Jazz and the Philosophy of Art PDF
Preview Jazz and the Philosophy of Art
JAZZ AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF ART Co-authored by three prominent philosophers of art, Jazz and the Philosophy of Art is the firstbookinEnglishtobeexclusivelydevotedtophilosophicalissuesinjazz.Itcoverssuch diversetopicsasminstrelsy,bebop,Voodoo,socialandtapdancing,parades,phonography, musicalforgeries,andjazzsinging,aswellasGoodman’sallographic/autographicdistinction, Adorno’scritiqueofpopularmusic,andwhatimprovisationisandisnot. The book is organized into three parts. Drawing on innovative strategies adopted to address challenges that arise for the project of defining art, Part I shows how historical definitions of art provide a blueprint for a historical definition of jazz. Part II extends the book’s commitment to social-historical contextualism by exploring distinctive ways that jazz has shaped, and been shaped by, American culture. It uses the lens of jazz vocals to provide perspective on racial issues previously unaddressed in the work. It then examines thebroader premisethat jazzwasasociallyprogressive force inAmericanpopular culture. PartIIIconcentratesonatopicthathasenteredintotheargumentsofeachoftheprevious chapters:whatisjazzimprovisation?Itoutlinesapluralisticframeworkinwhichdistinctive performance intentionsdistinguish distinctive kindsofjazz improvisation. This book is a comprehensive and valuable resource for any reader interested in the intersections between jazzandphilosophy. Lee B. Brown was Professor of Philosophy at The Ohio State University and a specialist in the history of modern philosophy, general aesthetics, and the philosophy of music. Contemporaneously, he also worked as a professional jazz critic in Columbus, Ohio. His publicationsspan45yearsinmajorphilosophyjournals.WithDavidGoldblatt,hewasco- editorofthehighlysuccessfultextbookAesthetics:AReaderinPhilosophyoftheArts,nowin its4thedition (Routledge,2017). DavidGoldblattisEmeritusProfessorofPhilosophyatDenisonUniversityandtheauthorof ArtandVentriloquism(2006)intheRoutledgeseriesCriticalVoicesinArt,TheoryandCul- ture.Heisco-editorofAesthetics:AReaderinPhilosophyoftheArts,withLeeB.Brownand Stephanie Patridge, now in its 4th edition (Routledge, 2017) and is co-editor with Roger PadenofTheAestheticsofArchitecture:PhilosophicalInvestigationsintotheArtofBuilding(2011). TheodoreGracykisProfessorofPhilosophyatMinnesotaStateUniversityMoorheadand, since2013,co-editoroftheJournalofAestheticsandArtCriticism.HisbookIWannaBeMe:Rock MusicandthePoliticsofIdentity(2001)wasselectedasco-winnerofthe2002WoodyGuthrie Awardandheistheauthoroffourotherbooksontheaestheticsofmusic,aswellasco-editor oftwobooks,includingTheRoutledgeCompaniontoPhilosophyandMusic(2011). This page intentionally left blank JAZZ AND THE PHILOSOPHY OF ART Lee B. Brown, David Goldblatt and Theodore Gracyk Firstpublished2018 byRoutledge 711ThirdAvenue,NewYork,NY10017 andbyRoutledge 2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness ©2018Taylor&Francis TherightofLeeB.Brown,DavidGoldblatt,andTheodoreGracyktobe identifiedasauthorsofthisworkhasbeenassertedbytheminaccordancewith sections77and78oftheCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988. Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproducedor utilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans,now knownorhereafterinvented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,orinany informationstorageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwritingfromthe publishers. Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybetrademarksorregistered trademarks,andareusedonlyforidentificationandexplanationwithoutintent toinfringe. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Acatalogrecordforthisbookhasbeenrequested ISBN:978-1-138-24135-0(hbk) ISBN:978-1-138-24136-7(pbk) ISBN:978-1-315-28061-5(ebk) TypesetinBembo byTaylor&FrancisBooks Lee B. Brown (1932–2014) This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS Foreword – Lee Brown: A Recollection ix Acknowledgements xi Introduction 1 PARTI How is Jazz Distinctive? Essence and Definition 7 1 Dancing, Dwelling, and Rhythmic Swing 9 2 A Theory of Jazz Music: “It Don’t Mean a Thing …” 39 3 Defining Jazz Historically 64 PARTII Jazz and American Culture 91 4 Jazz Singing and Taking Wing 93 5 Race, Jazz, and Popular Music: The Legacy of Blackface Minstrelsy 120 6 Jazz and the Culture Industry 149 viii Contents PARTIII Music Ontology 179 7 Improvisations and Spontaneity 181 8 Musical Forgeries, Improvisation, and the Principle of Continuity 208 9 Phonography, Repetition, and Spontaneity 234 10 Jazz Improvisation and its Vicissitudes: A Plea for Imperfection 261 Index 291 FOREWORD Lee Brown: A Recollection Like a lot of kids of his generation, my husband Lee Brown grew up with a spinet in the family living room in Salt Lake City. His brother Wilson, with a lot oftalentandperfectpitch,tooksummerjobsplayingpianoattheElTovarHotel at the Grand Canyon; he became a lifelong musician, teacher, and arranger. Lee never got beyond Thompson’s Third Grade piano book. But even without a scintilla of performing talent he had a highly cultivated ear formusic.Catholicintaste,helikedeverythingfromMozarttoWagnertoAlban Berg to AC/DC, the Talking Heads, and Ernesto Lecuona. But most of all, jazz. Listening to Roy Eldridge perform at Jimmy Ryan’s in the 1970s, he had to collar Eldridge and remind him of a 1949 performance in Salt Lake City when Lee was fresh out of high school and tasting live jazz for the first time. An idyllic couple ofyearsinSanFrancisco afterhelefttheNavyintheearly 50sintroduced him to the Thirsty I and the Brubeck Quartet. In the 90s, Blossom Dearie at Danny’s Skylight Room would bring him to tears of joy. We never went to New York City without checking out the scene at Sweet Basil, The Blue Note, IridiumandSt.Nick’sPubinHarlem,wherewe’dshareatablewithsingerRuth Brisbane and her husband Claude. We never went anywhere that didn’t include jazz, from Ronnie Scott’s in London to the smoky top floor of El Perron in Cadaques, Spain. No philosophy conventioneers were safe from a night out with Lee at local dives in cities all over the U.S. As my stepson pointed out at Lee’s memorial service in 2014, our basement had (sadly, still has) the entire history of recorded music, from piano rolls, cylinder records and 78s through reel-to-reel tapes, cassettes, vinyl, and CDs. Like agerbil onan exercise wheel,heraced to keep hiscollectionup to date by transferring from one medium to another and devising one organizing scheme after another.
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