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New Musical Figurations: Anthony Braxton's Cultural Critique
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Product Description
way of configuring jazz music and history. By relating
biography to the cultural and musical contours of contemporary
American life, Ronald M. Radano observes jazz practice as part
of the complex interweaving of postmodern culture—a
culture that has eroded conventional categories defining jazz
and the jazz musician. Radano accomplishes all this by
analyzing the creative life of Anthony Braxton, one of the
most emblematic figures of this cultural crisis.
Born in 1945, Braxton is not only a virtuoso jazz
saxophonist but an innovative theoretician and composer of
experimental art music. His refusal to conform to the
conventions of official musical culture has helped unhinge
the very ideologies on which definitions of "jazz,"
"black music," "popular music," and "art music" are founded.
New Musical Figurations gives the richest view
available of this many-sided artist. Radano examines
Braxton's early years on the South Side of Chicago, whose
vibrant black musical legacy inspired him to explore new
avenues of expression. Here is the first detailed history of
Braxton's central role in the Association for the Advancement
of Creative Musicians, the principal musician-run institution
of free jazz in the United States. After leaving Chicago,
Braxton was active in Paris and New York, collaborating with
Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Frederic Rzewski, and other
composers affiliated with the experimental-music movement.
From 1974 to 1981, he gained renown as a popular jazz
performer and recording artist. Since then he has taught at
Mills College and Wesleyan University, given lectures on his
theoretical musical system, and written works for chamber
groups as well as large, opera-scale pieces.
The neglect of radical, challenging figures like Braxton
in standard histories of jazz, Radano argues, mutes the
innovative voice of the African-American musical tradition.
Refreshingly free of technical jargon, New Musical Figurations
is more than just another variation on the same jazz theme.
Rather, it is an exploratory work as rich in theoretical
vision as it is in historical detail.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #738809 in Books
- Published on: 1994-01-30
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Paperback
- 336 pages
Customer Reviews
A Unique Insight Into a Complex Mind
This book represents the best of jazz journalism. Radano writes extensivly about Braxton, but also captures the essence of the Chicago Jazz scene in the late 60's and the complexities of being a black avant-garde artist in an era where such things are just not accepted.
Part biography, part explication, part cultural critique, Radano manages to talk knowledgably and extensively about Braxton's music without resorting to technical jargon or waxing romantic like a fan...both serious mistakes of most jazz critics. And he also charts a sympethetic course through the philosophical divides of black artists in the 60's without taking sides or launching into unfounded polemics. Instead, Radaon's central premise, that Braxton's unique musical vision has never found a place in American musical society due to it's difficulty of classification (is it jazz? is it European oriented experimental music? What do we call this stuff?) and due to the less than orthodox education and views of it's creator, rings true in light of the facts of Braxto's life and the critical coverage and destruction that he recieved in the 70s and 80s.
Radano also does a marvelous job explaining Braxton's notoriously difficult philosophic/musical theories. The Triaxium writings are very difficult for the uninitiated (as are most free musician's theories - try making sense out of Ornette Coleman's descriptions of harmelodics...it's pretty tough going, though the results are stunning.) Radano strips away some of the deliberately obscure language that Braxton uses and gives us "Triaxium lite" as it were. Though this may seem on some level sacriligious, for many of us who truly admire Braxton and want to understand his thought, this helps enormously. It's made it possible for me to understand more of the liner notes on Braxton albums.
This book is recommended highly, both for fans of the composer/improvisor, and for anyone interested in the sad state of American culture at the end of the millenium. One hopes that Radano will decide to revise this book in light of the developments of the last 10 years (the book came out in 1993). Braxton's tenure as professor at Wesleyan University and his creation of an entirely new genre of music (Ghost Trance Music), along with a greater, belated appreciation of his notated music, may change some of Radano's conclusions, or at least inform them a bit.
This book examines Braxton's music & his treatment by media
This book is an excellent work of scholarship that examines Braxton's musical education in Chicago (AACM) in the 60s, his music as it progressed throughout the 70s, and, most importantly, how the media treated Braxton during these periods. It is essential reading for those who want a better understanding of not only Braxton's music but also the definitions imposed on creative music by the media establishment.
