syllables negative vices that infect the community. An example between beats. This would give the poem a kind of of this in the novel is in the tragic death of one of the jazz swing when it is read. Combined with the other main characters, Dorcas, while she was in an illegal poetic effects of the poem, the use of stanzas and the with another man at the hands of her insistence on enjambment in almost every line creates former lover. a distinctive jazz rhythm. As with the music, the novel is written with a The poem, unlike so many jazz poems, does syncopated style. The chapters are unnumbered, not try to imitate the sounds of jazz or to explain and the narrators are unknown, which allows them the effect jazz has on a listener. Instead, it uses an the freedom to move throughout the story. It is also up-tempo jazz beat to tell us something about the because of this style that it is recommend that the seven (?) young men who are the putative speakers novel be read as a class and not as individual reading, of the poem, and through them to comment on the for there are many layers in the novel that could lead general experience of African American urban life. to excellent discussion. (Patrick Harris) The Golden Shovel seems like an odd name to give to a poolroom, seeming to be no reflection on the game. Myers, Walter Dean. Harlem Summer. New York: The concept of a golden shovel is odd in any case, Scholastic, 2007. perhaps intended as a sly reference to being born with In the study of “Jazz and the Urban Landscape,” a golden spoon in one’s mouth; it could be taken as Harlem Summer is a wonderful book that melds the opposite of a golden spoon. historical fiction with the day-to-day struggles of The absence of a noun in the poem’s first a teenager trying to find his place in life. Mark’s line establishes the coolness of the players and their character has a universal appeal, and his voice is slangy way with words. The idea of singing sin in the genuine and humorous. At the end of the book there third stanza would be an interesting one to play with, are brief biographical sketches and photos of many of especially with older students. They could be singing the famous people who find their way into the story. bawdy, sexually suggestive lyrics, or they could be Walter Dean Myers has written a funny and engaging singing songs about the use of drugs. These would book that reminds us that all of our decisions have seem equally possible in a jazz song. “Jazz” in the consequences and that a life of crime involves more fourth stanza would make sense as meaning having than a quick payday. sexual intercourse with, and goes back to an old This novel fits in with the topic area perfectly tradition about the origin of the word coming from in that it is set in 1920s Harlem at the start of the the sex act. Presumably the ironic ending of the poem Harlem Renaissance, during the period of the Great does not come about as a direct result of jazzing June, Migration of African Americans into Harlem once the

77 laws against renting dwellings to African Americans the entire front page. It might not have even made was lifted. A perfect depiction of this relationship can the front page of the Herald Tribune. In the end we be found on page 123 of the novel. The protagonist are presented with the picture of a sophisticated and Mark narrates the fact that in New York City and in his jazzy city that has lost one of its irreplaceable assets neighborhood, people come from various backgrounds and is frozen at the moment when it discovered she and have different values. He mentions on this page had died. the people he knew and what they meant to his Poems about death are never an easy sell to neighborhood and community. He specifically mentions students. I would recommend using this poem with W. E. B DuBois, Fats Waller, Langston Hughes, as well fairly sophisticated students in eleventh- or twelfth- as the street hustlers who he came in contact with. grade classes. While it might be used as a historical Harlem Summer is a novel that is written for artifact of a time and place long vanished, it might young people grades six through nine, depending on be better used as a model for students who might be the reading level of the students, and addresses the interested in writing their own poetry. It could be used issues of the embodiment of both the best and worse to show students how to create a poem that freezes a of urban life, from poverty and crime to city life being place at one particular moment. It would first generate both cosmopolitan and sophisticated. (Patrick Harris) a discussion of what place and what point in time the students would like to capture in their word pictures. O’Hara, Frank. “The Day Lady Died.” In The Jazz Using this particular poem would be a good way of Poetry Anthology, edited by Sascha Feinstein and showing students the importance of particular detail Yusef Komunyakaa, 162–63. Bloomington: Indiana in creating poetry. (Mark Halperin) University Press, 1991. Modern poets seem to have written a fairly large Films (annotated) number of elegies for jazz greats who have died. What makes this particular poem unique is that it is American Experience: Zoot Suit Riots. Written, directed, as much a snapshot of the Upper West Side on July and produced by Joseph Tovares. PBS Home Video, 2002. 17, 1959, as it is a song in honor of Billie Holiday. Zoot Suit Riots is a dynamic film about horrific The speaker of the poem presents the reader with a discrimination in 1940s Los Angeles. The film gives picture of an incredibly hip New York as seen through a brief description of the history of Los Angeles but the eyes of an incredibly hip New Yorker. This hipness focuses on how the culture of discrimination led to is established in several ways. We are told in the major riots. first stanza that he is off to the Hamptons for dinner The film depicts an urban environment that was in midsummer. There are a number of references to one of segregation and discrimination. Mexican France and the French: he knows that it is Bastille Americans had their own neighborhoods. Although Day; he buys Gauloises and Picayunes instead the L.A. culture was less then equal, Mexican of Camels or Lucky Strikes. He makes knowing American youths began to venture out of their references to Verlaine, Bonnard, and Genet. In traditional neighborhoods. Jazz is depicted as the addition he has an up-to-date knowledge of literature: favorite entertainment venue. They began using “Brendan Behan’s new play,” a new translation of phrases such as “cool” and “hip” and began to dress Hesiod, the latest magazine containing the works of in the jazz style of the “zoot suit.” This type of dress Ghanan poets. Taken together all these details create made them very noticeable and directly conflicted an image of New York as a cosmopolitan city. with the segregation ideas of the day. When a At the same time, the speaker makes enough young Mexican American was murdered, the police local references to enable us to know exactly where decided that this would be the excuse they needed to on the island of Manhattan he is as he travels from control the Mexican American youths. Many young place to place. The Golden Griffin, the Park Lane Mexican Americans were arrested, imprisoned, and Liquor Store, the Ziegfeld Theatre are/were all real brutalized on the streets of L.A. because of their places. He doesn’t just buy any newspaper. He buys race and the attire that they wore. The Caucasian the New York Post. In 1959, the Post was owned by servicemen stationed in L.A. were at the forefront the Schiff family and had a decidedly liberal tendency of the brutalization. The film details how the zoot (far different from the Rupert Murdoch–owned suit emerged as the symbol of defiance for Mexican archconservative paper that it is today). His purchase Americans but a symbol of delinquency to the Caucasians. of a liberal paper also contributes to the hip image This film presents the unfairness of stereotyping he is presenting of himself. Why the Post instead of and discrimination that was prevalent in the urban the more respectable Herald Tribune? In the Post, a environment of Los Angeles. There are graphic tabloid, Billie Holiday’s picture would have covered pictures and racial elements of the film that need to

78 be treated with sensitivity. The film is appropriate for race, culture, and crime are integrated throughout the upper middle grade students and higher. There is a theme of the band’s struggle to gain acceptance. complete curriculum guide to this film on the PBS This movie can be used with a variety of students. website. (Monica Freese) There are strong racial stereotypes throughout the movie that need to be handled with sensitivity. Birth of the Blues. Directed by Victor Schertzinger. (Monica Freese) Paramount Pictures, 1941. Birth of the Blues is a lively look into the struggles Collective Improvisation: The Story of Jazz in St. of an early blues band in New Orleans to gain Louis. Produced by Christian Cudnik. HEC-TV (St. legitimacy. The struggle is based around a band Louis), 2006. made up of Caucasian musicians that are thought to Collective Improvisation: The Story of Jazz in St. Louis be playing African American music that is not fit for gives an overview of the complex world of jazz in St. sophisticated society. The implications of the urban Louis. The film traces the early St. Louis influence on landscape—such as race relations, crime, and the jazz through jazz’s heyday in St. Louis, its decline, societal structures of New Orleans at the time—are and finally its revitalization. clearly related to the development of the music and The film begins with a look at the musical the struggle to be accepted. influence of Scott Joplin. It then moves to the musical The movie opens with a young Caucasian boy, influence of musicians that played on the steamboats who is being trained to play traditional music, hiding that came to St. Louis. As the music develops through down by the docks in New Orleans playing off of an local and outside influences, music venues begin to African American musical group. This develops the appear. The rise and fall of venues such as Gaslight idea that the urban landscape of New Orleans leads Square as well as the careers of many musicians are to a cultural fusion that facilitated the development of examined. The documentary looks at the decline of the blues. Conversely the implications of segregation the jazz scene in St. Louis and some of the reasons for and an inability to fully participate is a thread in this its decline. It traces the effort to revitalize the music theme. For example, there are references throughout scene and where it stands today. the movie to the blues being an African American The story of St. Louis is unfolded through the music and the Caucasian band seeking the input of history of the music scene. The story of both comes African Americans about how to play and sing the alive through audio- and video-recorded interviews blues. However, they are never asked to play with with artists. The film does not gloss over any elements the band. The urban landscape of New Orleans is of St. Louis history. It refers to an urban climate interwoven throughout this theme, portraying the that was segregated and often hostile. The firsthand blues music as influenced by the complex urban accounts bring the history to life and provide personal makeup of New Orleans and why its acceptance did insight into the jazz scene and the realities of living in not happen easily. St. Louis. The struggle to gain musical acceptance is the The film has many applications. It can be used main theme of this movie. This theme is developed by as a supplement to St. Louis history or as a means portraying the blues music at odds with sophistication to make local connections to periods in American and having a criminal element associated with it. The history. The film can be used in its entirety or in struggle to gain legitimacy in sophisticated society is segments. Some of the scenes are graphic and need complicated by the view that the music is, initially, to be treated with sensitivity. The segments are short associated with part of the criminal urban culture. and clearly marked, making them easy to incorporate. This theme is developed by scenes that show the The contents pave the way for many discussion topics band leader in a pool hall and going to a jail to bail ranging from the influence of the Great Migration a musician out so he can be part of the band, and on the urban culture to the discriminatory practices the band traveling in a beer wagon and getting hired segregation had on the urban culture. The applications by what is clearly a café operated by gangsters. In of this are wide ranging. A curriculum guide is contrast, the sophisticated clubs are portrayed with provided to complement the many elements of this French-speaking managers dressed in tuxedos and film atwww.hectv.org . (Monica Freese) bands playing traditional music. The disregard for the blues is depicted in a scene where the band “Cosmopolis, 1919–1931.” Episode 5 in New York: A gets a job at a movie theater in which only “refined Documentary Film. PBS Home Video, 1999. entertainment” is provided. The audience is appalled “Cosmopolis,” episode 5 of Ric Burns’s seven-part at the music, and the manager closes the curtain documentary on New York examines the history and and fires the band. The urban landscape elements of culture of 1920s New York City. He specifically details

79 the African American experience, the birth of new Bach’s audience is any adult who is interested in jazz media industries, and the incredible array of human history. The documentary is rich with interviews of and cultural energies that converge in New York. many of the key figures that made this historical photo Burns does not offer a specific examination of New possible, many of whom have passed away since York jazz. He does, however, spend considerable time the making of the film. Notable interviews with the exploring the urban culture created by the interfusion likes of Art Blakey, Dizzy Gillespie, , of different peoples that live and come to New York, and add a historical element to the paying particular attention to Harlem and the “New documentary that would be useful to educators. Negro” movement. The fact that this photograph was taken in Harlem An educator could show the segment covering in 1958 for a national publication, Esquire magazine, Harlem in about ten minutes. This section can easier relates to “Jazz and the Urban Landscape” in that foster discussion on why Harlem was unique in never before or since has there been a collection American history and why it was an important center of great musicians in one place at the same time. of African American jazz and other artistic expression. The fact that this takes place in Harlem shows how What was it about Harlem that made it a destination this music brought together people from all over the for European travelers? Burns moves from Harlem to world, regardless of race. the general idea of New York as a melting pot, not just From a language arts standpoint, an educator of different ethnic groups, races and religions but also could use this documentary as a springboard into of high and low art. He credits this mixing with the a creative writing assignment asking the students creation of American musical theater. which people from their generation they would have Another segment of the film offers value to collectively gather for a photograph. the student of the American urban experience by This documentary could be very useful for juxtaposing it with the rural cultural standards of the teachers from middle and high school. It would have day. Already a leader in the production of consumer an even greater impact if the teacher played music by goods, New York became the leader of American some of the artists featured in the program. (Patrick Harris) culture through the advent of radio in the 1920s. New York’s cultural influence increased year after year, Mo’ Better Blues. Directed by Spike Lee. Universal and many people in the countryside did not like it. Studios, 1992. “New York is alien. It’s full of immigrants, commies, In Mo’ Better Blues, Denzel Washington plays a Tammany Hall, gangsters…. It’s not us,” explains young trumpeter, Bleek, rising to stardom in the jazz one historian. Jazz music was resented by many in world of Brooklyn, New York. His life is complicated the countryside because it was sweeping away other by a rival saxophone player, two jealous girlfriends, traditional American music. Burns uses the 1928 and a manager with a gambling problem. The movie presidential campaign of Al Smith, an Irish Catholic meanders for a long two and a quarter hours. Spike New Yorker, to illustrate the antipathy many in the Lee uses Brooklyn street scenes as the backdrop for countryside held toward the city. Jazz was part of the his movie. The situations facing the main characters urban package that traditionalists in the countryside are certainly those of the urban environment; attacked. A good discussion could include how however, the “soap opera” aspect of the choices people in the country could be repulsed by New York facing Bleek dominate the movie. (or urban centers in general, which became the places Jazz music provides an excellent sound track. where the majority of Americans lived in the 1920s) The score is by Bill Lee (the director’s father), and the and attracted at the same time. (John Gornell) music of Bleek’s quintet is played by the Branford Marsalis Quintet, with Terence Blanchard as the A Great Day in Harlem. Directed by Jean Bach. Flo- trumpet soloist. John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme” Bert Ltd., 1994. provides inspiration for Bleek and can be heard here This film tells the story of a legendary jazz photograph and there throughout the movie. Unfortunately, Lee taken in 1958 for Esquire magazine by first-time doesn’t seem to have thought through the role of photographer Art Kane. The photograph looks much the music. The music’s relationship to contemporary like a class picture and features fifty-seven of the culture is incoherent. At times it is the focus, but most greatest jazz stars of all time, who had never been all often it is the backdrop to the soap opera. Should together at one time. The photo included performing Bleek chose his love life, his artistic life, or can he legends such as Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, connect them? Roy Eldridge, Count Basie, and dozens of others. The elements of the urban environment that Spike Jean Bach turned the legendary photo shoot into a Lee shows struggling against each other yet existing labor of love that resulted in this great documentary. symbiotically in the big city are clichés. The musicians

80 are exclusively African American. The girlfriends are In this film Hawks seems to want to say something clingy oversexualized groupie types. The bookie is important about jazz. In one scene the main Puerto Rican. The hit man is Samuel L. Jackson. And character, played by Danny Kaye, leaves his sheltered the club owners are Jewish. In fact the money-hungry home to encounter the music of the city. He finds club owners, perpetually shrouded in darkness, are jazz in the form of Dixieland, big band swing, the a classic anti-Semitic caricature, almost cartoonish blues, or even as swinging gospel music everywhere in their portrayal. The only representation that defied he goes. In these scenes, white musicians play for the usual stereotype was that of the gangster’s car, a white audiences, and black musicians play for black Citroen. After all the other clichés, seeing Samuel L. audiences. Once the professor has gathered all the Jackson in a French car was unexpected. musicians together at the institute, they play together A teacher of jazz and/or urban culture could as an integrated band. They are socially integrated find better feature films than this one. An educator as well as racially integrated when the professors might want to consider the cultural caricatures in a of music join the professional jazz players. They discussion on urban race stereotypes and relations. also manage to merge the long-haired music of the But one should not rely on Lee’s portrayal of academics with the jazz sounds of the professional urban life in Brooklyn to paint a balanced picture. musicians. Regarding jazz in the modern day, one interesting Jazz is not only the music of the city it is also scene is an argument between Bleek and his rival the stuff that unifies us and makes us one people in (played by Wesley Snipes). Bleek laments that “our this film. It might be useful to compare this film with people aren’t coming.” His complaint is that African New Orleans, which was released in the same year. Americans do not, but should, embrace jazz music. Both films feature Louis Armstrong playing himself. Snipes’s character blames the music, not the African This film, made for a major studio by a director who Americans. It is an interesting exchange and should was a Hollywood insider, seems to actually be more provide a foundation for a good discussion on the radical than New Orleans, which was intended to be modern jazz audience. a radical film. Mo’ Better Blues is rated R. It is full of adult This would be a good film to use in conjunctions language, some violence, and a few sex scenes. An with literature of the 1940s or 1950s, or as a educator should use caution when selecting scenes document for the study of the civil rights movement for classroom viewing. (John Gornell) after World War II. (Mark Halperin)

