Synthesis Essay: David Ake analysing Ornette Coleman
Ornette Coleman was a jazz saxophone player who started his career in the 1950s by defying cultural, and musical standards. David Ake, composer, performer, and musicologist, analysed how Ornette Coleman created dramatic change in the jazz realm by defying the bebop era standards. Ake brings up many points of the standards that Coleman defied, such as: jazz virtuosity and masculinity, jazz performance and sex, and cultural perceptions of masculinity and race. David Ake points out how jazz music gave a source of pride and dominance for black men, a real of dominance over the otherwise racist society. Within this jazz community there is a sense of asserting one's dominance over another by …show more content…
David Ake explains that jazz musicians had ‘cutting contests’, in which players tried to outplay one another by playing louder, higher, and faster to assert their dominance. In the 1950s, when Coleman was reinventing jazz, bebop was at its height, jazz musicians arguing if bebop was better than swing. This caused controversy for listeners of Coleman’s music; some argued that it was sloppy while others applauded him for finding a new voice in jazz. Because in bebop music it was clear what virtuosic playing was it was easy to establish an order of superiority, but because Coleman’s music wasn’t meant to be overtly complex virtuosity was “lost”. Instead a listener is more enthralled with the freeness of the music that contemporary jazz listeners tend to favor. Ake uses Coleman’s piece, Lonely Woman, to identify some of this simpler free jazz. David Ake does acknowledge that Coleman was …show more content…
Coleman was so infuriated with the idea that he contemplated castration, something that Ake argues would have made no difference. In an interview by Valerie Wilmer, an anonymous male drummer explained his interpretation as to why musicians tend to have sexual relationships with audience members. He believes that, in some cases, the female is enthralled with the spirit of the music, but since she can’t have the music she has to have the vessel from which it came. The context in which Ake brings this up seems to infer that jazz is inherently sexual, which I don’t believe is true. However, it is something that certain music types have stereotypes about, like rock & roll and sex, modern pop culture and sex, etc. Coleman seemed to try to remove his bodily self from the music to try to make music as an otherworldly concept, something that David Ake said was not possible, especially for jazz music. An interesting point though is that jazz music was (and still is) primarily dominated by male figures, and with that the stereotypes of sexualized male dominance is invoked, even if Coleman tries to go as far as removing his
Ornette Coleman was a jazz saxophone player who started his career in the 1950s by defying cultural, and musical standards. David Ake, composer, performer, and musicologist, analysed how Ornette Coleman created dramatic change in the jazz realm by defying the bebop era standards. Ake brings up many points of the standards that Coleman defied, such as: jazz virtuosity and masculinity, jazz performance and sex, and cultural perceptions of masculinity and race. David Ake points out how jazz music gave a source of pride and dominance for black men, a real of dominance over the otherwise racist society. Within this jazz community there is a sense of asserting one's dominance over another by …show more content…
David Ake explains that jazz musicians had ‘cutting contests’, in which players tried to outplay one another by playing louder, higher, and faster to assert their dominance. In the 1950s, when Coleman was reinventing jazz, bebop was at its height, jazz musicians arguing if bebop was better than swing. This caused controversy for listeners of Coleman’s music; some argued that it was sloppy while others applauded him for finding a new voice in jazz. Because in bebop music it was clear what virtuosic playing was it was easy to establish an order of superiority, but because Coleman’s music wasn’t meant to be overtly complex virtuosity was “lost”. Instead a listener is more enthralled with the freeness of the music that contemporary jazz listeners tend to favor. Ake uses Coleman’s piece, Lonely Woman, to identify some of this simpler free jazz. David Ake does acknowledge that Coleman was …show more content…
Coleman was so infuriated with the idea that he contemplated castration, something that Ake argues would have made no difference. In an interview by Valerie Wilmer, an anonymous male drummer explained his interpretation as to why musicians tend to have sexual relationships with audience members. He believes that, in some cases, the female is enthralled with the spirit of the music, but since she can’t have the music she has to have the vessel from which it came. The context in which Ake brings this up seems to infer that jazz is inherently sexual, which I don’t believe is true. However, it is something that certain music types have stereotypes about, like rock & roll and sex, modern pop culture and sex, etc. Coleman seemed to try to remove his bodily self from the music to try to make music as an otherworldly concept, something that David Ake said was not possible, especially for jazz music. An interesting point though is that jazz music was (and still is) primarily dominated by male figures, and with that the stereotypes of sexualized male dominance is invoked, even if Coleman tries to go as far as removing his