Institute of Jazz Studies Archivist Elizabeth Surles reports on the acquisition, conservation, and processing of the Count Basie family papers and artifacts. She details select notable items in the collection and emphasizes portions of the collection of particular interest to jazz researchers.
{"title":"How “The Kid from Red Bank” Came to Newark","authors":"Elizabeth Surles","doi":"10.14713/jjs.v14i1.243","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14713/jjs.v14i1.243","url":null,"abstract":"Institute of Jazz Studies Archivist Elizabeth Surles reports on the acquisition, conservation, and processing of the Count Basie family papers and artifacts. She details select notable items in the collection and emphasizes portions of the collection of particular interest to jazz researchers.","PeriodicalId":331183,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Jazz Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135641877","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In their 1939 monograph Jazzmen, Frederic Ramsey Jr. and Charles Edward Smith presented the photograph of a sextet from New Orleans which prominently features a cornet player identifed as Buddy Bolden. From the time of its publication, this photo has been the subject of controversy and many unanswered questions. What is the correct orientation of the photograph? What are the mysterious spherical objects that are seen on the edge of the photograph? Who is the leader of the band? This article presents a detailed photographic analysis of this so-called first jazz photo, proposing a solution to an enigma that has lasted for eighty years. Analysis of early photographic processes, analysis of the history of musical instruments portrayed in 19th century photographs, study of the history of US clothing in 19th century photographs, and organological investigations have helped provide answers to the riddles that Buddy Bolden's photography has raised.
{"title":"Buddy Bolden’s Photo","authors":"Luca Bragalini","doi":"10.14713/jjs.v14i1.227","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14713/jjs.v14i1.227","url":null,"abstract":"In their 1939 monograph Jazzmen, Frederic Ramsey Jr. and Charles Edward Smith presented the photograph of a sextet from New Orleans which prominently features a cornet player identifed as Buddy Bolden. From the time of its publication, this photo has been the subject of controversy and many unanswered questions. What is the correct orientation of the photograph? What are the mysterious spherical objects that are seen on the edge of the photograph? Who is the leader of the band?\u0000This article presents a detailed photographic analysis of this so-called first jazz photo, proposing a solution to an enigma that has lasted for eighty years. Analysis of early photographic processes, analysis of the history of musical instruments portrayed in 19th century photographs, study of the history of US clothing in 19th century photographs, and organological investigations have helped provide answers to the riddles that Buddy Bolden's photography has raised.","PeriodicalId":331183,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Jazz Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123790881","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
2022 marks the centennial of the birth of pianist/composer John Arthur “Jaki” Byard. Byard is highly regarded among his many musician students and serious students of jazz history, but his place in the historical narrative of twentieth century jazz, and the nature of his music, have challenged conventional approaches to assessing them. Attributes are assigned to his playing and methodology that convey a simplistic interpretation of a complex man who expressed a profound and individual notion of the cultural, social, and political nature of his music and jazz. Well known for a comprehensive grasp of jazz history and a virtuosic ability to articulate it musically, his intentions are diluted and obfuscated by misinterpretation of the way he applies humor, eclecticism, and historical reference. This paper will examine Byard’s background as the source of his expansive view, his natural talents as humorist and educator, and how these elements led him to adopt the classical definition of eclecticism to craft a unique voice that was both inclusive and specific.