A Song Is Born. Directed by Howard Hawks. Samuel Stolen Moments: Red, Hot, and Cool. Produced Goldwyn, 1948. by John Carlin and Earle Sebastian. Independent This is a film directed by Howard Hawks in 1948 that Television Service, 1994. is a remake of Ball of Fire, a film directed by Hawks in On this 1994 release, Stolen Moments: Red, Hot, and 1941. One of the obvious questions to ask about the Cool, jazz giants and hip-hop artists came together relationship between these two films is why Hawks and produced this project for AIDS awareness. The wanted to remake a film that was only six years old. project consisted of an album and video documentary Both films are updated versions of the story of that included hip-hop artists the Roots, Digable “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” Both films are Planets, the Pharcyde, and French-speaking rapper set in New York City. Both films include elements of MC Solaar. Along with the hip-hop artists, jazz jazz. Ball of Fire has a famous early scene in which legends Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, , Barbara Stanwyck sings while plays the Roy Ayers, and Ramsey Lewis collaborate to provide a drums to “Drum Boogie.” After that scene, jazz plays meeting place where several generations and musical almost no part in the film. styles meld together into a musical dialogue that Jazz is front and center in A Song Is Born. speaks to young people of this generation about a The seven college professors who stand in for the topic that is of paramount importance in our urban seven dwarfs are writing a general encyclopedia in community today. the first film. In the second film they are writing a The album’s cover brilliantly merges the styles comprehensive encyclopedia of music. Through the of music from the outset. There is a black-and-white machinations of the plot this brings them into contact picture of Pharoah Sanders’s long gray beard, and with gangsters, window cleaners, and jazz musicians. on the opposite side of the picture in color are the Benny Goodman plays one of the professors. All the names of the hip-hop artists, symbolizing the melding other jazz musicians—including Louis Armstrong, of the two genres. The music doesn’t just sample Lionel Hampton, Tommy Dorsey, and — jazz elements on top of modern beats; these artists play themselves. created songs that resulted in a true collaboration and

81 improvisational masterpiece. a riverboat to Memphis, from Memphis to Harlem, The documentary features footage of live and eventually from Harlem to Hollywood. Each performances, interviews with famed Princeton move represents a rise in the world for him and professor Cornel West, and people who are infected metaphorically for his people. Thus, it gently opens with HIV, talking about experiences and concerns the way for a more general discussion of the Great such as homophobia, the role of churches, and drug Migration. It could also be used to discuss certain addiction as a response to oppression. questions about the development of jazz in the first Stolen Moments: Red, Hot, and Cool clearly is half of the twentieth century. How accurate is the an example of “Jazz and the Urban Landscape” in film’s demonstration of a linear progression from that the creators of this project recognize the need ragtime to blues to Cotton Club–style “jungle music” for there to be a dialogue with the urban community to swing? What is the connection between the regarding the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and the melding of development of jazz and the development of dance jazz and hip-hop is the vehicle they are using to speak in America? This question is especially raised by one to a generation of young people. scene in the film in which Bill Robinson’s taps seem to An educator could use both forms of Stolen be a musical instrument playing a duet with a piano Moments: Red, Hot, and Cool within a high school player. And finally, how central was the entertainment setting to evoke a wide range of discussions, such as industry to the lives of most African Americans of the gender roles with the urban setting. (Patrick Harris) time? Why is our hero a tap dancer and not a defense- plant worker? Stormy Weather. Directed by Andrew L. Stone. The film raises so many interesting questions that Twentieth Century Fox, 1943. it is tempting to suggest that it could be used in any This film purports to be a picture of the progress made classroom. However, I would recommend that it only by African Americans in the United States from 1918 be used with students who would not be too disturbed to 1943. There could be little doubt that the film is by its negative images to discuss its fuller implications. a piece of propaganda. It was made in the middle Teachers might consider showing individual scenes of World War II when the government needed all its rather than the entire film. (Mark Halperin) citizens to be on board with the war effort. That would explain why a major studio would be making a film Music Recordings (annotated) that had to be intended for a predominantly African American audience. Ellington, Duke. “Harlem Airshaft.” Never No One of the discussion points about the film Lament: The Blanton-Webster Band. RCA, 1939. would be how effective it seems to be as propaganda. Duke Ellington’s Blanton-Webster Band recordings A related issue would be what image of African were created in the climate of the Harlem Americans the film’s production team considered to Renaissance. “Harlem Airshaft” was one of many be positive. The cast of the film was entirely black, but pieces played to white crowds at the Cotton Club the production team—the director, screenwriters, and during the 1930s. The Cotton Club featured dancing so on—were entirely white. This meant that there was and production acts with an exotic jungle motif. a black cast projecting a white ideal of black America. Ellington’s music in this environment was known for This might explain why so many scenes in the film its driving rhythms and unusual effects produced by might make a modern audience cringe, or at least muted brass. The music popularized here became scratch their heads in confusion. Some examples of known as “jungle music.” these are the cakewalk scene at the beginning of the Drawing from life in the urban environment, many film in which the dancers are dressed in exaggerated of Ellington’s compositions reflected sounds of the minstrel show outfits, the parallel scene at the end of cars, trains, streets, and bustling city life. “Harlem the film in which the modern dancers are dressed in Airshaft” conveys the life clustered around the backs exaggerated zoot suits, and the scene in which the of Harlem tenement buildings, an area that Ellington two black comedians perform in black face. referred to as “one big loudspeaker.” Students It would also be useful to discuss with students the should know that airshafts became official code for things that the film gets right. By making use of some tenements in New York City in the late nineteenth of the best talent available at the time—Lena Horne, century to bring air and light to center apartments. Bill Robinson, Fats Waller, Cab Calloway, Katherine Before this ordinance, center apartments were dark all Dunham—it shows the depth of African American day and had no access to fresh air. Airshafts measured achievement in the performing arts. The film fairly mere feet from window to window, so when windows accurately reflects the story of the Great Migration were open, the sounds from each apartment on every through the movement of the main character from floor filled the airshaft.

82 The song is a typical twelve-bar blues piece Another question would be how the patrons at running a little over three minutes. During each the Savoy are different from those at Waller’s rent chorus, a different brass section plays above the party. While the music in this song has swing, it seems others. Each section yields to another until the end considerably toned down when compared with the of the song, when they all cheer together. The song other song. Also, how does the music of the song creates the image of the sounds one might hear in an relate to modern students’ ideas of the word “stomp.” airshaft in a Harlem tenement. One chorus sounds While this song would be especially good to use like the yakety yak of women gossiping. Another has with high school history or English classes, it could the singsongy tenor of a mother calling her children. probably be used to introduce students of any age to Another trombone section sounds like men talking. the music of the period. As with “The Joint Is Jumpin’,” Another sounds like an old curmudgeon complaining. it can demonstrate the central position that music held Clarinets squealing sound like children. Then all these in the life of Harlem in the 1930s. (Mark Halperin) sounds come together at the end of the song. (Just one man’s impression of these sounds.) Marsalis, Wynton. “Hustle Bustle.” Citi Movement. “Harlem Airshaft” is a musical picture of the Sony, 1993. urban environment. An educator might ask students This musical selection is a wonderful interpretation before playing the song what sounds they might of the sounds of a city. The music starts with the expect to hear in a tenement airshaft. This discussion sounds of a traffic jam and then intensifies, giving could explore lifestyles in an overcrowded urban a forbidding sensation, and then evolves into the neighborhood. Consider hot nights without air- whirlwind sounds of the movement of a city. conditioning, when everyone has their windows open. This fast-paced composition leaves the heart This song is appropriate for use with students of all pounding as a picture is painted of what a day might ages. (John Gornell) have been like in an urban environment of the 1930s or 1940s. The instruments seem to come alive as they Fitzgerald, Ella, and Louis Armstrong. “Stompin’ at interpret the sounds of a city. The tune seems to start the Savoy.” Again. Verve, 1997. with the traffic of the morning rush and then is full of This song was written by Benny Goodman, Edgar feelings of excitement, yielding, confusion, hesitation, Samson, , and . This song and interruptions. It then comes to a conclusion with would be a good one to use in conjunction with music reminiscent of nightly traffic and a slower, more Fats Waller’s “The Joint Is Jumpin’,” as it presents peaceful melody that seems to bring the day to an another side of the musical life in Harlem in the end. 1930s. It celebrates the famous dance palace, the The cover of the CD is the perfect place to Savoy Ballroom. The celebration here is much more start a discussion of the selection. The picture is an restrained than Waller’s celebration of rent parties. The aerial view of New York City. The picture is in black music seems elegant and formal compared with the and white and a little blurry. This serves as a good other song’s exuberance. analytical start to the music. The song is also self-referential in several ways. This selection can be adapted to a variety of Chick Webb was the leader of one of the Savoy’s students. The analysis of the cover picture and the house bands. Fitzgerald was a protégé of Chick Webb music can be cursory or in depth. Students will and became a singer with his band. Goodman was enjoy this lively musical interpretation of the urban involved in one of the famous battle-of-the-band landscape of the 1930s or 1940s. (Monica Freese) encounters at the Savoy with his band, taking on Webb’s in a head-to-head encounter. While not part Waller, Fats. “The Joint Is Jumpin’.” The Joint Is of the original lyrics, the line “Chick Webb’ll be there” Jumpin’. Bluebird/RCA, 1990. is sometimes added when the song is performed. This is a song written by Waller, Andy Razaf and J. C. One of the questions to explore with students Johnson. I could imagine it being used in a history would be whether this song celebrates integration in class studying either the United States in the 1930s Harlem. The writers of the song are two white men or the life of African Americans in Harlem in the and two black men. The Savoy itself was famous for 1930s. Alternately, it could be used in an English class hiring black and white bands—though not to play studying the Harlem Renaissance, possibly as a foil to on the same bandstand, as the ballroom had two one of the more literary poems of the period. Waller’s bandstands—but to play in the same room on the performance is so joyful and inspiring that while I same night. The patrons could also be mixed. There would normally consider it for use in a high school was no color line at the Savoy. This made it unique for class there is no reason why this poem could not be its time and place. studied by almost any age group.

83 The song has interesting things to say about the known incidents of racial profiling. importance of music in the everyday life of the period. The use of these two songs is an example of “Jazz While we tend to think of music as coming to us and the Urban Landscape” in that it shows how electronically, in the 1930s, despite the encroachment through the use of technology (the art of sampling), of radio and recordings, live music was still a vital jazz could be kept alive in the minds and spirits of part of ordinary life. The song is a celebration of a young people via the music of their experience, hip hop. rent party. The students would have to be told that this Teachers of both middle school as well as high was a party thrown to raise the money for someone’s school students in either history or language arts could monthly rent. The host would provide food and music; use both songs as a lead-in for a lesson on the Bill of the guests would pay an admission fee at the door. Rights by playing both songs in the classroom and Since part of Waller’s reputation was built on his discussing the lyrics of the “Probable Cause.” Parental appearing as a singer-pianist at rent parities in Harlem, permission should be considered before playing the the song is at least partly self-referential. The song hip-hop track due to its lyrical content. (Patrick Harris) celebrates the feel-good, anything-goes atmosphere of this type of entertainment. The songwriters seem to sum up this attitude with the line “Grab anybody’s daughter.” A close reading of the lyrics of the song would certainly be one way of approaching it with students. From the lyrics, what can we tell about these kinds of parties? If the students have read other material from the same period, how does this song either help them perceive a fuller picture of the time or counter ideas that they may have constructed about the place and period? The song’s exuberance is also worth exploring. The song does not deny the harsh conditions (after all, the police do come in at the end to stop a party that has become too exuberant) or the poverty of the participants. The song seems to be about defiantly combating the grinding down of everyday life through the sheer joy of having a good time. (Mark Halperin)

Washington, Grover Jr. “Knucklehead.” Feels So Good. Motown, 1975. MOTD-5177 Brand Nubian. “Probable Cause.” Foundation. Arista, 1998. 19024 On his 1975 release Feels So Good, saxophonist Grover Washington Jr. was at the apex of his electric funk sound. The album is produced by Creed Taylor and arranged by Bob James, with his trademark horn sections, which here included Randy Brecker and Jon Faddis on trumpet. James also plays piano, , and . Reaching number one on both the soul and jazz charts, Feels So Good has become one of the most heavily sampled jazz albums ever. Rappers like DMX (“Slippin’”), EPMD (“Underground”), Guru (“Slicker Than Most”), and Brand Nubian (“Probable Cause”) have all benefited from sampling this album. With the release of Foundation in 1998, conscious hip-hop artists Brand Nubian sampled the baseline and horn sections of Grover Washington Jr.’s “Knucklehead” to create “Probable Cause,” a scathing indictment of the New Jersey state troopers and their

84 Jazz and the Visual Imagination Germany, when jazz fans covered record labels so Judy Gregorc, Rob Matlock, Martha Jewell Meeker, that they wouldn’t be persecuted for listening to jazz. Ellen Rennard, Laura Rochette, and Larissa Young We also considered ways in which the creative is just that: an enterprise affected by We interpreted the category “visual imagination” merchandising and corporate control. The Blue Note broadly in order to include many kinds of visual record label, for example, attempted to present its possibilities: animation, films, photographs, paintings, jazz music through photographs by that collage, sculpture, album (and CD) cover art, book convey the idea of jazz musicians as serious artists. illustrations, dance, posters, websites, and fashion. Just as jazz artists are influenced by the necessity This kind of material is particularly useful to the of earning a living, so too are they affected by the humanities teacher for a number of reasons. Of political and social milieu in which they live. To what course, interdisciplinary approaches reflect current degree does the intersection of music and visual art pedagogical trends as reflected in, among other shape and reflect sociopolitical realities? Then we instances, the theme of the upcoming convention of turned these questions about intersecting disciplines the National Council of Teachers of English, titled back to our students: what music and visual material “Mapping Diverse Literacies.” In addition, multiple will spark our students’ interest in jazz? How do we learning styles—visual, aural, kinesthetic, linguistic— save what is good about jazz and jazz history so that can be accessed through visual materials, which in it doesn’t disappear? turn can be linked to jazz, itself an ideal subject for In viewing visual material we investigated not interdisciplinary work. only what we were looking at but also what was Because jazz is as much a movement as it is a missing—for example, in jazz photographs, women musical form, to comprehend jazz, students need a are generally depicted only as singers or, rarely, as greater context: political, social, economic, historical, piano players, yet women also played other jazz and artistic. Since most of today’s students belong to instruments. Furthermore, incorporating material what is primarily a visual culture, it makes sense to from other cultures raises issues related to influence, turn to visual material to help them understand jazz appropriation, and authenticity. Last, and particularly and its contexts. For instance, the visual images in in connection to the latter, we examined the ways in the opening sequence of Spike Lee’s filmMalcolm which race and racism manifested in visual materials X are made all the more powerful by the music of associated with jazz. John Coltrane’s “Alabama,” and by connecting these Works we felt were particularly helpful include elements, students can clearly—and literally—see as Bruce Ricker’s filmThe Last of the Blue Devils, Aaron well as hear the relationship between images, jazz, Douglas’s painting “Song of the Towers,” Mura Dehn’s racism, and historical moments. filmThe Spirit Moves, the cartoon “I Love to Singa,” Visual images invite questions about the degree the Herman Leonard Photography Catalogue, back to which one art form influences another within issues of Downbeat magazine, and Ornette Coleman’s a particular context. A 1946 New York City art CD Free Jazz. exhibition, Homage to Jazz, made this connection between jazz music and visual art explicit; more Art recently, the Smithsonian published a book, Seeing Bearden, Romare. Empress of the Blues. Smithsonian Jazz, which incorporates visual art and text related American Art Museum. . jazz aesthetic might apply to the visual imagination. ———. The Block II. National Gallery of Art. . response, musical improvisation, blue notes, and ———. Boppin at Birdland (Stompin Time) from syncopation manifest in visual art forms? To what the Jazz Series. Smithsonian American Art extent can jazz and visual art be described with a Museum. . “harmony,” “dissonance,” “rhythm,” and “movement”? ———. The Street. Milwaukee Art Museum. . from jazz to visual material. We looked at Shadows, Eye-Music: Kandinsky, Klee, and All that Jazz. Cassavetes’ groundbreaking improvisational film and Pallant House Gallery (UK). . and others. Throughout its history jazz has represented Hayden, Palmer. Jeunesse. Includes a series of

