MASARYK UNIVERSITY the History of Racial Consciousness in African American Jazz Community
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MASARYK UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF EDUCATION Department of English Language and Literature The History of Racial Consciousness in African American Jazz Community Bachelor Thesis Brno 2018 Supervisor: Michael George, M.A. Author: Ladislav Novotný Bibliography Novotný, L. The History of Racial Consciousness in African American Jazz Community: bachelor thesis. Brno: Masaryk University, Faculty of Education, Department of English Language and Literature, 2018. 52 p. Bachelor thesis supervisor Michael George. Bibliografický záznam Novotný, L. The History of Racial Consciousness in African American Jazz Community: bakalářská práce. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, Fakulta pedagogická, Katedra anglického jazyka a literatury, 2018. 52 l. Vedoucí bakalářské práce Michael George. Abstract The bachelor thesis explores the development of racial consciousness among African American jazz community between the early 1920s and the late 1960s. The introductory section deals with the social status of its members over the course of the interwar period and the circumstances that initiated fundamental changes in their self-concept. Then, the main focus is put on the sociocultural impact of early modern jazz and the role of African American jazz artists during the struggle for civil rights, including the connection between their distinctive musical output and political activism. Anotace Bakalářská práce zkoumá vývoj rasového uvědomění mezi afroamerickou jazzovou komunitou od počátku dvacátých do konce šedesátých let dvacátého století. Úvodní část pojednává o společenském postavení jejích příslušníků v období mezi dvěma světovými válkami a o okolnostech, jež iniciovaly zásadní změny v jejich sebepojetí. Následně se práce zaměřuje na sociokulturní dopad raného moderního jazzu a roli afroamerických jazzových umělců v období boje za občanská práva, včetně nalezení spojitosti mezi jejich svébytnou hudební tvorbou a politickým aktivismem. Key words Jazz, blues, race, music, activism, protest, freedom, cultural roots, emancipation, identity Klíčová slova Jazz, blues, rasa, hudba, aktivismus, protest, svoboda, kulturní kořeny, emancipace, identita Declaration I hereby declare that this thesis is my own, that I worked on it independently and that I used only the sources listed in the bibliography. Prohlášení Prohlašuji, že jsem závěrečnou bakalářskou práci vypracoval samostatně, s využitím pouze citovaných pramenů, dalších informací a zdrojů v souladu s Disciplinárním řádem pro studenty Pedagogické fakulty Masarykovy univerzity a se zákonem č. 121/2000 Sb., o právu autorském, o právech souvisejících s právem autorským a o změně některých zákonů (autorský zákon), ve znění pozdějších předpisů. In Brno on 29 November 2018 ......................................... Ladislav Novotný Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................. 6 1 “Black” and “White” during the Jazz Age and the Swing Era ............................. 8 1.1 Jazz Meets the Nation .................................................................................... 8 1.2 The First Appreciation ................................................................................... 9 1.3 The Process of Integration ........................................................................... 11 1.4 Separatism and Race Consciousness ........................................................... 13 2 Bebop: The First Loud Response to White Society ............................................ 17 2.1 A Musical Revolution ................................................................................. 17 2.2 Against Racial Oppression .......................................................................... 18 2.3 Beboppers – Political Activists? .................................................................. 20 2.4 A Search for Identity ................................................................................... 22 2.5 Not Entertainment, but Art .......................................................................... 23 2.6 Drawbacks and Achievements .................................................................... 25 3 Charles Mingus: The Angry Man of Jazz ........................................................... 26 3.1 Childhood Experience ................................................................................. 26 3.2 Outbursts of Anger ...................................................................................... 27 3.3 Music as a Political Weapon ....................................................................... 29 3.4 A “Protest Cat” and His Legacy .................................................................. 33 4 Free Jazz: Radical Journeys to Freedom............................................................. 35 4.1 A Revolutionary Aesthetic Conception ....................................................... 35 4.2 The Cult of John Coltrane ........................................................................... 38 4.3 Politics and Spirituality ............................................................................... 40 4.4 Here Comes the Whistleman ....................................................................... 43 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 45 Works Cited ............................................................................................................... 46 Introduction Since its earliest days, jazz has represented one of the most unique cultural phenomena that originated and developed in the United States during the last hundred years. A genuine product of the American melting pot, it has never ceased to incorporate and absorb various, often disparate elements of diverse musical cultures and has been constantly transforming itself through the course of the twentieth century until the present. Accordingly, jazz by nature defies any attempt at precise definition, for each of its many incarnations at least partially opposes the preceding one (Schuller). Nevertheless, some general characteristics can be observed that apply to this music regardless of the particular subgenre. Peter Gammond, the author of The Oxford Companion to Popular Music, for instance, defines jazz in the following way: “A distinctive genre of music-making, recognized by its propulsively moving rhythms, syncopated melodic nature, and improvisational (to varying degrees) nature. It is generally assumed to be of black origin and first emerged in the USA in various modified strains at the end of the 19th century” (290). Similarly, German music journalist Joachim E. Berendt states that Jazz is a form of art music which originated in the United States through the confrontation of blacks with European music. The instrumentation, melody, and harmony of jazz are in the main derived from Western musical tradition. Rhythm, phrasing and production of sound, and the elements of blues harmony are derived from African music and from the musical conception of the Afro-Americans. (371) Last but not least, jazz historian, composer, and musicologist Gunther Schuller considers jazz as a Musical form, often improvisational, developed by African Americans and influenced by both European harmonic structure and African rhythms. It was developed partially from ragtime and blues and is often characterized by syncopated rhythms, polyphonic ensemble playing, varying degrees of improvisation, often deliberate deviations of pitch, and the use of original timbres. Apart from other things, it is evident that all the above definitions unanimously acknowledge African Americans to be the primary originators of jazz and that Berendt as well as Schuller overtly emphasize the biracial character of the music 6 since its very beginning. However, jazz did not evolve in isolation from the American culture of race. According to historian Burton W. Peretti, “jazz was a biracial music, but the society that fostered it was violently opposed to biraciality.” In other words, the “greatest personal and professional challenges” that the jazz creators had to overcome were those firmly grounded in the country’s institutional racism (177). Trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, one of the crucial figures in the development of jazz, once said that “artists are always in the vanguard of social change” (Gillespie and Fraser 291). On the other hand, the general public often perceives jazz as either a specific form of musical entertainment or an art for its own sake, largely elitist and not so much directly related to constant social, political, and cultural changes happening outside its territory. As a result, taking these opposing views into careful consideration inevitably leads to posing some fundamental questions: to what extent, if ever, did African American jazz performers become personally involved in the twentieth-century struggle for racial equality and justice? How frequently did their artistic output serve any explicit extra-musical objectives or at least echo the demands of black political leaders and civil rights activists? How did they see themselves in terms of their social status within American society? Following the aforementioned observations, this bachelor thesis aims to explore the question of racial awareness among African American jazz musicians as well as their personal attitudes towards white America, focusing on the period from the 1920s to the 1960s, during which jazz music exerted a particularly significant influence on the