Thursday, August 4, 2011
My Commentary on Sherrie Tucker - The Deconstruction of Jazz Studies
Dr. Porter says, "numbers are small in jazz where women were movers and shakers." Sherrie Tucker suggests that not many women instrumentalists in early jazz history were recognized in having made such a significant impact to where they are firmly included in jazz studies overall. Her agenda focuses on the need of identification and discussion of ALL women's contributions to jazz history. What are your thoughts?
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Tanya, what you showed me was about five paragraphs--post the whole thing please!
ReplyDeleteTHANKS
Lewis
(Jazzlover is Karen Lee Schwarz)
ReplyDeleteThis is a complex question and I hope my response doesn’t oversimplify the matter. I’m inclined to agree with Dr. Porter that the numbers just aren’t there for women as “movers and shakers” in jazz to justify equal representation in the history books. HOWEVER, that doesn’t mean that they are represented proportionately to their contributions. And why do they have to be “movers and shakers” to be represented? Is every male jazz musician that gets exposure in all forms of media and the history books “groundbreaking”? Aren’t some of them just really good players? Aren’t/weren’t there a lot of really good women players that we just don’t hear about? And why isn’t anybody asking why more women don’t attain the levels of proficiency or innovation in jazz that men do? Is it a question of capability vs. opportunity, societal/gender role constraints, cultural/personal priorities/expectations? I would like to see THESE questions addressed more.
I’m not sure I agree that her agenda “focuses on the need of identification and discussion of ALL women’s contributions to jazz history. I read/reread three of her articles today. I’m inclined to think her focus is more on HOW Jazz , particularly pertaining to women, is researched and written about, specifically the need for a more cross-topical approach to research. I especially liked her question (pg 14) “What if Jazz Studies had listened better to Women’s Studies in the early 1980’s.
She did touch on a topic that has nothing to do with gender issues, but has been a pet peeve of mine-the more frequent calling just about anything Jazz these days! On page 9, she discusses at length, “what you hear as jazz” and “what gets documented as jazz in your circle”. This has gotten out-of-control lately. I’m sorry-I LOVE Al Green and the band WAR, but headlining a major Jazz festival like Saratoga (I know, I know $$$$) We have an organization where I live called the Jersey Shore Jazz & Blues foundation, that most local jazz musicians are not a part of-why? Because there’s no JAZZ in it! It’s not to imply that jazz is “better” than other genres, it’s just different! And yes, sometimes, they overlap. But when I go into a Chinese or Italian restaurant, there will be many delicious items on both menus. I don’t expect to find pizza on the former or Won-Ton Soup on the latter! They’re both good-but they’re different!
My hands and my neck are starting to cramp-I’d better go Jazzercise!