85 paintings from the Harlem Renaissance with Brougher, Kerry. Visual Music: Synesthesia in Art and explanatory notes Music since 1900. New York: Thames and Matisse, Henri. Jazz. Munich: R. Piper, 1957. Hudson, 2005. Available with essay at www.gregkucera.com/ Campbell, Mary Schmidt. Harlem Renaissance: Art matisse.htm of Black America. New York: Harry Abrams, Mondrian, Piet. Broadway Boogie-Woogie. New York 1987. Museum of Modern Art. Also available on Chusid, Irwin. The Mischievous Art of Jim Flora. www.wikipedia.org with essay Seattle: Phantagraphic Books, 2007. (A Weeks, James. Jazz Musician. Howard University collection of Flora’s zany, quirky, and colorful Collection. Dillion, Leo, and Diane Dillion. Rap A Tap Tap. Blue Sky Press, 2002. Articles and Essays Dodge, Roger Pryor. Hot Jazz and Jazz Dance: Roger Gaither, Edmund Barry. “Instructional Resources: Pryor Dodge Collected Writings 1929–1964. Afro-American Art.” Art Education 43, no. 6 Edited by Roger Pryor Dodge. New York: (November 1990): 37–40. Oxford University Press, 1995. Gayford, Martin. “Art’s Brush with Boogie-Woogie.” Drowne, Kathleen, and Patrick Huber. “Fashion.” In Daily Telegraph, June 30, 2007. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2004. (accessed August 30, 2007). Duncan, Alice Faye. Willie Jerome. New York: Simon George, Luvenia A. “Duke Ellington: The Man and His and Schuster/Macmillan Press, 1995. Music.” Music Educators Journal 85, no. 6. Friedlander, Lee. The Jazz People of New Orleans. (May 1999): 15–21. London: Cape, 1992. Locke, Alain. “A Note on African Art.” Opportunity 2 Goldmark, Daniel. Tunes for Toons. Berkeley: (May 1924): 134–38. University of California Press, 2005. Osby, Greg, “If You Don’t Create It, It Won’t Exist.” Hasse, John Edward, ed. Jazz: The First Century. New Downbeat 74 (May 2007): 34–36. (A York: William Morrow, 1999. distillation of an hour-long interview with Houston, David. Jazz, Giants and Journeys: The Ornette Coleman; its photographs are Photography of Herman Leonard. New York: priceless.) Scala Publishers, 2006. Powell, Richard J. “Jacob Lawrence: Keep on Movin’.” Kohler, Eric. In the Groove: Vintage Record Graphics, American Art 15, no. 1 (Spring 2001): 90–93. 1940–1960. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, Salaam, Kalamu ya. “Herman Leonard: Making Music 1999. with Light.” African American Review 29, no. Metzer, David. “Shadow Play: The Spiritual in Duke 2 (Summer 1995): 241–46. Ellington’s ‘Black and Tan Fantasy.’” Black Wheat, Ellen Harkins. “Jacob Lawrence and the Music Research Journal 17, no. 2 (Autumn Legacy of Harlem.” Archives of American Art 1997): 137–58. Journal 26, no. 1 (1986): 18–25. O’Meally, Robert G., ed. The Jazz Cadence of American Culture. New York: Columbia Books and Book Chapters University Press, 1998. Appel, Alfred Jr. Jazz Modernism: From Ellington and Powell, Richard J. Homecoming: The Art and Life of Armstrong to Matisse and Joyce. New York: William H. Johnson. New York: Rizzoli, 1991. Knopf, 2002. Turner, Pete. The Color of Jazz: Album Cover Bergerot, Frank, and Arnaud Merlin. The Story of Photographs by Pete Turner. New York: Jazz: Bop and Beyond. New York: Harry N. Rizzoli, 2006. Abrams, 1993. Blake, Jody. Le Tumulte nior: Modernist Jazz and Children’s Books Popular Entertainment in Jazz-Age Paris, Isadora, Rachel. Bring On that Beat. New York: G. P. 1900–1930. University Park: Pennsylvania Putnam’s Sons, 2002. State University Press, 1999. (In 1922 the Kirgiss, Crystal. Jazz. Mankato, MN: Smart British critic Clive Bell advocated, “The jazz Media, 2002. theory of art seems stupid enough.” Blake’s work is a thorough, scholarly refutation of Mr. Films Bell’s somewhat racist views.) Against the Odds: Artists of the Harlem Renaissance.

86 Directed by Amber Edwards. PBS Home http://artcyclopedia.com. Artcyclopedia Video, 1994. http://www.howard.edu/library/Art@Howard/ The Art of Romare Bearden. National Gallery of Art, 2003. HUCollection/Index.htm. “Art@Howard.” A Great Day in Harlem. Directed by Jean Bach. Flo-Bert American Art from the Howard University Ltd., 1994. Collection Jacob Lawrence: The Glory of Expression. Directed by David Irving. L & S Video Enterprises, 1993. Art (annotated) Jacob Lawrence: An Intimate Portrait. Directed by Grover Babcock. Los Angeles County Bearden, Romare. Serenade. Madison Museum Museum of Art, 1993. of Contemporary Art. . and Bert Stern. Galaxy Productions, 1960. Romare Bearden’s art is the story of black experience (From day to night, mixing audience and in the culture and politics of America. He lived in performers, water and notes, this was shot at North Carolina, in industrial Pittsburgh, and in vibrant the Newport in 1958. It is a close-up of the Harlem, where he knew many of the significant artists, ambience surrounding the jazz festival.) musicians, and intellectuals of the era. This piece A Man Called Adam. Directed by Leo Penn. Embassy by Romare Bearden is significant as a manifestation Pictures, 1966. of jazz in several ways. We see an intimate African Malcolm X. Directed by Spike Lee. Warner Home American couple, a musician and a woman. The Video, 1992. juxtaposition of curves and angles could seem to Masters of American Music: Lady Day: The Many suggest jazz in its syncopation. The man looks like Faces of Billie Holiday. Directed by Toby he has just played a guitar for the woman and has Byron and Richards Saylor. Kultur, 1991. placed his hand on her shoulder. The use of realistic Sousa to Satchmo: Wynton on the Jazz Band. photos seems to heighten our connection to her, and Directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg. Sony, perhaps her mixed feelings. The man holds the guitar 1995. as she points to it. There’s a feeling of spontaneity and improvisation on the work’s variety of textures, colors, Music Recordings and media. Does the prevalent blue suggest they Coltrane, John. The Impulse! Years. Impulse!, 1992. will come together and/or a literal blues theme? The (Program notes by David Wild / John blue gives it an overall oneness, while the repeated Coltrane, soprano and tenor saxophones; yellows and red suggest a rhythm, and the musician with various ensembles. Originally recorded and woman balance each other in the work. The work 1961–67 at , Englewood avoids realism, while using real images. We are not Cliffs, NJ.) sure what comes next in their relationship. The piece Coleman, Ornette. Free Jazz. Rhino, 1998. (Originally comes together like a puzzle, or instruments in a jazz released as Atlantic SD-1364, September piece. Bearden took images from his native Harlem 1961 (Free Jazz), and SD-1588, October neighborhood, which viewers may recognize (for 1971 (First Take). Program notes by Gunther instance, in the hats). It might be interesting to have Schuller and from the original LP by Martin viewers create their own collage, using the images Williams.) from their neighborhood and time. More can be Davis, Miles. Miles Davis Love Songs 2. Sony, 2003. learned about Bearden at www.beardenfoundation. CK-90337 org. (Rob Matlock) Fitzgerald, Ella. Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Cole Porter Songbook. PolyGram, 1997. B0000047EG Douglas, Aaron. Life in an African Setting. and Song of the Towers

87 identity. The first painting evokes cultural ancestry each set of dancers in progressively more abstract and in its dancing figures, tribal icon, and “ring shout” geometric form. In Jitterbugs I, we find a couple in formation; this evocation is balanced with Douglas’s full “swing,” with their bodies leaning out from one abstract use of color and circles of light as if giving another to implicate the force of their spinning. The the viewer lenses with which to gaze at the scene. man is on his toes and holding onto his partner as The gradations of color also add to the feeling of our if in a solo dance. She supports him but is still a full gaze being filtered. Also at issue is Douglas’s style: is partner; they are still a team. Their bodies and features he celebrating, honoring, and modernizing an African are angular but still convey a sense of humanity. Line aesthetic, or is he pandering to an audience (or plays an important role in setting the rhythm of the patron) who desires a primitive art form (think Waller’s painting. The floor is set in horizontal lines, like a “African Ripples” or Johnson’s “Jungle Drums”; see bar of music, and his checkered shirt implies notes annotations)? “Song of the Towers” puts the viewer hanging in the high register. Combined with the man’s amid the chaos, danger, trial, and hectic dynamic that pointed toes, we get the feeling he is lifting off the is the city. Framed by skyscrapers, industrial gears, floor and is being transported by the music. Johnson’s and ghostlike hands, the central figure is a saxophone placement of contrasting colors (warm reds against player standing prominently in silhouette, with hand ) guides the viewer in the direction of the and head raised. Behind him, in the distance, is the male dancer by using a field of red in the upper right Statue of . There is a languishing figure in one corner, down through her dress, to the bows of her corner, and another trying to outrun the wheel of shoes, and finally to his bright orange shoes, where industry with a briefcase in hand. The instrumental the action is. He then pauses the viewer on the man’s symbol of jazz holds all together here, but there are blue trousers and to bring the viewer full circle for the threats to people’s aspirations and desire for freedom whole story, he uses red on her nails and their lips. that are racially, politically, and economically As the series progresses, instruments are introduced, motivated. (Laura Rochette) and the figures begin to absorb them into their bodies as each composition becomes more abstract. The Johnson, William Henry. Jitterbugs Series (I–V). dancers are losing their identity and becoming one Smithsonian American Art Museum. . until the last painting. In Jitterbugs V, the dancers American painter William Henry Johnson was born in emerge and separate from the instruments. Their Florence, , in 1901 to a working class clothing is now coordinated and complementary. black family. At age seventeen, he realized that he In my interpretation, they are changed but yet they could not pursue his dream of becoming an artist in are the same couple from the first painting. The one the segregated South. He migrated to New York City, unifying element that holds this theory together is the where he began his formal training at the prestigious man’s shoes: they’re orange in every painting. National Academy of Design. Charles Webster As a teaching resource, William H. Johnson’s paintings Hawthorne, an instructor, realized that Johnson would are a valuable tool. The flat, primitive style allows face many obstacles as a black artist in the United students of all ages to find and interpret the musical States and raised private funds for him to study in elements of jazz in each painting. Like jazz, there are France for a year. rhythm changes, stop times, blue notes, harmonies When Johnson returned home in the 1930s to in color, solos, and a sense of swing. Johnson has New York, times were hard, and within six months other paintings that reflect a jazz influence and can he joined the Works Progress Administration (WPA) be found in his catalog at the Smithsonian American Federal Art Project. As an art teacher at the local Art Museum (http://americanart.si.edu/search/search_ community center, he became part of a thriving black artwork.cfm). (Judy Gregorc) culture. The Harlem Renaissance was in full swing, and he was mesmerized by the sights, sounds, and Lawrence, Jacob. Bar and Grill, Interior Scene, This people of the city. He set out to capture scenes of Is Harlem, and Village Quartet. In Over the Line: The everyday life, fashions of the day, and the gyrations of Art and Life of Jacob Lawrence. Edited by Peter T. a dance called the jitterbug. Also during this period, Nesbett and Michelle DuBois. Seattle: University of Johnson’s style began to change. While in Europe, he Washington Press, 2000. had developed the expressionistic “full brush” style In all four of these paintings, music has a presence of representing figures and landscape,s but now he in one form or another and serves, one could began to explore a flat, two-dimensional style he argue, as the moral center, making Lawrence an termed “primitive.” interesting addition to any discussion about the role In the series Jitterbugs, Johnson has represented of jazz and Harlem’s urban life. This idea becomes

88 interesting when considering that jazz, in the 1920s to Jazz exhibition, adding that Black and Tan Fantasy and 1930s, had, for some, vulgar, sinful, if not was inspired by Bubber Miley and Duke Ellington’s criminal, associations. Likewise, his structured, yet tune of that name. It also lists all of the works in skewed, geometric compositions, combined with a the exhibition in a footnote. (It would be interesting kind of improvisational “staging” of his figures and to compare this list with the visual art included in dynamic use of color make it easy to liken his works the Smithsonian’s Seeing Jazz, which, as I stated in to Ellington, Waller, Basie, or Johnson. Both Bar and an earlier annotation, seems to take a more literal Grill and Interior Scene are exercises in examining approach to a jazz aesthetic. One might compare the detail and considering how all of the figures relate artworks in both and try to work backward to the jazz to one another. Together, what story do they tell? In aesthetic that drives each collection.) the first painting an escorted blind accordion player Stuart Davis’s outright enthusiasm for jazz has seems to be offering music to those who are drinking been well documented, and the notes in this article or are already drunk; the female escort is questionable provide a useful bibliography for the jazz element in in terms of motive, but she possesses a vitality that Davis’s work. The article also mentions the crossover the people sitting at the bar do not. The blind man’s between jazz artists and visual art; Coleman Hawkins, music is at the center and is in contrast to the drab, for instance, has a piece called “Picasso,” and Ornette despondent, alienated figures. Similarly, inInterior Coleman was friends with numerous artists including Scene, a brothel, there are base transactions taking Barnett Newman and Franz Kline. The connection place (the exchange of money, the children peeking between Pollock and jazz is expanded to include in at the window, the flies on the cat food, the dead not just his structural principles but also his interest animal in a trap), but amid all of this squalor is a in “primitive” arts. Here, I found myself going back properly dressed woman seated at the end of a sofa to consider the voyeuristic interest of Van Vechten with her head upturned, seemingly singing. Whether in what he considered to be the primitive (although she is singing gospel, the blues, or jazz, she adds by the time this article was written, 1979, the word an uplifting element to the otherwise grim scene. In “primitive” itself appears in quotation marks). This Is Harlem, the chaos and dissonance of urban Pollock’s She Wolf and Totem Lesson II contain life are illustrated by the crowded buildings, the “archaic illusions,” as do titles of jazz compositions haphazard arrangement of the representative social from the 1920s on—Jelly Roll Morton’s “The Chant” “institutions”—a beauty shop, a bar, a dance hall, a and “Jungle Blues,” Red Norvo’s “Congo Blues,” church—and the small people bustling about. This for example—but Kagan makes this point without “visual polyphony” seems unified and disjointed at examining the sociological and economic context for the same time; I would argue that the cityscape is held these songs or considering the reasons for those titles together by the church, not only identifiable by its to have come into being. cross but also by its abstractly arranged stained glass The article also mentions a John Graham piece windows—the same colors of the city. Jazz and the written in 1937, “Primitive Art and Picasso.” For traditional moral center coexist. One finds a different Graham, “primitive art. . .permits a persistent and story in Lawrence’s later Village Quartet, an illustration spontaneous exercise of design and composition as of a jazz quartet, which would pair well with opposed to the deliberate.” It seems to me that the Ellington’s “Black and Tan Fantasy” (see annotation) consideration of so-called primitivism as a force in and Dunbar’s poem “We Wear the Mask.” Again, visual art is different than in jazz, however. Unlike what do white audiences expect of African American the spectacle of the dance shows at the Cotton entertainers? How is Lawrence playing into that? How Club, Picasso incorporates “primitive” elements in is he subverting it? The harlequin-like design of the sophisticated ways that do not diminish his sources backdrop, the puppet minstrel figures, the black faces, but also transform them into his own distinctive style. the red jackets, and the illustration of shine and sound The matter of “African percussive ideas” that Kagan nearly make the image an advertisement of a sort. It mentions as having had a “particularly powerful would not be unlike Lawrence, certainly, to be ironic impact on jazz musicians” strikes me as more here in his portrayal of musicians. (Laura Rochette) complicated in that if indeed some sort of reference to African drumming was incorporated in jazz (and Articles and Essays (annotated) I’m not sure if that conclusion can be supported), it does not enter the music in the same fashion, at least Kagan, Andrew. “Improvisations: Notes on Jackson initially, that primitive forms infused modern art. Pollock and the Black Contribution to American High In his work of the 1940s Pollock used an Culture.” Arts Magazine (March 1979): 96–99. “improvisatory method” of pouring paint, a method This article contains more information on the Homage that Kagan likens to the bebop idiom, which emerged

