Jazz Avant-Gardes
MUSC 277
Spring 2025 not offered
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| Crosslisting:
AMST 267 |
What is an avant-garde and what does it mean in the context of jazz? This course will explore this question focusing on the 1950s and 60s and beyond. We will take a holistic approach, examining the music and its surrounding community within the broader social and cultural currents of the times. These currents include European-inherited avant-garde aesthetics, the increasingly urgent civil rights movement and changing conceptions of freedom, artist collectives, and Afrofuturism. Three key artists will provide a focal point: Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, and Sun Ra. Others will expand our view, including Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, Alice Coltrane, the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Anthony Braxton, Yoko Ono (a non-jazz artist who contributed to an experimental sensibility in NYC), and others. We will immerse ourselves in a combination of reading, listening to recordings, viewing videos, discussion, and some in-class performances. Throughout the semester we will pursue the parallel goals of using this movement in jazz to expand our understanding of avant-garde movements in general and using historical avant-garde movements to expand our understanding of how the phenomenon has played out in jazz. The first two weeks will function as a Jazz 101 boot camp, so no prior experience in jazz is necessary. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA MUSC |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: None |
Major Readings:
Selections from:
Baraka, BLACK MUSIC
Charry, THE EMERGENCE OF AN AVANT GARDE IN JAZZ
Cottington, THE AVANT GARDE
Kelley, THELONIOUS MONK
Lewis, A POWER STRONGER THAN ITSELF
Litweiler, ORNETTE COLEMAN
E. Porter, WHAT IS THIS THING CALLED JAZZ
L. Porter, JOHN COLTRANE
Monson, FREEDOMS SOUNDS
Spellman, FOUR LIVES IN THE BEBOP BUSINESS
Szwed, SPACE IS THE PLACE
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Examinations and Assignments:
Regular reading responses, occasional short writing assignments, and midterm and final projects |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
Additional requirements and/or comments
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