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UNINTERRUPTED CONVERSATIONS WITH OUR EEGUN: PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS FOR METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO THE RESEARCH OF AFRICAN MUSIC AND THE MUSIC OF JOHN COLTRANE __________________________________________________ A Dissertation Submitted to Temple University’s Graduate Board ___________________________________________________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR of PHILOSOPHY ___________________________________________________ By Aaron B. Love August 2014 Committee Members: Dr. Nathaniel Norment, Jr., Advisory Chair, African American Studies, Temple University Dr. Abu S. Abarry, African American Studies, Temple University Dr. Wilbert Jenkins, History, Temple University Dr. Greg Kimathi Carr, External Reader, Afro-American Studies, Howard University © Copyright 2014 by Aaron B. Love All Rights Reserved ii ABSTRACT UNINTERRUPTED CONVERSATIONS WITH OUR EEGUN: PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS FOR METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO THE RESEARCH OF AFRICAN MUSIC AND THE MUSIC OF JOHN COLTRANE Aaron B. Love Doctor of Philosophy Temple University, August 2014 Doctoral Committee Chair: Nathaniel Norment, Ph.D. African music and its musicians from the Pharaonic periods to Mali to the Mississippi Delta to the South Bronx have contributed some of the most lasting and influential cultural creations known. The music and musicians of Africa have been studied as early as the early 18th century. As interest in African music grew so did the discipline of ethnomusicology. Ethnomusicology has sought to understand, interpret and catalog the various areas of African music. In the United States interest in the music as a continuation of African culture was also sought after and investigated as an important area of research. The main objective of this project is to help expand the methodological approaches in the study of African Diasporan musical cultures and their practitioners. The author undertook a critical examination of the previous works on the subject made by both Continental and Diasporan African scholars, in addition to fieldwork in the United States and Africa (Ghana). Through considering the work songs of Pharaonic Egypt, the cosmogram of the Bantu- Kongo and the life of John Coltrane in particular this proposed work articulates new methodological tools in the research of African music and musicians. iii IN MEMORY To those who raised, instructed, and taught me in their own way—with kindness, patience, humor, love, commitment, and wisdom. My Brother, Javad Jahi, maa kheru! My Jegna, Dr. Harrison Ridley Jr., maa kheru! Our Matriarch; Our Rock; My Grandmother, Evelyn Jones, maa kheru! iv DEDICATION To Maia Zoe Love, my daughter, my firstborn—my reminder that I did something great, thank you for sharing me with my academic pursuits; to Christopher H., the son I raised for just a while, but will love eternally; to the child that chose not to stay; to Coltrane Javad Jahi Pearl-Love my first-born second who will be arriving very soon; and to the children yet to come. Baba loves you all, always. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This has been a long travelled road to type the final period on what is the end of a formalized part of my life while simultaneously resituating me firmly back into my real life. This work is a gathering of my many ideas, curiosities, fears, longings, and queries that for so many years has germinated within me. I offer this work as a reflection of this wonderment. Any errors within are solely my responsibility and not reflective of the ancestors, communities, individuals, and organizations that I acknowledge hereafter. My strength comes from those who raised me, watched over me, and saw me through. It is to you that I am thankful. First, I would like to thank the Creator of all things (those things we know of and those we will never experience), who is called on by many, in many tongues, and by many names. To the Almighty names that my family bloodline has called and still call—I say thank you to Jehovah, Jesus, and Allah. And to the name that I find most appropriate for my time around the cosmograph, I acknowledge and thank Olódùmarè. As I am nothing without those who have mdw mkt through their life, love, sacrifices, and work, I humbly thank those whose examples I aim to follow. To our most recent pool of ancestors; Amiri Baraka, Mabel Williams, Nelson Mandela, Chinua Achebe, Donald Byrd, Richie Havens, Albert Murray, Stuart Hall, Chokwe Lumumba, Vincent Harding, Maya Angelou, K. Kia Bunseki Fu-Kiau—MAA KHERU! As well to our pool of ancestors whose