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Reading Texts
"The Cult of
Bebop"
ISSUES:
JAZZ
CULTURE
RACE
HOME
Reading Texts
"The Cult of
Bebop"
ISSUES:
JAZZ
CULTURE
RACE
HOME
Reading Texts
"The Cult of
Bebop"
ISSUES:
JAZZ
CULTURE
RACE
HOME
Reading Texts
"The Cult of
Bebop"
ISSUES:
JAZZ
CULTURE
RACE
|
JAZZ
HISTORY and Bebop
Popular
Aspects of Music
'Tomming' &
Minstrelry
'American'
Music
QUESTIONS
·
‘Tomming’ and Minstrelry
Bebop musicians, in
general, did not play novelties or pander to the audience. Racial
skits had been part of the expected repertoire of African American performers
in the past.
INTERPRETATIONS:
Peretti:
African
Americans could use jazz to fight the minstrel and “coon” roles.
The younger generation of musicians, reflected a shift in African American
attitudes and emotions during the second migration. As part of this,
they refused to accommodate the attitudes to commercialism and racism which
were part of the older generation, such as Armstrong, and their performances.
Linking
Issues
Jazz
History
Race:
Segregation
Race:
Civil Rights
Culture:
Role of Subculture
‘American'
music’
Jazz had been a controversial
form of music, and seen as a moral problem during its development.
Swing signalled a degree of acceptance, which led jazz to be claimed as
an ‘American’ music. Popular players such as Louis Armstrong and
Dizzy Gillespie were broadcast to Communist countries and sent overseas
as goodwill ambassadors during the Cold War. However, most jazz and
Bebop players had a bad reputation.
INTERPRETATIONS:
DeVeaux:
-
Challenge
of commercialisation and the political realm of ethnicity have been consistent
throughout American pop music industry. African Americans were
able to assert less control within the popular forms of music such as Swing.
-
Historical
accounts have assumed that the only genuine forms of protest by African
Americans occurred outside the commercial industry. However they
were able to create new branches to increase their professional control.
Bakara:
The
'Americanisation' of jazz represents an appropriation of African American
music and culture without compensation or acknowledgement in return.
Linking Issues
Jazz
History
Race:
Civil Rights
Race:
Other Movements
Culture:
Role of Subculture
QUESTIONS
What was Dizzy's attitude to
'Tomming'? How had his understanding of the personal attitudes of
performers such as Armstrong changed over time?
What new attitudes or awarenesses
seemed important to this change?
How did Dizzy feel about the
popularisation of aspects of Bebop? What was his main concern?
Is it possible to differentiate between the socio-economic and the ethnic
factors?
See "The
Cult of Bebop"
IntroLie
Six Lie Eight Lie
Eight Lie Ten
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