Jazzwomen Part II: “You Can't Get Up There Timidly”
Identifieur interne : 000259 ( Istex/Corpus ); précédent : 000258; suivant : 000260Jazzwomen Part II: “You Can't Get Up There Timidly”
Auteurs : Lewis PorterSource :
- Music educators journal [ 0027-4321 ] ; 1984-10.
English descriptors
- Teeft :
- Alice coltrane, Asch recordings, Bley, Carla bley, Coleman, Coltrane, Earl hines, Female jazz musicians, French album, Genuine tong funeral, George russell, Great deal, Jazz piano, Jazz women, Joanne brackeen, John coltrane, Kirk band, Long lines, Mary williams, Marylou williams, Mccoy tyner, Media exposure, Midnight stomp, Paul bley, Rhythmic drive, Right hand, Several pieces, Solo, Stan getz, Tempo changes, Tropic appetites, Trumpet solo, Women musicians, Zodiac suite.
Url:
DOI: 10.2307/3396356
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ISTEX:DE7E9C288042AE929E70AD3BDDB5C327185F2E95Le document en format XML
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2843</json:string></ref_bibl><bibl></bibl></unitex></namedEntities><ark><json:string>ark:/67375/M70-Q73VG2V7-B</json:string></ark><publicationDate>1984</publicationDate><copyrightDate>1984</copyrightDate><doi><json:string>10.2307/3396356</json:string></doi><id>DE7E9C288042AE929E70AD3BDDB5C327185F2E95</id><score>1</score><fulltext><json:item><extension>pdf</extension><original>true</original><mimetype>application/pdf</mimetype><uri>https://api.istex.fr/document/DE7E9C288042AE929E70AD3BDDB5C327185F2E95/fulltext/pdf</uri></json:item><json:item><extension>zip</extension><original>false</original><mimetype>application/zip</mimetype><uri>https://api.istex.fr/document/DE7E9C288042AE929E70AD3BDDB5C327185F2E95/fulltext/zip</uri></json:item><istex:fulltextTEI uri="https://api.istex.fr/document/DE7E9C288042AE929E70AD3BDDB5C327185F2E95/fulltext/tei"><teiHeader><fileDesc><titleStmt><title level="a" type="main" xml:lang="en">Jazzwomen Part II: “You Can't Get Up There 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<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Porter</surname><given-names>Lewis</given-names></name><aff>Lewis Porter is an assistant professor of music at Tufts University and a jazz scholar and performer.</aff></contrib></contrib-group>
<pub-date pub-type="ppub"><month>10</month><year>1984</year></pub-date><volume>71</volume><issue>2</issue><fpage>42</fpage><lpage>51</lpage><custom-meta-wrap><custom-meta xlink:type="simple"><meta-name>sagemeta-type</meta-name><meta-value>Journal Article</meta-value></custom-meta><custom-meta xlink:type="simple"><meta-name>search-text</meta-name><meta-value> JAZZWOMEN PART II “YOU CAN'T GET UP THERE TIMIDLY” by Lewis Porter This is the second part of a two-part article on women in jazz. The first section, appearing in the September issue of ME J, covered early jazz, the swing era, bebop, and other post-1950 styles. This section discusses Mary Lou Williams, players of avant-garde music, and those currently in the jazz forefront. Photograph courtesy of institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University The avant-garde The late 1950s and early 1960s was another period of controversial innovation in jazz. Two black saxophonists, Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane, were in the forefront of a movement toward spontaneously composed forms and harmonies. Rather than having the rhythm section repeat the chords to a song over and over, Coleman preferred not to predetermine the harmonies. He improvised poly-tonally while the other musicians relied on their ears to find appropriate accompaniment. Coltrane superimposed solos of incredible complexity and length over a pedal point sustained by the rhythm section; later, he too ventured into free group interaction, but in a very different style than Coleman. Both of their styles of music had a rawness and intensity that shocked many listeners and broadened the emotional and timbral range of jazz. Both created improvisations that were remarkably coherent from the structural point of view. The music of Coleman and Coltrane influenced the mainstream of jazz, and also set off a great deal of avant-garde activity that continues into the 1980s. Outstanding among its female proponents are Alice Coltrane, Carla Bley, and Barbara Don- Lew's Porter is an assistant professor of music at Tufts University and a jazz scholar and performer. aid. Trumpeter Donald (born 1942), the least known of the three, was first heard on several records with Sonny Simmons, where she revealed an authoritative, full-toned style, and now has her own albums.1 Alice Coltrane (nee McLeod, 1937), originally a mainstream pianist, was introduced to the avant-garde