morph33

This week I attended the New Jazz Histories Seminar at Salford University with my colleagues Paul Long and Andrew Dubber. Paul and I gave a presentation on the BBC documentary series Jazz Britannia. This is part of a wider project we are developing on popular music history and heritage at the Birmingham School of Media’s Interactive Cultures research centre. We’ll be writing this paper up as a full journal article, and I’ll post some of the background thinking at Wallofsound over the next few weeks, starting with the key points of our presentation.

Here I am writing primarily for those who attended the seminar, and others who may be interested in such debates. The discussion is therefore somewhat more abstract than my usual wallofsound posts.

The other papers at the seminar took a variety of approaches to jazz history: Alyn Shipton opened the discussions by linking his own fairly recent book to the papers that followed, and to his own oral history research and publication; Jason Squinobal (University of Pittsburgh) and then Adrian Goodman (York University Toronto) used musicology to investigate John Coltrane’s later career, and the innovations of Tony Williams and Miles Davis respectively; Jeremy Barham, (University of Surrey) and then Laurent Cugny (Université Paris-Sorbonne Paris IV) gave more theoretically-abstract reflections on issues of definition and periodisation in jazz; and finally Andy Fry (Kings College, University of London) produced a convincing and stimulating reappraisal of the career of Sidney Bechet in France using historical evidence. The issues of doing jazz historography was then discussed by a panel of Nicholas Gebhardt (University of Lancaster), George McKay (University of Salford), Catherine Parsonage (Open University), Alyn Shipton (RAM), Tony Whyton (University of Salford) and the wider seminar members. Hopefully the authors will turn their papers into articles for the Jazz Research Journal, and you’ll be able to read them at length in the months ahead.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable day, and provoked me to think about some key questions in research about jazz culture. Paul, Andrew and I certainly had a good discussion on the way home to Birmingham.

The diversity of approaches to jazz history have made the field a dynamic one, and there certainly isn’t an orthodoxy. However, I wonder if collectively we have focused on whatever methodology we have inherited, and in doing so we haven’t spent enough time on some central questions. Certainly such questions kept coming to my mind through the various papers, either because they centrally addressed issues, or because they ignored them, implicitly throwing up as many questions as they answered. Here are my initial observations and the questions that cristalised at the end of the day:

There seemed to be key unarticulated questions that threaded their way through all the papers: how do/should/can we understand jazz historically? Or put another way, how do we understand jazz in history?

My own use of historiography to explore popular music culture in its different manifestations has led to the increasing conviction that there isn’t a cultural object that is popular music, but that what music fans, music-makers and the media do and say constructs a changing sense of what popular music is as a whole, and what it is in any particular time and place. Jazz, it has always seemed to me, is the paradigm case. Put simply, there isn’t any such thing as jazz! Rather we need to understand that there is a way of ‘manufacturing’ a cultural object which has been (and is) termed jazz, but that this thing is a different thing at different times and places. Such a statement includes the idea that jazz sounds different at different times, or that jazz means different things to different people dependent on their historical or social location; but it also means far more. To understand what jazz is we shouldn’t look at the thing, but at what is said and done to bring it into existence.

I intend these statements to be a provocation. One I hope will continue the debate we started in Salford. However, you may also recognise my debt to the work of Michel Foucault, and his discussion of the nature of things, in such a proposition. Paul and I explicitly used this approach when we analysed the Jazz Britainnia series. Specifically, we argued that the programmes constructed a totalising history, in which the complexity of single moments are subsumed into a broad sweep of a historical narrative, which often seeks to justify a single idea.

I recognise, then, that my other observations follow from that position. Even if the other members of the seminar (and others interested in such questions) aren’t convinced by the starting position, I hope they’ll at least take seriously the ideas that flow from it, and use them to interrogate their own work.

First, I was struck how prevalent, in the analyses that were presented, were the use of pre-existing historical models (or even specific historical narratives), and the tendency of such models or narratives to totalise jazz. Laurent’s analysis made his historical narrative most explicit, and the totalising tendency was perhaps the strongest here. He suggested a new extended classic period in jazz which encompassed swing, bop and post bop styles. In doing so he pushed the modern moment of jazz past bop to free and modal forms of jazz practice. He explicitly drew upon the European notion that art reaches a mature, classic, phase, and that earlier music is an antecedent, while later forms formally interrogate the classic period in their self-conscious modernism. Central to his reclassification is the notion that swing and bop are united in a common practice which dominated jazz from a rupture around 1930, to the next rupture in 1960. I have argued that such notions are characteristic of all popular music histories. Laurent, though drew his paradigm from European art music frames of reference. Jason’s and Adrian’s analysis placed a heavy emphasis on textual scrutiny, the dominant approach used by trained musicologists. Perhaps my own lack of such training limits my understanding, but while I usually find these approaches interesting, I also feel they restrict history to the idea that the music changed. Jason certainly gave details of Coltrane’s personal history to contextualise his analysis, but then these are constructed as psychological determinants, and remove the idea of agency from that moment of history. Jazz musicians make meaningful choices in a cultural context, and while they make them out of the material provided by history, they are not determined by it. In such accounts the focus is on the very fine detail of what happened musically, rather than how the music signified in a wider culture, and why groups of music-makers do the new things they do.

