Logistics

Today we continue a series of two sessions devoted to authenticity and Jazz. For the purposes of our online commentary, I have decided to focus on the essay by Zora Neale Hurston "How it Feels to be Colored Me" (1928).

Next time we move on to the theme of Revolution and Cockroach Capitalism and will discuss Black Nationalism and the Revolution in Music by Frank Kofsky (1970).

Please remember that the second essay due date is coming up on Wednesday April 28th. Send me a note if I may assist with your topic.

Colored Me

Below I have quoted a section from Hurston’s essay in which she addresses music. Please take a look at the entire essay from the web site in order to understand the context of this excerpt.

“For instance at Barnard. "Beside the waters of the Hudson" I feel my race. Among the thousand white persons, I am a dark rock surged upon, and overswept, but through it all, I remain myself. When covered by the waters, I am; and the ebb but reveals me again.

Sometimes it is the other way around. A white person is set down in our midst, but the contrast is just as sharp for me. For instance, when I sit in the drafty basement that is The New World Cabaret with a white person, my color comes. We enter chatting about any little nothing that we have in common and are seated by the jazz waiters. In the abrupt way that jazz orchestras have, this one plunges into a number. It loses no time in circumlocutions, but gets right down to business. It constricts the thorax and splits the heart with its tempo and narcotic harmonies. This orchestra grows rambunctious, rears on its hind legs and attacks the tonal veil with primitive fury, rending it, clawing it until it breaks through to the jungle beyond. I follow those heathen--follow them exultingly. I dance wildly inside myself; I yell within, I whoop; I shake my assegai above my head, I hurl it true to the mark yeeeeooww! I am in the jungle and living in the jungle way. My face is painted red and yellow and my body is painted blue. My pulse is throbbing like a war drum. I want to slaughter something--give pain, give death to what, I do not know. But the piece ends. The men of the orchestra wipe their lips and rest their fingers. I creep back slowly to the veneer we call civilization with the last tone and find the white friend sitting motionless in his seat, smoking calmly.

"Good music they have here," he remarks, drumming the table with his fingertips.

Music. The great blobs of purple and red emotion have not touched him. He has only heard what I felt. He is far away and I see him but dimly across the ocean and the continent that have fallen between us. He is so pale with his whiteness then and I am so colored.”

Here Hurston questions the idea of access. I have always wondered about the points that she raises. Can we all equally access the message in music? To what extent is the message of music real? How much is the message of music abstract? Is one view or vision of the meaning of music more or less authentic?

Hurston humorously suggests that her white friend misses the message that is so meaningful to her. In addition to being a literary device, what is her purpose in presenting this example? What is her goal?

Comments and Discussion

Please create three posts. Comment on (a) my discussion above, (b) on someone else's post, or (c) content from the reading. I will comment on comments as appropriate.

Logistics

Our class for Monday, April 19th begins a series of two sessions devoted to authenticity and Jazz. For Monday we consider a chapter from "The Black Atlantic" by Paul Gilroy (1993).

For Wednesday we will discuss two works, the essay by Zora Neale Hurston "How it Feels to be Colored Me" (1928) and chapters seven and eight from "Stomping the Blues."

Please remember that the second essay due date is coming up on Wednesday April 28th. Send me a note if I may assist with your topic.

The Black Atlantic

On the web site I have given you chapter three from "The Black Atlantic" titled "Jewels Brought from Bondage: Black Music and the Politics of Authenticity." I will focus my comments on naming and not so much explaining the important ideas here. You must read closely in order to understand these notions. First is the idea of black music's "proximity to slavery" as one of the "distinctive forces shaping black Atlantic political culture" (page 73). Another talking point is that of "racial terror" and the music's "status" in relation to its "capacity" to express an image of slavery.

Gilroy presents the ideas of Toni Morrison on black art (page 76) and Ralph Ellison on black music (page 79). Gilroy contributes a definition or "proposition" of the black atlantic as well (page 81). He asks questions regarding authenticity and a pan-Carribbean identity and points to Hip Hop culture's contest between (a) expression and (b) censorship (page 83).

The chapter ends with specific questions regarding authenticity and Jazz, the idea of the fragmentation of the music and the debate between Miles Davis and Winton Marsalis about proprietorship. That is, should Jazz musicians recreate the past or only seek to create new art?

Image

Here is the caption for the image above.

"Max Roach, an innovator of modern polyrhythmic drum style and leading percussionist of the new music, Chicago, 1948." "Bird Lives" by Ross Russell (1973).

Film Clip

Please go to the media page of the Black Vistas web site to view the classic performance of "So What" from 1958 that includes Miles Davis on trumpet and John Coltrane on tenor saxophone.

http://homepage.mac.com/home_page/jazz_and_culture/movies/john_coltrane.html

Comments and Discussion

After review of these materials, please create three posts. Comment on (a) my discussion above, (b) on someone else's post (c) material from this text, or (d) on the image or film clip. I will comment on comments as appropriate.