through John Coltrane, to whom she was married from 1966 until his death the following year. Since that time, she has made a name for herself on the harp and organ as well as the piano. Her greatest influence, says Coltrane, was her late husband: All of my music is John. It's John's influence coming out on piano— When I first joined the [John Coltrane] group I was struggling with the music. Because he was a master, he saw that I was playing with only a few octaves. He told me to play the whole piano, utilize the range so I wouldn't be locked in. It freed me.2 Her playing also sounds partly inspired by the pianist who had preceded her in the group, McCoy Tyner. Like Tyner, she uses pedal points for dramatic effects and favors pentatonic scale patterns and chords built on fourths. But she does not have his rhythmic drive and more traditional (as of the early 1960s) sense of phrasing. Her solos are rippling, rhythmically free explorations of polytonal runs. (For example, hear her solo on “Leo”)3. Her harp playing consists even more exclusively of flowing arpeggios. As in much of the avant-garde, the music is concerned with intense emotions and gradual changes in texture rather than individual melodic phrases or motives. Since the organ is unsuited for flowing arpeggios, it brings out Col-trane's melodic side. On a recent “live” recording, “Affinity,” she 1. Sonny Simmons, Rumasuma (Contemporary S-7623), Manhattan Egos (Arhoolie 8003), and her own recordings on the Cadence label. 2. Angela Dews, “Alice Coltrane,” Essence, December 1971, 42. 3. John Coltrane, Concert in Japan (MCA 4135). builds from the attractive sing-song theme to long lines having fascinating twists, effective pauses, and occasional trills.4 The audience audibly responds to the intensity of a wailing portamento effect she produces later in the performance. The bass and drums generate a more conventional “swing” on this than is found on most of her recordings, but she maintains a flexible and speech-like rhythm over this background. Clearly one of the foremost organists in jazz today, Coltrane, on another excellent recording, “Battle at Armageddon,” creates a variety of textures. Notice, for example, the eerie sustained clusters after the drum solo. The busy string arrangements for several pieces on the album Universal Consciousness display another facet of her talent.5 Whereas Alice Coltrane is primarily an improvisor, Carla Bley (nee Borg, 1938) applies the techniques and esthetics of the avant-garde to written music. Her compositions are widely admired by musicians, and have been recorded by such leading figures as George Russell, Gary Burton, Art Farmer, and her former husband, Paul Bley. More recently, Carla Bley has taken an active role as bandleader, performer, and publisher of her own works in concert and on recordings. One of her earliest pieces, “O Plus One,” recorded by Paul Bley in 1957, has an unusual arrangement.6 The structure is basically AABA but is divided into 8-8-4-4-bars instead of the usual eight bars to each section. The record begins with an improvised chorus by the vibraphone in a slow, balladic tempo. This is followed by a sudden shift to 4. Transfiguration (Warner Brothers 2WB-3218). 5. “Battle at Armageddon” is included in this album, Universal Consciousness (Impulse AS-9210). The album credits read “arrangements by Alice Coltrane, transcription by Ornette Coleman,” the exact meaning of which is not made clear. Perhaps Coltrane worked her ideas out on the piano and Coleman wrote them out for the strings. 6. The Paul Bley Quartet, Solemn Meditation (GNP Crescendo S31). a faster tempo, where an angular sixteen-bar written interlude occurs. The pianist solos over the AABA structure (omitting the second A in his second chorus), then the first twelve bars of the interlude return. The coda, which sounds as if it were conducted, is based on the percussive chords in the last four bars of the interlude, here played very slowly and dramatically. “Zig Zag” and “Bent Eagle,” recorded in the early 1960s, demonstrate Bley's maturing wit and originality.7 The former is a catchy theme with high-speed lines in the bridge, and follows an ABA form in (3_4)_6-(3-4) measures. This pattern, understandably, does not occur during the solos!) In contrast, “Bent Eagle” is based totally on a two-note motive with changing intervals; it is a fascinating compositional exercise. Coleman, who played with Paul Bley in the late 1950s, heavily influenced Carla Bley's approach to music. Asked if she was affected by Coleman's type of melody, she hesitated at first, then concurred: Yes. I don't know, I believed in it so completely_I don't know if