{"title":"John Arthur \"Jaki\" Byard","authors":"Scott E. Brown","doi":"10.14713/jjs.v13i1.194","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14713/jjs.v13i1.194","url":null,"abstract":"2022 marks the centennial of the birth of pianist/composer John Arthur “Jaki” Byard. Byard is highly regarded among his many musician students and serious students of jazz history, but his place in the historical narrative of twentieth century jazz, and the nature of his music, have challenged conventional approaches to assessing them. Attributes are assigned to his playing and methodology that convey a simplistic interpretation of a complex man who expressed a profound and individual notion of the cultural, social, and political nature of his music and jazz. Well known for a comprehensive grasp of jazz history and a virtuosic ability to articulate it musically, his intentions are diluted and obfuscated by misinterpretation of the way he applies humor, eclecticism, and historical reference. This paper will examine Byard’s background as the source of his expansive view, his natural talents as humorist and educator, and how these elements led him to adopt the classical definition of eclecticism to craft a unique voice that was both inclusive and specific. ","PeriodicalId":331183,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Jazz Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130039252","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Editor's Preface","authors":"Vincent Pelote","doi":"10.14713/jjs.v13i1.202","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14713/jjs.v13i1.202","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":331183,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Jazz Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"120948374","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The jazz standard remains an enduring part of the tradition of jazz performance and pedagogy. Contemporary jazz scholarship has tended to focus on improvisation as a practice and jazz-as-lived-experience and, while the jazz standard repertoire has occasionally been the subject of study the relationship between the standard repertoire and the ‘language’ or style of jazz has not been theorised. In this article I argue that the distinctive style of jazz improvisation is at least in part, determined by the characteristics of its shared repertoire and the statements that have accrued around that repertoire. I borrow Foucault’s conception of the archive to propose a reexamination of the historical progression of ideas that troubles the narrative of the individual creative genius and of jazz as the normative condition of improvisation. In this genealogical context, the jazz standard is positioned as an archive of a particular body of thought, a way of organizing and understanding the transmission, evolution and connection of ideas over time. The intended effect is to provide an alternative perspective on creativity in jazz, and a theorisation of an idea that is already implicit in jazz pedagogy and practice.
{"title":"Jazz Standard as Archive","authors":"Toby Wren","doi":"10.14713/jjs.v13i1.190","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14713/jjs.v13i1.190","url":null,"abstract":"The jazz standard remains an enduring part of the tradition of jazz performance and pedagogy. Contemporary jazz scholarship has tended to focus on improvisation as a practice and jazz-as-lived-experience and, while the jazz standard repertoire has occasionally been the subject of study the relationship between the standard repertoire and the ‘language’ or style of jazz has not been theorised. In this article I argue that the distinctive style of jazz improvisation is at least in part, determined by the characteristics of its shared repertoire and the statements that have accrued around that repertoire. I borrow Foucault’s conception of the archive to propose a reexamination of the historical progression of ideas that troubles the narrative of the individual creative genius and of jazz as the normative condition of improvisation. In this genealogical context, the jazz standard is positioned as an archive of a particular body of thought, a way of organizing and understanding the transmission, evolution and connection of ideas over time. The intended effect is to provide an alternative perspective on creativity in jazz, and a theorisation of an idea that is already implicit in jazz pedagogy and practice.","PeriodicalId":331183,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Jazz Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127051674","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The Francis Paudras collection on Bud Powell contains over twenty hours of footage of the renowned American jazz pianist Bud Powell (1924-1966). This article explores the major highlights from the Francis Paudras collection and outlines how archivists at the Institute are making the films more accessible to researchers.
{"title":"Bud Powell Behind the Scenes","authors":"D. Biunno","doi":"10.14713/jjs.v13i1.188","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14713/jjs.v13i1.188","url":null,"abstract":"The Francis Paudras collection on Bud Powell contains over twenty hours of footage of the renowned American jazz pianist Bud Powell (1924-1966). This article explores the major highlights from the Francis Paudras collection and outlines how archivists at the Institute are making the films more accessible to researchers.","PeriodicalId":331183,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Jazz Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115302847","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Recorded in 1965 at the Village Gate, but rarely seen until recently, the National Educational Television program Jazz: The Experimenters features music from Charles Mingus and Cecil Taylor. This article explores and contextualizes both the extraordinary performances and critical commentary contained in this program, as provided by Ralph Ellison and Martin Williams. Since being uploaded to YouTube for the Mingus centennial on April 22, 2022, Jazz: The Experimenters has been viewed over 140,000 times, a remarkable number for an old arty black and white TV show, and quite possibly far more than the number of people who watched when first broadcast. It isn’t surprising that the program has struck a chord with contemporary audiences, for the sounds are still fresh and the debates remain unresolved.
