Jazz Consciousness: Music, Race, and Humanity

302 Pages·2005·10.752 MB·English

by  Paul Austerlitz

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Music, Race, and
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Paul Austerlitz

jazz Consciousness

PAUL AUSTERLITZ
Jazz Consciousness
MUSIC, RACE, AND HUMANITY
WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY PRESS
Middletown, Connecticut
Published by Wesleyan University Press, Middletown, CT 06459
www.wesleyan.edu/wespress
© 2005 by Paul Austerlitz
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
§4321
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Austerlitz, Paul-
Jazz consciousness: music, race, and humanity/ Paul Austerlitz.
p. cm.—(Music/culture)
Includes videography and discography (p. _), bibliographical
references (p. _), and index.
ISBN-13: 978—O-8195—6781-9 (cloth: alk. paper)
ISBN-10: O-8195—6781—7 (cloth: alk. paper)
ISBN-13: 978—O-8195—6782—6 (pbk: alk. paper)
ISBN-10: O-8195-6782-5 (pbk: alk. paper)
1. Jazz— Social aspects. 2. Jazz— History and cniticism.
I. Title. II. Series.
ML3918.J39A97 2005
781.65'089 —dc22 2ZOOSOIOS6I
The author gratefully acknowledges permission to reproduce the following:
‘Sections of chapter 2 previously published in “Mambo Kings to West African Textiles”
Copyright © Frances Aparicio
From: Musical Migrations
By: Frances Aparicio
Reprinted with permission of Palgrave Macmillan
Sections of chapter 4 previously published in “Dominican Jazz in the
Black Atlantic Soundscape,” Black Music Research Journal vol. 18, no. 1/2,
by permission of the Center for Black Music Research, Columbia College Chicago;
and “The Jazz Tinge in Dominican Music,” Ethnomusicology Volume 44/2 (2000),
by permission of the Society for Ethnomusicology.
Contents
Acknowledgments vil
Introduction 1x
I. Jazz Consciousness in the United States 1
2. Kente Cloth to Jazz: A Matrix of Sound 25
3. Machito and Mario Bauza: Latin Jazz in the U.S. Mainstream 42
4. Ambivalence and Creativity:
The Jazz Tinge in Dominican Music 98
5. “Rhythm-Music”: Jazzin Finland 119
6. “My Teacher Is the Human Heart”:
The Human Music of Milford Graves
(by Milford Graves, as told to Paul Austerlitz) 157
Conclusion 184
Notes 191
Videography and Discography 223
Bibliography 227
Index 245
Color plates follow page 40.
Photographs follow page 94.

Acknowledgments
—thth
An Akan proverb states that “the family is a force” and, indeed, it has been
only been with the support of my extended family of colleagues and friends
that I have been able to complete this book. At Wesleyan University Press,
I am especially grateful to Suzanna Tamminen, editor-in-chief, and Robert
Walser, editor of the Music/Culture Series. Funds supporting research
were provided by the Fulbright Foundation, the Wenner-Gren Foundation
for Anthropological Research, the American-Scandinavian Foundation,
the Finlandia Foundation, and the Watson Center for International Studies
at Brown University. Many colleagues, friends, and students read drafts of
this book, providing valuable feedback. I am particularly indebted to Te-
resa Nemeth, whose editing greatly improved the clarity and readability of
the text. Scott Currie, Mindy Keskinen, Meki Nzewi, David Yih, Ferdi-
nand Jones, Alan Saul, Shanna Lorenz, Raul Fernandez, Lise Waxer, Ste-
ven Rabson, and Eric Charry played important roles in helping me hone
my thinking. Robert Farris Thompson, Michael S. Harper, Kwaku Kwaa-
kye Obeng, David Carp, Lewis Gordon, Chris Washburne, Lina Fruzzett,
Rebecca Miller, Judith Becker, James Campbell, Danielle Georges, Kimasi
Browne, Dominique Cyrille, Tuomas Nevanlinna, Hannu Saha, Timo
Leisi6, Vesa Kurkela, and Jari Muikku also provided advice and encourage-
ment. Many students, including Katherine Brucher, Roshan Samtani, Kera
Washington, Liam McGrenahan, Alan Williams, Liz Scheps, Paige McGin-
ley, Jason McGill, and Adam Pogoff helped me cultivate this book. Leo-
nardo Acosta, Max Salazar, Luc Delannoy, Pauli Hallman, Pekka Gronow,
Keiko Morishita, and Markku Salo aided me in the field, while John Storm
Roberts, Ruth Glasser, Ira Berger, and Anthony Brown helped me obtain
oral historical data. I am indebted to Paul Karting, Henry Medina, Susan
Dopp, Rick Britto, Bull Johnston, and Ken Carpenter for their generous
Acknowledgments | vii
help with photographs, art, and figures. Many musicians gave their time
and wisdom; first and foremost among them is Milford Graves. Mario
Grillo, Ray Santos, Delfin Pérez, José Madera, Jr., and Louis Bauzo pro-
vided assistance with my research on Machito. The Dominican and Finnish
musicians I am most indebted to include Tavito Vasquez, Mario Rivera,
Joseito Mateo, Julito Figueroa, Crispin Fernandez, Tony Vicioso, Edwin
Lora, Rafaelito Roman, Rafaelito Mirabal, Juan Luis Guerra, Julio Alberto
Hernandez, Antonio Lora, Pavin Tolentino, Agustin Pichardo, Heikki
Syrjanen, and Pekka Westerholm.
T also want to salute the Yoruba drisa Elégba by quoting a song:
O Bara wa yo,
Eké e,
Est Odara,
Omo yalawa’na
Mama kéni irawo e.
Vital force who comes to deliver [us],
Forked Stick,
Esu, performer of wonders,
Child that separates, splits, and divides the road,
May you not cut the initiates’ mat of goodness.*
*Mason 1992: 69; my lineation.
Acknowledgments / viii