it affected me, because I don't see much of him in what I do, but I believed in it completely—yes, of course, because he relieved us of the changes [chord progressions] all of a sudden. The music could let the changes follow the melody instead of the melody following the changes. It's so hip! The changes follow the melody!8 Like Coleman, Bley rarely dictates the chord progressions to be followed by the soloists. But her compositions do not sound like his. For one thing, she is more interested in harmony, especially poignant, chromatic harmony and lots of bi-tonality. The delightful composition “King Korn” (Figure 1) illustrates several of her strengths: the ability to fashion an engrossing, witty theme out of a brief opening motive, the constantly surprising chro- 7. George Russell, Outer Thoughts (Milestone M-47027; 1975). 8. Howard Mandel, “Carla Bley: Independent Ringleader,” down beat, 1 June 1978, 38. Figur. l Dnfl Knrn “ vright Alrar Musk (aria Bkt% Figur* f Huh(la in Kisk I opyright Alra matte harmonies, and the natural rhythmic flow. At the other end of the emotional spectrum, a slmv piece entitled “Cloter” is haunting and profound “A (ienume Tong Funeral” (1967) was the first of several multisrr tional orchestrated pieces by Bley.10 Among the more recenl ones.a. Escalator Over the HUT (1970) and Tropic Appetites” (1974), both featuring texts by Paul Han Widely considered Bky*i msuor opus, “Escalator is an edSCtlC product of our times, ttafeng synthesizers and electric guitars, and jux taposing free and modal improvisation with completely written passages. The text is modern poetry, and there is no plot as such. The satiric use of voicee In some parts clearly dertvee from the Beatles, for whom Bley has expressed great admiration. Although the nmet minute piece is impossible to CSftegO rize, Bley explained that, We loosely used the term opera” from the start. Of course, it does not follow that form. We thought that it needed a new word: Chronotransduc-tion. But we sometimes still call it ‘opera” for short.1-’ In some places the collaborations of Bley and Haines re* all those of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht with their old-timey accompaniments played by a small band and declamatory melodies designed to highlight the I the biting sarcasm of the tad itself and its concern with the seamy side” of life (Figure 2 9 Both pieces have been recorded sever i tor example King Kom s on Paul Be* Turrvng Rotnt (imprc s 373641 1975) and “Ooaer * on the Paul Bley Tno Closer (ESP 1021 1966. out ol pnnt) 10 Only available on a French album. the Gary Burton Ouanet A Genuine Tong Fune Cans Bey (RCA PL 42766 1968) 11 Escalator Over the Mi (JCOA 3-LP-EOTH bo*eo set with booklet) 7qp*c Appef'fes(Watt 1) Biey% recordings as wet) as scores are available from her own New Musc Distribution Center. 500 Broadway New York 10025 -e Cuscuna Cana Bieys New Opera Worth the Toil and Trouble, down bear 30 March 1972 16 Despite its use of bitonahty, Bir s recent work has i wanner qualit than SOfM of her earlier nti\ be* Mite oi the pres of horns and voices and the mote Bowing melodies. Die latter Hen contracted out t ihoft moth ited in chromatfe ally descending sequent es supported immon ton*- progressions ins may ! backed bj.i i hordsl ostinsto r b reiterated hali motive, per heps out a rumbling pedal point—simple but effective niques. Bley is that rarity in the jazz world—a true composer Si • cently explained her | notated music: There are m unc Impn \ i rs who can rtain you all night, but ran- I |la lnn olos at home, hut I'd never do it in publ BKMMJ I don t understand it. At home we play for hours and hours, and tfo ml to. follow whim, but that's private, man When I have an audien • there, I pit tun” myself in the front row and I do what I want to hear. I'm a diifirult listener. I demand my attention 1m held I demand I be engaged and find something interesting I demand that my emotions be huilt from the beginning to the end of,t I know what I want to hear M I listener and I have ver high itandsrdi I d for the imaginary me” in the audience And that's why I'm interested it posed music, because somebody:it about it. the sat there, mom - thinking about a piece of mu Bley is very modest about her pianistn talents and rarely takes improusrd solos. In her featured solo on War Orphans” (mekxj) b] Coleman), ho -lie builds el teiti\el from a spare right hand I busy left hand counterpoint to Lnt4 She does not play \ ouldn t fly up and down the keys it I is lire in the h” it that is lant to the quality of the mu- iBiey 40 14 Charlie Haden The Liberation Mus-c Orches fa (impose AS 9193 Our ot i 15 Bret Pnmack Carta Bey First Lady o the Avant Ga'de Contemporary Keyboard 5 no 2 (February 1979). 