People Get Ready: The Future of Jazz Is Now! (Improvisation, Community, and Social Practice)

In People Get Ready , musicians, scholars, and journalists write about jazz since 1965, the year that Curtis Mayfield composed the famous civil rights anthem that gives this collection its title. The contributors emphasize how the political consciousness that infused jazz in the 1960s and early 1970s has informed jazz in the years since then. They bring nuance to historical accounts of the avant-garde, the New Thing, Free Jazz, "non-idiomatic" improvisation, fusion, and other forms of jazz that have flourished since the 1960s, and they reveal the contemporary relevance of those musical practices. Many of the participants in the jazz scenes discussed are still active performers. A photographic essay captures some of them in candid moments before performances. Other pieces revise standard accounts of well-known jazz figures, such as Duke Ellington, and lesser-known musicians, including Jeanne Lee; delve into how money, class, space, and economics affect the performance of experimental music; and take up the question of how digital technology influences improvisation. People Get Ready offers a vision for the future of jazz based on an appreciation of the complexity of its past and the abundance of innovation in the present. Contributors . Tamar Barzel, John Brackett, Douglas Ewart, Ajay Heble, Vijay Iyer, Thomas King, Tracy McMullen, Paul D. Miller/DJ Spooky, Nicole Mitchell, Roscoe Mitchell, Famoudou Don Moye, Aldon Lynn Nielsen, Eric Porter, Marc Ribot, Matana Roberts, Jaribu Shahid, Julie Dawn Smith, Wadada Leo Smith, Alan Stanbridge, John Szwed, Greg Tate, Scott Thomson, Rob Wallace, Ellen Waterman, Corey Wilkes Acknowledgments ix Introduction. "People Get Ready": The Future of Jazz is Now! / Ajay Heble and Rob Wallace 1 Part I. Beyond Categories: Histories and Mysteries 1. "Now is the Time": Voicing against the Grain of Orality / Aldon Lynn Nielsen 31 2. The Antiquity of the Avant-Garde: A Meditation on a Comment by Duke Ellington / John Szwed 44 3. Listening Trust: The Everyday Politics of George Lewis's "Dream Team" / Julie Dawn Smith and Ellen Waterman 59 4. Jeanne Lee's Voice / Eric Porter 88 5. Kick Out the Jazz! / Rob Wallace 111 Part II. Crisis in New Music? Vanishing Venues and the Future of Experimentation 6. Days of Breads and Roses / Marc Ribot 141 7. Subsidy, Advocacy, Theory: Experimental Music in the Academy, in New York City, and Beyond / Tamar Barzel 153 8. Subsidizing the Experimental Muse:Rereading Ribot / John Brackett 166 9. One Musician Writes about Creative-Music Venues in Toronto / Scott Thomson 175 10. Somewhere There: Contemporary Music, Performance Spaces, and Cultural Policy / Alan Stanbridge 184 Part III. Sound Check The Jazz Photography of Thomas King 197 Part IV. Get Ready: Jazz Futures 11. Black Jazz in the Digital Age / Greg Tate 217 12. Improvising Digital Culture / DJ Spooky and Vijay Iyer 225 13. Ancient to the Future: Celebrating Forty Years of the AACM / Douglas Ewart, Nicole Mitchell, Roscoe Mitchell, Famoudou Don Moye, Matana Roberts, Jaribu Shahid, Wadada Leo Smith, and Corey Wilkes 244 14. People, Don't Get Ready: Improvisation, Democracy, and Hope / Tracy McMullen 265 Works Cited 281 Contributors 295 Index 301 Beyond categories : histories and mysteries. "Now is the time" : voicing against the grain of orality -- Aldon Lynn Nielsen The antiquity of the avant-garde : a meditation on a comment by Duke Ellington -- John Szwed Listening trust : the everyday politics of George Lewis' "dream team" -- Julie Dawn Smith and Ellen Waterman Jeanne Lee's voice -- Eric Porter Kick out the jazz! -- Rob Wallace Crisis in new music? Vanishing venues and the future of experimentalism. Days of bread and roses -- Marc Ribot Subsidy, advocacy, theory : experimental music in the academy, in New York City, and beyond -- Tamar Barzel Subsidizing the experimental muse : rereading Ribot -- John Brackett One musician writes about creative-music venues in Toronto -- Scott Thomson Somewhere there : contemporary music, performance spaces, and cultural policy -- Alan Stanbridge -- Sound check. The jazz photography of Thomas King -- Get ready : jazz futures. Black jazz in the digital age -- Greg Tate Improvising digital culture : a conversation -- DJ Spooky and Vijay Iyer Ancient to the future : celebrating 40 years of the AACM -- Douglas Ewart, Nicole Mitchell, Roscoe Mitchell, Famoudou Don Moye, Matana Roberts, Jaribu Shahid, Wadada Leo Smith, Corey Wilkes People, don't get ready : improvisation, democracy, and hope -- Tracy McMullen. "In People Get Ready, musicians, scholars, and journalists write about jazz since 1965, the year that Curtis Mayfield composed the famous civil rights anthem that gives this collection its title. The contributors emphasize how the political consciousness that infused jazz in the 1960s and early 1970s has informed jazz in the years since then. They bring nuance to historical accounts of the avant-garde, the New Thing, Free Jazz, "non-idiomatic" improvisation, fusion, and other forms of jazz that have flourished since the 1960s, and they reveal the contemporary relevance of those musical practices. Many of the participants in the jazz scenes discussed are still active performers. A photographic essay captures some of them in candid moments before performances. Other pieces revise standard accounts of well-known jazz figures, such as Duke Ellington, and lesser-known musicians, including Jeanne Lee; delve into how money, class, space, and economics affect the performance of experimental music; and take up the question of how digital technology influences improvisation. People Get Ready offers a vision for the future of jazz based on an appreciation of the complexity of its past and the abundance of innovation in the present."--Site web de l'éditeur Now is the time : voicing against the grain of orality / Aldon Lynn Nielsen -- The antiquity of the avant-garde : a meditation on a comment by Duke Ellington / John Szwed -- Listening trust: the everyday politics of George Lewis' "dream team" / Julie Dawn Smith and Ellen Waterman -- Jeanne Lee's voice / Eric Porter -- Kick out the jazz! / Rob Wallace -- Days of bread and roses / Marc Ribot -- Subsidy/advocacy/theory : experimental music in the academy, in New York City, and beyond / Tamar Barzel -- Subsidizing the experimental muse: rereading Ribot / John Brackett -- Musician writes about creative music venues in Toronto / Scott Thomson -- Somewhere there : contemporary music, performance spaces, and cultural policy / Alan Stanbridge -- Sound check : he jazz photography of Thomas King -- Get ready: jazz futures -- Black jazz in the digital age / Greg Tate -- Improvising digital culture: a conversation / DJ Spooky and Vijay Iyer -- Ancient to the future : celebrating 40 years of the AACM / Douglas Ewart, Nicole Mitchell, Roscoe Mitchell, Famoudou Don Moye, Matana Roberts, Jaribu Shahid, Wadada Leo Smith, Corey Wilkes -- People, don't get ready: improvisation, democracy, and hope / Tracy McMullen Musicians, scholars, and journalists write about jazz since 1965, the year that Curtis Mayfield composed the famous civil-rights anthem that gives this collection its title. The contributors emphasise how the political consciousness that infused jazz in the 1960s and early 1970s has informed jazz in the years since then Jazz musicians, scholars, and journalists emphasize how the political consciousness that infused jazz in the 1960s and 1970s has continued to animate the avant-garde, Free Jazz, fusion, and other forms of this lively, always-evolving music