89 during the same years. In addition, just as bebop His analysis is easy enough to follow, especially musicians used recognizable tunes as vehicles for for those who have practice in analyzing literature; jazz (e.g., Coltrane’s version of “My Favorite Things”), his vocabulary is comfortable and should engender Kagan asserts that so too did Pollock improvise on confidence in leading discussions of paintings with recognizable imagery. He compares Pollock’s method students. Furthermore, he makes connections (albeit of improvisation specifically to Ornette Coleman’s not specific ones) between Douglas’s work and the Free Jazz, adding that the liner of Coleman’s Free music of Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington, and Jazz included a reproduction of Pollock’s White Light, Count Basie. He goes on to argue how Romare although its inclusion was initiated independently of Bearden, the artist of the following generation, takes Coleman. Coleman did recognize that Pollock was Douglas’s principles to another level. Ultimately, someone “in the same state I was in—doing what I Powell asserts that Aaron Douglas’s development was doing.” Kagan adds one last example: Jane Ira of a “blues aesthetic” is defined by a blending of Bloom’s piece “Jackson Pollock,” inspired by Pollock’s visual and musical aesthetics with African American Autumn Rhythm, adding that its “unself-conscious historical memory. spontaneity” recalls the spirit of Pollock’s painting. For those who have a strong foundation already (Ellen Rennard) in the Harlem Renaissance and some knowledge of Aaron Douglas’s work, this readable essay is useful Mandeles, Chad. “Jackson Pollock and Jazz: Structural and enlightening. (Laura Rochette) Parallels.” Arts Magazine, October 1981, 139–41. A review by critic Alfred Frankenstein, written in Wolf, Ben. “Abstract Artists Pay Homage to Jazz.” Art 1945, speculated that there might be a correlation Digest, December 1, 1946, p. 15. between Pollock’s work and certain jazz structures, This short article comments on the Homage to and this essay sets out to illustrate that theory. Clearly Jazz exhibition that was current at the time. The Pollock listened to jazz; Lee Krasner has said that magazine printed only one picture from the show Pollock would “get into grooves of listening to his and chose Romare Bearden’s A Blue Note, which jazz records—not just for days—day and night, day the article described as interesting compositionally, and night for three days running, until you thought with its creation of a circular movement within a you would climb the roof! . . . Jazz? He thought it rectangle. The article also mentions other artists and was the only other really creative thing happening titles of works included in the exhibition: Carl Holtz in this country.” The qualities in Pollock’s paintings (Drum Riff, Solo Flight), Byron Browne (Jazz Trio), that are correlated with jazz include improvisation, Adolph Gottlieb (Black and Tan Fantasy), and Robert elements of chance and accident, and directness. Motherwell (Homage to John Cage). (Ellen Rennard) (Ellen Rennard) Books and Book Chapters (annotated) Powell, Richard J. “Art History and Black Memory: Toward a ‘Blues Aesthetic.’” In The Jazz Cadence of Cassidy, Donna M. Painting the Musical City: Jazz American Culture. Edited by Robert G. O’Meally, and Cultural Identity in American Art, 1910–1940. 182–95. New York: Columbia University Press, 1998. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997. For a scholarly framework with which to understand Most useful for any teacher preparing to integrate Aaron Douglas’s illustrations and paintings, this visual art and jazz of the 1920s and 1930s is Cassidy’s essay is useful in its consideration of the connections introduction and her chapters on Arthur Dove, between visual and musical aesthetics in the late Stuart Davis (both in chapter 3), and Aaron Douglas 1920s, Douglas’s early career as an artist. In addition (chapter 4). Overall, she provides an analysis that to helpful footnotes, Powell describes how Douglas connects music and the visual arts within the context traversed the “spaces between African American of American modernism and America’s quest for a music, memory, and visual art.” What defines national identity. There is also a brief discussion in Douglas’s early work is a quest for a style and a her introduction about the “vocabularies used to growing interest in a “reassessment of and a new talk about” music and the visual arts; this will help appreciation for African musical arts.” In particular, the teacher who may be working outside his or her Powell’s discussion of Douglas’s Crucifixion (1927) main discipline (like English or history teachers, and Song of the Towers (1934, one of four panels in a for example). In her discussion of Arthur Dove and series entitled Aspects of Negro Life at the New York Stuart Davis, she argues how jazz offered both Public Library and produced under the auspices of artists a “formal model of abstraction intended to the WPA) is a cogent analysis of the artist’s style and embody the…American spirit.” She sets up these these two works’ incorporations of a musical idiom. two artists as representative of those who, through

90 the visual arts, “de-Africanized” and “sanitized” jazz Much is made in the accompanying essays by (connected to the efforts of those who wanted low- Leonard Feather and Terry Southern to establish brow jazz to become high-brow music). This is in Claxton as someone who knew many of the musicians contrast to Aaron Douglas, her focus of chapter 4. he photographed and who also knew jazz, but the Cassidy offers specific, detailed analyses of a variety photographs do not convey any sense of intimacy of Douglas’s illustrations as well as his Song of the with either the subjects or the music, nor do the Towers, emphasizing his intention to put jazz makers photographs convey a unified vision. In addition, center stage in his art (as opposed to the abstract the captions are placed oddly, about every six pages, intentions of Dove and Stuart). In the end, Cassidy listing the musicians’ names and the years (and often places Douglas’s work in the context of African locations) of the photographs, but without page American contributions to jazz and African American numbers. Although this book would be suitable for cultural identity. This example of racial tension forms anyone interested in jazz, in photography, and in the an important foundation for American identity during history of jazz, the primary usefulness of these images this time period; she points out that “Douglas’s is to provide a contrast to other, better photographs of iconography…was as much linked to national as to jazz musicians. (Ellen Rennard) ethnic or racial identity. He appropriated pre-existing signs to represent African American identity and Collier, James Lincoln. Jazz: An American Saga. New include blacks in an imagined national community.” York: Henry Holt, 1997. Her conclusion that “we cannot talk about In Jazz: An American Saga, jazz critic and children’s Americanness absent from race or ethnicity” provides author James Lincoln Collier traces the history a valuable foundation from which to build an of jazz from tribal African music to free jazz and understanding of American identity. (Laura Rochette) fusion. Rather than presenting the story of jazz in a strictly chronological order, he devotes chapters Claxton, William. Jazz. San Francisco: Chronicle to styles of jazz, the heartbeat of jazz (which is a Books, 1996. simplified musical theory explanation), and a chapter This book contains more than seventy duotone explaining what improvisation is and isn’t. Also black-and-white photographs of jazz musicians noteworthy is its collection of black-and-white photos taken by William Claxton, whose work also appears of jazz musicians. The book is significant because it in Jazz West Coast, published in 1955, and in Jazz combines photos and text for a younger audience that Life, which was published in Europe. Some of the might be turned off by jazz children’s books that seem photographs are formal, posed studio shots; others too primary but aren’t ready for an adult reading level are informal, made only with natural light. The quality jazz book. of the photographs also varies; the formal studio Mr. Collier’s account, written for young adults, portraits are posed and quite commercial looking, attempts to explain West African music in more detail whereas some of the other shots are more candid. than is often found in children’s books. He corrects Aesthetically, many of the environmental portraits some common misunderstandings, such as that a suffer from distracting elements such as the park in the lot of jazz was played in Storyville, or that most foreground of an otherwise interesting picture of Jim slaves worked in big plantations, when in fact most Robinson (trombone) and Slow Drag Pavageau (bass) blacks worked and lived alongside their masters, taken in New Orleans in 1960. There is an attempt where they would be exposed to European music. at drama that seems to me to be as heavy-handed as Syncretism is the melding of elements that occurred the text, which tries too hard to establish this book as polyrhythmic African music met European melody as “perhaps the first art photography book devoted to and harmony. jazz musicians.” For example, one photograph shows Mr. Collier covers all the well-known artists while walking up a hill “with his smile and his introducing us to others such as Frank Johnson, a free horn,” supposedly an “eloquent symbol” of his uphill black who led a concert orchestra for Queen Victoria struggle with his life. To be sure, there are a couple in 1837, and Django Reinhardt, the first great non- of good photographs here, particularly one of Will American jazz musician playing in the early 1930s. Shade with his tub bass (1960) and of Donald Byrd in Themes are explored such as the end of the Victorian a New York subway. Many of the shots taken with only era and America’s admiration for individualism and innovation. available light are understandably grainy (a technical Some issues to be explored by readers include necessity, and an aesthetic choice), but some are also the limited mention of women in jazz, limited to out of focus in a way that doesn’t seem to serve any Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday. Little mention is aesthetic purpose, as in the case of the photograph of made of more recent historical influences such as the Mahalia Jackson. segregation, Great Migration, World War II, or the

91 civil rights movement. York at the age of six, Bubber graduated to trumpet One of the wonderful things about the book is its and coronet lessons, and by the age of fifteen had collection of black-and-white photos. We see Louis joined the navy. Within eighteen months he was Armstrong not just playing but in a family picture, honorably discharged, sat in with the Carolina Five, as well as in a portrait without an instrument. We and played gigs in New York, then went on tour. see early jazz vaudeville acts, and the Fisk Jubilee Eventually he became part of the Duke’s band, Singers, both featuring women’s photos. We see early traveled to Paris, returned to the States where Pryor Basin Street and Pete Lala’s club. Dave Brubeck is “had the great luck to find Bubber” and to form a pictured playing with his children, which strikes the duo. Miley moved on to recording and a show called viewer as unique, given our expectation for jazz the Harlem Scandals and within a year, at the age of photos. Also interesting is the progression of photos twenty-nine, had succumbed to tuberculosis. over time, as the proud posed band in uniform Completely ignored in death, Miley had been co- becomes the clowning poses of the swing era, to the arranger of many of Ellington’s tunes, was “the first photos of bebop and cool jazz musicians, usually to use a rubber plunger as a mute,” and when shown with their eyes closed. There are exceptions to this notations transcribed from his recordings could not generalization, such as photos of Duke Ellington believe he was capable of such marvelous playing. meeting Princess Margaret or Benny Goodman Of varying lengths, Pryor’s thoughts should be meeting Khrushchev. approached individually, sampled, allowing the This book would be appropriate for ages ten reader time to ponder a lifetime of ideas and insights. to teen, but adult novice jazz fans will also find it It’s possible that some of the shorter works could be enlightening. (Rob Matlock) used with a general high school population, and many would be valuable for dance and music students. Dodge, Roger Pryor. Hot Jazz and Jazz Dance: Select quotations would foster discussion: Collected Writings 1929–1965. New York: Oxford “music is tone rhythm, while dancing is movement University Press, 1995. in rhythm”; “jazz needs protection”; “art comes Three photographs speak of this man, Roger Pryor from somewhere in life and that a valid art should Dodge: the first captures a young angulated dancer be expressing its time”; “jazz is the most important dressed in frocked coat, white bow tie, and top hat; significant music of recent centuries”; and in the next he is posed with partner Mura Dehn; “photography is of paramount importance to the dance.” and last some thirty years later he sits arms crossed, This is jazz and dance history, lived and studied, piercing eyes, sturdy jawed, distant. Gathering these with a passionate eloquence. (Martha Jewell Meeker) essays becomes a tribute from son to father and makes a unique contribution to the literature of criticism. Eyrman, Scott. The Speed of Sound: Hollywood and R. P. Dodge trained as a professional ballet dancer, the Talkie Revolution, 1926–1930. New York: Simon created as a choreographer, met and listened to jazz and Schuster, 1997. musicians, and began to write from experience and Scott Eyrman discusses how the utilization of sound with clarity. He filmed jazz dances he’d composed impacts the American film industry. During this in the thirties using “” and “King of the transitional period from silence to sound, the film Zulus”; he reviewed releases such as Gems of Jazz, industry resisted changes because of the threat to Ellingtonia, Capitol’s History of Jazz, and a reissue, the the careers of some of its major film stars, whose piano solos of Earl Hines. voices were not suitable for sound films. Their careers Philosophically Pryor believed that classical instantly ended. As a result, famous movie stars music and jazz share characteristics, that peculiar contemplated and committed suicide or began living rhythms are the foundation of jazz, and that these in seclusion. Scott Eyrman refutes the myth that sound rhythms owe their birth to dance. He was distraught in film happened overnight and discusses how the that dancers, especially Isadora Duncan, failed to use famous movie entitled The Jazz Singer was not the first cinematography to preserve their artistry. He disagreed sound film. There were various failed attempts prior to with Van Vechten’s criteria for modern art but was this famous film to bring forth change in the industry. sympathetic to the analysis of Ansermet concerning After the appearance of the famous movie The Jazz “Negro” jazz, in which musicians follow their “own way.” Singer, the industry continued to resist the change to “Bubber” is the most poignant entry in this sound films. book. In a black-and-white photo Dodge is shown Lessons from this book would be designed for performing an interpretation of Ellington’s “East St. middle and high school audiences. This lesson will Louis Toodle-Oo” with his accompanist, trumpeter build students’ prior knowledge about the history of James “Bubber” Miley. Singing on the streets of New how music influenced the American film industry.

92 Throughout the study of the lesson, questions will aesthetic that transcends the boundaries of artistic be raised about how music affects the movies and disciplines” (137). This collection of photographs, television sitcoms of today and about the criteria pictures of visual artworks (paintings, collages, for what makes an actor talented. Terminologies sculptures, etc.), and snippets of writing presents and elements will be discussed in class to assist various ideas or interpretations of jazz and suggests students in defining the characteristics of jazz music. areas and/or artists for further study. (The carefully Furthermore, students will be encouraged to analyze culled list of artists and writers alone is valuable.) their own interpretation of jazz by listening to the No doubt the traveling exhibition itself would have music and watching movies that demonstrate or provided a much richer experience, at least insofar display jazz through actors, musicians, costumes, as the visual art is concerned, since many of the and scenes. I find this historical document of factual photographs of artworks cannot begin to convey events as educational to all educators and historians the power of the originals. Much of the writing, too, who are in search of accurate, detailed truth of one would be more satisfying if read in its entirety rather of America’s fascinating events. I definitely would than as short excerpts. Nonetheless the book provides recommend this book to those who are interested in a way in, a field guide of sorts, that is very useful learning how sounds and jazz music advanced the in pointing the way to many of the best established development of the American film industry. (Larissa Young) artists and writers who have explored jazz and/or jazz musicians as the subject(s) of their work. Goldmark, Daniel, and Yuval Taylor, eds. The Cartoon The book is organized in three main sections: Music Book. Chicago: A Capella Press, 2002. rhythm, improvisation, and call-and-response, which This book is an anthology of essays compiled to are taken as hallmarks of jazz and also themes for the convey to audiences how cartoons and music have different sections. It might be interesting to consider played a vital role in the construction of both history how these different aspects of jazz play out in the and education in America. In part 1 of the book, various works of art in each section. That is left for the entitled “Hidey Hidey Hidey Ho… Boop-Boop-A reader/viewer to do. Doop! The Fleischer Studio and Jazz Cartoons,” Jake wrote the afterword, contributed a Austen discusses how the Fleischer studio cartoons number of photographs to the book, and describes became very popular in the 1930s. By utilizing jazz himself as “just a musician with a camera.” He tunes from famous artists such as Cab Calloway suggests that “art—in all of its forms—can reveal and and Louis Armstrong, Americans were drawn in to preserve the spirit and essence of jazz” (144). What’s the fascinating details of the cartoon story lines. particularly interesting as you think about Hinton’s Although Fleischer’s cartoons conveyed disturbing idea and look at the images in the book is the great racial stereotypes of African Americans and women, diversity of art and literature that (as the book has they compelled the audience to view this ugly picture it) might be called “jazz art.” But what makes it of American society. For example, in the cartoon jazz art? Is it merely that the painting is titled, for performance by Louis Armstrong of “I’ll Be Glad example, Yellow Dog Blues, or Art Tatum? That the When You’re Dead, You Rascal, You,” the animators of piece of writing is a biography of a jazz musician, this cartoon designed the African characters as apelike or a poem about a particular jazz musician? To what creatures or the free spirit Betty Boop character degree is the content itself the reason for the art to represents some form of prostitution. Fleischer Studio’s be considered jazz art (as in, for example, a painting works were aimed at adult audiences in that they called Street Music, Jenkins Band)? I found the book addressed lust and fear in the real world. to present quite a literal aesthetic; these are works Lessons from this book would be designed for a that specifically reference jazz and jazz musicians. high school audience. Relating to how music and the For example, absent are the works of Jackson Pollack, media play an important role in aspects of American who painted while listening to jazz and whose work culture such as race and gender, high school students clearly, but not literally (to this writer’s eye), conveys would have an opportunity to connect past issues to the feeling of jazz music. The multiplicity of visual current issues and see how these problems still affect and literary interpretations of the idea of jazz seems to society. (Larissa Young) parallel the great variety inherent in the jazz tradition itself, but the book presents another way to consider Goldson, Elizabeth, ed. Seeing Jazz: Artists and how to define or describe the essence of jazz. (Ellen Rennard) Writers on Jazz. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1997. This book (and the traveling exhibition which it Johnson, James Weldon. God’s : Seven accompanied) combine works of visual art and Negro Sermons in Verse. New York: Penguin, 1990. literature; the selections reflect the “idea of a jazz It is not difficult to locate poems from the Harlem