10 Mess inorr J-about 114 indis n and boa aeses is heard \i fV tjffTf; a and Low.’ Currently. Bley leads a ten \ band in highly accessible, slap-happy renditions of her si H-r media re has m creased tremendously and she finds the whok rejuvenating. ‘When I got the band together.” she said I Started going OUl 100 percent for the first tune in my life And stopped being an inward, introspective, unsocial, misanthropic, confused, tormented person I became Countess Basle! That's what the band rails me on my good nights 16 Sy Johnson Ana Now The Emerging Wacko Countess Carta Bey” Jazz 2 no 3 (Spring 1978) 40 Mary Lou Williams Mary Lou Williams (nee Mary Ella Serums 1910 EM I, is without question the outstanding female in stmmentalist in jazz history As a pianist and composer, she pi an important role m so many different enis of jazz, and did so much within each era, that it would have been impossible to treat her adequately within any one of the pre ceding sections. ‘11 tion is devoted to her work. A resident of Pittsburgh from the age of four. Williams went on the road whOe still in high school \i favorite piano pi said Jelly Roll Morton. Karl Hines, Waller, and James V. John- Mary Lou Wilt son.” 17 She first recorded in 1927 with Jeanette James's Synco-Jazzers, and on “Midnight Stomp” the seventeen year old displayed impressive drive and technical command. The influence of Hines was evident in the octave tremolos (first four measures of the solo) and in the rhythmic freedom of the left hand. “Earl Hines was a Pittsburgh boy, and, of course, I listened to him every chance I got.” 18 “Drag ‘Em,” a solo piano blues from 1930, 17. The Territories, Volume 1: John Williams— Andy Kirk (Arcadia 2006; 1975). 18. Whitney Balliett, “Out Here,” in Such Sweet Thunder (New York: Bobbs-Merrill, 1971), 155. brings out the Johnson side of Williams's playing.19 The early solos are immature in structure. They tend to be jam-packed with stock ideas haphazardly thrown in. For example, one flashy pattern occurs in measure nine of her improvisation on “Midnight Stomp,” in the same place in another 1927 version of the tune under the title “Now Cut Loose,” and in measure twenty-four of the “Sophomore” solo from 1930 (Figure 3). Obviously, this was practiced beforehand and inserted when the occasion presented itself. 19. Last available on a French album, Piano in Style, Volume 2 (1928-1938): Black Fingers (MCA 510.122). On the other hand, as early as 1929 Williams was capable of producing a relaxed and creative solo on “Sumpin” Slow and Low.” 20 We can compare excerpts of her improvisation with the last two bars of the preceding trumpet solo as a case in point. The trumpet solo (Figure 4)—a fine one in some ways—nevertheless sounds stiff and tied to the beat, while Williams's solo is swinging and highly syncopated. An excerpt from her solo (Figure 5) shows her relaxed and supple imagination at play. In the fourth measure, the right hand 20. “Midnight Stomp,” “Now Cut Loose,” “Sophomore,” and “Sumpin” Slow and Low” are on The Territories, Volume 1 (Arcadia 2006). Photograph county of inMMt of jto $tm*m. fkitgfs Ui 1 ? r g S ?=* ‘J JO imi Barni enters mv and Li ‘ drops down in register, then surprises the listener with an accented dissonance on the fourth beat—a diminished chord. At the end of this solo (Figure 6), she plays a bass line almost entirely off the beat (this was anticipated three measures before). Williams continued to develop as a pianist while with the Andy Kirk band during the 1930s. On a series of 1935 recordings without the band, her melodic lines are admirably smooth and swinging. One of her trademarks was an upward glissando done with the underside of the thumb, so that the top note could be struck with the fifth finger. This can be heard on the bridge of the third chorus of “Swingin” for Joy,” as well as many other recordings.21 While with the Kirk band, Williams also developed into a first-rate composer: Don Redman was my model. I could hear my chords in my head but didn't know how to write them. Kirk helped me—he was a good musician—and I learned. I was very high-strung and sensitive. When the boys fooled around at rehearsals with what I wrote, I got mad and snatched the music off their stands and began to cry and went home to bed. I'd discovered I had perfect pitch, and I 21. This observation was made by Dan Morgen-stern in the liner notes to the long-playing album reissue of this piece, Jazz Pioneers: Coleman Hawkins and Mary Lou Williams (Prestige 7647; 1972). couldn't stand hearing wrong notes any more than I can now. But I could