The Politics of Sounding Black: Nationalism, Agency, and the Experience of Black Jazz Musicians
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THE POLITICS OF SOUNDING BLACK: NATIONALISM, AGENCY, AND THE EXPERIENCE OF BLACK JAZZ MUSICIANS By Jonathan Gómez A THESIS Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Musicology⎯ Master of Arts 2018 ABSTRACT THE POLITICS OF SOUNDING BLACK: NATIONALISM, AGENCY, AND THE EXPERIENCE OF BLACK JAZZ MUSICIANS By Jonathan Gómez Sounding and being black have meant many different things throughout the history of jazz, from “authenticity” and “realness” to militancy and rebellion. In this thesis, I attempt to reframe such understandings by foregrounding the voices of the musician practitioners and the sound of their music by looking at their lives and work through the lens of black nationalism. Exploring the social, political, and economic consequences of being and sounding black, I posit that a sonic black nationalism is evinced which, rather than being a radical political orientation, instead situates black jazz musicians within larger black communities and life in the United States. In particular, I look at the ways in which the cross-racial politics of patronage in jazz has affected the sound of the music, the importance of 1950s black musicking for both the musicians and larger black communities, and finally at the ways in which great man narratives occlude the importance of group sound and groove for black musicians of the 1960s. To accomplish this task, I draw on literature from the fields of musicology, ethnomusicology, and African American or Black studies to generate new understandings of black life and work. Moreover, I work purposefully to base my work upon that of other black scholars and writers such as Samuel Floyd Jr., Guthrie Ramsey Jr., W.E.B. Du Bois, and Robin D.G. Kelley, among others. I hope to present an alternative approach to the study of jazz that returns to the musicians their agency, political efficacy, and creative and intellectual thought while exploring the ways in which their blackness has configured their experiences. Copyright by JONATHAN GÓMEZ 2018 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis owes much to the support I have received since my introduction to the field of musicology in 2014. First and foremost, I want to thank my mother, father, and sister for their constant support over the years. They, and especially my mother, have listened to my thoughts, diatribes, and excited ramblings on all things jazz since for many years. Next, extra special thanks to my advisor, travel partner, and friend Ken Prouty, who gave me the freedom to explore ideas that were interesting to me, even if they were only half thought out at the time I presented them to him. Much of the intellectual awakening I’ve experienced over the last two years I owe to our frequent meetings and conversations. I am also grateful for the deep insights and suggestions I received from my committee members Michael Largey, David Stowe, and Rodney Whitaker. Their comments have helped me to find clarity and depth to the arguments presented within this document. I also want to thank Sarah Long for her support both within and outside the classroom, and for providing a model for what it means to be a good teacher and colleague. Also, to my good friend Kelli Smith, thank you for listening to my endless ideas, challenging me to do my best work, and asking thoughtful and deep questions. I would be remiss not to also thank those from outside Michigan State University who have read my work and lent their critical eyes. First, I am especially grateful to my good friend Mark Gridley who has consistently supported me in my musicological journey, even when he disagreed with my assertions. His rival hypotheses and deep knowledge have played an enormous part in my development as a jazz scholar. David Ake, your encouragement and suggestions have been, and continue to be appreciated. Finally, I want to thank Karen Henson for iv guiding my early forays into musicology when I knew almost nothing about the field. Your support and guidance since my beginnings has meant a great deal. v TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... vii Introduction ..........................................................................................................................1 Chapter Overview ..................................................................................................12 Chapter 1 Patronizing Jazz: Race, Power, and Identity in Jazz’s Managerial Class .........18 Enacting Patronage ................................................................................................21 Jazz and Capital .....................................................................................................22 Testing the Boundaries of Patronage .....................................................................25 Manager as Patron..................................................................................................28 Impresario as Patron ..............................................................................................31 Challenging Patronage ...........................................................................................33 Working Outside Patronage ...................................................................................35 Breaking Down the Hierarchy ...............................................................................37 The Longevity of Patronage...................................................................................40 University as Patron ...............................................................................................42 Conclusion .............................................................................................................45 Chapter 2 This is Their Music: The Politics of Blackness in Post-war Jazz Styles...........47 Characterizations of Hard Bop...............................................................................47 The “Problem” of Black Nationalism ....................................................................55 Sounding Black ......................................................................................................62 Conclusion .............................................................................................................72 Chapter 3 “Groove is Like a Conversation”: John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and the Facilitation of Groove............................................................................................................................... 74 Participating in “The Groove” ...............................................................................76 Searching for “Groove” .........................................................................................83 Coltrane .....................................................................................................83 Davis ..........................................................................................................85 Recordings .............................................................................................................87 John Coltrane’s “My Favorite Things” ....................................................88 Miles Davis, Tony Williams, and Rhythmic Subterfuge .............................92 Conclusion .............................................................................................................97 Conclusion .........................................................................................................................99 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................103 DISCOGRAPHY .............................................................................................................112 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: The first eight bars of Lee Morgan’s trumpet solo on “Moanin’” from Art Blakey’s 1959 album of the same name. Transcribed by the author ........................................65 Figure 2: The “bridge” of Morgan’s 1st solo chorus .........................................................66 Figure 3: Last 4 bars of Morgan’s trumpet solo. “Big Fat Mama” quote .........................67 Figure 4: Second “A” section of Morgan’s trumpet solo .................................................70 vii Introduction In 1998, musicologist Mark Tucker implored contemporary and future jazz scholars to remember that “they have a usable literary past that includes not just Bakhtin, Benjamin, and Cixous but also Hodeir, Schuller, and Williams,” as well as to allow “the voices of more women and writers of color to ring out.”1 Though it is almost 20 years later, Tucker’s call for this approach to scholarship is no less meaningful. Before the 1990s, jazz writers focused on the music in a way that resembled newspaper and trade magazine critics, albeit with a more in-depth look at the musicians they covered. For many of these writers, the end goal was to prove that jazz was deserving of the “art” designation and not merely a “popular” or “primitive” peoples’ music.2 In the 1990s, though, as a corrective to what some saw as a journalistic approach to jazz writing, scholars from disciplines beyond musicology took to studying and writing on jazz. Catalyzed by the work of Scott DeVeaux, Krin Gabbard, and Reginald T. Buckner and Steven Weiland, “New Jazz Studies” (NJS) as it is now called, asked scholars to look at the ways in which canon, socio-political context, and identity effected the lives