93 Renaissance that concern themselves with jazz “New Negro” movement in Harlem even before he (Langston Hughes and Claude McKay for example), moves there. Early on, Douglas experiences, Kirschke but I mention Johnson’s fifty-six-page text because it asserts, an artist’s exile that can only emerge out of weaves together music, illustration, poetry, and the a minority’s experience in white America. In order sermon tradition essential to the foundations of jazz. to situate Douglas within the context of the Harlem Implied is the tension between the “modern” and its Renaissance, she offers a useful summary and analysis accompanying sinful lifestyle and the upstanding, of Alain Locke’s intellectual work and leadership and spiritual, mindful lifestyle based in the African its connection to Douglas once he arrives in New York American Protestant tradition. Johnson not only in 1925. While she does not go into depth about how reveals the tension but also shows, slyly, how they Douglas employs jazz themes, she does offer helpful, intersect and can exist simultaneously. The trombone interesting analyses/discussions of his illustrations for (not Gabriel’s trumpet), as Johnson notes in his James Weldon Johnson’s God’s Trombones: Seven preface, is a “powerful brass instrument…the only Negro Sermons in Verse (1927), his four-panel series wind instrument possessing a complete chromatic Aspects of Negro Life (1934), commissioned work scale enharmonically true, like the human voice.” for , and a host of other illustrations Thus, an integral instrument of jazz becomes the done for a variety of journals and magazines in the preacher, the vehicle for God’s admonitions and 1920s and 1930s. Kirschke effectively shows the praise. His seven poems, based on standard topics for layers of influence that make up the artist’s voice and sermons (creation, prodigality, death, sin, sacrifice, his interactions/collaborations with other Harlem etc.), are easily readable for students and would be Renaissance figures, including Langston Hughes material for discussions about musicality in poems, and Zora Neale Hurston. She also addresses the sermon rhetoric, and the irony behind utilizing jazz controversy surrounding primitivism and where motifs for such moralizing. This text would help Douglas stood on this, as well as the issue of white place jazz in a broader social context. Furthermore, patronage and its role in the development of art in this each poem is accompanied by an illustration by time period. Aaron Douglas, drawn specifically for this text. These This is a great start for teachers new to the Harlem illustrations show the influence of African art and Renaissance, particularly for those who wish to teach cubism, as well as demonstrate Douglas’s ability with literature and the visual arts. (Laura Rochette) to narrate in the visual medium. His use of shade gradations, abstract representation, geometric design, Kohler, Eric. In the Groove: Vintage Record Graphics, and dynamic silhouetted figures helps to further link 1940–1960. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1999. Johnson’s poems to the modern and to the principles Intrigued by record jackets, the artistry hinting at the underlying jazz composition. This text is a great music within, the author began his own collection, example of how jazz and its tools infiltrate the written a cross-section. Kohler saw this art and its music as and illustrative arts during this time. (Laura Rochette) inseparable. He studied at Cooper Hewit under Ralph deHarak, a featured designer in the 1950s. Kirschke, Amy Helene. Aaron Douglas: Art, Race, Marketing focused on selling phonographs, and the Harlem Renaissance. Jackson: University the 1920 standard Victrola. Records were kept up Press of Mississippi, 1995. on a shelf as an add-on sale. Few stores sold only If you don’t know anything about Aaron Douglas recordings. With the coming of the Great Depression, (1899–1979), you can safely begin with this concise the record industry almost disappeared, but the book, which takes a look at the artist’s upbringing, repeal of Prohibition would reverse that. Cheap his education (formal and informal), his influences, public entertainment became available through the and the social, intellectual, and political context invention of the jukebox. Big band recordings were in of Harlem, which helped him develop his style. demand on the heels of Benny Goodman’s success at Ultimately, she argues the value of studying Douglas, Chicago’s Palomar who often goes unnoticed, because he is the Ballroom. “innovator” of the late 1920s, becoming the “father Alex Steinweiss was hired by Columbia Records of Black American art” who developed expressions to produce posters and catalogs. Here commerce of African American culture and history. Organizing becomes historically important, as discs were still her chapters chronologically, Kirschke describes his being marketed in brown paper sleeves. upbringing in Topeka, Kansas, his post-secondary Steinweiss suggested creating special covers, an education at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, idea that met management’s resistance for a time. Eventually his brief stint as a teacher at Lincoln High School a small trial number of artistic jackets were produced, in Kansas City, and his awareness of the growing which dramatically increased recording sales and a

94 created a new occupation: the record cover artist. New Negro” and “Harlem” by Alain Locke and “Jazz Kohler concentrates on two decades and eight at Home” by J. A. Rogers. It is also interesting to artists. The 1940s become a transition period, a note that this is the issue in which Countee Cullen’s holdover of the art deco style. Vertical and amoebic poem “Heritage” appears. “Enter the New Negro” is a shapes, shadowboxes, diamonds, and lowercase lengthy essay, but one that establishes the intellectual lettering dominate. In 1945, 109 million records were foundation of the Harlem Renaissance. What is of sold, more than double the 48.4 million purchased more interest here is Locke’s essay “Harlem.” This in 1940. This is the decade of Jim Flora, Robert Jones, essay is easily digestible for high school students and and Steinweiss. Flora’s passion for jazz led to a series will provoke an interesting discussion about defining of quirky, colorful jackets. the city with its people and its culture. Pair this with Columbia Set C-44 is titled “Boogie Woogie,” Langston Hughes’s “The Negro Artist and the Racial picturing a black-and-yellow piano placed beneath Mountain” from 1926 (available online at http://www. dominant black-and-white hands. The pages following hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/360.html), in which are devoted to Steinweiss, his bold type, flat colors, Hughes describes Harlem as a vibrant community and utilization of cultural and musical symbols. His alive with music and artistic energy. Students will be work was hand lettered, a technical restriction of able to tie Locke’s Harlem and Hughes’s images to typesetting. No photos of musicians are utilized until music by Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, and James P. they appear in Jones’s layouts. Johnson (see annotations). Likewise, this essay would Initially, LPs were distributed in generic paper pair nicely with Jacob Lawrence’s early paintings of envelopes, which neither promoted the music or urban life (see annotations) because of his dynamic protected the grooves. Again Steinweiss came up with use of color, composition, and realistic content. a solution: a folded cardboard covered with paper, Finally, J. A. Rogers’s “Jazz at Home” is more explicit developing more space for eye-catching graphics. Erik in its discussion of the role of jazz in the mid 1920s— Nitsche, Davis Stone Martin, Burt Gioldblatt, and Reid from his viewpoint. He delivers an interesting history Miles represent 1950s design, along with anonymous and definition of jazz that would be material for artists who chose not to sign their work or who were discussion; to compare his characterizations of jazz to employed as part of a corporation’s nameless pool. the music itself, “” by Langston Hughes, and Biographies address influences and shifting elements to paintings by Aaron Douglass or Jacob Lawrence of design demand. would make an interesting multidisciplinary exercise An overview of a highly specialized art form, this with students. What is jazz? What is the rhetoric book should find an audience of any age. It brings of jazz? Is there a jazz aesthetic? Of course, these the reader thoughts relating to the marketing of questions have no single answer, but they certainly jazz, artistic inspiration, and the issue of institution can jump-start a useful discussion. These works also oversight. What is it about packaging that attracts the serve to highlight the debates and issues within the buyer? Are jazz covers different from classical? Did African American artistic community during this time musicians ever have input into the choice of photos about how to achieve an African American identity and other details of marketing? Could they reject and race consciousness. What exactly does it mean to renderings? (Martha Jewell Meeker) be a “New Negro”? (Laura Rochette)

Locke, Alain, ed. “Harlem” and “Mecca of the New Marsalis, Wynton. ABZ: An A to Z Collection of Jazz Negro.” In Survey Graphic 6, no. 6 (March 1925). Portraits. Illustrated by Paul Rogers. Cambridge, MA: . Candlewick Press, 2005. In addition to possessing the complete contents of this Opening this book, one sees a replica of an old brown important issue, the hypermedia edition also comes record sleeve, and upon that the image of a record with facsimile pages that contain some insets of poetry appears, then introductions by both artist and the and illustrations that the digital content does not. author. It is a tale of friends, one sitting at the ballet, This would give students a taste of what the journal daydreaming. “Can I think of a jazz musician for may have looked like at the time of its publication. every letter of the alphabet?” He begins to see images These aesthetics aside, the content provides a variety of musicians and has a sense of their sound. Later Paul of angles on the intellectual and artistic happenings Rogers phones Wynton Marsalis suggesting they work in Harlem at the time. This hypermedia edition together on a book. He waits, they talk again. Finally, also comes with useful background information, Rogers begins painting and mails the completed including why this issue is significant. What may be portfolio to Marsalis. of particular interest to history, English, or American This is the inspiration Marsalis needed as he studies teachers are the following essays: “Enter the ponders his approach. The descriptions will be poems;

95 he loves to play with words. On the road he reads of modern musicians: their travel, their friends, their Yeats to his photographer and manager. During the families, their fans. A contrast, all images are black long hours of traveling from gig to gig his thoughts and white, could be developed between symbolic take shape. Each of the poems will use a unique representation and personalities found through a poetic form, with emphasis on words and phrases that camera, a moment in time. (Martha Jewell Meeker) sum up a particular musician’s essence. As Marsalis finishes each poem, he recites it for his captive critics, Nesbett, Peter T., and Michelle DuBois, eds. Over and the response, refining suggestions. Marsalis the Line: The Art and Life of Jacob Lawrence. Seattle: substitutes, pushes words around. There are further University of Washington Press, 2000. recitations and finally approval: “It was cool man, A comprehensive collection of essays with beautiful but it was cool before.” Intermittently Rogers begins color plates, Over the Line offers a useful survey on to receive faxes from all over the world, and page by one of the more popular African American artists page, the leaves come together. of the twentieth century. In their introduction, The artwork contains strong images on bold Nesbett and DuBois voice their intention to present background colors: symbolism, song titles, artifacts, a “textured” overview of Lawrence’s work to and a sense of place along with the singer or demonstrate a “multifaceted and complex career.” musician’s name. Each posterlike portrait fills an Indeed the essays do just that. From Leslie King- entire page opposite the poem. A is pictured with Hammond’s assessment of Lawrence’s working class a trumpet, and below is a shape poem, an A, built context to Richard Powell’s argument that Lawrence out of adjectives, each one beginning with “a”, an was a “harmonizer of chaos,” the essays enlighten and amazingly funny tribute to Louis Armstrong. are informative for English, art, and history teachers The Empire State Building, the Cotton Club, who wish to bring Lawrence into the classroom. For klieg lights, mutes and microphones, a portable teachers, it is easy to choose which essays you wish phonograph, the musician’s case an upright piano, to focus on depending on which era of Lawrence’s a chair, a stool are deftly placed next to individual work you wish to discuss with your students. All of letters. Drummer Art Blakey’s pages fold out in his major series (Migration, Toussaint L’Ouverture, imitation of a score, sounds replacing notes. Another Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, The Builders) three-page spread is devoted to Sidney Becket, as in S; are discussed and analyzed. The connection between next comes Thelonious Monk, just four words. In one Lawrence and jazz is general, but more than one poem Marsalis uses the art to structure his poem. scholar acknowledges the influence of the intellectual, e u b i e b l a k e appears on the individual black keys artistic, and political climate of the 1930s; King- of a piano, and an adjective is printed on each of the Hammond asserts that Lawrence “incorporated the ten fingers resting on the ivories. aural elements of rhythms, breaks, and changes This parade of letters continues, Marsalis’s into the visual polyphony of Harlem’s environment, words reflecting the nuances of jazz personalities. people and culture.” Not technically of the Harlem An appendix explains the structural characteristics Renaissance, Lawrence is worth considering in of each poem. Paul Schaap has written concise conjunction with the era in that he benefits from the biographical entries for each musician, and a strip art programs and workshops established by the artists of artwork becomes a riff at the bottom of these and patrons of the decade before. Likewise, Harlem is pages. The book ends with notes on Marsalis, Rogers, still a vibrant and alive community during the 1930s, and Schapp. Located inside the back cover is a and Lawrence’s early work demonstrates this. Most discography; the back cover indexes the musicians, importantly, these scholars remind us that Lawrence using a single characteristic to describe each one. was indeed part of the modernist era, making his own Sophisticated, this might be fun to read to younger contributions and challenging form and content to children, but it would take an older student to analyze propel art forward. vocabulary and the history presented. How did the Whether you are teaching how paintings tell a artists decide which visuals to employ? What is the story, or how an artist’s style can incorporate jazz, nature of the collaboration between the artist and or how themes in a painting connect to themes in author? In what ways do the drawings compare to literature, or how painting can narrate history (or photographs of these jazz greats? Does the language any combination of the four), Lawrence’s work is present a correct image of their personality? Are there provocative and possesses something for all ages and persons who should have been included? grade levels. (Laura Rochette) Sweet Swing Blues on the Road is a journal of Marsalis on the road, along with some masterful Powell, Robert J. The Life and Art of William H. photographs that truly capture the hours and days Johnson. Wilton, CT: Reading and O’Reilly, 1991.

96 William H. Johnson became one of the most of jazz on visual art. Anyone looking for a well- important African American artists and painters of the written account of jazz in New York would find this twentieth century, but his life was one of misfortune, book to be a good resource, and there are some lost love, and tragedy. After the death of his wife, he photographs of jazz musicians, art, and the city itself battled mental illness and spent the last twenty-three that might also be useful. I was looking specifically years of his life in an institution, dying in relative for connections between jazz and visual art, and in obscurity in 1970. Having no heir, a New York court that context there were a couple of specific pieces ordered all of his work in storage be destroyed (more of information I found to be particularly interesting, than a thousand pieces); but with the help of his friends so rather than summarize the entirety of the chapters and the Harmon Foundation, his legacy was saved. I read, I want to focus a bit more narrowly in order Strongly influenced by the changing role of the to link my comments to the larger question of a jazz African American in the early part of the century, aesthetic in modern art. Johnson saw himself as the “symbol of the New Negro First, the text deals with the influence of Carl Art Movement.” His large body of work (more than Van Vechten, the “self-appointed guide to Harlem’s thirteen hundred pieces) reflected the unobserved nightlife, host to New York’s first interracial social condition of the black American experience. In his gatherings, and author of several best-selling New 1940 series, he painted his memories of life in the York novels,” (134) including Nigger Heaven, which rural South and the Great Migration north titled The portrays the destruction of a young middle class black Broke Down Series. Laden with symbolism, he tells couple by Harlem’s “irresistible and sordid street the story of the “broken down condition” of the life of mobsters, pimps, prostitutes, bootleggers, and black family. Energized by the support of the Harlem entertainers” (137). Renaissance movement and the jazz music of New Van Vechten “worked to erase the color line York City, Johnson created a vibrant series of five that had barred black writers and artists from full progressively abstract paintings called Jitterbugs I–V. participation in New York cultural life,” and his novels Here he explores the visual expression of musical and articles in Vanity Fair brought Harlem and jazz themes such as call-and-response, spirituals, and to his readers. However, Van Vechten also “harbored work songs rooted in African heritage—themes residual and unexamined racial and class prejudices” which influence his art for the rest of his life. They (136). His fascination with jazz and blues rested in were considered moving works of cubism with very part on his belief that they sprang from “primitive, daring use of color and geometric form in a flat, two- primordial” roots. “Towards cultivated, middle-class dimensional style. Other series covered emotionally African Americans, Van Vechten seemed free of charged events such as the race riots in the summer of racial prejudice; but towards working-class African 1943 and the degradation blacks faced in the armed Americans, he harbored an image of blacks as exotic forces (racism and desegregation) during World War primitives” (136). We have seen this view clearly in, II. William H. Johnson captured the soul of a people for example, film clips of the dancers at the Cotton Club. and chronicled their story. His comprehensive body Second, the text mentions a group exhibition of work demonstrates how the context of the 1920s titled Homage to Jazz sponsored by Samuel Kootz, through the 1940s affected the themes and aesthetic an art dealer and patron of abstract expressionists. development of African American art. The show featured work from a number of abstract Included in this biography is a range of music painters including Jackson Pollock, Adolph Gottlieb, dating from each period that includes: “The as well as three pieces by Romare Bearden, whose Daintiness Rag” by James P. Johnson, “Golliwog’s work “evoked the blues, bebop, and the second Cakewalk” by Daniel Smith Bassoon, “Painful Hearted Great Migration” (318). Bearden wrote, “Jazz has Man” by Blind Boy Fuller, and more. (Judy Gregorc) shown me the ways of achieving artistic structures that are personal to me; but it also provides me Scott, William B., and Peter M. Rutkoff. “Rhapsody continuing finger-snapping, head-shaking enjoyment” in Black: New York Modern in Harlem”; “New York (318). Bearden was interested, for instance, in the Blues: The Bebop Revolution”; and “Homage to the “disharmony” of colors. Bearden’s connection to jazz Spanish Republic: Abstract Expressionism and the is transparent, and Gottlieb’s Black and Tan Fantasy, New York Avant-Garde.” Chapters 5, 9, and 10 in which tied abstract expressionism to Duke Ellington, New York Modern: The Arts and the City. Baltimore: also makes the connection clear, but it is interesting Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999. to see that Kootz included the work of Pollock in this This book deals with the entirety of the modern art exhibition and that this text clearly connects Pollock scene in New York, but I looked only at the three to jazz: “Pollock found bebop’s speed and jarring chapters that deal with jazz and the influence harmony an apt analogue to his own work” (288).

