New Day Jazz
Justin Desmangles
This afternoon, in the 5 o'clock hour, I am joined by Grégory Pierrot, assistant professor of English at the University of Connecticut at Stamford, and most recently, translator of the long awaited English language edition of Free Jazz/Black Power, by Philippe Carles and Jean-Louis Comolli
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN ENGLISH, THE CLASSIC VOLUME THAT DEVELOPED A RADICAL NEW UNDERSTANDING OF FREE JAZZ AND AFRICAN AMERICAN CULTURE
In 1971, French jazz critics Philippe Carles and Jean-Louis Comolli cowrote Free Jazz/Black Power, a treatise on the racial and political implications of jazz and jazz criticism. It remains a testimony to the long ignored encounter of radical African American music and French left-wing criticism. Carles and Comolli set out to defend a genre vilified by jazz critics on both sides of the Atlantic by exposing the new sound's ties to African American culture, history, and the political struggle that was raging in the early 1970s. The two offered a political and cultural history of black presence in the United States to shed more light on the dubious role played by jazz criticism in racial oppression.
This analysis critiques the critics, building a work of cultural studies in a time and place where the practice was virtually unknown. The authors reached radical conclusions--free jazz was a revolutionary reaction against white domination, was the musical counterpart to the Black Power movement, and was a music that demanded a similar political commitment. The impact of this book is difficult to overstate, as it made readers reconsider their response to African American music. In some cases it changed the way musicians thought about and played jazz. Free Jazz/ Black Power remains indispensable to the study of the relation of American free jazz to European audiences, critics, and artists.
Philippe Carles was editor-in-chief at Jazz Magazine from 1971 until 2006. He has coauthored several books on jazz, including Dictionnaire du jazz. Jean-Louis Comolli teaches at Université Paris-VIII, FEMIS, and Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. He is a film critic, screenwriter, film director, and jazz author. Grégory Pierrot, is assistant professor of English at the University of Connecticut at Stamford.
Genre
Jazz
Missed the Show?
Artist | Song | Album | Label | Comments |
---|---|---|---|---|
Amiri Baraka | Introduction | Black Spirits: Festival of New Black Poets in America | Black Forum | |
Kali | Circles | Black Spirits: Festival of New Black Poets in America | Black Forum | |
Kali | Black Is | Black Spirits: Festival of New Black Poets in America | Black Forum | |
Kali | Nigger, Do You | Black Spirits: Festival of New Black Poets in America | Black Forum | |
Kali | This Little Light of Mine | Black Spirits: Festival of New Black Poets in America | Black Forum | |
Kali | Ladybird | Black Spirits: Festival of New Black Poets in America | Black Forum | |
Kali | What's Happening to the Heroes | Black Spirits: Festival of New Black Poets in America | Black Forum | |
Johari Amini | A Folk Fable for My People | Black Spirits: Festival of New Black Poets in America | Black Forum | |
Cecil McBee Sextet | Pepi's Samba | Compassion | Enja | |
Malcolm X | (February 14, 1965, excerpt) | The Last Message | Charisma | |
Johnny Dyani | Radebe | Witchdoctor's Son | Steeplechase | |
Airbreak | ||||
Robert Hayden (Gloria Foster, James Earl Jones, Roscoe Lee Browne) | Runagate, Runagate | A Hand is on the Gate | Verve-Folkways | |
Max Roach featuring Abbey Lincoln | Freedom Day | We Insist!: The Freedom Now Suite | Candid | |
Margaret Walker (Gloria Foster) | We Have Been Believers | A Hand is on the Gate | Verve-Folkways | |
Max Roach featuring Abbey Lincoln | Prayer / Protest / Peace | We Insist!: The Freedom Now Suite | Candid | |
Eldridge Cleaver | (July 28, 1968, excerpt) | Dig | More Records | |
Ornette Coleman | Lonely Woman | The Shape of Jazz to Come | Atlantic | |
Airbreak | ||||
Calvin C. Hernton | Jitterbugging in the Streets | New Jazz Poets | Broadside | |
John Coltrane & Rashied Ali | Mars | Interstellar Space | Impulse | |
Malcolm X | (February 14, 1965, excerpt) | The Last Message | Charisma | |
Jayne Cortez | Festivals and Funerals | Celebrations and Solitudes | Strata-East | |
Air | G.v.E. | Air Time | Nessa | |
Airbreak | ||||
Stokely Carmichael | (April 18, 1968, excerpt) | Free Huey! | Black Forum | |
Art Ensemble of Chicago | Theme de Yoyo (excerpt) | Les Stances a Sophie | Nessa | |
Interview with Gregory Pierrot by Justin Desmangles | Interview with Gregory Pierrot by Justin Desmangles | Interview with Gregory Pierrot by Justin Desmangles | Interview with Gregory Pierrot by Justin Desmangles | |
Art Ensemble of Chicago | Theme de Yoyo (excerpt) | Les Stances a Sophie | Nessa | |
Airbreak | ||||
Melvin Jackson | Funky Skull Parts 1 & 2 | Funky Skull | Limelight |