Reconstructing the Jazz Tradition
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jazz.v2i1.7Keywords:
tradition, new jazz studies, wynton marsalis, democracy, race, postmodernismAbstract
The article examines the controversy over the status of “the jazz tradition” -- the identification of a set of central musicians, performances, and stylistic features. The differing views of its defenders and opponents are grounded, I argue, in divergent political assumptions. Advocates of the tradition (“neotrads”) like Albert Murray, Stanley Crouch, and Wynton Marsalis believe the maintenance of the jazz tradition is necessary to stave off cultural mediocrity, social degeneration, and the destruction of the music’s African American core. Opponents (“antitrads”) contend the tradition is stifling and hegemonic and advocate its opening or rejection in the pursuit of a society more accepting of difference. I find the reasoning and social analysis of both groups fundamentally flawed and explore the possibility of a jazz tradition that is neither rigid nor borderless but rooted in the historical experiences of musicians and audiences.
References
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——(2006) Considering Genius: Writings on Jazz. New York: Basic Civitas Books.
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——(2005) ‘Core and Boundaries’. The Source 2: 15–30.
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Hersch, Charles (1998) Democratic Artworks: Politics and the Arts from Trilling to Dylan. Albany: State University of New York Press.
——(2007) Subversive Sounds: Race and the Birth of Jazz in New Orleans. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Jenkins, Willard (1997) ‘Wynton Bites Back: Addresses His Critics’. In Jazz: A Century of Change, ed. Lewis Porter. New York: Schirmer.
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Marsalis, Wynton (1999a) ‘The Neoclassical Agenda’. In Keeping Time: Readings in Jazz History, ed. Robert Walser, 334–8. New York: Oxford University Press.
——(1999b) ‘Soul, Craft, and Cultural Hierarchy’. In Keeping Time: Readings in Jazz History, ed. Robert Walser, 339–51. New York: Oxford University Press.
Murray, Albert (1973) The Hero and the Blues. Columbia: University of Missouri Press.
——(1976) Stomping the Blues. New York: Vintage.
——(1983) The Omni-Americans. New York: Vintage.
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Porter, Eric (2002) What Is This Thing Called Jazz? Berkeley: University of California Press.
Ransom, John Crowe (1984) Selected Essays of John Crowe Ransom. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.
Schuller, Gunther (1968) Early Jazz. New York: Oxford University Press.
Seery, John (1999) ‘Castles in the Air: An Essay on Political Foundations’. Political Theory 27/4: 460–90.
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Taylor, Arthur (1982) Notes and Tones. New York: Perigee.
Tucker, Sherrie (2000) Swing Shift: ‘All-Girl’ Bands of the 1940s. Durham: Duke University Press.
——(2005) ‘Deconstructing the Jazz Tradition: The “Subjectless Subject” of the New Jazz Studies’. The Source 2: 31–46.
von Hallberg, Robert (1983) Canons. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Walter, Scott (1997) ‘ “Live” with TAE: Wynton Marsalis and Stanley Crouch’ (interview). The American Enterprise, March 1997.
Williams, Martin (1970) The Jazz Tradition. New York: Oxford University Press.
Williams, Raymond (1977) Marxism and Literature. New York: Oxford University Press.
Ake, David (2002) Jazz Cultures. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Altieri, Charles (1983) ‘An Idea and Ideal of a Literary Canon’. In Canons, ed. Robert von Hallberg, 41–64. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Arnold, Matthew (1980) The Portable Matthew Arnold, ed. Lionel Trilling. New York: Penguin.
Baraka, Amiri (1984) The Autobiography of LeRoi Jones. New York: Freundlich.
Bloom, Allan (1987) The Closing of the American Mind. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Crouch, Stanley (1997) Transcript of interview for Jazz by Ken Burns, July 1, 1997, New York City. http://www-tc.pbs.org/jazz/about/pdfs/Crouch.pdf.
——(2006) Considering Genius: Writings on Jazz. New York: Basic Civitas Books.
DeVeaux, Scott (1991) ‘Constructing the Jazz Tradition: Jazz Historiography’. Black American Literature Forum 25/3: 525–60.
——(2005) ‘Core and Boundaries’. The Source 2: 15–30.