Second, such analyses seem to suggest that there has been a relatively slight influence of theories of historiography from outside jazz studies as musicology. Historiography itself, and cultural and media studies, have been fields in which debates about what is history and how it should be researched and then written have been paramount. We should at least use these debates as reference points to discuss and evaluate what we do. Alyn did this effectively in regard to oral history, and something of the intelligence and communication skill that he brings to his writing and broadcasting was made plain in his paper. Jeremy was the most explicit amongst us in trying to apply work from cultural studies. Specifically he drew on Deleuze and Guattari’s use of the idea of the rhizome as a way of avoiding the reductive idea of roots common in historiography and the hierarchical relationships which are often utilised in cultural analysis. I’m entirely persuaded by this notion myself, but strangely Jeremy ended up with a series of completely dehistorised examples in the way he applied the idea. His suggestions did ‘flatten’ the ideas of European art analysis that dominates music study, but at the very same time it decontextualised jazz’s existence as a popular music.

This brings me to my third point. While jazz is clearly discursively constructed most often as an art music, I think that should alert us to the need to study the central role of critics and of the concerns of the listening and collecting audience (rather than musicians), rather than to make arbitrary musical connections between the formal properties of single practices of jazz and single practices of European art music. The idea of the rhizomal relationship more productively, I think, points us in the direction of jazz’s pace in wider popular culture (and therefore popular music). So often jazz is posed against popular music, when the common practices of jazz music-making are those of the popular, not the art musician, even if the common practice of the fan is very often similar to that of the art music (self-consious) connoisseur. Such an approach was practically demonstrated (exemplified, even) by Andy’s attention to the detail of Sidney Bechet’s music-making, and the facts of his life and music, as a way of rethinking the dominant historical narrative of jazz, and Bechet’s place in it. I hope I am not overwriting on his sensitive reading of the musician’s life when I point out that Bechet was a popular musician making a living in ways that were open to him at different points in his career.

More simply put, we need to avoid understanding the existing historical narratives of jazz as statements of truth, rather than frameworks which seek to make a complex world comprehensible. Making things comprehensible is, of course, the purpose of scholarship, but we must remember that such moments of understanding offer both uses and limitations in our attempt to grasp the significance of things in the world.

Washington Wizards All-Star Gilbert Arenas, along with 50 children from his Zer0 Two Her0 Foundation, unveiled his wax figure today at Madame Tussauds Washington D.C. Arenas posed side-by-side with his wax double and the children, who all donned Washington Wizards’ jerseys for the occasion.  The figure sports his signature #0 Washington Wizards home uniform, which was donated by Arenas. The wax figure will be a part of the attraction’s sports area alongside figures of other legendary athletes, including Evander Holyfield, Tiger Woods, Babe Ruth and Muhammad Ali.

“Gilbert Arenas is one of today’s most beloved basketball players — both in Washington D.C. and on a national stage,” said Janine DiGioacchino, General Manager, Madame Tussauds New York and Washington D.C. “As we move into our second year in the nation’s capital, we are thrilled to have a figure of the Washington Wizards’ fan favorite in our attraction.”

“It is an honor to join the ranks of sports icons such as Muhammad Ali and Tiger Woods by being immortalized in wax at Madame Tussauds Washington D.C.,” said Arenas.  “Like the Wizards, Madame Tussauds has become a fixture in the nation’s capital and one that I’m proud to be a part of.”

In order to create the incredibly lifelike figure, a team of Madame Tussauds studio artists flew in from London, UK to conduct a figure sitting with Arenas at the Verizon Center earlier this year.  Arenas was an enthusiastic participant in the creation of his wax figure – the sitting alone took more than two hours as the studio artists took hundreds of measurements and photos, as well as selected eye, hair and skin tone matches for his figure. The figure creation process is incredibly intricate.  Artists insert each strand of hair individually; the creation of Arenas’ figure’s head took nearly five weeks to complete. 

