Author: Tommie williams
Title: Blue note
About the I am a music major who has been out of college for 2 decades and the
Author: world around me has changed.
Keywords: Notes on the piano and there colors
Abstract: Jazz as it is studied on the college campus who are the students and who
are the innovators of the music.Field opsevation on campus in music
building and veiwing data at UIUC archives as well as the student body.
Initial Interveiws were conducted and observations along with field notes were
Exercises: recorded.
Question: Why is there so few African-Americans studing music at UIUC.
Plan:
Data:
Discuss: Tommie Williams
Rhetoric102, Section E
April 30, 2010
Blue Notes
I am writing this research paper on the UIUC music department and its
history of jazz music. First I would like to take a look at how the jazz
department had its beginning. Secondly I would like to look at the diversity of
the early jazz department. Finally I would like to look into who is responsible
for recording the universities history as it relates to the jazz department and
does race play a role in determining who will be recorded in the school’s
history or retained in the archives.
ABSTRACT
Since UIUC is a big college where diverse races are studying together,
I was wondering why there are not more African-Americans in the Jazz
program. In this research I want to focus on the music that is taught and the
influences of the music and the history of the jazz department. Jazz and bebop
have been described by many as a movement and an expression of a voice
against commercialism. Wolfe argues in his article Stan Forgotten Bebop Tenor
Saxophone that jazz is a form or revolution against the white mainstream
America. Wolfe further argues that in Scott Deveaux, book (The Birth of
Bebop) describes Jazz and Bebop as a form or expressive music created by
African-Americans musicians Parker, Gillespie, and Monk. There were many
others but the point is that it was an expressive voice against the mainstream of
America.
Introduction
While at the Sousa Archives for Music and Fine Arts, Scott Schwartz
Associate Professor of the Library Administrations Archives for music and Fine
Arts during a research interview informed me of project 500 and the push to
integrate the UIUC college campus.
Why was there a need for project 500 and did that have any impact on the
music department. In 1957 Warren Smith an African-American was a graduate
of the school of music at the University. This information was obtained from
Directory information from a ledger card of Warren Smith in the University of
Illinois Archives Series25/3/17, box368, .Two brothers were also members of
the early jazz band, Ron and Cecil Bridgewaters along with Carl Johnson.
There were more after project500 to come to the music department but I was
unable to find pictures of those early African-Americans who played in the jazz
band to be photographed with the jazz band. In 1968 there were 565 newly
admitted African-American and Latino students that enrolled at the University
who were traditionally underrepresented on campus. If one were to ask the
question why were any American underrepresented would that be considered
racism. Racism can be described as institutional (gov’t,school) or
political(power) or anyone that has the authority to attach a certain behavior to a
specific race is in itself racism.
Jazz music was influenced by African-Americans as well as the
contribution of the whole of America. Jazz is a made in America music and so
the whole of America deserves the credit for the expressive form of the music. I
do not want to give the reader of this research the idea that Jazz is solely an
African-American art form, but it is as diverse as America and represents the
diversity of America as a voice of the American culture as a whole. Nicole
Rustin’s’ article on “JAZZ RACISM “which appeared in the Critical Sociology,
Vol.32.No.2 (2006):pg.309 contends that” Jazz represents a barometer of the
national character of America, revolutionary for many and evolutionary for
others”. In 1959 schools were not segregated, yet. Even while the music was
being intergraded, diverse bands were springing up and performing together the
college campus of America was very segregated. The music was evolving into
an expressive form or language of revolution but the country had not yet
accepted the African-American as a equal member of the society. To record
history but leave out those who influenced that history can in a sense be looked
upon as racism. Self-segregation and institutional segregation is all a part of
who we are today and its effect on the music contributed to the expressive form
of jazz and what was studied in the music as well as what was expressed in the
music. Do others see us African-Americans as being invisible how does one
cultivate a music form but be invisible to the history of that specific art form?
My research found very little information on the role of the African-American
history at the UIUC and the historical pictures did not exhibit any AfricanAmericans even though the music was greatly influenced by the culture of
African-Americans.
