The Jazz Tradition
Black Music and its White Critics
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 18966410 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Frank Kofsky (Sacramento State College, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1971 |
| Volume | 1 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 403-433 |
| Publication date | 1971-06-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Black Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0021-9347 • E-ISSN: 1552-4566 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/002193477100100402 |
| OpenAlex | W2048589313 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 4 |
For the reader who wishes a superficial work on jazz, written from an avowedly anti-Marxist perspective by an author who confesses that he is repeatedly disengaged by the post1960 music of John Coltrane, by all means Williams (1970) is to be recommended.' Were it simply a matter of Williams' book alone, the matter could be left at that. Implicitly at stake, however, is an issue of much larger and more significant dimensions: who is to have custody over the interpretation of black music, and what uses will its future custodians make of it? Leaving aside the particular merits (or failings) of Williams' work, this issue is sufficiently demanding to require some earnest consideration. To my knowledge, the question was first raised by LeRoi Jones (1 963a). In his essay, Jones called attention to the fact that historically the music has been almost entirely created by blacks but almost entirely interpreted by whites, and that the consequences of this situation were, notwithstanding the occasional exception, virtually always disastrous for those
Art · Art history · Jazz · Literature · Sociology · Music History and Culture · Musicology and Musical Analysis · Psychology · Race, History, and American Society
| Citations per year | 0.1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1986 - 2023 (38) |
| Highly cited | No |