Jazz Cultures

239 Pages·2002·2.87 MB·English

by  David Ake

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Jazz Cultures
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ROTH FAMILY FOUNDATION
Music in America Imprint
Michael P.Roth
and Sukey Garcetti
have endowed this
imprint to honor the
memory of their parents,
Julia and Harry Roth,
whose deep love of music
they wish to share
with others.
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DAVID AKE
Jazz Cultures
university of california press
berkeley los angeles london
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The following chapters have appeared previously in
somewhat different form: Chapter 1 appeared as “Blue
Horizon: Creole Culture and Early New Orleans Jazz,” in
Echo: A Music-Centered Journal1:1 (Fall 1999); chapter 3
appeared as “Re-Masculating Jazz: Ornette Coleman,
‘Lonely Woman,’ and the New York Jazz Scene in the
Late 1950s,” inAmerican Music16:1 (1998), 25–44;
and chapter5 appeared as a chapter ofThe Cambridge
Companion to Jazz(Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2001).
University of California Press
Berkeley and Los Angeles, California
University of California Press, Ltd.
London, England
© 2002 by the Regents of the University of California
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ake, David Andrew.
Jazz cultures / David Ake.
p. cm.
Includes index.
isbn0-520-22887-1 (alk. paper)—isbn0-520-22889-8
(pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Jazz—History and criticism. 2. Jazz musicians—
United States. I. Title.
ml3507 .a44 2002
781.65—dc21 2001027443
Manufactured in the United States of America
11 10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02
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 (r1997)
(Permanence of Paper). (cid:2)(cid:2)
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contents
list of illustrations
vii
preface
ix
acknowledgments
xi
introduction
1
one
“blue horizon”
Creole Culture and Early New Orleans Jazz
10
two
jazz historiography and the problem
of louis jordan
42
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three
regendering jazz
Ornette Coleman and the New York Scene in the Late 1950s
62
four
body and soul
Performing Deep Jazz
83
five
jazz ’traning
John Coltrane and the Conservatory
112
six
jazz traditioning
Setting Standards at Century’s Close
146
notes
177
index
209
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illustrations
figures
1. Cover, Just Say MOE!: Mo’ of the Best of Louis Jordan,
Louis Jordan 56
2. “Harlem 1958,” photograph by Art Kane 58
3. Cover, Cool Struttin’,Sonny Clark 75
4. Cover, The Shape of Jazz to Come,Ornette Coleman 76
5. Cover, Portrait in Jazz,Bill Evans Trio 90
6. Logo for Letter from Evansnewsletter 98
7. Cover, Standard Time Vol. 2: Intimacy Calling,
Wynton Marsalis 161
8. Cover, Have a Little Faith,Bill Frisell 172
tables
1. Contents and dates of recordings accompanying Frank
Tirro’s Jazz: A History 52
2. Aebersold Scale Syllabus 124
vviiii
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3. “Giant Steps” harmonic structure 131
4. “Impressions” formal structure 133
5. Album selections, Wynton Marsalis, Standard Time Vol. 2:
Intimacy Calling 153
6. Album selections, Bill Frisell, Have a Little Faith 166
viii illustrations
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preface
When i entered graduate school at UCLA, in 1994, it was with
hopes of answering a question that had dogged me in one way or an-
other since I had relocated to New York in early 1990. Before that
move and its resulting quandary, I had enjoyed a certain amount of
professional success as a jazz pianist in Los Angeles and Munich. But
somehow the notion that “real jazz” resided only in New York grabbed
hold of me, and I set forth for “The City” with my friend, the out-
standing saxophonist and composer John Schroeder.
Like so many jazz pilgrims before me, I experienced New York as a
dailyrollercoasterofgloriouslittlevictoriesanddiscouraginglittlede-
feats. Supremely inspiring rehearsals, gigs, and recording sessions with
like-minded players (they deserve mention: Ralph Alessi, Ben Allison,
Jeff Ballard, Chuck Braman, Scott Colley, Ravi Coltrane, Mark Feld-
man, Gerry Gibbs, Philip Harper, Mike Karn, Kiyoshi Kitagawa, Jeff
Lederer, Ben Monder, Scott Neumann, John Schroeder) redeemed
the tedious day-to-dayness of subsistence living. During that New
York period—I don’t know when, exactly—this question presented
itself to me: How did I get here?
Now, this wasn’t posed in the metaphysical sense of “where does life
come from?” but in the very literal sense of “how did a white, beer-
ix