expand with that band and try all sorts of things. We played everything—ballads, jump tunes, novelties, slow blues, fast blues—and they were all different.22 Williams's original swing era compositions and arrangements of tunes by other composers are characterized by a light touch, much counterpoint between saxophones and brass, and fresh melodic invention. The theme of “Walkin” and Swingin,” in At, is followed by a harmonized solo—a “soli” in jazz parlance—in F for saxes and one trumpet. The ensemble at the end includes a witty interpolation of “The Peanut Vendor.” The arrangement of “12th Street Rag” is especially creative, with an opening dialogue between reeds and brass, and, after the sax solo, a surprising interlude in which the trombones alternate notes in hocket style. Once again, there are clever quotations during the last chorus. “Mary's Idea” has an unusual theme, and its final chorus of “riffs” uses three-over-four cross rhythms. The backgrounds for soloists often contain original touches. The bass and muted brass play together behind the clarinet soloist on “Mary's Idea,” at a time when it was very unusual for the bass to be 22. Whitney Balliett, “Out Here,” 147-148. assigned such a melodic role. On “The Count,” the trumpet solo is accompanied in a refreshingly spare manner—simply drums, played with brushes and interspersed with occasional guitar chords.23 Williams left the Kirk band in 1942, beginning a period of major changes in her life. She was one of the few artists of her generation who took readily to the innovations of bebop, and she personally befriended its pianist-composers Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, and Tadd Dameron. As early as 1940, behind the bass solo on “Zonky,” she had used advanced harmonies.24 In February 1944, she recorded an unaccompanied version of “Yesterdays” that has modern introductory and closing chords and a chromatic bass line under the theme statement. 25 In the middle of “Yesterdays,” she solos in the “stride” style, but the lush chords and single-note lines also show the influence of Art Tatum. She continued to use a stride left hand during most of her solos until about 1947. After about 1947, Williams adopted more techniques of the bop pianists. In “Mary Lou,” from that year, and most subsequent recordings, she solos in block chords and single-note lines, and only provides occasional chordal punctuations behind other soloists.26 On recordings made in the 1950s, her melodies are nicely shaped, if a bit lacking in rhythmic drive (“Lullaby of the Leaves” is an exception to the latter point).27 Williams also grew immensely as a composer during this period. She 23. “Walkin” and Swingin” and “Mary's Idea” are on Andy Kirk: Instrumentally Speaking (1936-1942) (MCA 1308). “12th Street Rag” and “The Count” are on the French album Andy Kirk and His Clouds of Joy, Volume 3 (1938-1942): Clouds at Sundown (MCA 510.144). 24. Jazz Women: A Feminist Retrospective (Stash ST-109; 1977). 25. Jazz Piano Greats (Folkways FJ 2852; 1974). 26. Mary Lou Williams: The Asch Recordings, 1944-1947 (Folkways FA 2966; 1977). 27. The Mary Lou Williams Quartet Featuring Don Byas (GNP Crescendo 9030; 1974). wrote a two-part arrangement of “Stardust” for septet, in which there are tempo changes and fascinating interludes.28 “Mary's Waltz” has a remarkably modern chord progression, and “N.M.E.” is a blues that suggests Lennie Tristano's work in its unbroken flow of eighth notes and unpredictable changes of direction.29 Her most outstanding achievement was the “Zodiac Suite,” recorded in 1945 with bass and drums accompanying her on seven of the twelve sections. According to the composer, a great deal of it was originally improvised and even recorded without the aid of sheet music. Each section has one or two well-defined themes, which are repeated in varying order; most sections also contain interludes, tempo changes, and a coda. Some parts (“Aries,” “Cancer”) sound more improvised than others (“Taurus,” “Gemini”), but all are fascinating. The first theme of “Taurus” was obviously inspired by Claude Debussy, while the second, after the drums enter, reflects the style of Duke Ellington. “Leo” begins with an airy theme played over a contrasting marching drumbeat. The beginning of one of the most memorable sections, “Libra,” is based on major seventh chords descending by half steps. “Pisces” is, like the later “Mary's Waltz,” a jazz waltz, which was a rarity at the time. Ostinato figures are used in at least half the pieces. The influence of European impressionism prevails throughout the “Zodiac Suite,” but many of the pieces are also colored by the harmonies of the blues. To my knowledge, the “Zodiac Suite” has only been performed once in its entirety.30 This is a shame, because it is 28. Mary Lou Williams: The Asch Recordings (Folkways FA 2966). 