In 1959 there was a new sound coming from the music program at the
UIUC a sound that was considered by some to be the devils music’s. Working
to fill a void in the music program a violist by the name of John Garvey started
the Modern Jazz Quartet on campus. The Modern Jazz Quartet was UIUC first
jazz band. While looking for information on the early Jazz quartet at the UIUC
library archives for music I found photos from1969 and 1970 in an old daily
illini dated Tuesday, April 14, 1981 under John Garvey’s leadership the jazz
Quartet went to tour the Soviet Union for 32 days where they performed in
Moscow. Another article that appeared in THE CHAMPAIGN-URBANA
NEWS-GAZETTE, Friday, August 24, 1990 article titled “Jazz in the Soviet
Union “ asserted that most of the earlier compositions the band performed were
written for and by African-Americans such as Duke Ellington and Count Basie.
While both news articles contained photos of the early jazz quartets no AfricanAmericans were visible in the photos. Student enrollment statistics at the DMI
website fall 2004 E-records repository indicates that their where AfricanAmerican band members present in those days but no photos. I found it to be
very interesting that even though the music was widely influenced by AfricanAmericans there were not a lot of African-Americans present in those early jazz
bands and no photos that I could find of those early African-American band
members posing with the band. After observing the pictures of the early jazz
bands at the university archives, who took them and who determined which of
the pictures would be placed in the archives and why can’t I find any of the
earlier pictures preserved in the University Archives of the Modern Jazz Quartet
with African-Americans band members. John Garvey started the jazz program
because he wanted to fill a void in the music program; was this void a more
creative form of musical expression or was it to integrate the music program. In
this research I will take a look at the way history is being recorded at the UIUC
and who determines who will become a part of that history in the music
program.
Historical Analysis
I first started this research at the Sousa Archives and Center for American
Music in a quest to find out what year African –Americans were recorded as
being a part of the Jazz ensemble at the UIUC campus. To my surprise I found a
lot of pictures of the jazz bands but no pictures had African-Americans in them.
E- Records from the STUDENT ENROLLMENT STATISTICS:DMI
WEBSITE,FALL2004 , shows that there were African-Americans present in the
early Jazz bands but where the pictures with those African –Americans and why
was I not able to find them in the Archives. The data obtained from the DMI
indicated that there were at least 78 African-American students registered with
the UIUC School of Fine and Applied Arts in1970. According to Donna Mohr
from the Office Administrator,School of Music,Office of Undergraduate Studies
Jazz was not offered as a major until 2005 so any jazz students prior took the
jazz classes as part of open study. Which means the data did not give me a exact
number of African-Americans that were present in those early Jazz bands.
I found a file marked John Garvey1984 that informed me that”Garvey
came to the University of Illinois in 1948 as a violist in the Walden String
Quartet and artist-residence in the school of music. Before he arrived there was
no jazz program associated with the University. Attempting to fill that void,
Garvey formed a group called the Modern Jazz Quartet which performed in
1959 this evolved into the UIUC jazz band.”
As part of my research I looked at a article by Eric Porter titled “Dizzy
Atmosphere,The Challenge of Bebop” Porter’s article appears in a special issue
of the Jstor on “American Music”. In it, Porter discusses how” Bebop marked
the beginning of the small combo unit of jazz. The small combo became well
known at the end of World War II. Due to heightening politics of AfricanAmerican bebop became visible in American youth culture, bebop a form of
jazz captured a new audience for jazz as a music that spoke to people of social
and cultural change.” Although the music was a product of change and
resistance the college campus of American Universities were not ready to make
that cultural change the campuses across America were still segregated. While
Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker ,Miles Davis ,Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonous Monk
John Coltrane, Louis Armstrong , Sonny Rollins ,Herbie Hancock was
composing and innovating the music of the 40’s 50’ s 60’s and some in the
70’s. Jazz ensembles all over the country was practicing the very music that
was arranged and influenced by African-Americans. There was this gap on
college campuses where the music was being performed. While the music was
being analyzed on college campuses the African-Americans were denied that
equal opportunity to study the music through segregation. Jazz music
represented a moment in a movement among African-Americans.
