BACKGROUND HISTORY

• AMERICAN CIVIL WAR 1861 – 1865

• RECONSTRUCTION PERIOD (AFTER THE CIVIL WAR)

• RACIAL SEGREGATION INTRODUCED IN 1880’S

• PLESSY V’S FERGUSSON (1896) INTRODUCED “SEPARATE BUT EQUAL”(PIC)

“SEPARATE BUT EQUAL”

BACKGROUND HISTORY

• BROWN V’S BOARD OF EDUCATION (1954) PAVED THE WAY FOR CHANGE TO

RACIAL SEGREGATION.

• AFRICAN-AMERICAN’S AND OTHER MINORITY GROUPS, SUFFERED

TREMENDOUS DISCRIMINATION.

• JAZZ MUSICIANS TRAVELLING THE COUNTRY DIRECTLY SUFFER THIS

DISCRIMINATION.

SEGREGATION AND JAZZ

• LOUIS ARMSTRONG RECORDS “WHAT DID I DO TO BE SO) BLACK AND BLUE?”

1929

• BENNY GOODMAN LEADS AN INTEGRATED ENSEMBLE DURING THE 1930’S. ONE

OF THE FIRST HIGH PROFILE MUSICIANS TO DO SO.

• DUKE ELLINGTON WRITES “SYMPHONY IN BLACK: A RHAPSODY OF NEGRO

LIFE” AND “BLACK, BROWN AND BEIGE”.

• BILLIE HOLLIDAY RECORDS “STRANGE FRUIT” 1939

“LITTLE ROCK NINE” - 1957

AFTER 1959

• 1957 – NINE AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDENTS ATTEMPT TO ATTEND A

PREVIOUSLY SEGREGATED HIGH SCHOOL IN LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS,

CAUSING A NATIONAL FLASHPOINT.

• BILLIE HOLLIDAY DIES 1959.

• CHARLES MINGUS RELEASES “MINGUS AH UM” WHICH INCLUDES THE

COMPOSITION “FABLES OR FAUBUS”

“FABLES OR FAUBUS”

• LYRICS: OH, LORD, DON'T LET 'EM SHOOT US!

OH, LORD, DON'T LET 'EM STAB US!

OH, LORD, DON'T LET 'EM TAR AND FEATHER US!

OH, LORD, NO MORE SWASTIKAS!

OH, LORD, NO MORE KU KLUX KLAN!

• NAME ME SOMEONE WHO'S RIDICULOUS, DANNY.

GOVERNOR FAUBUS!

WHY IS HE SO SICK AND RIDICULOUS?

HE WON'T PERMIT INTEGRATED SCHOOLS.

• THEN HE'S A FOOL! OH BOO!

BOO! NAZI FASCIST SUPREMACISTS

BOO! KU KLUX KLAN (WITH YOUR JIM CROW PLAN)

• NAME ME A HANDFUL THAT'S RIDICULOUS, DANNY.

FAUBUS, NELSON ROCKEFELLER, EISENHOWER

WHY ARE THEY SO SICK AND RIDICULOUS?

• TWO, FOUR, SIX, EIGHT:

THEY BRAINWASH AND TEACH YOU HATE.

H-E-L-L-O, HELLO

CHARLES MINGUS

CHARLES MINGUS

• BORN 1922 IN NOGALES, ARIZONA OF MIXED RACE HERITAGE.

• WORKED WITH LOUIS ARMSTRONG IN 1943.

• FOUNDED DEBUT RECORDS WITH MAX ROACH

• RECORDED “LIVE AT MASSEY HALL” WITH CHARLIE PARKER, DIZZY GILLESPIE,

BUD POWELL AND MAX ROACH.

CHARLES MINGUS

• DURING THE 1950’S BECOMES A FORMIDABLE FORCE IN THE WORLD OF JAZZ.

• UNCOMPROMISING AND EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH TO COMPOSITION AND

PERFORMANCE.

• ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT COMPOSERS, PERHAPS SECOND ONLY AFTER

DUKE ELLINGTON.

• “TRUE JAZZ IS AN ART, AND AS WITH ALL THE ARTS, IS THE INDIVIDUAL’S

MEANS OF EXPRESSING HIS DEEPEST AND INNERMOST FEELINGS AND

EMOTIONS.” (SHIPTON:2010)

MAX ROACH

MAX ROACH

• 1950-53 ROACH STUDIES CLASSICAL PERCUSSION AT THE MANHATTAN

SCHOOL OF MUSIC.

• 1952 FOUNDED DEBUT RECORDS WITH CHARLES MINGUS.

• 1960 RECORDS “WE INSIST! FREEDOM NOW SUITE”

WE INSIST! FREEDOM NOW.

ORNETTE COLEMAN

ORNETTE COLEMAN

FREE JAZZ

• COMPOSITIONS STILL A PRODUCT OF THEIR TIME –

• BE-BOP AND HARD BOP INFLUENCES CAN CLEARLY BE HEARD.

• ALSO BLUES AND EARLIER FIELD HOLLERS AND WORK SONGS.

CHANGING TIMES

• - “IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO COMPREHEND THE FREE JAZZ MOVEMENT OF THESE SAME

YEARS WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING HOW IT FED ON THIS POWERFUL CULTURAL

SHIFT IN AMERICAN SOCIETY. ITS PRACTITIONERS ADVOCATED MUCH MORE

THAN FREEDOM FROM HARMONIC STRUCTURES OR COMPOSITIONAL FORMS –

ALTHOUGH THAT TOO WAS AN ESSENTIAL PART OF THEIR VISION OF JAZZ. MANY

OF THEM SAW THEIR MUSIC AS INHERENTLY POLITICAL. THEY SAW THAT THEY

COULD, INDEED MUST, CHOOSE BETWEEN PARTICIPATING IN THE EXISTING

STRUCTURES – IN SOCIETY, IN THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY, IN THE JAZZ

WORLD – OR REBELLING AGAINST THEM. THE AESTHETIC COULD NO LONGER BE

ISOLATED FROM THESE CULTURAL CURRENTS.” (GIOIA: 1997)