29. Both are on The Mary Lou Williams Quartet (GNP 9030). 30. Mary Lou Williams Trio, Zodiac Suite (Folkways FTS 32844; 1975). Williams performed three sections with the Dizzy Gillespie big band in 1957 (Verve VE-2-2514). one of the best extended works to come out of jazz. In the midfifties, Williams went through another transitional period. She completely retired from music for a time to devote herself to religion and charitable causes. During the 1960s she gradually returned to full-time musical activity, and during the 1970s was extremely productive as a performer, recording artist, teacher (her last position was at Duke University), and composer. Williams explained some of the reasons behind her retirement and comeback: I played in England for eleven months (in 1953), and spent money as fast as I made it. I was distracted and depressed. At a party. I met this GI. He noticed something was wrong, and he said, “You should read the Ninety-first Psalm.” I went home and I read all the Psalms. They cooled me and made me feel protected. Then I went to France, and played theatres and clubs, and I still didn't feel right. Dave Po-chonet, a French musician, asked me to his grandmother's place in the country to rest. I stayed there six months, and I just slept and ate and read the Psalms and prayed. When I came back from Europe, I decided not to play anymore_During the week I sat in Our Lady of Lourdes, a Catholic church over on a Hundred and Forty-second Street. I just sat there and meditated. All kinds of people came in—needy ones and cripples—and I brought them here and gave them food and talked to them and gave them money. Music had left my head, and I hardly remembered playing_ I became a kind of fanatic for a while. I'd live on apples and water for nine days at a time. I stopped smoking. I shut myself up here like a monk. Father [Anthony] Woods got worried, and he told me, “Mary, you're an artist. You belong at the piano and writing music. It's my business to help people through the church and your business to help people through music.” He got me playing again.31 Many of Williams's later compositions have religious themes. The best known is probably “Mary Lou's Mass” (recorded 1970-72, originally entitled “Music for Peace”), an ex- 31. Whitney Balliett, “Out Here,” 159-160. tended work for singers and jazz group that uses a variety of idioms.32 One section, “Lamb of God,” employs screams, uvulations, and other striking effects. An earlier effort in choral writing, “Saint Martin de Porres” (1964), was acclaimed for its modern harmonies. The rather unidiomatic writing in these pieces does involve awkward intervals for the singers, and the general mood of the text seems to be more important than the specific meanings of words or phrases. As a pianist, Williams continued to absorb ideas from younger musicians. The chords that begin and end “It Ain't Necessarily So33 could have been played by Herbie Hancock, one of the outstanding pianists of the past twenty years. The introductory chords on her “live” 1977 recording of “I Can't Get Started34 suggest two keys at once (Figure 7). (Williams chooses to play this song in D\ rather than the conventional key, C.) The second A section contains a sudden leap upward where Williams uses quartal harmony in the style of one of her current favorites, McCoy Tyner (Figure 8). What a difference from her 1920s work! The only weaknesses of her late works rested in subtle details—an occasional lack of definition in her attack and a tendency to falter rhythmically during long lines. Williams seemed both fascinated and repelled by contemporary developments in jazz piano. On the one hand, as we have just seen, she clearly absorbed ideas from the new players, and even recorded with avant-gardist Cecil Taylor (with, however, disastrous results). At the same time, she said, “What you're hearing these days is black magic, exercises, foreign sounds, rock, and free. You're not hearing 32. Mary Lou's Mass (Mary 102, 1975). 33. “Saint Martin de Porres” and “Ain't Necessarily So” are on Mary Lou Williams (Folkways FJ 2843; 1964) also listed as Mary 101. 