Jazz and the Philosophy of Art

317 Pages·2018·3.79 MB·English

by  Lee B. Brown

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).
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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.
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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)
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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.