Since joining the NBA, Arenas has been a popular figure in the league.  Nicknamed The Hibachi and Agent Zero, he has transformed himself from a relative unknown to an NBA All-Star and a bona fide fan favorite.  His Agent Zero Blog on NBA.com, in which he offers fans an inside look into his whirlwind life with witty insights, is widely considered the top blog of any professional athlete today. 

Off the court, Arenas is passionate about several charities, including his own Zer0 2 Her0 Foundation, which helps promote the safety and well being of children by raising funds to support organizations that aid in the preservation of families through foster care, adoption and child welfare services.  

Fifty 7th and 8th grade students from James Madison Middle School in Prince George’s County, Maryland were part of the figure unveiling.  The students were recipients of Arenas’ Zer0 2 Her0 Foundation Christmas Dream program, and James Madison Middle School was a recipient of his Scores for Schools program last season.  Through Scores for Schools, Arenas donates $150 for every point he scores during Washington Wizards’ home games.

Washington Wizards’ fans will get to see Arenas’ wax figure again tomorrow when it makes its appearance at center court during the Wizards game against Houston at the Verizon Center.

Madame Tussauds Washington D.C. is located within walking distance of the National Mall and the White House with its entrance on the corner of F and 10th Streets.  With a limited time offer of $10 tickets for adults and seniors and $8 for kids ages 12 and under, now is the time to visit D.C.’s interactive “must do” attraction.  For more information, visit www.madametussaudsdc.com or call 202-942-7300.

About Madame Tussauds Washington D.C.:
Madame Tussauds Washington D.C. is a fully interactive, full-sensory experience, where visitors are able to touch, see and hear major historical events and celebrities in a way unlike any other Washington D.C. attraction.  Recent additions to the attraction include the beloved Jonas Brothers exhibit, where guests can snuggle up to figures of the famed trio and rock out with them on a pair of Gibson Guitars and a drum set.  Wax figures of superstars Penelope Cruz, Tyra Banks and Denzel Washington were recently introduced as well.  The attraction is located within walking distance of the National Mall and the White House.  The entrance is on the corner of 10th and F Streets.  For more information, visit www.madametussaudsdc.com or call 202-942-7300.

###

“Gilbert Arenas is one of today’s most beloved basketball players -- both in Washington D.C. and on a national stage,” said Janine DiGioacchino, General Manager, Madame Tussauds New York and Washington D.C. “As we move into our second year in the nation’s capital, we are thrilled to have a figure of the Washington Wizards’ fan favorite in our attraction.”

“It is an honor to join the ranks of sports icons such as Muhammad Ali and Tiger Woods by being immortalized in wax at Madame Tussauds Washington D.C.,” said Arenas.  “Like the Wizards, Madame Tussauds has become a fixture in the nation’s capital and one that I’m proud to be a part of.”

In order to create the incredibly lifelike figure, a team of Madame Tussauds studio artists flew in from London, UK to conduct a figure sitting with Arenas at the Verizon Center earlier this year.  Arenas was an enthusiastic participant in the creation of his wax figure – the sitting alone took more than two hours as the studio artists took hundreds of measurements and photos, as well as selected eye, hair and skin tone matches for his figure. The figure creation process is incredibly intricate.  Artists insert each strand of hair individually; the creation of Arenas’ figure’s head took nearly five weeks to complete. 

Since joining the NBA, Arenas has been a popular figure in the league.  Nicknamed The Hibachi and Agent Zero, he has transformed himself from a relative unknown to an NBA All-Star and a bona fide fan favorite.  His Agent Zero Blog on NBA.com, in which he offers fans an inside look into his whirlwind life with witty insights, is widely considered the top blog of any professional athlete today. 

Off the court, Arenas is passionate about several charities, including his own Zer0 2 Her0 Foundation, which helps promote the safety and well being of children by raising funds to support organizations that aid in the preservation of families through foster care, adoption and child welfare services.  

Fifty 7th and 8th grade students from James Madison Middle School in Prince George’s County, Maryland were part of the figure unveiling.  The students were recipients of Arenas’ Zer0 2 Her0 Foundation Christmas Dream program, and James Madison Middle School was a recipient of his Scores for Schools program last season.  Through Scores for Schools, Arenas donates $150 for every point he scores during Washington Wizards’ home games.

Washington Wizards’ fans will get to see Arenas’ wax figure again tomorrow when it makes its appearance at center court during the Wizards game against Houston at the Verizon Center.

Madame Tussauds Washington D.C. is located within walking distance of the National Mall and the White House with its entrance on the corner of F and 10th Streets.  With a limited time offer of $10 tickets for adults and seniors and $8 for kids ages 12 and under, now is the time to visit D.C.’s interactive “must do” attraction.  For more information, visit www.madametussaudsdc.com or call 202-942-7300.

