PROGRESSIVE MUSIC COMPANY

AFRO-AMERICAN MUSIC INSTITUTE CELEBRATES 36 YEARS

BOYS CHOIR AFRICA SHIRTS
 
 
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/building-today-for-tomorrow/x/267428

 Pain Relief Beyond Belief

                         http://www.komehsaessentials.com/                              

 

PITTSBURGH JAZZ

 

From Blakey to Brown, Como to Costa, Eckstine to Eldridge, Galbraith to Garner, Harris to Hines, Horne to Hyman, Jamal to Jefferson, Kelly to Klook; Mancini to Marmarosa, May to Mitchell, Negri to Nestico, Parlan to Ponder, Reed to Ruther, Strayhorn to Sullivan, Turk to Turrentine, Wade to Williams… the forthcoming publication Treasury of Pittsburgh Jazz Connections by Dr. Nelson Harrison and Dr. Ralph Proctor, Jr. will document the legacy of one of the world’s greatest jazz capitals.

 

Do you want to know who Dizzy Gillespie  idolized? Did you ever wonder who inspired Kenny Clarke and Art Blakey? Who was the pianist that mentored Monk, Bud Powell, Tad Dameron, Elmo Hope, Sarah Vaughan and Mel Torme? Who was Art Tatum’s idol and Nat Cole’s mentor? What musical quartet pioneered the concept adopted later by the Modern Jazz Quartet? Were you ever curious to know who taught saxophone to Stanley Turrentine or who taught piano to Ahmad Jamal? What community music school trained Robert McFerrin, Sr. for his history-making debut with the Metropolitan Opera? What virtually unknown pianist was a significant influence on young John Coltrane, Shirley Scott, McCoy Tyner, Bobby Timmons and Ray Bryant when he moved to Philadelphia from Pittsburgh in the 1940s?  Would you be surprised to know that Erroll Garner attended classes at the Julliard School of Music in New York and was at the top of his class in writing and arranging proficiency?

 

Some answers  can be gleaned from the postings on the Pittsburgh Jazz Network.

 

For almost 100 years the Pittsburgh region has been a metacenter of jazz originality that is second to no other in the history of jazz.  One of the best kept secrets in jazz folklore, the Pittsburgh Jazz Legacy has heretofore remained mythical.  We have dubbed it “the greatest story never told” since it has not been represented in writing before now in such a way as to be accessible to anyone seeking to know more about it.  When it was happening, little did we know how priceless the memories would become when the times were gone.

 

Today jazz is still king in Pittsburgh, with events, performances and activities happening all the time. The Pittsburgh Jazz Network is dedicated to celebrating and showcasing the places, artists and fans that carry on the legacy of Pittsburgh's jazz heritage.

 

WELCOME!

 

Badge

Loading…

Duke Ellington is first African-American and the first musician to solo on U.S. circulating coin

    MARY LOU WILLIAMS     

            INTERVIEW

       In Her Own Words

Stanley Crouch (1945-2020): The master of ‘Blues-Collar Clarity’

by J. Pharoah Doss, For New Pittsburgh Courier

Stanley Crouch, jazzman, cultural critic, literary artist, and public intellectual, died on Sept. 16. He was 74 years old. Crouch wrote essay collections, fiction, a biography of saxophonist Charlie “Bird” Parker, and a photobook called, One Shot Harris: The Photographs of Charles “Teenie” Harris. Crouch was mentored by literary giants Ralph Ellison and Albert Murray.

In the early 1990s The New Yorker anointed Crouch as America’s most outspoken and controversial critic. The magazine boasted that Crouch was “unconstrained by affiliation with any camp, creed, or organization.” That blurb caught my attention. It was on the cover of Crouch’s 1995 collection of essays: The All-American Skin Game, or, The Decoy of Race. These essays were my introduction to Crouch and a writing style he described as “blues-collar.” I was in my early 20s when I read them. Within the first few essays, Crouch lived up to his reputation by striking down two ideas I thought were infallible.

Stanley Crouch (1945-2020)

W.E.B. Dubois
Dubois’ essay collection, The Souls of Black Folks, is considered a masterpiece by literary scholars, but Crouch called the book poorly thought out. Crouch questioned Dubois’ “double consciousness” theory. Dubois claimed Black people in America were Black and American, but a racist society wouldn’t allow them to be both. Dubois stated Blacks have two souls, two warring ideas in one dark body, and the history of Black people in America is a history of this strife—this longing to merge the double into a better and truer self.

Crouch pointed out Dubois never explained how a “better and truer” self could possibly emerge from combining two flawed concepts such as nationality and race. Crouch accused Dubois of investing in the supremacy of identity over individuality. Crouch insisted the “better and truer” self can only emerge from cultivating the consciousness of the individual, which is more complex than double.

Crouch wondered why Dubois’ “double consciousness” theory was still popular in the 1990s. Crouch surmised, because it enabled some Blacks to avoid personal responsibility by seeing the world as oppressed and oppressor. Crouch said his mentor Ralph Ellison knew the problem with race consciousness of whatever stripe negates the question of the individual and imposes some sort of “authenticity” that can trap the single human life inside a set of limited expectations.

Afrocentrism
In 1995 “Afrocentrism” was at the height of its acceptance and popularity amongst mainstream academics and Black autodidacts. “Afrocentric” scholars claimed that every cultural or intellectual achievement attributed to Western Civilization was stolen from Africa. Growing up in the Black community, it was gospel that Eurocentric education suppressed this information in order to keep Blacks believing in their own inferiority. So, when I discovered “Afrocentricity” I thought the Afrocentric scholars were revealing truths the Whites conspired to hide. Afrocentric books had liberating titles such as, They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America, Stolen Legacy: Greek Philosophy is Stolen Egyptian Philosophy, and The African Origins of Major Western Religions.

Crouch said “Afrocentrism” was a simple-minded hustle that descended from what was once called “the professional Negro,” a person whose “identity” and “struggle” constituted a commodity. James Baldwin was a master of being a “professional Negro” who sold the struggle, but “Afrocentrism” took it to another level and created university departments. Afrocentrism had little to offer in intellectual substance. What “Afrocentrism” wanted was power—the power to define and create the past in its own image no matter how conspiratorial its theories. Whenever Afrocentric professors were charged with shoddy scholarship, they retorted their work came from research outside of “European methodology.” Yet none of the “Afrocentric” arguments—all of which were rooted in nationalism, pluralism, and cultural relativity—were original to Africa; they all have their origins in the Western tradition of critical discourse. “Afrocentrism” is absolutely Western, no matter the name changes and costumes of its advocates.

Of course, after reading Crouch for the first time, I was offended by his blasphemous treatment of Dubois and “Afrocentrism,” but I found him compelling and continued to read his work over the years. As I matured, I realized The New Yorker was wrong. Crouch wasn’t controversial. He exhibited the courage of conviction, which is always considered controversial by those who lack it.

Views: 48

© 2024   Created by Dr. Nelson Harrison.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service