ted burke
288 posts
Jun 16, 2015
4:35 PM
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...there are any African American members of this board who might care to weigh in on the subject of whether non-African Americans ( Caucasians, primarily) are able to sing and perform authentic blues.
Perhaps I'm mistaken, but the discussion so far sounds tilted toward members who have European cultural backgrounds.
Perhaps we should move beyond what Cory Harris has had to say about the blues and post here books we would recommend by black writers and intellectuals on the subject and substance of the blues and jazz. I would include these:
Blues People--LeRoi Jones
Black Music--LeRoi Jones
The Hero and the Blues--Albert Murray
Living with Music--Ralph Ellison
Considering Genius--Stanley Crouch
Miles Davis and American Culture--Gerald Early
Ted Burke
tburke4@san.rr.com
Last Edited by ted burke on Jun 16, 2015 5:20 PM
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Goldbrick
1045 posts
Jun 16, 2015
5:14 PM
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LeRoi Jones aka Amiri Baraka
Misogynist, Anti Semite, homophobic and Black separatist ( not to mention communist ) and
But thats ok he married a white Jewish woman and had a lesbian daughter-- so maybe he was just confused
Hey he broke every part of the creed here.
I think there may be some better choices of authors to investigate
Last Edited by Goldbrick on Jun 16, 2015 5:15 PM
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ted burke
289 posts
Jun 16, 2015
5:18 PM
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Perhaps there are, but did you read the Jones book? He is a writer full of problems , but he was astute critic of black culture. The fact is that most writers and critics of black music have been white, who define genres, classify black innovators, and set standards by which they are judged. Jones was one of the first black intellectuals who took back the conversation and offered up a black aesthetic to a black-born art form. In that regard, he has been very influential in the thinking of black writers.
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Ted Burke
tburke4@san.rr.com
Last Edited by ted burke on Jun 16, 2015 5:23 PM
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Goldbrick
1046 posts
Jun 16, 2015
5:29 PM
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I have read his book I have also read his plays and met the man in New York when i worked in the theater
I am not denying that he had talent and could be thought provoking. I am just saying that there are others who might be better examples.
I dont give a pass to bigots because they have other talents- thats a slippery slope that libs love to sled
Ted Nugent was cool in the Amboy Dukes but grew up to be an a-hole
I wouldnt give him a pass either
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ted burke
290 posts
Jun 16, 2015
5:39 PM
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I am glad you read Jones/Baraka because I am not asking for views on his extra-musical political views, but on his sustained commentary putting a particular black-defined aesthetic on a black-created art form. He is a perfect place to start that conversation; he is particularly sharp on the issue. As a human being , he likely was a bit of a jerk and an asswhipe, but he was approachable enough when I interviewed him in college. The arts are filled with men of talent and insight who were large reprehensible in other matters. Mailer?Picasso? Wagner? Riefenstahl? Sergei Eisenstein? Ezra Pound? Miles Davis? One could make long lists of their sins, political and personal and use those lists as justification for ignoring them altogether as artists, thinkers, writers. That would make our collective conversations shortr and more simple minded. Jones/Baraka is quite good on a few subjects relating to black people and the art they create; they are worth discussing in the context of the over all chatter we've had here lately.
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Ted Burke
tburke4@san.rr.com
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J_Bark
66 posts
Jun 16, 2015
7:32 PM
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I read Blues People recently. I found the book to give and interesting historical account of the development of blues music. I also found the authors personal viewpoint to be easily identified in the text, and just as easily disregarded.
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