Representing Black Music Culture: Then, Now, and When Again?

312 Pages·2011·16.19 MB·English

by  William C. Banfield

African American Cultural Theory and Heritage
Series Editor: William C. Banfield
The Jazz Trope: A Theory of African American Literary and Vernacular
Culture, by Alf onso W. Hawkins Jr., 2008.
In the Heart of the Beat: The Poetry of Rap, by Alexs D. Pate, 2009.
George Russell: The Story of an American Composer, by Duncan Heining,
2010.
Cultural Codes: Makings of a Black Music Philosophy, by William C. Banfield,
2010.
Willie Dixon: Preacher of the Blues, by Mitsutoshi Inaba, 2011.
Representing Black Music Culture: Then, Now, and When Again?, by William
C. Banfield, 2011.
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Representing Black Music Culture
Then, Now, and When Again?
William C. Banfield
African American Cultural Theory and Heritage
THE SCARECROW PRESS, INC.
Lanham (cid:129) Toronto (cid:129) Plymouth, UK
2011
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Published by Scarecrow Press, Inc.
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
http://www.scarecrowpress.com
Estover Road, Plymouth PL6 7PY, United Kingdom
Copyright © 2011 by William C. Banfield
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any
electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems,
without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote
passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Banfield, William C., 1961–
Representing black music culture : then, now, and when again? / William C. Banfield.
p. cm. — (African American cultural theory and heritage)
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-8108-7786-3 (pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8108-7787-0
(ebook)
1. Banfield, William C., 1961- 2. African-American composers—Biography.
3. Composers—United States—Biography. 4. African Americans—Music—History
and criticism. I. Title.
ML410.B2084A3 2011
780.92—dc22 [B] 2011017278
™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America
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For Anne Lou Banfield (1925–2008)
My beautiful, bold, art and education loving mom
She imbued in me a dynamic, a sincerity for the pursuit of clarity,
integrity, and a directed purposefulness she demanded of our family.
Thanks, Mom
In special memory to those musicians/artists/mentors who passed as I was
completing this work: Brazeal Dennard (2010), Wendal Logan (2010),
Hale Smith (2009), George Russell (2009), Horace Boyer (2009), Dr. Ray
Brown (2009), Duvaughn Banfield (2008), John Hope Franklin (2008),
Mark Ledford (2004), Bill Brown (2004), and Dr. Billy Taylor (2010).
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We were seeing examples to live by. Thus we fabricated our own heroes
and ideals . . . scholars, jazz musicians and scientists, Negro cowboys and
soldiers from the Spanish American War. . . . We felt to develop our-
selves for the performance of many and diverse roles . . . not only were
we to prepare but we were to perform with, may we say Negro American
style. . . . Behind each artist there stands a traditional sense of style, a
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
yearning to make everything of quality Negro American; to appropriate
it, possess it, re-create it in our own group and individual images.
Published in the United States of America
by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
—Ralph Ellison, age 50, Introduction to the
A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
1964 edition of Shadow and Act
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
www.rowmanlittlefield.com
The first black solo musician on the scene was the blues singer. . . .
EstoverT Rhoesaed musicians composed their own songs, based, for the first time on
Plymousethc uPlLar6 p7rPoYb lems of the black individual.
United Kingdom
—Ben Sidran, Black Talk
Copyright © 2007 by
The musician is the document . . . the information itself. The impact of
All righsttso rreesder vinedf.o Nrmoa ptiaortn o ifs thtrias npsumbliitctaetdi onno mt athy rboeu rgehp rroedcuocredds, ostro arerdch iniv ae s, but
retrievathl rsoysutgehm ,t hore thraunmsmanit treeds pino nasney tfoo rmlif eo.r Abyn adn tyh mate arness,p eolnescet roisn iocn, gmoeinchg,a ninic al,
photoctohpey ianigr,, reevcoerrydwinhge, roer, oatnh earwltiesren, awtiitvheo ucto nthseta pnrtiloyr paevramiliasbsiloen t oof tthhoe speu bwlhisoh er.
have ears to hear.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
—Ben Sidran, Black Talk
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Insert CIP data
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The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America
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Contents
Foreword by Cornel West xi
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction: Moving toward Clarity xv
Part I: Then
1 Growing Up as a Musician in Detroit 3
2 Cass Tech High 9
3 Boston (1979–1988) 15
4 Making Music, Finding Meaning (1989–2003) 25
Part II: Now
5 Hope and New Directions (2004) 47
6 Slowly Contemplating Boston (2005) 67
The Move East: Space, Serenity, Peace of Mind
and Creativity, and an Essay about Arriving Home 74
7 Life Lived East (2006) 81
vii
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viii (cid:2) Contents
8 The New Essays (2006–2008) 91
Days with Ornette Coleman 91
Connecting Jazz to Contemporary Culture:
How Are We Making Jazz Culturally Relevant? 95
iPodology: What Are We Being Asked to Plug Into? 97
Hop Ain’t Hip without the Music
(or What Happened with the Music
in Popular Culture Markets?) 99
Wrestling with a Black Aesthetic in
Contemporary Living 101
The Aesthetics of Sales in the Contemporary
Marketplace Post-2007 102
The Closing Argument on Hip-Hop 104
Without Fear of Shame: The Eighty-Year-Old Debate 105
American Idle? 108
Using Your Creative Voices: An Essay on Race
and Artistic Action 110
A Culture of Conflict and Confrontation 112
A Letter to My Students 113
Out of the Woods with Bobby McFerrin 115
There’s Something New There, but You Have
to Find It 119
9 Representing Culture (2008) 123
Homage to Mentors 131
Modern Media Music Culture Madness 135
The Audacity in Hope 138
“Wow, Mom, He Looks Like Me” (An Obama Poem) 140
10 Reckonings and Recognitions (2009) 143
Alvin Ailey Dance Company and Sweet Honey in the Rock 144
Letter to Dr. Ysaye Barnwell 154
Michael Dies 157
Beer Summit 162
Great Ones Passing: Horace Boyer, George Russell,
Hale Smith 165
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Contents (cid:2) ix
11 Closing Comments on Culture: Entries
and Essays (2010) 173
Roots and Reason Series, Concerts Produced by
Bill Banfield, Interviewed by Leslie Mahoney,
Berklee Faculty News 175
The Warmest December 177
Don’t Use the J Word: Jazz Connections to
Culture and Meaning 180
Bicycling in Bangkok: Considering Condition,
Context, Challenge, Conflict, Change, Charge,
Cash, Comfort, and Complacency 205
Payoff: Investing Yourself in a Multi-Toned, Voiced,
Angled, and Cultured World (May 29, 2009) 212
The Baking of American Music Culture 217
12 Tag and Coda 221
Part III: When Again?
13 The Artist Photo Profiles 233
Index 265
About the Author 277
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