34. Mary Lou Williams and Cecil Taylor, Embraced (Pablo 2620108; 1978). Out of tempo f(2nd time) Figure 7. “I Can't Get Star slower faster * k Figure 8. “I Can't Get Started.” Rhythms approximate. jazz.” 35 She expressed her ambivalent feelings in several pieces intended to represent the jazz avant-garde, rather unflatteringly titled “A Fungus Amungus” and “Zoning Fungus II.” 36 A comparison of the two recorded versions of the first piece shows that the seemingly random improvisation is, in fact, largely prepared. Both have an opening section of right hand runs over dissonant chords, followed by a slower section. Although provocative, these pieces fail to capture the essence of today's “free” jazz. Williams was disinterested in the question of sexual discrimination. “I never had any trouble because I was a woman. You see, you can't get up there timidly. If you do, you're not thinking like a man. I just got up strong and played like a man.” 37 To understand her attitude, 35. Len Lyons, “Mary Lou Williams: Outspoken Exponent of Pure Jazz Piano,” Contemporary Keyboards, no. 10 (October 1977), 11. 36. The first version of “A Fungus Amungus” is on Mary Lou Williams (Folkways FJ 2843); the second is on Williams's The History of Jazz (Folkways FJ 2860; 1974). “Zoning Fugus II” is on New American Music, Volume 1 (Folkways FTS 33901). 37. Adrienne Manns, “Mary Lou Williams: Syncopated Swing,” Essence, November 1978, 20. one must remember that she grew up in a milieu where women's rights weren't an issue. Women musicians were assumed to be inferior, and Williams was the exception, and proud of it. But Mary Lou Williams played and composed superior jazz for over fifty years while keeping up with new developments in the music. Her musical achievements were in themselves a great contribution toward the increased acceptance of women in jazz. The present During the past ten years, more exceptional women musicians have entered the mainstream of jazz than ever before. Like most contemporary jazz players, they are highly trained and versatile. This is necessary because contemporary jazz draws upon the innovations of Col-trane and the avant-garde, the popular musics of Brazil and the West Indies, the soul music of black America, rock music, and other idioms in addition to the standard “swinging” modern jazz tradition. Still, keyboardists remain prominent. Joanne Brackeen (born 1938), voted the pianist deserving wider recognition in the 1979 and 1982 down beat International Critics Poll, has recorded with Art Blakey, Stan Getz, and many times under her own name. Less flamboyant perhaps, but equally original, is Connie Crothers, a former disciple of Lennie Tristano. Jessica Williams is a little-known pianist who has recorded some stunning unaccompanied pieces. Patrice Rushen (born 1954) has attained greater popularity than the others by producing albums in the “funk” vein with vocals and danceable beats, but she can play impressively when she chooses to. Among players of other instruments, guitarist Monette Sudler's fresh approach to composing and playing deserves mention, as well as Emily Remler, surprise winner of the new talent category on guitar in the 1982 down beat critics poll. There are new wind players too. Janice Robinson is an outstanding trombonist and composer. In England, saxophonist Barbara Thompson garners high praise. And there are many others whom space limitations prevent from mentioning. It also seems that the racial situation may be balancing out—of those mentioned, Rushen, Sudler, and Robinson are black. Black trombonist Melba Liston, well known as a composer for over thirty years, has recently organized interracial women's groups to feature young talent. Women in jazz are beginning to receive long overdue recognition. The first Women's Jazz Festival, held March 17-19, 1978, in Kansas City, Missouri, was a great success, paving the way for a second festival that occurred March 23-25, 1979. The festival has become an annual event. Women's Jazz Festival, a nonprofit corporation, has also compiled a national directory of women active in jazz.38 An International Festival of Women in Jazz and Dance was held July 3-7,1979, in Rome. The Universal Jazz Coalition in New York City sponsored a week of concerts entitled “A Salute to Women in Jazz” at the end of June in 1978 and has continued to do so each year since. An all-female group, Aerial, won the 38. Available from Women's Jazz Festival, P.O. Box 22321, Kansas City, MO 64113. Alice Coltrane 1979 Women's Jazz Festival Combo Contest and has since appeared at The Newport in New York Jazz Festival. Yet, while there has been much progress in terms of concert and recording opportunities and media exposure, difficulties remain. Some writers continue to take a condescending tone toward jazz women. As recently as 1977, Leroy Os-transky described “jazzwomen” as those female musicians “who have asked to be judged as jazz musi- cians and have attempted to provide us with creative improvisations (sometimes successfully, sometimes