{"title":"All-Star Television","authors":"E. Iverson","doi":"10.14713/jjs.v13i1.198","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14713/jjs.v13i1.198","url":null,"abstract":"Recorded in 1965 at the Village Gate, but rarely seen until recently, the National Educational Television program Jazz: The Experimenters features music from Charles Mingus and Cecil Taylor. This article explores and contextualizes both the extraordinary performances and critical commentary contained in this program, as provided by Ralph Ellison and Martin Williams. Since being uploaded to YouTube for the Mingus centennial on April 22, 2022, Jazz: The Experimenters has been viewed over 140,000 times, a remarkable number for an old arty black and white TV show, and quite possibly far more than the number of people who watched when first broadcast. It isn’t surprising that the program has struck a chord with contemporary audiences, for the sounds are still fresh and the debates remain unresolved.","PeriodicalId":331183,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Jazz Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-11-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130721535","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
(Opening paragraph): " In a 2001 interview for a PBS documentary titled Rediscovering Dave Brubeck , jazz critic Ira Gitler volunteered that the songs “In Your Own Sweet Way” and “The Duke,” both Dave Brubeck originals, became jazz standards “when Miles Davis played them, that gave them the official stamp of approval.” When interviewer Hedrick Smith asked Gitler why Davis could give the songs a stamp approval that Brubeck himself could not, Gitler responded, “Well because Miles Davis, in giving his stamp of approval to these Brubeck compositions by recording them, here was a black jazz man who was respected in both the black and white circles, and when he did it black people had to say, you know, ‘that’s cool.’” Put simply, Davis’s versions were “cool”—were somehow authentic —while Brubeck’s versions were not, despite being considered by most critics and audiences to be part of the cool jazz genre. In distinguishing between these uses of the term “cool,” Gitler rooted Davis’s authenticity and jazz authority in his blackness, implying that Brubeck’s whiteness kept him from achieving the same status.
(开头一段):“2001年,在接受美国公共广播公司(PBS)纪录片《重新发现戴夫·布鲁贝克》(Rediscovering Dave Brubeck)采访时,爵士乐评论家艾拉·吉特勒(Ira Gitler)主动表示,《In Your Own Sweet Way》和《the Duke》这两首歌都是戴夫·布鲁贝克的原创作品,“当迈尔斯·戴维斯(Miles Davis)演奏它们时,它们就得到了官方的认可。”当采访者Hedrick Smith问吉特勒,为什么戴维斯可以给这些歌曲盖章,而布鲁贝克自己却不能,吉特勒回答说,“好吧,因为迈尔斯·戴维斯通过录制这些歌曲来给布鲁贝克的作品盖章,这是一个在黑人和白人圈子里都受到尊重的黑人爵士乐人,当他这样做的时候,黑人不得不说,你知道,‘太酷了。简而言之,戴维斯的版本是“酷”的——在某种程度上是真实的——而布鲁贝克的版本则不是,尽管大多数评论家和观众认为它是酷爵士流派的一部分。在区分“酷”一词的这些用法时,吉特勒将戴维斯的真实性和爵士乐的权威植根于他的黑人身份,暗示布鲁贝克的白人身份使他无法获得同样的地位。
{"title":"Performing Authenticity “In Your Own Sweet Way”","authors":"Kelsey A. K. Klotz","doi":"10.14713/jjs.v12i1.118","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14713/jjs.v12i1.118","url":null,"abstract":"(Opening paragraph): \" In a 2001 interview for a PBS documentary titled Rediscovering Dave Brubeck , jazz critic Ira Gitler volunteered that the songs “In Your Own Sweet Way” and “The Duke,” both Dave Brubeck originals, became jazz standards “when Miles Davis played them, that gave them the official stamp of approval.” When interviewer Hedrick Smith asked Gitler why Davis could give the songs a stamp approval that Brubeck himself could not, Gitler responded, “Well because Miles Davis, in giving his stamp of approval to these Brubeck compositions by recording them, here was a black jazz man who was respected in both the black and white circles, and when he did it black people had to say, you know, ‘that’s cool.’” Put simply, Davis’s versions were “cool”—were somehow authentic —while Brubeck’s versions were not, despite being considered by most critics and audiences to be part of the cool jazz genre. In distinguishing between these uses of the term “cool,” Gitler rooted Davis’s authenticity and jazz authority in his blackness, implying that Brubeck’s whiteness kept him from achieving the same