About Madame Tussauds Washington D.C.:

Madame Tussauds Washington D.C. is a fully interactive, full-sensory experience, where visitors are able to touch, see and hear major historical events and celebrities in a way unlike any other Washington D.C. attraction.  Recent additions to the attraction include the beloved Jonas Brothers exhibit, where guests can snuggle up to figures of the famed trio and rock out with them on a pair of Gibson Guitars and a drum set.  Wax figures of superstars Penelope Cruz, Tyra Banks and Denzel Washington were recently introduced as well.  The attraction is located within walking distance of the National Mall and the White House.  The entrance is on the corner of 10th and F Streets.  For more information, visit www.madametussaudsdc.com or call 202-942-7300.

###

Number 504

The Monkees

“I’m a Believer”

(1967)

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Genre:Pop

art by KDH

So, you’re all going nuts over the Grand Theft Auto 4 and the upcoming film “Ironman”. I wonder if the film Ironman would be getting this much pre buzz attention if Robert Downey Junior was not playing the lead character. You wouldn’t think he would be the type of person to be embracing playing a superhero for his daily bread, but from what I have seen, he really seems to be enjoying it … and good on him. Now, as for Grand Theft Auto IV? You guys really want that turned into a movie?? Yes, I know the game is now more interactive and God forbid …. a storyline (gasp) that will make users want to help their fellow man. Um, hello? Look at the titles name!

So now we have some thieving yobbo going to steal a car, while he opens the car door, he says to the poor hijacked owner *have a nice day* while the owner closes the door for him and waves politely as the car drives away. How quaint. I cannot wait to see Robert Downey Jr star in that film next year. I’ll buy that for a dollar.

art by MonkeesArt

The Monkees second album More of the Monkees lived up to its title. It was more successful commercially, spending an amazing 70 weeks on the Billboard charts and ultimately becoming the 12th biggest selling album of all time. It had more producers and writers involved since big-shots like Carole King and Gerry Goffin, Jeff Barry and Neil Sedaka, as well as up-and-comers like Neil Diamond all grabbed for a piece of the pie after Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, the men who made the debut album such a smash, were elbowed out by music supervisor Don Kirshner. The album also has more fantastic songs than the debut. Tracks like “I’m a Believer,” “She,” “Mary, Mary,” ” (I’m Not Your) Stepping Stone,” “Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow),” “Your Auntie Grizelda,” and “Sometime in the Morning” are on just about every Monkees hits collection and, apart from the novelty “Grizelda,” they are among the best pop/rock heard in the ’60s or any decade since.

art by MonkeesArt

The band themselves still had relatively little involvement in the recording process, apart from providing the vocals along with Mike Nesmith’s writing and producing of two tracks (the hair-raising rocker “Mary, Mary” and the folk-rock gem “The Kind of Girl I Could Love”). In fact, they were on tour when the album was released and had to go to the record shop and buy copies for themselves. As with the first album though, it really doesn’t matter who was involved when the finished product is this great. Listen to Micky Dolenz and the studio musicians rip through “Stepping Stone” or smolder through “She,” listen to the powerful grooves of “Mary, Mary” or the heartfelt playing and singing on “Sometime in the Morning” and dare to say the Monkees weren’t a real band. They were! The tracks on More of the Monkees (with the exception of the aforementioned “Your Auntie Grizelda ” and the sickly sweet “The Day We Fell in Love,” which regrettably introduces the smarmy side of Davy Jones) stand up to the work of any other pop band operating in 1967. Real or fabricated, the Monkees rate with any pop band of their era and More of the Monkees solidifies that position. ~ [Tim Sendra, All Music Guide]

I must say, the artwork by MonkeesArt is exceptional & professional, click here to see the rest so Sara’s gallery (maybe ,she might even sell them to the market)

For more Monkees see Number 608

For Neil Diamond see Number 698, 792 & 846

For Carole King see Number 808

For Michael Nesmith see Number 549

The Monkees rebel!

art by (who else) MonkeesArt

Within weeks of the release of More of The Monkees, Nesmith lobbied successfully with the group’s creators, Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider, for The Monkees to be allowed to play their instruments on all forthcoming records, effectively giving the quartet clear and complete artistic control. To make his point clear to Kirshner, who was balking at the idea, Nesmith proceeded to punch a hole in the wall of the Beverly Hills Hotel during a group meeting with Kirshner and Colgems lawyer Herb Moelis; this outburst came after Moelis snapped to Nesmith “You’d better read your contract,” when Nesmith threatened to quit. Kirshner was later unceremoniously dumped from the project altogether. The source of the Monkees‘ ire over the album was less the musical content than the way it was created and released (without their input or knowledge), as Micky Dolenz would acknowledge in liner-note interviews for the album’s later re-releases. The cover photo, montaged together from pictures of the band wearing JC Penney clothes, also did not sit well with them. ~ [Wikipedia]

What does (not again) Rolling Stone think about Monkees?