97 The Kootz exhibit ties bebop, specifically, to abstract Fuller, , Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe expressionism. (Ellen Rennard) Jones. The book does offer a biased view in favor of Wolff, Lion, and ; other sources Wolff, Francis. The Blue Note Years: The Jazz might offer a more balanced perspective, but the Photography of Francis Wolff. New York: Rizzoli, 1995. photographs do speak for themselves to a great extent. This book of beautifully printed black-and-white Blue Note’s initial statement of purpose provides documentary photographs of jazz musicians who an interesting definition of jazz, and reads as follows: recorded for the Blue Note label between 1939 Blue Note Records are designed and 1966 (when the label was sold to Liberty simply to serve the uncompromising Records), is intended for anyone interested in jazz, expressions of hot jazz or swing, in photography, and the history of jazz. Francis Wolff, general. Any particular style of playing the partner and friend of Alfred Lion, Blue Note’s which represents an authentic way of founder, photographed almost every Blue Note musical feeling is genuine expression. session. According to Herbie Hancock, who wrote the By virtue of its significance in place, foreword, Wolff “was a part of the very inspirational time and circumstance, it possesses environment” (7). These relaxed, intimate (never its own tradition, artistic standards posed) photographs came to be a distinctive element and audience that keep it alive. Hot of hundreds of album covers and helped to define the jazz, therefore, is expression and Blue Note gestalt. According to jazz musician Bobby communication, a musical and social Hutcherson, Alfred and Frank “were more like jazz manifestation, and Blue Note Records musicians than record executives. They loved to hang are concerned with identifying its out and have a great time. They loved the music and impulse, not its sensational and had a real feel for it” (98). This passion for jazz comes commercial adornments. (16) across in the photographs. Like jazz, these images are These photographs serve that end. (Ellen Rennard) “challenging compositions, improvisations that come from and speak to both the heart and mind. [They Zwerin, Mike. Swing under the Nazis: Jazz as a Metaphor have] a rhythmic swing that can be felt, regardless for Freedom. New York: Cooper Square, 2000. of [their] complexity” (23). The musicians are The cover of Mike Zwerin’s book is the focus here photographed from a variety of angles and distances; (image available for viewing at www.usmbooks.com/ the instrument may be the focal point or not visible; nazi_posters.html ). Its caption reads “Degenerate the lighting is always dramatic without seeming Music: A Reckoning by Privy Counselor Dr. H. S. artificial; the energy, intense. Ziegler” (translated). It features a caricature of a black The Blue Note recordings always included monkey playing a saxophone, wearing a top hat, planning sessions and rehearsals, and Wolff’s gloves, and tuxedo tails. His lapel features a flower photographs document and even emphasize this part with a Jewish star. Jazz music is tied in the viewer’s of the process as well as the actual recording. From mind with Jews and blacks, and labeled degenerate. these photos you get a real sense of artists at work, This obnoxious Nazi poster of jazz is significant studying sheet music, making notes with pencils. You for many reasons, some of which become clearer in see pictures of musicians taking a break, sitting on the text of the book. It is meant, of course, for the stools, smoking, talking. You also see the trappings of German public, to warn them of the danger of what the recording studio: microphones, headsets, a wall of was called degenerate art. It insults both African acoustical tile. You even see Milt Hinton with a Canon Americans and Jews at the same time. Its meaning is camera (instead of his bass). In short, you get a sense clear within seconds. But I think it can be studied as of what these jazz recording sessions really looked a strong statement of propaganda, a reaffirmation of like. In addition to photographs, the book contains the importance of jazz, which the Nazis felt had to some text, including a brief history of the Blue Note be suppressed. Jazz was banned in the early 1930s in label and comments about significant recording Nazi Germany, and “degenerate” was used alternately sessions. For example, when Lion wanted to get the with Bolshevik or Jewish. The Nazis tolerated jazz that idea of a very real, bluesy after-hours performances, could be seen as European, or non-Jewish or black he set recording sessions to start at 4:30 a.m. Sidney music. Clearly it was seen a low form of art, not unlike Bechet’s “Summertime” was made in this manner. In comments made in the United States in the 1920s. addition, for someone trying to sort out the best jazz Jazz, however, survived through the war, recordings, the text is helpful in that it contextualizes sometimes tolerated under different names, sometimes and comments on particular recording sessions, such in prison camp bands, sometimes in performances as Coltrane’s “Blue Train” with Lee Morgan, Curtis for German officers. There was certainly a double

98 standard, as is found in other totalitarian regimes, for of jazz music that shaped and strengthen communities instance the Soviet Union’s repression and tolerance in the American culture. The inspiration of this text of jazz. People took risks for their music, but they also tweaks the interest of young minds when constructing made compromises to survive. What do we make of ideas and beliefs on how African Americans inspired those who played for the Nazis—is it different than a and contributed to these various jazz art forms that taxi driver who has to drive them? Should we expect have not only impacted America, but the entire world. more or less from an artist? Lessons from this book would be designed for This piece should certainly be reserved for older primary and middle school audiences. This book high school students, perhaps studying history, ethics, would be very beneficial for children visualizing or propaganda. It will certainly provoke discussion through art and poetic text, how jazz emerged and of the role of art and the media and of the threat and transformed from generation to generation. Through power of jazz. (Rob Matlock) the reading of the text, students can conceptualize the meaning of rhythm by its feel of short and Children’s Books (annotated) long durations of sounds in each poetic phrase. In the course of this lesson, this book will not only Gollub, Matthew. The Jazz Fly. Santa Rosa, CA: incorporate the history of jazz emerging and fusing Tortuga, 2000. into other genres of music, but it will reconstruct new Matthew Gollub, along with the illustrator, Karen ways on how to define rhythm. (Larissa Young) Hanke ,creates a storybook that is centered on jazz. Both create a humorous and exciting story of a fly that Isadora, Rachel. Ben’s Trumpet. New York: becomes lost in a huge city and asks other animated Greenwillow Books, 1979. characters—such as the frog, pig, etc.—which way The children’s book Ben’s Trumpet tells the story of to town. Through conversations, the fly begins to a little boy who wants to become a trumpet player, use jazz lingo with the other animated characters. but like so many children he only has an imaginary Through scatting, call-and-response, and the playing instrument to play. One of the musicians in a of various musical instruments, the animated neighborhood nightclub discovers his dream and in characters are able to converse with one another the end gives Ben music lessons. and create a beautiful jazz composition. This book Although the book has no color, each page still is a great learning tool to introduce many aspects of conveys a sense of mood through its manipulation jazz such as terminologies, elements, and musical of value, abstract space, perspective, contrast, and instrument family characteristics. line. In the beginning, Ben is sitting on his fire escape Lessons from this book would be designed for listening to music coming from the Zig Zag Jazz Club. primary and intermediate grade levels. This lesson Isadora shows us a gray world devoid of interest and would be helpful in teaching about instrument detail except for the flashy sign of the club (which families. Also, it will be a useful guide to assist emphasizes the excitement of jazz). When we enter students in the understanding of how to identify the club, we encounter many contrasting values and elements in jazz music. Furthermore, the illustrations details. For Ben, it’s the place to be. Next, we are from this book can help students get a vivid picture of introduced to the musicians. The illustrative style is what a jazz scene may look like when an audience is meant to capture the essence of the emotion and being entertained. (Larissa Young) sound of each performer: the piano player has a stark black-and-white keyboard running through him; the Igus, Toyomi. I See the Rhythm. San Francisco: sax player has a gritty background to match the sound Children’s Book Press, 1998. of the reed work while a light focuses on the emotion In the book entitled I See the Rhythm, the author in his face; the brass bell of the trombone is the focus; (Toyomi Igus) and illustrator (Michelle Wood) take and the most exciting depiction is of the drummer. their young audience on not only a musical journey Isadora successfully illustrates the vibration and but a visual journey through the life span of jazz. rhythm pulsing out of the drum set with action lines It conveys how jazz transformed, transitioned, and bouncing out into the air. You feel it! You hear it! The fused into various forms of expressions from the trumpeter’s page gives a good example of how music original complex drumbeats and chants of African could be represented with just a line. After spending nations to the birth of spirituals, work songs, blues, time in the Zig Zag, Isadora shows how Ben’s world ragtime, swing, bebop, gospel, rhythm and blues, has changed by bending the visual perspective and rock, funk, current rap, and hip hop. The elements of abstract space through which he sees. New details this captivating text include art, poetic text, musical emerge along with new possibilities as he transcends style descriptions, and a time line of historical events his environment through the music. As the story

99 progresses, patterns represent the rising influence into the board in full detail. Next, he tints in areas the music has on Ben, with each one growing more with transparent dyes and finishes with acrylic paint. complex and beautiful with his passion. Throughout Through color, movement, and fantasy, Pinkney the book, the viewer feels as though they are in a captures the joy of jazz. swirling, energetic world of visual sound. All of the The book also suggests a selection of music devices used by Isadora are used by jazz musicians to accompany the story: Ella Fitzgerald Sings Cole and composers when they want to create the same Porter’s Songbook (Verve), Ella Fitzgerald Sings George emotions with sound. and ’s Songbook (Verve), Ella in Berlin Using the illustration work of this book as a visual (Verve), Ella and Louis (Verve). (Judy Gregorc) art example of how jazz music, its environment, and its musicians can be portrayed, we can discuss a Taylor, Debbie A. Sweet Music in Harlem. Illustrated number of parallel theories between art and music, by Frank Morrison. New York: Lee and Low Books, 2004. including use of negative and positive space, rhythm, C. J. is sent on a mission to find his uncle Click’s pattern, bending of forms, pointillism, forward or beret, which has been forgotten somewhere. backward movement, and assemblages of different Zigzagging about the streets of Harlem he passes elements. The fashions and history of jazz within its through his uncle’s haunts: the barbershop, a diner, social context would be areas of further discussion and the jazz club where Click plays the trumpet. C. J. and research. (Judy Gregorc) locates Uncle Click’s belongings, just not the favorite signature hat. Pinkney, Andrea Davis, and Brian Pinkney. Ella Along the way he relates to people that Uncle Fitzgerald: The Tale of a Vocal Virtuosa. New York: Click needs his beret because he is going to appear Jump at the Sun (Hyperion Books for Children), 2005. in a photograph for Highnote Magazine. Magically, This is the loosely based children’s story of Ella many of Harlem’s musicians head toward the photo Fitzgerald’s life as told by Scat Cat Monroe, a kitty shoot. A shared life and a strong sense of camaraderie dressed in a colorful zoot suit and spats. He narrates draw these jazz greats together and in the hubbub are the story as though it were a record with four tracks all arranged on the steps of a brownstone. The camera instead of chapters, which is very befitting of story. captures a very special split-second in a very special “Track 1: Ella’s Beginnings” tells how as a child place—an unbelievable spur-of-the-moment reunion she wanted to be a dancer and entered a contest at filled with laughter, greetings, and smiles. the Apollo Theater. She was so scared she couldn’t Based on Al Kane’s famous photograph that dance so she sang and won! On “Track 2: Jammin’ appeared in Esquire in 1958, this children’s story at Yale,” Ella embarks on her career with the Chick recreates a historical fact. Kane had expected only Webb Orchestra and swings the band at the Harlem a few musicians to show, but fifty-seven jazzmen, Opera House. “Track 3: Stompin’ at the Savoy” tells singers, assorted children, and neighbors posed for the about some of the dances and the “battle of the legendary picture. That photo appears at the end of bands” competitions. “Track 4: Carnegie Hall Scat” the book, with all of the musicians being identified. finds Ella singing her hit song “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” and This book is appropriate for younger readers. Its playing with Dizzy Gillespie at Carnegie Hall (where vibrancy and plot, the sense of a larger family, are to she’s called the “Queen of Scat”). be enjoyed by anyone loving art and language. The story is well suited for young audiences, but Of special note are illustrator Frank Morrison’s the illustration work of Brian Pinkney is of particular uniquely stylized acrylics. His figures stretch out interest. Each page is colorful, inventive, and across the pages, capturing both the spirit and color unusually textured (many of the characteristics found of this improvisational happening in Harlem. Insights in jazz). Pinkney uses the cool color palette of the art into Morrison’s creative thought and his other works deco movement, which corresponds with the time are located at (www.morrisongraphics.com) where period and emphasizes the mood of “being cool.” His a series of paintings, the Urban Jazz Collection, are character Scat Cat (the ultimate in “coolness”) uses reproduced. These come alive, burst with rhythmic the historic vernacular of jazz musicians and gives movement. the reader a glimpse of how the style of the music How do the author and illustrator capture time affected both fashion and language. His portrayal of and place? In what ways are the words chosen by the “swinging the band” in Track 2 is really clever and writer a mirror of the language of jazz music? Is there fun. The viewer really gets the feeling of swinging. In a recordable, set pattern? In what ways will children his notes, Pinkney discusses the process of how he react to this tale of “some old musicians”? creates his art: starting with a black scratchboard and Another book of equal merit would be William a white background, he scratches the composition Miller’s Rent Party Jazz, illustrated by Charlotte Riley-

100 Webb. This is the New Orleans of the 1930s, where a becomes noticed and recognized as a talent by Jack family faces dire financial straits. Lively acrylics show Bunny. The family of the little owl, who declares jazz musicians and partygoers coming to the aid of himself Owl Jolson, heard his great performance on young Sonny. (Martha Jewell Meeker) the radio. Because of the little owl’s recognition, the owl family was able to value his singing talent and Films (annotated) accepted him back into the family. Lessons from this cartoon would be designed The Last of the Blue Devils. Directed by Bruce Ricker. for primary and intermediate grade levels, focusing Rhapsody Films, 1979. on the history of how jazz was not considered a The Last of the Blue Devils is an informative but fun respected form of music. Prior to the watching of the ninety-minute positive movie featuring a reunion of cartoon, the students will learn how middle and upper such Kansas City jazz stars as Count Basie, Big Joe classes rejected this art form and did not want their Turner, Jay McShann, and others, filmed in 1979. children to listen to or learn how to play it due to their In the 1930s Kansas City had more than a hundred opinions of jazz being only for lower class society. clubs, and the Blue Devils were the rage, led by During this discussion, we will compare the history of Bennie Moten and later Count Basie. The film features jazz music with rap of today. Questions will be raised the above (except Molten, who died in 1935) playing to determine if jazz was like the rap of today. Will rap together in a reunion, with sixteen classic jazz and ever be recognized as a respected art form? Why or blues songs. Also included are early film clips of why not? (Larissa Young) Count Basie, scenes from Kansas City then and now, as well as interviews with club owners, still photos, Mystery in Swing. Directed by Arthur Dreifuss. and commentary from the musicians. The film shows VideoYesteryear, 1940. how much fun jazz players had, as they play and Mystery in Swing is a black-and-white movie (66 interact with one another, and some clips of dancing minutes) starring Monte Hawley, Marguerite Whitten, are shown. The film could be used as a whole or in and swing jazz musicians the Four Toppers with part to familiarize students with Kansas City jazz, and CeePee Johnson and his orchestra. It’s a “whodunit the lifestyle that went with the music. Students could comedy murder mystery” with rhythm and blues compare these actual jazz players with the way they numbers and swing sounds, and it features an all- tend to be portrayed in fictional accounts. Students black cast. Prince Ellis is a debonair and seductive may note that all players here are black, and the only trumpet player who has made a number of enemies. club owner interviewed is white. They may contrast Who has done him in? Maxine, his ex-girlfriend and the music as it is played with the scenes typically used singer for the band? His newest girlfriend, sweet in fiction with such songs. The film could be shown in young May? Her father, who is angry at Prince for its entirety to any age, but is directed toward a young seducing May? Or Prince’s assistant, who has a secret teen or an adult audience. (Rob Matlock) motive? The police captain and his bumbling sergeant are completely baffled when the prime suspect herself I Love to Singa. Directed by Tex Avery. Warner is killed. It takes a reporter to solve the case by setting Brothers, 1956. a trap with (what else?) all suspects in a room at The cartoon entitled I Love to Singa by Charles Jones midnight during a thunderstorm. and Virgil Ross is a comical story that expresses how The movie, while mildly humorous and no jazz music was not considered of value in its earliest different from many other murder mysteries of the days by middle and upper class Americans. The time, does present the viewers with some topics for writers convey this attitude by creating an animation discussion. It gives us a portrait of a black middle of an owl family that represents middle and upper class, shows styles of dress and dance in swing class society who rejects the art form of jazz. At dance, and features some scat singing. The victim is the beginning of the story, Professor Owl, who is a jazz trumpet player, but clearly a double crosser, the music teacher, and his wife are waiting for the and who has had relationships with four women. The owl babies to hatch from their eggs. When they all well-meaning father arranges music for the band but hatched all of their musically talented babies were is trying to protect his daughter from jazz players. accepted except one because he wanted to sing jazz Women are portrayed as only jazz singers, not playing instead of classical music. Because of the little owl’s instruments and generally not in a positive light. passion to sing jazz music only, he was kicked out of A reference is made to one women who commits the house by his unpleased father, leading him to the suicide because her jazz lover (Prince) leaves her. Jack Bunny Amateur Radio Show. When he performs Most of the main actors are light skinned, with clown for the Jack Bunny Radio Show, his jazz singing or servant roles going to darker skinned actors, though