Eliot, T. S. (1978) Selected Essays. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Elworth, Steven B. (1995) ‘Jazz in Crisis, 1948–1958: Ideology and Representation’. In Jazz Among the Discourses, ed. Krin Gabbard, 57–75. Durham and London: Duke University Press.
Gabbard, Krin (1995) ‘The Jazz Canon and Its Consequences’. In Jazz Among the Discourses, ed. Krin Gabbard, 1–28. Durham and London: Duke University Press.
Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. (1992) Loose Canons: Notes on the Culture Wars. New York: Oxford University Press.
Gendron, Bernard (1995) ‘ “Moldy Figs” and Modernists: Jazz at War (1942–1946)’. In Jazz Among the Discourses, ed. Krin Gabbard, 31–56. Durham and London: Duke University Press.
Gennari, John (2006) Blowin’ Hot and Cool: Jazz and Its Critics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Hersch, Charles (1998) Democratic Artworks: Politics and the Arts from Trilling to Dylan. Albany: State University of New York Press.
——(2007) Subversive Sounds: Race and the Birth of Jazz in New Orleans. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Jenkins, Willard (1997) ‘Wynton Bites Back: Addresses His Critics’. In Jazz: A Century of Change, ed. Lewis Porter. New York: Schirmer.
Kolb, Harold H., Jr. (1990) ‘Defining the Canon’. In Redefining American Literary History, ed. A. LaVonne Brown Ruoff and Jerry W. Ward, Jr, 35–51. New York: Modern Language Association of America.
Levine, Lawrence W. (1988) Highbrow/Lowbrow. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Marsalis, Wynton (1999a) ‘The Neoclassical Agenda’. In Keeping Time: Readings in Jazz History, ed. Robert Walser, 334–8. New York: Oxford University Press.
——(1999b) ‘Soul, Craft, and Cultural Hierarchy’. In Keeping Time: Readings in Jazz History, ed. Robert Walser, 339–51. New York: Oxford University Press.
Murray, Albert (1973) The Hero and the Blues. Columbia: University of Missouri Press.
——(1976) Stomping the Blues. New York: Vintage.
——(1983) The Omni-Americans. New York: Vintage.
Nicholson, Stuart (2005) Is Jazz Dead? New York: Routledge.
O’Meally, Robert G. (2001) ‘Introduction’. In Living with Music: Ralph Ellison’s Jazz Writings, ed. Robert G. O’Meally. New York: Vintage.
O’Meally, Robert, Edwards, Brent Hayes and Griffin, Farah Jasmine (2004) ‘Introductory Notes’. In Uptown Conversation: The New Jazz Studies, ed. Robert G. O’Meally, Brent Hayes Edwards and Farah Jasmine Griffin, 1–6. New York: Columbia University Press.
Parker, Charlie (1991) The Complete ‘Birth of the Bebop’. [CD] Stash: ST-CD-535.
Porter, Eric (2002) What Is This Thing Called Jazz? Berkeley: University of California Press.
Ransom, John Crowe (1984) Selected Essays of John Crowe Ransom. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.
Schuller, Gunther (1968) Early Jazz. New York: Oxford University Press.
Seery, John (1999) ‘Castles in the Air: An Essay on Political Foundations’. Political Theory 27/4: 460–90.
Smith, Barbara Herrnstein (1988) Contingencies of Value. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Tate, Allen (1968) Essays of Four Decades. Chicago: Swallow. Quoted in James Breslin (1983), From Modern to Contemporary. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Taylor, Arthur (1982) Notes and Tones. New York: Perigee.
Tucker, Sherrie (2000) Swing Shift: ‘All-Girl’ Bands of the 1940s. Durham: Duke University Press.
——(2005) ‘Deconstructing the Jazz Tradition: The “Subjectless Subject” of the New Jazz Studies’. The Source 2: 31–46.
von Hallberg, Robert (1983) Canons. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Walter, Scott (1997) ‘ “Live” with TAE: Wynton Marsalis and Stanley Crouch’ (interview). The American Enterprise, March 1997.
Williams, Martin (1970) The Jazz Tradition. New York: Oxford University Press.
Williams, Raymond (1977) Marxism and Literature. New York: Oxford University Press.
Published
2008-09-26
Issue
Section
Articles
How to Cite
Hersch, C. (2008). Reconstructing the Jazz Tradition. Jazz Research Journal, 2(1), 7-28. https://doi.org/10.1558/jazz.v2i1.7