With any number of punkish bar bands semi-ironically recycling “Steppin’ Stone” in the late ’70s, and a partially reunited Monkees touring and recording in the ’80s, there’s been a revisionist twist upward in appraisals of this band’s slight canon. Cynically manufactured by Don Kirshner and a crew of TV producers looking to dilute A Hard Day’s Night for the boob tube, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, Mickey Dolenz, and Peter Tork were the fill-in fab four who lip synched their way through a few seasons of sitcoms and most of their albums (on later product, they did play on some songs). Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart, Neil Diamond, and Nesmith wrote the Monkees’ 1966‚hits: “Last Train to Clarksville,” “Daydream Believer,” “I’m a Believer,” and “Pleasant Valley Sunday.” ~ [RS The New Rolling Stone Album Guide]

Lip synched? Even if they did, surley no-one has ever done that in the modern times. t.i.c

Other songs with reference to The Monkees #541, #549, #599, #698, #709, #728, #884

Rolling Stone Top 500 Songs ranked this song at Number (as we said in #608) and the Album ranked at Number (NO!)

This song has a crowbarred rating of 75.1 out of 108 

Lyrics to the song

Previous Song 503 ….. Next Song 505

Tags:The Monkees, 1967, Pop, Grand Theft Auto IV, Ironman, Carole King, Neil Diamond, The Beatles, YouTube, Music Video, Rolling Stone Magazine, Crowbarred, New Zealand, Crowbarred Unleashed, The Definitive 1000 Songs Of All Time, Mellow Mix Volume 1, Mellow Mix Volume 2, Mellow Mix Volume 3, Mellow Mix Volume 4, Mellow Mix Volume 5, Mellow Mix Volume 6, Mellow Mix Volume 7, Mellow Mix Volume 9, Mellow Mix Volume 10, Mellow Mix Volume 11, Mellow Mix Volume 12

Search Artist here:1-2-3-A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z

By The Year 1955 to 2005:

1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005

underlay crowbarred trademe

Some interesting things I found recently:

# New Kit: Stribe1 Touch LED Strip Controller — designed by Josh Boughey as a modular version of his original 8 strip Stribe (which won two editor's choice awards at the Austin maker faire!)

Each Stribe1 has a touch strip and double column of LEDs that can display and control music and video programs. Multiple Stribe1's can be daisy-chained together to form a low-res, multi-touch display. Use with Max/MSP or other software to adjust track volumes with VU meters, make a sequencer, control synth params and pitch, "scratch" through sounds, etc.

# eyeSequencer – Work in Progress Demonstration - Patrick wrote a framework/application in Processing to help him analyse images of eyes for use in music.

“Scanners” circulate in the eye and analyse RGB and brightness values. These values are used to create OSC Messages, which then are send to SuperCollider. SuperCollider would be a great way to produce the sound, but for this example i decided to use SC3 to send MIDI events to Ableton Live, to two instances of the Alphakanal Automat Synthesizer.

# FourTrack for iPhone — a songwriting and practice tool for singers, guitar players, piano players, and other musicians who want to capture musical ideas and record songs on their iPhone.

# SignalScope turns your iPhone into a powerful real-time spectrum analyzer and oscilloscope. Easily measure audible frequencies in SignalScope’s Spectrum tab. Capture a balloon pop with single-shot triggering in the Waveform tab. “Touch” your data with highly interactive, multi-touch enabled analyzer displays.

# Beep-it available from Etsy — the optical theremin synthesizer designed and built by Michael Una is now available for purchase.

# Squarepusher Takes Over the Guardian —

Electronic maverick Squarepusher gets his hands on Guardian.co.uk/music to bring you exclusive playlists, think pieces and live sessions. Link via CDM

Following Batman and Barack Obama, Squarepusher steps up to review this week’s singles (the difference being that he actually wrote these)

From the Singles Club: Filthy Dukes return with a fine examplar of the time-honoured dictum: “If it’s crap, just add rap!”

Good stuff!

# More LSDJ Kits: Sega Mega Drive, Chopin, Atari 2600 and Extra Debussy — Some more kits for Little Sound Dj, the Game Boy/Game Boy Color tool of choice for amateur & professional musicians and composers.