101 not all. The movie was marketed to a black audience, Irving. L & S Video Enterprises, 1995. with movie posters advertising a “100 percent all Romare Bearden Visual Jazz is a documentary about star colored cast.” No social or segregation issues are the art and life of Romare Bearden. Relying on his acknowledged. Blacks play roles as intelligent reporters experience as an African American and his love of or editors as well as more stereotyped clown roles. music, Bearden created a large body of work that Not all jazz musicians are portrayed negatively, for he termed “visual jazz.” His paintings and collages instance the previously mentioned Four Toppers and were bold, brilliant compositions in which he aimed CeePee Johnson. Viewers may consider if the movie to “redefine the image of man” through the African succeeds for its time in trying to be entertaining to American experience. They were not imaginings but a black audience without stereotyping itself. It may interpretations of his environment and memories. not be appropriate for younger audiences, with brief Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1911, references to suicide, drinking, and philandering. (Rob Matlock) he moved to New York in the 1920s. At this time, New York was alive with the energy of the the New Orleans. Directed by Arthur Lubin. Majestic “Negro movement,” which later became the Harlem Productions, 1947. Renaissance, and it is here that Bearden finds his In the famous film entitledNew Orleans, featuring inspiration and creative voice. Early in his career, Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday, the story line he meets many of the jazz world’s greatest artists is centered around a ghetto of New Orleans called including Duke Ellington and Billie Holiday. He even Storyville and presents jazz as a something new, considered becoming a jazz composer. Eventually, he exciting, but mysterious and taboo for an upscale receives a bachelor’s degree in math and develops an society. During the evolving of jazz music, the interest in geometrical forms. reputation of this genre of sound was thought of Drawing on the similar properties of art as a bizarre form of jungle music not holding the theory and jazz, he incorporated auditory and same class as the popular music of that decade, musical associations into visual art, creating what he such as classical. Therefore, many musicians began termed “sound imagery.” Jazz music was all around to withhold their interest, not allowing the general him, and as he listened he began to deconstruct it public to see how much they value this new art form. through the elements and principles of art. Both are In the beginning of the film, Louis Armstrong and structured compositions that share a background, Billie Holiday present fabulous jazz performances, middle ground, and foreground, giving them a feeling sparking their white counterparts’ interest and of depth or layers. Rhythm and movement direct the intrigue in this mysterious music. Further along the flow and contribute to the mood, which helps the film, the interest in this genre escalates to the point artist guide the viewer/listener to the important focal where white musicians bring the style to the upper points of the piece. If the artist is successful, they can class, transforming it from a low class style of music actually trigger an auditory experience (you can hear to swing and big band, which became respectable what you see). Like the jazz composer, his art dances among white audiences. around the image theme, letting the viewer complete Lessons from this film would be designed for some part of it in an effort to expand their conception middle and high school audiences. This lesson will be of the subject. The work may not be all or it may be a focal point of African American history in the study even more than what the artist intended; in this way, of jazz and how race played a majored factor in the the art continues to grow with time and takes on a life formation of jazz music. Students will be comparing of its own. Most importantly, the modern art and jazz the roles of African Americans and white Americans movements shared a unifying philosophy of expressive in the film when discussing stereotypes of races and freedom, of escaping the constraints of traditional art gender. Questions will be presented for students ideologies. The utilitarian aspect was cast off at great to think about when discussing race and gender. expense (critical/economic) and “art for art’s sake” Questions will be as follows: What roles did you see become the focus. African Americans played in the New Orleans film? The video is narrated by Wynton Marsalis, who Describe the masculine and feminine roles of each guides the viewer through the parallels between jazz performer, or would you consider this as a masculine and the art of Romare Bearden. Historic accounts or feminine role? This discussion will be a leading help viewers understand the artist’s background. discussion to concerns about race and gender roles of Bearden discusses his process, theories, and reasons film industry roles of today. (Larissa Young) for making art, which includes numerous examples of his paintings, collages, prints, and drawings. We also get a rare glimpse of the artist at work in his studio. Romare Bearden Visual Jazz. Directed by David Supporting the documentary are interviews with many

102 of his contemporaries, like master printmaker Robert cameraman Herbert Matter shot footage of both local Blackburn, who recalls collaborating with Bearden on dance legends and ordinary people at the Savoy many print series. Playwright Barrie Stavis sheds light Ballroom, the Palladium, P.S. 28, and other locations. on the drama and expressiveness of Bearden’s work. Chapter 1, the first tape, provides views of ragtime Historic jazz performances, including Billie Holiday, including the Strut, Cakewalk, and breaks, showcasing help set the mood and context of his world. specific steps in the cakewalk. Jazztime follows As an educational resource, this documentary with the Charleston and dances from the 1930s: the provides insight into the artist’s creative process, the Boogie-woogie, Shimmy, Susie-Q, Snake Hips, Black social and political setting of the Harlem Renaissance, Bottom, and Fish Tail. and the way art, music and social development Short on introductions, these black-and-white intertwine. (Judy Gregorc) images focus on movement. Even the sound of accompanying music has been dubbed as Shadows. Directed by John Cassavetes. Lion background; except for one short take musicians are International, 1959. absent. Camera work may seem primitive but it is very This groundbreaking film directed by John Cassavetes, effective, giving the flavor of a night out at a social originally released in 1959, is often thought of as gathering in another era. the beginning of the independent film movement. The spotlight focuses on a single performer, then The story revolves around an interracial romance the shadow that accentuates his movement. There between Tony, who is white, and Lelia, a light-skinned is further interplay between human and silhouette. black woman living in New York City with her two Clapping hands project from screen left as the brothers. When Tony meets Lelia’s brother Hugh, a dancing figure almost disappears in the blackness of talented, dark-skinned jazz singer struggling to find the screen. Another clip shows a body moving against work, and discovers the truth about Lelia’s racial white walls and flooring, the seam connecting them is heritage, the romantic relationship between Tony visibly erased. To the beat of cymbals and drums the and Lelia falls apart. Shot on location in Manhattan lens concentrates on legwork. The image flips and the with a cast and crew made up primarily of amateurs, dancer appears to step up the side wall. Arms move Cassavetes’ Shadows might work for older high school gracefully, birdlike scissors cutting the whiteness. students if they have enough context to make sense Full body, to face, to feet,and back. Hands and of its innovative nature—context that might include shoulders. Matter captures the faces of the “general information about film history, jazz, New York life, public” concentrating, joyful, communicating. and racial constructions. It might also help for them to Tape 2 includes cuts of some of Savoy champions, have another, more accessible, work (film or literature) a line routine, Charleston solo, and the Lindy Hop as a point of comparison—either one that deals with challenge. Along with Leon James and Al Minns, dance the same topic (an interracial relationship) or which fans show off fast turns, splits, somersaults, and jumps. is filmed in the same improvisational style. This film This choreography is reminiscent of ice dancing. might also be a good point of departure for students One, two, three over-coated young men with to create their own films based on improvisation, fedoras move onto the floor, becoming a trio in what perhaps with jazz sound tracks. might appear a “gansta” routine, coats swinging. Stop. The music, by Charles Mingus, weaves brilliantly P.S. 28 and the Mambo challenge, with its crowded with the dialogue, action, and emotional content of floor, dancing pairs vie to show their moves. Then, the film; it serves almost as the voice of a narrator. onto the Catham Gardens Avant Garde Ball, with a The improvisational nature of the film’s construction, haunting sax solo, drums, and what might pass for an combined with the film’s visual style (for instance, electronic piano sound. This is chapter 3, the third tape. the lighting looks natural) and the lack of any sort of Because the music actually is submerged it is definite resolution, give it a kind of edgy realism. Just easy to lose. Replaying the tapes without viewing as jazz audiences must participate as listeners, so too allows the instrumental language, jazz talk, to surface. this film demands a full response from its viewers. Connected to the mood, notes, and rhythm the human (Ellen Rennard) body becomes the visible incarnation of vibes; it too is played. Syncopated, improvisational, fast, slow, The Spirit Moves: A History of Black Social Dance on crescendo. Smooth, sinewy. Film. Directed by Mura Dehn. Tango Catalogue, 1991. A graphic distillation of vernacular dance from Three remarkable films were the dream and creation the 1920s through the 1950s, these films should be of Mura Dehn, a Russian émigré and professional used in the classroom first as an early example of dancer who began her “fieldwork” about 1932 ethnographic documentation. They open the window to in Harlem. Over the next forty years Dean and seldom-seen entertainment and social dancing within

103 the African American community, not a commercial few familiar tunes to connect with. production but rather a home movie. They will also There are four jazz vocal songs, including “It provide students with comparative material relating to Don’t Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got that Swing” from contemporary popular dance and its origins. 1932, featuring the vocal talents of Ivie Anderson, Dehn herself is featured in the documentary In a while provides his renditions of “Do Jazz Way: A Portrait of Mura Dehn, giving a sense of Nothing Till You Hear from Me” and “Don’t Get the person who became a force with her Traditional Around Much Anymore” from 1947. Yvonne Lanauze Jazz Dance Company, a group of black entertainers gives the latest performance recorded her in the 1960 working from 1932 to 1973. (Martha Jewell Meeker) version of “Sophisticated Lady.” The remaining twelve tracks are some of his most popular instrumental Music Recordings (annotated) works including “Caravan,” “Mood Indigo,” and “Take the ‘A’ Train.” Davis, Miles. “Right Off.” A Tribute to Jack Johnson. When reviewing tracks to play for students, there Columbia, 1970. AAD 47036 are a few of particular interest. “Take the ‘A’ Train” How would a jazz composition portray the visual is considered Ellington’s signature song and has a composition of a movie? What would boxer Jack legend to accompany it. Its title refers to the “A” Johnson’s life sound like in music? In 1970, Miles subway that (at the time) ran through New York City, Davis did the sound track for a documentary about from eastern Brooklyn up to Harlem. Billy Strayhorn, 1908 black boxer Jack Johnson. Johnson lived a an aspiring composer and piano player, had been flamboyant life, defeating the Great White Hope, trying to land a gig with Ellington and had written boxer Jim Jeffries, which was followed by a riot that the tune to showcase his piano skills. It worked! He left ten dead. As Davis says, Johnson lived a life was impressed and when he asked what the title was, portraying freedom and fast living. Strayhorn couldn’t remember anything except the The documentary is difficult to find, but in 1992 directions on how to get to Ellington’s office. That’s Columbia re-released the sound track that Davis said, “fit how it got its name. When listening to it with students, perfectly with that film.” Without the movie, listeners the tune is a good example of the AABA form and can can judge the sound for themselves. Davis says he be used to help students identify the structure. had a boxer’s moves in mind when he recorded this. Another interesting track is the well-known jazz Davis himself boxed. In the music we alternately hear standard “Caravan,” composed by Juan Tizol and a pensive, slow-building style, and a more aggressive Duke Ellington and with lyrics written by . and intensive anger. The CD is more rock than jazz, Most versions are instrumentals and sometimes do with the electrified guitar of John McLaughlin. not list Mills as a contributor. Considered by some to The CD cover features a T-shirted, muscular Miles be the first Latin jazz song, its exotic flavor and title Davis playing trumpet. The dramatic black-and-white evoke a vision of Arabian nights and long journeys photo suggests the athleticism of jazz playing, as a across faraway deserts. As students listen, have them singular pose reminds us of Johnson, though the CD try to identify what culture/s has/have influenced the is certainly a collaborative effort. It’s a cool image, not music without giving them the title. What do they the cool of the fifties, but a tough, fighter image. The visualize as they listen? back cover features a drawing of Johnson in a flashy “Mood Indigo” is another track that might present convertible, accompanied by well-dressed white and an opportunity for a visualization exercise. Based on black women in Paris, the kind of image that would the title, listening to the music or both, what images incense a white audience. could be used to represent the mood, and how does The CD raises questions of how music directly the color indigo blue play a part in it? Originally known interprets a mood or story, and how jazz and its images as “Dreamy Blues,” it was written by Duke Ellington, change from the 1950s into the more confrontational , and Irving Mills (the main theme was times of the 1960s to 1970s. (Rob Matlock) provided by Lorenzo Tio and was called “Mexican Blues”). Would the images be different for this title? Ellington, Duke. Duke Ellington: 16 Most Requested Does it change the mood or color of the piece? Songs. Sony, 1994. CK-57901 As an instructional resource, this CD presents An excellent introduction to Duke Ellington’s work a variety of opportunities for dialogue through as a bandleader and composer, this single-CD interpretation and visualization, which easily translate compilation of his sixteen most requested songs into themes for art, music, and literary production. includes original recordings dating from 1932 to Many of the songs are familiar even to younger 1960. Although these may not have been his greatest audiences and give students an immediate connection accomplishments, they will allow the novice listener a to the music. (Judy Gregorc)

104 rhythm to “Black and Tan,” the title of which makes Ellington, Duke. “Black and Tan Fantasy” and “Mood for useful discussion. All three pieces may be used Indigo.” Duke Ellington: The Centennial Collection in conjunction with Aaron Douglas’s use of color RCA, 2004. and light in his four-paneled series Aspects of Negro ———. “East St. Louis Toodle-Oo.” Early Ellington Life. Consider not only mood but also how the layers Complete Brunswick Recordings. Verve, 1994. of Ellington’s orchestrations might reflect Douglas’s Music, history, English, or American studies teachers geometric layers of light and color. All three pieces can use these three pieces, from the early Ellington beg the question of music’s role in helping to form an era, to discuss race and patronage (the Cotton Club), African American identity during this period (or an segregation during this era, Ellington’s innovations American one, for that matter). (Laura Rochette) and “sound,” the broader context of African American movement or migration, and whatever images Fisher, Eddie. Eddie Fisher and the Next One students conjure while listening to each piece. Posing Hundred Years. Verve, 2006. B0005955-02 questions about the titles alone is an interesting “Jazz musician, community arts promoter” reads the place to begin discussion. “Black and Tan Fantasy” headline for an obituary in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. (1927) is a loaded title, for example, referring to a Eddie Fisher died Monday July 9, 2007; he was sixty- term for the integrated club (allowing blacks and four. Never heard of him? Raised in Little Rock, taught whites in the audience) and is made a complex issue the blues by his father, in his teens he began playing by its marching 4/4 rhythm (this steady on-the-beat in Memphis for and later on the road. rhythm makes it innovative for its time, as opposed Eventually he lands a gig at a locally known venue, to stressing every other beat), dirgelike tempo, and the Blue Note, in Alorton—that is, East St. Louis. languorous improvisations of the alto sax, muted The original album cover (reduced to a minuscule trumpet, and trombone. “Fantasy” as well could be CD format) is a time wrap: white background and a material for discussion, considering Ellington’s piece smallish photo, dark mahogany edges shade to maroon in relation to the musical term, “fantasia,” or simply and a musician appears, as if from the smoke-clouded in relation to a daydream or hallucination. The stride club, barely visible. style piano offers interesting comparisons to James P. Imagine any night of the week after ten. Owner Johnson and Fats Waller. Some questions to consider: Leo Goodin, a heavy-set, fair skinned man greets the Is Ellington giving his white audience what it wants? jazz aficionados as they move through doors into the Or is he slyly poking fun of the privileged white already crowded space. Music rolls out into the night, audience’s desire to go “slumming” in Harlem? What that funky guitar sound. A man in a rumpled white exactly is the “fantasy”? How does this piece compare shirt, sleeves rolled above his elbows heads toward with Aaron Douglas’s conception of urban existence the circular bar and leans against it, lights a cigarette. illustrated in Song of the Towers (see annotation)? His thin frame begins to sway; his gaze is distant. For that matter, what does this piece of music evoke Two couples seat themselves on bentwood chairs that may “converse” with Locke’s essay “Harlem” or covered with worn vinyl cushions. The table is round, Rogers’s essay “Jazz at Home”? In turn, Ellington’s its black Formica top has a patina, finely scratched “East St. Louis Toodle-Oo” (recorded in 1926 by Duke by thousands of bottles and glasses—this is after all a Ellington and the Washingtonians) evokes departures, venerable joint, for some the only place to be seen. movement, even placelessness. Does this evoke the Stepping toward the microphone is a skinny life of a musician? Or may it tie in to the broader young man dressed in a Nehru jacket with red piping context of the Great Migration? “Toodle-oo” also and slightly flared pants, his brow hidden under a refers to a type of dance, and one might want to ask bouffant Afro. His eyes scan the room through square, whether invoking East St. Louis is political; there was rimless lenses and he announces quietly, “Beautiful a significant race riot in East St. Louis in 1917. The Things.” Voices taper and disappear. Richard tucks bluesy opening and closing measures evoke a certain a violin under his chin. Bow in hand, his arm draws amount of sadness, but moments of improvisation out a melody as James bends into the piano, hands imply nostalgia for a time gone by. This piece seems delicately touching the keys. Johnny, the drummer, less for a white audience, although its sophisticated brushes lightly, the light catching his Zen-like face. orchestration may give a different impression; Entering quietly, Fisher’s fingers manipulate the strings this piece is worth comparing with Waller’s “Ain’t through a running labyrinth of notes; they move up, Misbehavin’” (see annotation), which seems more round, up, and back again, moving toward some “vernacular.” Or is it? Both of these Ellington numbers rather bombastic plucking, creating a series of riffs. are useful in setting up the complexity of “Mood Heads nod and feet pick up the beat. Faces smile with Indigo” (1931), another dirgelike piece with similar the wah-wah, eyes close to capture the mood of a