not) but always made the attempt on the spur of the moment, before our very ears as it were” (author's emphasis).39 All of this talk of “attempting” suggests that Ostransky has doubts as to their success. Certainly he wouldn't define a jazz musician in general as “someone who attempts to improvise jazz,” but simply as “someone who improvises jazz.” The quality of the result is irrelevant. Joanne Brackeen related an experience that shows the type of discrimination women still have to deal with. She spoke to a club owner over the phone and told him of her performances and recordings with Stan Getz and under her own leadership, to which he replied, “Well, you'll have to come and play for me.” Brackeen felt that “he really didn't believe anything I'd said!40 It's hard to imagine that a similarly qualified male would have received the same response. What is needed in order to overcome these attitudes is simply for people to listen to the music without prejudice. Too many males demand that a woman be a great musician before they will concede that she is good. Yet, these same men are avid fans of many male musicians who are simply good, not great. The point is that all good musicians, male and female, deserve an audience. Ideally, this article, in discussing the music of some of the best jazz women, will help people listen more fully to all female jazz musicians. Qualified scholars are needed to continue the study of the music of women in jazz. There are many articles to be written, on subjects that begin with the musicians mentioned here. It is my sincere hope that this article stimulates more scholarly interest in female jazz musicians, along with greater public recognition. 39. Leroy Ostransky, Understanding Jazz (New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, 1977), 284. 40. Quoted in ReginaWeinrich, “Play It, Momma,” The Village Voice, 3 July 1978, 64. </meta-value></custom-meta></custom-meta-wrap></article-meta></front></article></istex:document></istex:metadataXml><mods version="3.6"><titleInfo lang="en"><title>Jazzwomen Part II: “You Can't Get Up There Timidly”</title></titleInfo><titleInfo type="alternative" lang="en" contentType="CDATA"><title>Jazzwomen Part II: “You Can't Get Up There Timidly”</title></titleInfo><name type="personal"><namePart type="given">Lewis</namePart><namePart type="family">Porter</namePart><affiliation>Lewis Porter is an assistant professor of music at Tufts University and a jazz scholar and performer.</affiliation></name><typeOfResource>text</typeOfResource><genre type="research-article" displayLabel="research-article" authority="ISTEX" authorityURI="https://content-type.data.istex.fr" valueURI="https://content-type.data.istex.fr/ark:/67375/XTP-1JC4F85T-7">research-article</genre><originInfo><publisher>SAGE Publications</publisher><place><placeTerm type="text">Sage CA: Los Angeles, CA</placeTerm></place><dateIssued encoding="w3cdtf">1984-10</dateIssued><copyrightDate encoding="w3cdtf">1984</copyrightDate></originInfo><language><languageTerm type="code" authority="iso639-2b">eng</languageTerm><languageTerm type="code" authority="rfc3066">en</languageTerm></language><relatedItem type="host"><titleInfo><title>Music educators journal</title></titleInfo><genre type="journal" authority="ISTEX" authorityURI="https://publication-type.data.istex.fr" valueURI="https://publication-type.data.istex.fr/ark:/67375/JMC-0GLKJH51-B">journal</genre><identifier type="ISSN">0027-4321</identifier><identifier type="eISSN">1945-0087</identifier><identifier type="PublisherID">MEJ</identifier><identifier type="PublisherID-hwp">spmej</identifier><part><date>1984</date><detail type="volume"><caption>vol.</caption><number>71</number></detail><detail type="issue"><caption>no.</caption><number>2</number></detail><extent unit="pages"><start>42</start><end>51</end></extent></part></relatedItem><identifier type="istex">DE7E9C288042AE929E70AD3BDDB5C327185F2E95</identifier><identifier type="ark">ark:/67375/M70-Q73VG2V7-B</identifier><identifier type="DOI">10.2307/3396356</identifier><identifier type="ArticleID">10.2307_3396356</identifier><recordInfo><recordContentSource authority="ISTEX" authorityURI="https://loaded-corpus.data.istex.fr" valueURI="https://loaded-corpus.data.istex.fr/ark:/67375/XBH-0J1N7DQT-B">sage</recordContentSource></recordInfo></mods><json:item><extension>json</extension><original>false</original><mimetype>application/json</mimetype><uri>https://api.istex.fr/document/DE7E9C288042AE929E70AD3BDDB5C327185F2E95/metadata/json</uri></json:item></metadata><serie></serie></istex></record>Pour manipuler ce document sous Unix (Dilib)
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