Jazz is synonymous with American culture and community it has a lot of
diversity in the music there are a lot of innovators of the music. When I look at
a photo of a jazz band at the UIUC campus Archives and see a reflection of
only one color one can only ask the question what happened. The music that is
influenced by so many can only be seen on the college level as the music of the
privileged. From 1958 until 1988 there were several African-American music
students at the UIUC campus but not any photos available in the archives that
reflect the presents of those minority students. The question then becomes who
is responsible for determining what pictures will go into the University
Archives and why the African-American Jazz students appeared to be invisible
to the archives in a field that they help to innovate. There may be no real answer
to this question and there may not be any directions to point the finger. Some
may say that the UIUC is a very diverse campus and there are certainly three or
four African-Americans in the Jazz department to point to and say there is one
or there is another but can one really call that diversity. If I were to call that
diverse it would be a correct statement because diverse simple mean people of
different ethnicities. But when I look at the history of the UIUC campus and
segregation there are some gaps in that process of equal for all. In 1960 under
the leadership of Garvey the early jazz quartet was flourishing expanding from
the one quartet to five jazz bands classes in piano, instrumental improvisation,
arranging and composing. Jazz music one UIUC campus was on the uprise.
According to the daily illini tues,april 14,1981 which featured the jazz bands
musical success notes that the1960’s interscholastic meets which the band did
very well. According to the daily illini in 1964 the band won first place in the
biggest collegiate jazz festival at Notre Dame. From 1967-69the band became
the first to win the festival three years in a row. The band’s reputation was so
good that in 1969 and 1970, it went on tour of the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe
and the Scandanavai , sponsored by the U.S State department. IN 1969, the
University was the first to have two full, 18-piece jazz bands complimenting its
music department. The 70’s represented growth in the music department as well
as success, but there were not pictures in the archives containing AfricanAmerican band members even though there were some present in those early
bands. Some would say that jazz music was liberating the campus the music of
Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis Dizzy Gillespie, Monk,
Stitt,Coltrane and many other African-American musicians.” In 1968, after the
assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.students and community leaders had
to urge the university to enroll African –American students” according to the
Black Alumni Staff on The History of Project 500 .Why was there a need for
project 500 as late as 1968 and why is it that there are still so few AfricanAmericans in the music program in 2010? According to the DMI enrollment
statistics data there are only 4 African-American jazz majors in spring of 2010.
Conclusion
In 1958 Warren Smith an African-American student graduated from the
UIUC School of music and although I was unable to find one photo of him
posing with the music department Warren Smith did exist. Two brothers Ron
and Cecil Bridgewaters there was also Carl Johnson but I was unable to find
any pictures of those African-Americans with the Jazz band. I found it to be
very significant that while in today’s society we accept the music contributions
of those innovators of the music. To me it’s like accepting the apple but
rejecting the tree that produces that apple.
Today the jazz department at UIUC can be seen to have some diversity in it.
Trumpeter Tito Carrillo is a Latino and the trumpet instructor as well as the
improvisational instructor. Ron bridgewater one of the earlier jazz band
members and also an African-American is now one of the saxophone instructors
for the jazz department. Dana Hall another African-American professor is the
drum instructor the University is growing in its diversity. If there ever was a
place on campus that race and culture mixed it would be the jazz department.
Jazz is an American made music that combines the expressions of a very
diverse America And although we don’t always see the many faces that
influence the music the expressive voices is heartfelt when listening to the
music. History sometimes gets lost in time and politics but the innovators and
those who influence the music will be remembered though the music there
sounds are being persevered. My title of this research paper is Blue Note which
I chose because in music you have different melodies but none would be
possible without the blue note that degree of the scale that gives color to the
texture of the chord. A blue note in music is used to add tension to the phrase
without it music would not be what it is today. The harmony of music is
constructed from the tension which in fact produces the harmonic structure.
Jazz is considered to be a red hot music based on tension in chord structure and
without the blue notes there would not be jazz music. Jazz is revolutionary and
liberating it is a American made art form played, listened to and studied by the
diverse American. Jazz is a sign of the need for change and it cannot function
without the blue note the tension that adds so much color and texture to the
listening ear that one note that brings joy to the performer’s spirit, the blue note.