This project is divided into 4 parts, and within those main parts there are quite a few separate questions. In order to help you answer all of the questions, and put them in a form that is easy for me to process (thus keeping me in a better and more generous mood), please use the template document that I posted along with this assignment.
The first part concerns an essay about Miles Davis, and the second and third concern two jazz-rock fusion recordings that he made. In the last part I ask you to use the information and impressions that you have collected in the first three parts to write two very short essays. Your grade on the project will be based primarily on the final essays. This does not mean that you can ignore parts 1-3 of the project, but it does mean that you should keep your answers to questions in the preliminary parts short and to the point. Your final essay MUST connect to the timelines and other answers from the earlier parts--the reason those questions are part of this project is to give you a basis for writing the final essays.
The most important aspect of parts 2 and 3 are the annotated timelines that I ask you to construct from two of Davis's recordings. You may work on these in groups of up to 4. If you do this, please make it clear who was involved. The group can turn in one copy of the timelines with everybody's name on it, and in this case each group member's paper should mention that the timeline is separate and came from a group. Alternately the timelines can be inserted into each group member's paper, in which case they don't need to be identical--you could, for instance, find some or all of the timeline points as a group and then fill in the details individually (and perhaps add a few more time points). In either case (but especially in the first case, where the timelines are identical) groups should go beyond the minimum requirements, by including more entries than I request and/or by writing more detail in each entry.
Aside from the timelines, all of your answers should be yours alone. You may, if you like, base some of your answers on discussions you have with other class members. I would especially encourage you to use differences of opinion that you have with other students as a way to structure answers. Answers along the lines of "Joe heard X here, but I hear Y," or "Mary thinks this means X but I think it means Y" can be quite effective and also more interesting to write. Even if it's not a disagreement, I encourage you to refer to the ideas and observations of people that you worked with. But you should credit the source, and each member of the group should write their own answers in their own words.
This focus of this project is a couple of examples of the jazz-rock fusion style that Miles Davis instigated around 1970. It was quite controversial at the time, and to this day there are musicians and fans who consider it a betrayal of the ideals of jazz.
While music is the main concern here, there is some reading involved, and much of it concerns Davis the person as well as Davis the musician. One of the readings is an excerpt from Davis's autobiography, and the personality on display there, as well as in many of his published interviews, is complicated, contradictory, and often troubling. He is always frank, sometimes eloquent, inspired, and generous. The positive qualities, though, are often overshadowed by vulgarity, egotism, paranoia, and misogyny. It is tempting to see his life as a story of artistic innovation that unfolds along strictly musical lines over the course of a long string of outstanding recordings. The uncompromising self-assertion that made those recordings possible was just as evident in his private life, though, and the results were sometimes admirable and sometimes deplorable. When he stood his ground and took a beating from the billy club of a racist policeman rather than move off a sidewalk he had every right to be on, you see his admirably tough side. The ugly flip side of that was his habit, which he recounted without remorse in his autobiography, of beating his wives and girlfriends. Whether this behavior is relevant to an evaluation of Davis as an artist is an issue that I'll let you wrestle with (or not) on your own.
The author of the other text is Stanley Crouch. Crouch condemns Davis's violence towards women in no uncertain terms, and considers it to be symptomatic of an ugly streak that eventually overwhelmed him. The moment in this process of creeping ugliness that Crouch is most concerned with is Davis's shift to a style heavily influenced by rock music. Crouch is, in his way, as outspoken, opinionated, and uncompromising as Davis, and I hope that the heat of his argument helps to draw you into the issues that surround Davis in general and Davis's turn towards jazz-rock fusion in particular. Always keep in mind, though, that the main focus of this project is Davis's music, NOT Crouch's opinion of that music, even less Crouch's opinion of Davis the man. You should keep your reactions to Crouch very much in background unless the question specifically asks for them.
Here is the music:
These are the readings:
Crouch's essay is actually a review of two things. The first is an eight CD box set of Davis's recordings on the Prestige label from the early to mid 50s ("Oleo" is from one of the recordings of the Miles Davis Quintet with Coltrane that are part of this set). The other item under review is Davis's autobiography. Crouch chose to expand the review into a broader evaluation of the man himself, but the structure and focus of the essay can seem a little strange if you don't realize that it is a review.
A) Crouch and Davis focus on pretty much the same issues as they explain the artistic decision (in Davis's version) or "sellout" (in Crouch's opinion) that led to Davis's first jazz-rock fusion albums.
If you are uncertain about the meaning of "sellout," this definition might help. See also my comments in part 4 of the assignment.
B)
C) BEFORE you listen to the music and do the rest of this project, write down your impressions of Crouch's article. What points stand out? What parts are strongest or most convincing? What do you find yourself agreeing and/or disagreeing with? What rings true and/or false? Note these things in a few (something like 3-6) sentences. They can be disconnected--if they are, there is no need to force them into a coherent paragraph.
A) Construct a timeline that includes the following:
The first couple of entries could be something like this:
0:00 - The piece starts with a sparse drum figure, soon joined by a bass figure, then guitar and a few other voices. It is funky but also a bit mysterious. (This is how I hear it--you may hear it differently).
0:34 - Miles Davis comes in on a bent note, playing open trumpet (no mute). In keeping with the mood that's been set up, there is a lot of open space in the early part of his solo.
Altogether your timeline should have at least 20 entries.
B) Davis's playing here could be described at various times as laid back, or drawn out, or shrill, or crisp, or rapid-fire (to name just a few of the possibilities). He uses the low, middle, and high ranges of the trumpet to different effect, sometimes bends notes, sometimes holds them very steady.
C) Listen to the interactions between the soloists and the rest of the band. The drums and guitar, in particular, are often engaged in some kind of musical commentary, either egging the soloist on or responding to him. There is also an ebb and flow of energy that may come from either the soloist or the band.
