Oral History Association California Soul: Music of African Americans in the West by Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje; Eddie S. Meadows Review by: Arthur Buell The Oral History Review, Vol. 28, No. 2 (Summer - Autumn, 2001), pp. 164-166 Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of the Oral History Association Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3675791 . Accessed: 19/06/2012 17:24 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Oxford University Press and Oral History Association are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Oral History Review. http://www.jstor.org 164 ORAL HISTORY REVIEW Wodiczko used the narratives he gathered to challenge Americans' preconceptions about immigration. What is finally heartening about these artists is simply that they take the concept of public space seriously. They assume that it can exist apart from corporate promotions and commercialized leisure and that it is a sphere in which social issues can still be engaged. Social change is incremental and to a large extent incalculable, and tactics that raise issues at individual moments in individual communities should not be neglected. Dialogues In Public Art uses oral history research methodology brilliantlyto illuminate the individualmoments, the reactions of individual communities. TeresaBarnett University of California, Los Angeles CALIFORNIA SOUL: MUSIC OF AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE WEST. Edited by Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje and Eddie S. Meadows. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998. 507 pp. Hardbound, $60; Softbound, $24.95. California Soul provides a thoughtful analysis of the musical, cultural,and sociologicalforces that shaped the development of African- American music in California during the twentieth century.This well- researched work is an important contribution to the field of ethnomu- sicology, since previously the significance of black music in California has been dealt with only cursorily or else ignored altogether. As the editors note in their introduction,"the amount of scholarly literature on the music of African Americans in Californiais minimal when com- pared to the documentation that exists on the musical activity of blacks in the South, East Coast, or Midwest" (13). The book's ten chapters comprise a collection of essays that focus on a variety of musical genres, including jazz, blues, gospel, soul, and rhythm and blues, and they examine a number of different regions within Califor- nia, including Los Angeles, Oakland, San Diego, and San Francisco. California Soul is thematically divided into three sections, "Music in an Urban Environment,""Music and the Media," and "The Musi- cian as Innovator."The first section examines the Los Angeles music scene in the first half of the twentieth century,the evolution of post- World War II blues in Oakland, and the variety of California'sgospel music styles. The second section analyzes developments in the black radio and recording industries in the 1980s and 1990s, the diversity of styles in California rhythm and blues recordings produced between Book Reviews 165 1942 and 1972, and the effect of radio station KIFM's "lites out jazz" program on the San Diego jazz community from 1986-1990. The third section profiles three California musicians: female jazz trumpeter Clora Bryant, gospel innovator Andrea Crouch, and Motown singer Brenda Holloway. The book also has an extensive appendix entitled "Source Materials and Guide to African-American Music, Musicians, and Culture in California,"compiled by David Martinelli. Because it covers so many different regions, time periods, and musical genres and because its eleven contributors employ so many different sources and methods in their analyses,California Soul should appeal to scholars in a variety of disciplines,including ethnomusicolo- gists, sociologists, and historians.While not primarily a work of oral history,the book is of interest to oral historians as well, because mate- rial drawn from personal interviews plays a significantrole in many of the essays. As the editors note in their introduction,"all authors have had to rely on oral history, in addition to archival sources, for their research. This is not unusual for music investigations concerning people of color, women, urbanism, and regional musicians who have not received much documentation"(9). Several essays are especially notable for their use of oral narra- tive. For example, part two of the third chapter,"A Conversation with Bob Geddins" by James C. Moore, Sr., offers a fascinating look into the creative process by which Geddins produced his series of record- ings that defined the Oakland blues sound in the 1950s and 1960s. Transcribedfrom an interview during a presentation at the Society for Ethnomusicology Pre-Conference Symposium that took place in Oak- land in 1990, the text shows Geddins working with Oakland musician Willie Gee to develop the phrasing and feel of an original blues song he composed for the occasion and reminiscing about his days as a record producer. Geddins' words have an authenticity and intimacy that could never be achieved by musical analysis alone: I remember Johnny Talbot, when I was recording him, when he wrote a new tune, we'd have to test it on someone. He and I thought it was a great song, so we'd test it. We'd go to a club and I'd sit in a corner, and he'd play a few standards. Then he'd play this new tune without announcing what it was, and I'd watch the people and watch their reaction. And generally speaking, the little lady that was sitting with her hair all done up in spit curls and so forth, she'd just sit there look- ing pretty. But the lady who was kind of heavy, who didn't particu- larly think she was going to dance or anything, we'd call those the real people. All of a sudden she would hit the floor. Then we know the song had the feeling. (120) Equally effective is Willie R. Collins' use of personal interviews in the sixth chapter, "California Rhythm and Blues Recordings, 1942- 166 ORAL HISTORY REVIEW 1972:A Diversity of Styles."After citing migratory patterns and Cali- fornia's musical and cultural diversity as contributing factors in mak- ing up California's distinctive rhythm and blues style, Collins quotes musician Johnny Otis speaking on the same subject: "T-Bone"Walker, Charles Brown, Lowell Fulson, Ray Charleswas on the West Coast-all these things together became a California influence.There's no one defined answer to some of that; it's too much input from a thousanddifferent directions. You can't say this idiom startedhere in Californiabecause Californiawas made up of black people from manyplaces, the churchwas part of our heritage, gospel music and even some Caribbeaninput-West Indian sisters and brothers-and New York.(216) Collins makes good use of the voices of the musicians-the people who created the music in the first place-as a counterpoint to his per- ceptive musical and statistical analyses,giving his essay an immediacy and a personal tone that greatly enhances his arguments.Two other essays worth mentioning for their use of personal interviews are Kwaku Person-Lynn's"Insider Perspectives on the American Afrikan Popular Music Industry and Black Radio,"which consists of two inter- views with important figures in the African-American music industry, and Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje's "The California Black Gospel Music Tradition:A Confluence of Musical Styles and Cultures." Taken together, this collection of essays forms a compelling por- trait of California'srich and diverse African-Americanmusical history. Rather than being "the place musicians go to die," a phrase used to describe Los Angeles in the 1950s, California is instead revealed as a region whose musicians drew on the multiplicityof cultures and styles that are a hallmark of the Golden State to create their own unique sound in a variety of genres. California Soul performs the important role of documenting the musical history of this oft-neglected region, and it provides a solid, well-researched foundation for further studies. Arthur Buell California State University, Stanislaus ORDINARY LIVES: PLATOON 1005 AND THE VIETNAM WAR. By W. D. Ehrhart.Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1999. 334 pp. Hardbound,$20.50. THE SOLDIER'S STORY.By Ron Steinman. New York:TV Books, 1999. 367 pp. Hardbound,$27.95. The bus came to a halt at two in the morning with eighty recruits aboard, quiet as mice in contemplation of what was in store for them. .