life and work has informed this vi study. John Henrik Clarke, Ortiz Walton, Asa Hilliard, “Kofie” Ghanaba, Jacob Carruthers, John Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, Freddie Hubbard, Sun Ra, Charlie Parker, Nina Simone, Abbey Lincoln, Henry Dumas, and Louis Armstrong—MAA KHERU! As I live I promise to stay committed to the work you all began, to teach others about your life and work, and to support those much more qualified than I am who are extending your ideas and legacies. Ase! That I exist is reflective of my bloodline of eegun whose existence made my life possible. I honor and thank the Little clan of Georgia and the Love clan of Philadelphia for all that you’ve given me in whispers, words, action, time, and love. Ase! To my extended living family, I honor all of you not just because of the name or blood we share but instead because of the love that it produces. I promise that wherever and whenever you call upon me that I will surrender my needs to the greater good of our collective survival and security. To my immediate family my entirety of existence I honor you before all who come across this work. I would be nothing if it were not for your encouragement, support, LOVE, wisdom, and at times firmness. I thank my parents, Dexter Love Sr. and Evelina White for bringing me to this plane safe and raising me with love and an intense, habitual desire for learning. While we have for many years now not seen eye-to-eye on many things, I will always be unmoved in my love for you and in knowing that I am in turn loved by you. To James White, thank you for being a father to me when I needed one. It was rough during my teen years; thank vii you for being strong enough to support me even when I kept you at a distance. As I grew I understood the lessons you were teaching me. Thank you! To my Aunt Jean, you love me in spite of me not staying in contact as much as I should. I hope to get better at it. I love you. Thank you for always asking about me, and never judging me but always “just wanting what’s best for me.” When I get some money Ima get you that Miami Heat jersey, promise. To my Aunt Estella, Auntee, Aunts—You told me over 20 years ago that I would have to someday dig my own wells. I think I have finally fulfilled that charge. Auntee, you are my constant and my connection to our past. Your example was a living testimony to the life I wanted to live and the man I wanted to be. You will never get how impressive your strength, African pride, and unabashed words were and still are to me. I will never forget when you set me straight about our people by explaining, “Woodstock? Boy, that wasn’t for Black people. We been had peace; its white folk who always tryna take it from us.” In that moment the lines started to became so much clearer. It is an honor to see you stand in Mummums place. I know she is proud of you too. Thank you for always being there, for the $loans and all around support. As I live I promise to always honor and obey you. To my Uncles, Andre and Odest. Uncle Andre! You were and are the coolest Black man on the planet to me. You loved and taught me beyond my abilities to grasp as a child; thank you. You were my real life “Heathcliff Huxtable.” Thank you for the trips to NY, Reading Terminal, Garland of Letters, introducing viii me to “world musicians” especially Andreas Vollenweider and Youssou N'Dour, as well as finally giving me that sports coat that I swooned over as a kid. If not for your love of Black music, and your patience and desire to share the history with me, I may have never come to know John Coltrane at such an early age like I did. Thanks for trusting me with your vinyl collection and record player. The times I spent sitting in that chair listening to; reading the albums and liner notes; and making tapes allowed me to imagine music beyond just my time. It was the music that eventually opened the doors to what became my intellectual pursuits—it was all connected. Thank you for it all! Uncle Odest, as a child you were bigger than life to me. I wanted to be as athletic as you but soon realized it wasn’t my calling. Thank you for understanding me and placing me in my lane. I will never forget: us, two Black folk driving in the middle of the night to fill up gallons of bottles with spring water straight from the source. Thanks for taking that time out for me and letting me ride out with you. It was those types of experiences that shaped me as a child. Medasi. To my brothers and sisters. To Dexter Love Jr., my brother and at times my only father. Dex, you were my first hero, never has a little brother wanted to walk in his older brothers shoes as much as me.
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