Digging: The Afro-American Soul of American Classical Music

425 Pages·2009·2.96 MB·English

by  Amiri Baraka

the george gund foundation
imprint in african american studies
The George Gund Foundation has endowed
this imprint to advance understanding of
the history,culture,and current issues
of African Americans.
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The publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous
support of the African American Studies Endowment
Fund of the University of California Press Foundation,
which was established by a major gift from the
George Gund Foundation.
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Digging
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MUSIC OF THE AFRICAN DIASPORA
Samuel A. Floyd, Jr., Editor Emeritus
Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr., Editor
1. California Soul: Music of African Americans in the West,
edited by Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje and Eddie S. Meadows
2. William Grant Still: A Study in Contradictions, by Catherine
Parsons Smith
3. Jazz on the Road: Don Albert’s Musical Life, by Christopher Wilkinson
4. Harlem in Montmartre: A Paris Jazz Story between the Great Wars,
by William A. Shack
5. Dead Man Blues: Jelly Roll Morton Way Out West, by Phil Pastras
6. What Is This Thing Called Jazz?: African American Musicians as
Artists, Critics, and Activists, by Eric Porter
7. Race Music: Black Cultures from Bebop to Hip-Hop,
by Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr.
8. Lining Out the Word: Dr. Watts Hymn Singing in the Music of Black
Americans, by William T. Dargan
9. Music and Revolution: Cultural Change in Socialist Cuba,
by Robin D. Moore
10. From Afro-Cuban Rhythms to Latin Jazz, by Raul A. Fernandez
11. “Mek Some Noise”: Gospel Music and the Ethics of Style in Trinidad,
by Timothy Rommen
12. The Memoirs of Alton Augustus Adams, Sr.: First Black Bandmaster of
the United States Navy, edited with an introduction by Mark Clague,
with a foreword by Samuel Floyd, Jr.
13. Digging: The Afro-American Soul of American Classical Music,
by Amiri Baraka
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Digging
The Afro-American Soul
of American Classical Music
Amiri Baraka
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
Berkeley . Los Angeles . London
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University of California Press, one of the most
distinguished university presses in the United States,
enriches lives around the world by advancing scholar-
ship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural
sciences. Its activities are supported by the UC Press
Foundation and by philanthropic contributions from
individuals and institutions. For more information,
visit www.ucpress.edu.
University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
© 2009 by Amiri Baraka
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Baraka, Imamu Amiri, 1934–
Digging : the Afro-American soul of American
classical music / Amiri Baraka.
p. cm.—(Music of the African diaspora ; 13)
ISBN 978-0 -5 20-25715-3 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. African Americans—Music—History

and criticism. 2. Music—History

and criticism. 3. African American
musicians. I. Title.
ML3556.B1612 2009
780.89'96073—dc22 2008025976
Manufactured in the United States of America
18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The paper used in this publication meets the
minimum requirements of ansi/niso z39.48–1992
(r 1997) (Permanence of Paper).
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Little of beauty has America given the world save the rude
grandeur God himself stamped on her bosom: the human
spirit in this new world has expressed itself in vigor and
ingenuity rather than in beauty. And so by fateful chance
the Negro folk-song—the rhythmic cry of the slave—stands
today not simply as the sole American music, but as the
most beautiful expression of human experience born this
side the seas. It has been neglected, it has been, and is, half
despised, and above all it has been persistently mistaken and
misunderstood; but notwithstanding, it still remains as the
singular spiritual heritage of the nation and the greatest gift
of the Negro people.
W. E. B. DuBois, “Of the Sorrow Songs,”
in The Souls of Black Folk
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Contents
Photographs follow p. 310.
Introduction 1
Part One: Essays
1. Griot/Djali: Poetry, Music, History, Message 5
2. Miles Later 9
3. The “Blues Aesthetic” and the “Black Aesthetic”:
Aesthetics as the Continuing Political History of
a Culture 19
4. Blues People: Looking Both Ways 28
5. Rhythm 33
6. The American Popular Song: “The Great American
Song Book” 38
7. Blues Line 47
8. Cosby and the Music 49
9. Nina Returns 56
10. Jazz Criticism and Its Effect on the Music 72
11. Not “the Boss”: Bruce Springsteen 86
12. Wynton Marsalis: Black Codes (from the Underground) 88
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