Jazz Consciousness: Music, Race, and Humanity (Music / Culture)

Grounded essays on jazz as a unifying and transcendent force. Winner of the Society of Ethnomusicology's Alan Merriam Prize (2006) Drawing on his background as an ethnomusicologist as well as years of experience as an accomplished jazz musician, Paul Austerlitz argues that jazzand the world-view or consciousness that surrounds itembodies an aesthetic of inclusiveness, reaching out from its African American base to embrace all of humanity. Fans and musicians have made this claim before, but Austerlitz is the first to provide a scholarly basis for it. He examines jazz in relation to race and national identity in the U.S. and then broadens his scope to consider jazz within the African diaspora and in very different transnational scenes, from the Dominican Republic to Finland. Based on extensive fieldwork, the book explores jazz in an extraordinary range of contexts. One of the central chapters is devoted to the history of the groundbreaking Latin jazz band of Machito and his Afro-Cubans, who were inspired by the dancing of both Harlemites and Jewish mamboniks, while the final chapter includes an extensive interview with the seminal drummer Milford Graves, one of Austerlitz's mentors, who holds that music profoundly influences our biorhythms and indeed shapes our thoughts. Drawing on his background as an ethnomusicologist as well as years of experience as an accomplished jazz musician, Paul Austerlitz argues that jazz--and the world-view or consciousness that surrounds it--embodies an aesthetic of inclusiveness, reaching out from its African American base to embrace all of humanity. He examines jazz in relation to race and national identity in the U.S. and then broadens his scope to consider jazz within the African diaspora and in very different transnational scenes, from the Dominican Republic to Finland. Based on extensive fieldwork, the book explores jazz in an extraordinary range of contexts. One of the central chapters is devoted to the history of the groundbreaking Latin jazz band of Machito and his Afro-Cubans, who were inspired by the dancing of both Harlemites and Jewish mamboniks, while the final chapter includes an extensive interview with the seminal drummer Milford Graves, one of Austerlitz's mentors, who holds that music profoundly influences our biorhythms and indeed shapes our thoughts. --From publisher's description Frontmatter Acknowledgments (page vii) Introduction (page ix) 1. Jazz Consciousness in the United States (page 1) 2. Kente Cloth to Jazz: A Matrix of Sound (page 25) 3. Machito and Mario Bauzá: Latin Jazz in the U.S. Mainstream (page 42) 4. Ambivalence and Creativity: The Jazz Tinge in Dominican Music (page 98) 5. "Rhythm-Music": Jazz in Finland (page 119) 6. "My Teacher Is the Human Heart": The Human Music of Milford Graves (by Milford Graves, as told to Paul Austerlitz) (page 157) Conclusion (page 184) Notes (page 191) Videography and Discography (page 223) Bibliography (page 227) Index (page 245) Jazz Consciousness In The United States -- Kente Cloth To Jazz : A Matrix Of Sound -- Machito And Mario Bauzá : Latin Jazz In The U.s. Mainstream -- Ambivilence And Creativity : The Jazz Tinge In Dominican Music -- Rhythm-music : Jazz In Finland -- My Teacher Is The Human Heart : Music Of Milford Graves. Paul Austerlitz. Includes Videography And Discography (p. 223-225), Bibliographical References (p. 227-244), And Index. Jazz Consciousness In The United States -- Kente Cloth To Jazz : A Matrix Of Sound -- Machito And Mario Bauzá : Latin Jazz In The U.s. Mainstream -- Ambivilence And Creativity : The Jazz Tinge In Dominican Music -- Rhythm-music : Jazz In Finland -- My Teacher Is The Human Heart : Music Of Milford Graves. Paul Austerlitz. Includes Videography And Discography (p. 223-225), Bibliographical References (p. 191-222), And Index. "The separate but interrelated essays in this book look at jazz through three large lenses as follows: (1) as an art that is intimately tied to national identity in the United States; (2) as a type of music that is inextricable from its African-influenced base; and (3) as a major current of transnational culture."--Introduction