status.","PeriodicalId":331183,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Jazz Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-12-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123333702","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Listening to Jazz. By Benjamin Bierman.","authors":"Edward Berger","doi":"10.14713/jjs.v12i1.120","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14713/jjs.v12i1.120","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":331183,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Jazz Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-12-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114185668","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
(Opening paragraph): Examining the musical development of John Coltrane, one often gets a deep sense of change. Respected Coltrane scholar Lewis Porter characterizes Coltrane’s career by the “fact that he was constantly developing and changing.” To account for this perception of change, the tendency is to divide Coltrane's music into segmented stylistic periods. This allows us a greater understanding of Coltrane’s developmental building blocks, and the specific elements that he focused on while creating his music. For example, Eric Nisenson divides Coltrane’s work into “Early Coltrane” including his work with Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and his first recordings for Atlantic, a “Middle Period” including his work with Thelonious Monk and the early Impulse recordings, and finally a “Late Period” including Coltrane’s avant-garde albums. In The Dawn of Indian Music in the West Peter Lavezzoli states “Coltrane’s music went through more evolutionary stages during his ten years as a solo recording artist than many musicians realize in a fuller lifetime.” Historical and bibliographical references including the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians also characterized Coltrane’s development as moving from one period to the next.
(开头段):考察约翰·科尔特兰的音乐发展,人们常常会深刻地感受到变化。受人尊敬的科尔特兰学者刘易斯·波特将科尔特兰的职业生涯描述为“他不断发展和变化的事实”。为了解释这种对变化的感知,倾向于将Coltrane的音乐划分为分段的风格时期。这使我们能够更好地了解Coltrane的发展基石,以及他在创作音乐时所关注的具体元素。例如,Eric Nisenson将Coltrane的作品分为“早期Coltrane”,包括他与Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis的合作,以及他在Atlantic的第一张唱片,“中期”包括他与Thelonious Monk的合作以及早期的Impulse唱片,最后是“晚期”,包括Coltrane的前卫专辑。在《西部印第安音乐的黎明》一书中,Peter Lavezzoli说:“Coltrane的音乐在他作为独唱艺人的十年中经历了比许多音乐家在他完整的一生中所意识到的更多的进化阶段。”包括《新格罗夫音乐和音乐家词典》在内的历史和参考书目也将科尔特兰的发展描述为从一个时期到下一个时期的发展。
{"title":"Sonic Grounding and Internalizing Structure: Themes of Continuity in the Music of John Coltrane","authors":"J. Squinobal","doi":"10.14713/jjs.v12i1.116","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14713/jjs.v12i1.116","url":null,"abstract":"(Opening paragraph): Examining the musical development of John Coltrane, one often gets a deep sense of change. Respected Coltrane scholar Lewis Porter characterizes Coltrane’s career by the “fact that he was constantly developing and changing.” To account for this perception of change, the tendency is to divide Coltrane's music into segmented stylistic periods. This allows us a greater understanding of Coltrane’s developmental building blocks, and the specific elements that he focused on while creating his music. For example, Eric Nisenson divides Coltrane’s work into “Early Coltrane” including his work with Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and his first recordings for Atlantic, a “Middle Period” including his work with Thelonious Monk and the early Impulse recordings, and finally a “Late Period” including Coltrane’s avant-garde albums. In The Dawn of Indian Music in the West Peter Lavezzoli states “Coltrane’s music went through more evolutionary stages during his ten years as a solo recording artist than many musicians realize in a fuller lifetime.” Historical and bibliographical references including the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians also characterized Coltrane’s development as moving from one period to the next.","PeriodicalId":331183,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Jazz Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-12-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115370926","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}