105 gypsylike violin solo. with Fats Waller’s “African Ripples.” How do both of This set over, two teenagers furtively slip through these pieces help to illustrate (or not) Aaron Douglas’s the crowd, each carrying a stool. Logistically placing painting Life in an African Setting (see annotation)? these at the edge of the raised performance platform, Students might also be interested in knowing that they perch behind a navy velvet drape, just out of “The Charleston,” the tune that popularly identifies sight of the older listeners. Excitedly whispering, their the Roaring Twenties, comes from Johnson’s musical animation suggests a familiarity with the scene as one Runnin’ Wild, which hit the stage in 1923. (Laura Rochette) points toward a furred, feathered, and sequined grand dame. If there is a dress code, sharp dressers, campus Reeves, Dianne. Quiet After the Storm: Nine. Capitol types, hers is an extreme. Oblivious to the youngsters’ Records, 1995. stares, she nibbles on her catfish, fries, and slaw. On the thrilling jazz CD entitled Quiet after the Storm Toe tapping begins anew with “Jeremiah Pucket” by Dianne Reeves, the musical selection “Nine” and the groove virtuoso. Fisher’s guitar is talking over brings back visual memories of familiar childhood the very defined drums and bass. The musicians signal experiences when growing up in a close-knit one another and begin “Either Or.” Fisher hunches community, a time when raising children was a shared around his guitar, laying a line as the bassist looks and responsibility of everyone in the neighborhood. rapidly kicks in; sticks hit the cymbals punctuating the Dianne Reeves, in a exhilarating and sultry style, arrangement. As the people listen to a final “East St. performs this song in an uplifting approach to Louis Blues,” the house spots come up. Hands clap encourage her listeners to take a journey with her and patrons begin to gather their belongings; there are back in time. Recapturing the fun and enjoyable hugs, handshakes, and voices bidding “safe drive” and cultivating experiences of childhood friends and “see you tomorrow?” A Coca Cola clock marks the mentors in the community creates a personal moment hour as three-thirty. Lights become dimmer as folks of reflection. The song discusses how a child’s take leave of each other and slip from this precious imagination was the primary ingredient of play. A light place into the soft shadows of night and the streets. and rhythmic introduction of a piano accompaniment At times it is difficult to hear individual along with the delightful sounds of children instruments. How does remastering effect an original triggers nostalgic memories. After the introduction, track? Where are the visual continuities among jazz instrumental accompaniments enter simultaneously clubs: commonalities of décor, colors, lighting, with Reeves. The other accompanied instruments staging, layout? Placing this scene against the jazz include the acoustic guitar, bass, and percussion festival, what are some noticeable differences? instruments. This remarkable piece concludes with (Martha Jewell Meeker) Reeves’s memorable mocking highlights of children’s sayings during play times. Johnson, James P. “Carolina Shout.” Snowy Morning This material would be designed for use with high Blues. Verve, 1991. school students. During the implementation of this ———. “Harlem Strut.” Carolina Shout. Biograph, material, lyrics and jazz elements would be analyzed 1993. by the students to form and grasp an understanding ———. “Jungle Drums.” Every Tone a Testimony of the interpretation of the song. Questions would be Smithsonian Folkways, 2001. presented to the students in reference to the song’s Because Johnson was a mentor for both Fats Waller articulation of the representation of jazz. The objective and Count Basie, it is worth playing these three, up- of this material is to help students recall, identify, and tempo, short piano pieces—“Carolina Shout” (1921), analyze jazz elements. Also, consideration can be “Harlem Strut” (1921), and “Jungle Drums”—as a given to why the song is thought of as a part of the prelude to the more famous tunes listed here. Students jazz genre. (Larissa Young) would have a sense of a “rag” rhythm combined with sophisticated, improvisational movement on the Various artists. Jackson Pollock: Jazz. Museum of upper end. The titles of these three pieces also would Modern Art, 1998. evoke a discussion of terminology—“shout” and In the liner notes to this CD, which contains seventeen “strut”—as well as another discussion of perceptions recordings from Jackson Pollock’s collection of more of Africa and how elements of the exotic were being than one hundred 78s, Pepe Karmel, adjunct assistant appropriated for a variety of reasons in different art curator at the Museum of Modern Art, points out that forms. What might the place names—Carolina and many writers have noted the affinity between Pollock’s Harlem—evoke? Are these two pieces meant to be painting and jazz. According to Karmel, “Dripping, juxtaposed? Do the two together evoke the Great pouring, and throwing paint onto a horizontal canvas, Migration? “Jungle Drums” is also worth comparing Pollock infused his painting with an unprecedented

106 sense of rhythmic improvisation, creating a visual Since Waller studied with James P. Johnson, it is worth equivalent to the most innovative music of his time.” comparing the latter with a couple of Waller’s well (His important paintings were made between about known tunes, “The Joint Is Jumpin’” (1938) and “Ain’t 1940 and 1955.) What is interesting, however, is that Misbehavin’” (1929). What differences do you hear this compilation, which purports to document the in the stride piano techniques? Are rhythms different? “range of his musical tastes,” excludes bebop players Both songs also come with lyrics, in addition to fine such as Charlie Parker and Thelonius Monk. piano, and they both tell stories: one of the subculture Pollock’s painting is likened to jazz primarily of basement-type clubs, and its accompanying vice because of the improvisational nature of his methods and social mayhem, and one of the lonely lifestyle of applying paint (as well as to the finished paintings of a musician. After discussing what stories the lyrics themselves); however, the music he listened to evoke, including images of Harlem of this time period, included ballads such as Billie Holiday’s “When a compare to Jacob Lawrence’s paintings Interior Scene, Woman Loves a Man,” stride piano (Fats Waller’s This Is Harlem, Bar and Grill, and Village Quartet (also “Carolina Shout”), and ragtime rhythms (in Jelly Roll useful with Ellington’s “Black and Tan Fantasy”; see Morton’s “Beale Street Blues”). While Pollock once annotation). To continue the discussion about how claimed to like only Dixieland music, this collection African American musicians might have “played” for suggests a somewhat broader range, including the their white audiences in more than one way, compare sophisticated harmonies of Duke Ellington (“Delta Waller’s “African Ripples” (1931) with Johnson’s Serenade,” “Solitude”) and the lyricism of Coleman “Jungle Drums” (see annotation). How do the moods Hawkins. Pollock’s taste also runs to popular tunes and images evoked compare with Aaron Douglas’s such as Artie Shaw’s “It Had to Be You” and Count use of African style and motifs in his paintings (see Basie’s “Boogie Woogie.” annotation)? Do these titles, combined with the stride Pollock seems to have preferred upbeat songs piano, say more about the white audience or urban with clear, recognizable rhythms on the one hand life of Harlem? Titles aside, how do both pieces relate and bluesy ballads on the other. In all cases, these are to Jacob Lawrence (see annotation)? (Laura Rochette) selections you could dance to (whether fast or slow), not so surprising given the dancelike way Pollock Websites (annotated) moved when he painted. Still, the sense of spontaneity in his approach to painting does not seem to match http://hermanleonard.com/catalogue/music/index. his taste in music, and it is almost ironic that his htm. Herman Leonard Photography Catalog painting White Light appears on Ornette Coleman’s Herman Leonard was born in Allentown, CD Free Jazz, a highly improvisational recording that Pennsylvania, in 1923, and his love of jazz started bears little if any resemblance to the sort of jazz that at an early age, when he borrowed a camera from Pollock himself enjoyed. (Coleman himself was not his brother and started hanging out in the smoking responsible for the selection of the Pollock painting jazz clubs of New York City. The clubs were dark on the album cover, although apparently he approved and the stages were poorly lit, which gave rise to his of it. In the liner notes for that CD, Bob Carlton of signature style of backlighting that makes his photos Rhino Records notes that the “Jackson Pollock cover so recognizably dramatic. helped make the connection for many of us between After serving as a military photographer in Burma the recording and other contemporary art movements during World War II, he finished his bachelor’s of of the day.”) It isn’t exactly clear what Carlton meant fine arts in photography from Ohio University in by “art movements of the day,” since Coleman first 1947. He then did a one-year internship with the recorded Free Jazz in 1961 and Pollock painted famous Canadian portrait photographer Yousuf Karsh. White Light in 1954. Furthermore, although Pollock’s In 1949, Leonard opened his own studio in the career spanned a number of jazz styles, the MoMA Greenwich Village section of New York and began collection is limited to selections recorded between photography work for such notable magazines as 1927 and 1943. Thus in considering Pollock as a Life, Cosmopolitan, Playboy, Time, and others. At jazz artist it is important to realize that there isn’t age twenty-five, he was still passionate about jazz, necessarily an even match between his painting and and with his camera as a free ticket he frequented the music that informed it. (Ellen Rennard) the swing clubs up and down Broadway and 52nd Street in Harlem. Utilizing the smoky atmosphere and Waller, Fats. “Ain’t Misbehavin.’” Fats Waller Greatest poorly lit stages, he began perfecting his signature Hits. RCA, 1996. “backlighting” technique that gave his portraits so ———. “The Joint Is Jumpin’” and “African Ripples.” much drama and ambiance. Fats Waller: The Centennial Collection. RCA, 2004. Beyond their aesthetic appeal, Leonard’s images

107 document the development of jazz through his Philip Frazier appear. Scroll to the bottom, hit intimate, informal style of portraiture. Most of his www.art4now.com, and the online collectibles that photographs were taken in candid, private moments support the festival pop up. This artwork is contained during rehearsals, back stage, during cigarette in two series: Congo Square, recreating New Orleans breaks, or performances. They are truly snapshots historical themes, and Jazz Fest, showcasing the of real jazz moments. He captured the larger-than- festival itself. Vintage posters, music, and fleur de jazz life personalities of such notables as Ella Fitzgerald, clothing may be ordered. Of interest to a collector are Louis Armstrong, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, the biographical notes about each artist and current Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Benny Goodman, value of posters. Dizzy Gillespie, and the list goes on. Along the way Just viewing the poster is delightful and a reminder he documents the dances, fashions, and places that of the connectedness between visual and musical art. were part of the jazz world. Through the lens of his Favorites from the Congo series include Bill Pajuad’s camera he captured that ephemeral moment when the Eureka Brass Band (he is noted for capturing the artist transcended the performance. In his photograph “spiritual essence” that is New Orleans) and Terrance of Billie Holiday (New York City, 1949) he found Osborne’s painting of Philip Frazier, whose tuba her caressing, almost praying to the microphone, pulsates as the base of his Rebirth Brass Band. Dating her fingers reaching out for an unseen lover. The from 1976 in the Jazz Fest series is a portrayal of Fats halo of light behind her illuminates a rising spire of Houston, Marshal of the Eureka. Later posters include smoke from which an angel appears as if to answer Bucky Bolden and his coronet; Louis Armstrong, horn her prayer. Leonard connects us with the musicians in hand, walking beneath a cast iron street lamp; and in a deeply personal way. We hear their voices and Al Hirt alongside the blue dog and a score of linear feel what they feel. As a visual reference, Herman notations broken by jazz symbols. Leonard’s jazz catalog is an immeasurable resource. Newport, Detroit, Cincinnati, Monterey, New (Judy Gregorc) York, and other jazz cities have similar websites, electronic graphics, fun, and invaluable help to http://www.nojazzfest.com. New Orleans Jazz and anyone looking for annual venues or information Heritage Festival chronicling the history, atmosphere, and performers at The eye is drawn immediately to a blue square: festival locations. Another to investigate is “Live Web cast! Please visit the AT&T Blue Room www.nps.gov/jazz/, the New Orleans Jazz National for highlights from the 2007 Jazz Fest.” Clicking Historic Park site. Students would have a bird’s eye blueroom.com/music places one amid the actual view of extravaganza jazz. (Martha Jewell Meeker) sounds of this grand celebration. An animated graphic http://www.npg.si.edu/exh/noir/index.htm. depicts a line of folks with beribboned umbrellas, Smithsonian Nation Portrait Gallery. Le Temulte noir flapping bellbottoms. Notes fly from a trumpeter. exhibit of Paul Colin (1997) (accessed August 30, 2007). Still-shot glimpses of the musicians are located in In 1997, the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery a gallery; each year from 2004 forward is available. featured an exhibit called Le Temulte noir (The Black Pick a year, pick a day, pick a photo from the Craze). Fourteen colored lithographs by French artist composite, move the icon, and click for an enlarged Paul Colin, Josephine Baker’s one-time lover and view against the backdrops of sidemen and crowds. lifelong friend, were exhibited from a portfolio (1927) Moving along the menu the reader may view the with the same name by Colin. These lithographs and daily music schedule over six days, tens stages’ worth, commentary are still available at this website. beginning at 11:00 a.m. and with the last performance Colin and Baker’s relationship was beneficial to at 7:00 p.m. Food and snack locations with featured both. Baker got a devoted supporter, publicity, and menu items can be summoned with another press an introduction to Paris artists, while Colin’s career of the key, and the flavor is definitely New Orleans: took off as an artist. At the age of twenty-one, Baker crawfish bread, Cajun jambalaya, andouille, catfish published her memoirs, illustrated by Colin. It was a meuniere, muffuletta, and etouffee, ending with red time of fascination with black culture. Earlier minstrel velvet cake or beignets and fresh lemonade. shows were replaced as radio, records, and touring Plan an imaginary trip to “jazzland.” You never bands spread the popularity of jazz. Non-Western art have to step onto a plane or train to capture virtual was seen as a pure and creative force, used by artists New Orleans and its unique cultural environment. such as Picasso. Sidney Bechet played in Paris before Getting real? Traveling to the Crescent City? There are appearing with the Revue Negre. links to hotels, airlines, and ticket purchases for these The Jazz Age portrayed by Colin shows the jazz performances. excitement of the age and its fascination with Punch “posters.” Headliners Jerry Lee Lewis and primitivism and black culture. The African dancers

108 are performing topless, in a clearly sexualized dance. Figures are made in dynamic angular drawings, emphasizing the energy and movement of a new performing art. While Colin made hundreds of lithographs, students can identify how these are influenced by jazz. How is black culture explained, with women either topless natives or dancing by themselves in the rain? Why are males only in tuxes? Why do white women dance with black males, but not black women with white or black men? Why was Paris so eager to accept these portrayals? What art forms (art deco and cubism) can be found in the images? This website could be used by older high school audiences in a study of the Jazz Age or art of the period. (Rob Matlock)

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