Graduate Thesis Or Dissertation
 

Narrative frames and the works of John Coltrane

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https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/n870zw179

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  • In Culture and Imperialism, Said illustrates that we have no "autonomous cultural forms," but rather "impure" ones that are the products of historically "discrepant experiences." American culture has an interesting relationship with the history of imperialism. The Europeans that settled the U.S. imported slave labor to assist in the growth of the new nation and this practice ironically "hybridized" American culture despite institutionalized segregation of the races, mixing disparate cultural ideas in a common social location. Said's theory fits an analysis of jazz in America since the music was instigated by the enslavement of native Africans, West Indians and inhabitants of the Caribbean, and the tensions this produced between traditional European and non-European cultural experiences are emblematic of its evolution into a popular form of music. Concomitant to its popularity in the later 1930s was a scholarly interest in the history of jazz, which culminated in narratives ascribing to it a recognizable "American" history and a set of familiar European aesthetic characteristics, neglecting the "discrepant experiences" of jazz history. During the 1940s, some artists were working with musical ideas that expanded the innovative spaces left open by those preceding them. Criticized for playing "anti-jazz," they produced music for audiences who were late to realize the significance of their contributions. Among them was John Coltrane, a saxophonist who took these controversial approaches into unconventional musical territories. Similar to the shortsighted criticisms weighed against his mentors, critics regarding Coltrane neglected the ways in which his music is important as an expression of the fundamental power struggles that are at the heart of American culture. I analyze several of Coltrane's recordings to illustrate how they are artifacts which can be studied for evidence of the tendency in narratives to preclude the "hybridity" important to the history of jazz. My focus is on the liner notes that accompany the recordings, which I read "contrapuntally" with other forces in their production in order to discuss the tensions between economics, communication and representation that are integral to an understanding of Coltrane's music.
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