A) Make a timeline for this piece. The easiest things to follow are the bass, which usually plays a quick pair of notes (ba-da) to make a downbeat, and a closed hi-hat that usually follows the bass note with about 12 evenly-spaced chinks. Davis plays the only solo, using an electronic wa-wa pedal (he comes in at around 2:30).
Your timeline should include the start and end of the trumpet solo, the places where the hi-hat rhythm or the bass part change significantly (there is one of each), and a few moments that stand out to you as climactic, or transitional, or otherwise noteworthy. Make at least 8 entries (not including the very beginning and the very end).
B) Davis acknowledges a number of influences. One of them is the avant-guarde German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen. Listen to his piece Gesang der Jünglinge, which combines recordings of children singing with synthesized sounds (you will have to be on the campus network to listen to this).
Other influences Davis cites are Ornette Coleman, James Brown and Sly Stone. For Coleman, you can listen to Lonely Woman, which is on the required listening list for the class. For James Brown, listen to "This Is It (pt. 1)," and for Sly Stone, listen to "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)." Both of these were recorded in the early 70s, around the same time as On the Corner.
The last name that Davis mentions is Paul Buckingham. Buckingham does not seem to have recorded music under his own name, but he has worked on quite a range of projects, from the mainstream (Elton John, for instance) to the avant-guarde. If you are curious, here are some details.
Place "Thinkin'" in the context of these other pieces. For each of three categories--European avant-guarde (represented by Stockhausen), jazz avant-guarde (Coleman), and funk (James Brown and Sly Stone), write a few sentences sketching...
Whatever your feelings about these different pieces, try to listen and respond to them as sympathetically as you can—I'm NOT asking for your opinions about the quality or beauty of the music.
A. Write a concise, focussed essay (1-2 pages double-spaced) addressing this question:
This is very specifically a question about what you hear in the music. DO NOT consider Davis's (or, for that matter, Crouch's) statements or behavior as you write your answer, with one exception--you may draw on Davis's comments about other kinds of music he was influenced by or responding to. I suggest you start the essay with a variation of the following sentence (choosing one of the alternatives in each of the square brackets and filling in the blank):
If Davis [was/was not] a sellout, I [would/would not] expect to hear ________ in the music, and I [do/do not] hear that.
You may not want to leave the sentence in exactly that form in your final essay, but if you start with it and then expand a little bit on what it is that you expected (or didn't expect) to hear, where in the recordings it did (or should have) happened, and why it would suggest to you that Davis was (or was not) a sellout, then you will have done exactly what I want. It may be that there are several things you hear in the music that you can relate to the main question of selling out, and it is fine to include more than one in your essay. It is even fine if you wish to make observations that contradict rather than reinforce each other. You're not required to come to a firm conclusion, only to discuss what the music suggests about how this question might be resolved.
It's very important that you come to a clear idea of what you think it means to sell out. In general, it refers to a betrayal of principles. It certainly implies a betrayal that is motivated by the possibility of or desire for some sort of reward, especially for monetary gain. But motivations of, for example, power, popularity, and pleasure fit in with the general idea. On the other hand, an honest change in principles does not qualify as a sell out, no matter how much those who disagree with the change might like to slap that label on it.
You can construe the term narrowly and focus on the specific contention that Davis sold out to make money, or you can construe it more broadly, as implying that he wanted to remain visible or popular or something like that. There is a fair amount of overlap between the two, of course—it's not an either/or situation. But you might look for somewhat different evidence in one case or the other. For one thing, if you focus on the commercial aspect, you need to explicitly assess the commercial potential of the music before and after the alleged sellout. In either case, you need to make it clear what principles were sold out. To simply say that Davis did or did not "sell out jazz" gets you nowhere. There have to be some artistic principles in place for an artist to sell out, so the first step you have to take is to decide what those are, for jazz. At least, you have to find some reasonable candidates that apply to this situation—I'd don't expect, or even want, for you to make some sort of definitive statement about the general artistic principles of jazz. Possibilities to consider are in the realms of creativity, individuality, spontaneity, interaction and interplay, and fidelity to African American modes of expression (and no doubt there are others, too).
B. Briefly discuss your reactions to Crouch's essay in the light of all that you've found out doing this project. You can, if you would like, respond to whatever you feel most strongly about in his essay. No matter what you choose to focus on, though, you MUST discuss how your opinion or understanding of Crouch's essay has changed or has been confirmed as you've listened to "Thinkin'" and "Voodoo." Think of this as a followup to Part 1C, where you recorded your initial impressions.
Your answer to this final question can be an essay of 1-2 double-spaced pages that focusses only on how the music has (or has not) changed your feelings about Crouch's essay. You may choose to write more than a page, and you may choose to discuss other aspects of the essay and your reaction to it, but make sure that in the process you describe clearly how your opinion has been effected by the music. As a practical matter, it is very unlikely that an essay longer than 2 pages will improve your grade. Any answer that is longer should be that way for a very clear reason. The worst possible thing to do is to say everything you can think of, with no clear theme or connection--doing that is much more likely to cost you than giving a clear and simple answer. This is because I usually interpret long, rambling answers to mean that the writer didn't understand the material well enough to distinguish between central, essential points and peripheral, inessential ones, or that he or she was unwilling to spent the time to edit and polish their assignment.
OK, that's the end of the assignment. I know it's long and elaborate, but please read each part carefully. A lot of the reason that the instructions are so detailed is because I want concise and clearly focussed answers. Not including the timelines, I would say that you should end up with about 5-7 double-spaced pages. If you find yourself going much over that, you are probably writing too much. In the last section particularly, figure out what your one or two main points are and stick to them.