MUSC 299: Jazz, Civil Rights, & Hip Hop

Monday, January 4th: Introduction
-Freedom Sounds: Civil Rights Call Out to Jazz and Africa, by Ingrid Monson, Oxford University Press, 2007: Chapter 1 - Introduction

Tuesday, January 5th: Jazz Heritage - Origins
-Review of LeRoi Jones’ Blues People by Ralph Ellison, from the New York Review of Books — Link
-100 Years Ago, ‘Crazy Blues’ Sparked a Revolution for Black Women Fans, by Daphne Brooks for The New York Times, August 2020, Link
-Blues Texts and Blues Forms - link to page (see first link)

Wednesday, January 6th: Guest Violinist Chelsea Green; Appropriation of Culture and Musical Style
-An Introduction to America’s Music, Richard Crawford, W.W. Norton & Co., 2001: Chapter 11 - Blacks, Whites, and the Minstrel Stage
-African-American Music: Dynamics of Appropriation and Power, by Perry A. Hall, from Borrowed Power: Essays on Cultural Appropriation, ed. Bruce Ziff, Rutgers University Press, 1997, pp. 31-49. — Link
-Freedom Sounds: Civil Rights Call Out to Jazz and Africa, by Ingrid Monson, Oxford University Press, 2007: Chapter 2 - Jim Crow, Economics, and the Politics of Musicianship

Thursday, January 7th: Early Jazz – Louis Armstrong; The Origins of Hip Hop and Rap
-Keeping Time: Readings in Jazz History, ed. Robert Walser, Oxford University Press, 1999. Excerpts:
-Excerpt A, pp. 3-4, Sidney Bechet’s Musical Philosophy
-Excerpt B, pp. 246-249, Louis Armstrong on Music and Politics

Friday, January 8th: Swing — Duke Ellington
-Keeping Time: Readings in Jazz History, ed. Robert Walser, Oxford University Press, 1999. Excerpts:
-Excerpt C, pp. 96-100, On the Road with Count Basie
-Excerpt D, pp. 111-120, Jazz and Gender During the War Years

Monday, January 11th: Bebop and Modern Jazz; Miles Davis
-Freedom Sounds: Civil Rights Call Out to Jazz and Africa, by Ingrid Monson, Oxford University Press, 2007: Chapter 3 - Modernism, Race, and Aesthetics
-Keeping Time: Readings in Jazz History, ed. Robert Walser, Oxford University Press, 1999. Excerpts:
-Excerpt E, pp. 365-376, Miles Davis Speaks His Mind
-Self-Portrait, by Miles Davis, originally published by Columbia Records Biographical Service, November 26, 1957 — Link

Tuesday, January 12th: MIDTERM EXAMININATION
- Performance (Ellington, Tatum, Monk, Peterson): Matthew Jaskot - piano

Wednesday, January 13th: Nina Simone and the Civil Rights Movement
-The Fierce Courage of Nina Simone, by Adam Shatz, The New York Review of Books - Link
-A Raised Voice: How Nina Simone Turned the Movement into Music, by Claudia Roth Pierpont, The New Yorker - Link
-Memoir in a Melody: The Outrage in Nina Simone’s ‘Mississippi Goddam’, by Matt Staggs for Signature, 2013 - Link
-Nina Simone: Her Art and Life in 33 Songs, by Pitchfork - Link
-Excerpt from Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates, One World, 2015, pp. 6-39.
-Letter from Birmingham City Jail, by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) — Link

Thursday, January 14th: Hard Bop and John Coltrane
-Hearing Voices in John Coltrane’s ‘Alabama’, by John Henderson, 2016 - Link
-African American Music: An Introduction, eds. Mellonee V. Burnim and Portia K. Maultsby, Routledge, 2014: Chapter 9 — Jazz, by Ingrid Monson

Friday, January 15th: Free Jazz, Latin Fusion, and Funk
-African American Music: An Introduction, eds. Mellonee V. Burnim and Portia K. Maultsby, Routledge, 2014: Chapter 14 — Funk, by Portia K. Maultsby

Monday, January 18th: Hip Hop in the 1980s and 1990s; Contemporary Trends in Jazz
-African American Music: An Introduction, eds. Mellonee V. Burnim and Portia K. Maultsby, Routledge, 2014: Chapter 17 — Hip-Hop and Rap, by Dawn M. Norfleet
-Introduction and Chapter 1 from JAY-Z: Made in America, by Michael Eric Dyson, St. Martin’s Press, 2019, pp. 3-63
-My Mother’s Dreams for Her Son and All Black Children, by Hilton Als for The New Yorker, June 2020 — Link

Tuesday, January 19th: Beyoncé — Lemonade ; Kendrick Lamar — To Pimp a Butterfly
-Close to Home: A Conversation About Beyoncé’s ‘Lemonade,’ by Regina Bradley and Dream Hampton, for NPR’s The Record, April 2016 - Link
-Beyoncé’s ‘Lemonade’ is a Celebration of Black Identity (Analysis), by Hunter Harris for IndieWire, April 2016- Link
-Beyoncé’s ‘Lemonade’, Avante-Garde Aesthetics, and Music Video: “The Past and the Future Merge to Meet Us Here,” by Carol Vernalis, Film Criticism Vol. 40, Iss. 3, 2016 - Link
-Chapters 5-7 of The Butterfly Effect, How Kendrick Lamar Ingited the Soul of Black America, by Marcus J. Moore, Atria Books, 2020 - Link

Wednesday, January 20th: Guest Speaker, Composer, and Multi-Instrumentalist Matthew Evan Taylor; Black Lives Matter movement 2014-2020
-Excerpts from Black Lives Matter and Music, eds. Fernando Orejuela and Stephanie Shonekan, Indiana University Press, 2018,
-Foreword, by Portia K. Maultsby
-Introduction, by Fernando Orejuela
-Chapter 1, Black Mizzou: Music and Stories One Year Later, by Stephanie Shonekan
-Composer Matthew Evan Taylor Reacts to Police Violence with New Album, by Jordan Adams for Vermont’s Independent Voice, June 2020 - Link
-He Turned “I Can’t Breathe” into Protest Music, by Giulia Hayward from The New York Times, June 2020 - Link