BLST 14: The History of Jazz

Department of Black Studies (UCSB)

Winter 2015

Instructor:
Dr. Jeffrey Stewart
jstewart@blackstudies.ucsb.edu
NOTE: Please no emails to explain readings or class lectures. I will gladly answer questions
during office hours if you need help with the material.

Office: South Hall 3718

Tel: (805) 893-5747
Office Hours: T R 11:00-12:15 pm

Class Meeting: T R 12:30-1:45 pm

T D - W 2600

NOTE: Office hours are for clarification of course readings and lectures. If you miss a class,
I expect you to have read the material and obtained the lecture notes from a classmate
before seeing me during office hours.

Teaching Assistant:
Mr. George K. Blake gblake@umail.ucsb.edu
The third party is a constitutive aspect of the whole utterance,
who, under deeper analysis, can be revealed in it.
--M.M. Bakhtin

Course Description:
This is a course surveying the historical origins and development of jazz, beginning
with the West African heritage and the African American folk tradition, and
examining the social and cultural context of this twentieth-century music.
Furthermore, this class is designed to introduce students to historical, social, and
cultural contexts of jazz music.

Course Goals:

To get students to move from thinking of jazz merely as a cultural object and
think of jazz as a process of production of music by a people and place who
are the subject of jazz, as the story of its production.
To get students to recognize that jazz as a process is also the story of it
getting ripped off and commercialized so viciously by the larger society and
the corporate interests in it that part of its vitality is resistanceresistance to
what already is, to what has been commodified as a jazz riff, because that is
the specter of death and decline always facing an art form, especially one
created largely by poor blacks and consumed and distributed and
appropriately largely by middle class or wealthy whites.
To get students to think things together that they would not normally think
of togethermusic, history, oppression, urban ghettoes, modernism, race,
class, and commodification and thus foster in them a more syncretic and
synthetic sense of music and its importance as an expression of peoples
lives, rather than simply entertainment.

Course Readings:

Students are expected to read required course material prior to Lecture and before
Sections. You should always read the material with the following in mind: what is
the author(s) thesis, main point(s), or argument(s)? In other words, what is the
author trying to get across to you? Students may be called on at random to answer
these and similar questions about course readings. Be prepared for class. You have
been warned.
Readings will include selected chapters from the following texts:
Davis, M. w/ Q. Troupe (1989). Miles: The Autobiography of Miles Davis. New York:
Simon and Schuster, Inc.
Gioia, T. (2011). The History of Jazz. 2nd. Ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
Kelley, R. D. G. (2009). Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American
Original. New York: Simon and Schuster, Inc.
Shack, William (2001). Harlem in Montmartre. Berkeley: University of California
Press.
ALL OTHER READINGS will be found on GauchoSpace, the Moodle site.

Anticipated Student Learning Outcomes:

Upon successful completion of this course students should be able to:

Explain the contributions key figures spread across the musical map, taking
root in major cities such as New Orleans, Chicago, New York, Paris, St. Louis.
Describe how Jazz emerges from particular cities and reflects social and
cultural conditions of life in those cities (e.g. ethnic diversity, migration,
institutions, geography, etc.)
Explicate how jazz shaped and reflected Black identity in the United States.
Integrate knowledge constructed throughout course to discuss the social and
cultural conditions that affect the emergence of distinct cultural forms of
jazz.
Outline how those social and cultural conditions are represented, but also
transcended by the jazz forms.
Collectively produce an online forum discussion reflecting the kinds of
knowledge being formed from participating in the class.
Write more quality posts reflecting understanding of content and critical
awareness of others perspectives.

Methods of Blended Learning Instruction:

Blended learning for this course concerns the thoughtful fusion of face-to-face and
online learning experiences (Garrison & Vaughan, 2008). A number of online
learning activities will be used including: online discussion as a formative
assessment, listening to and analyzing Jazz music, and viewing videos portraying
Jazz sessions on Youtube. Utilizing blended learning strategies is my way of
engaging students and constructing a more student-centered, interactive,
collaborate approach to teaching an undergraduate course. Some of you may find it
difficult to participate in a course requiring weekly access to computers or to
navigate through the GauchoSpace site. If this is the case, please contact George

Blake (gblake@umail.ucsb.edu) and he will set up a time to work with you to help
facilitate your access.

Methods of Assessment:

For this course you will be assessed on four (4) different assignments. The
assignments are discussed and will be graded based on the following:
1. Weekly Blog Posts (30%)As a member of this class you will publish five (5)
blog posts based on course readings, lecture, section discussion, music,
and/or video. Each post is evaluated based on completion, peer feedback
replies, and quality of writing. The rubric used to evaluate your online
discussion participation is posted on GauchoSpace.
2. Midterm (30%)The midterm is a take-home exam consisting of 3 short
answer questions and 1 essay based on material covered in class thus far.
3. Final Project (30%)A Group Quartet Project (Mash-up/Podcast) is
completed outside of class and includes an essay and video presentation
(See handout on GauchoSpace).
4. Participation in Section (10%)Students are required to attend section and
participate in class discussions about the lectures and readings. (If you have
more then 2 absences, I may ask you to drop the course.)

Course Policies and Expectations:

Attendance and completion of all activities required for this course is

essential for success. For first few sessions roll will be taken orally and then
for the last weeks a sign-up sheet will be circulated.
Arrive to class on time (and be seated on time).
Turn in assignments on time. Late assignments will not be accepted!
Keep an open mind and ask questions.
Be attentive: Take notes and devote full attention to class. DO NOT engage
in side conversations, cell phone calls, SMS messaging, or other computerbased communication. When visual images are presented on the screen or
musical selections are played, they should be treated as part of class
presentations, not an invitation to talk or leave the room.

Date

Topics

Assignments

1/6

Introduction to Course Content & Format

Close Reading of Text:

Alain Locke, Harlem

African Traditions: Congo Square

1/8

Required Readings
Gioia: The History of Jazz, pp. 3-12
Robert F. Thompson: African Art and Motion
(GauchoSpace)
Paul Austerlitz, Kente Cloth to Jazz (GauchoSpace)
Featured: Attack, Multiple Beats, Congo Square

The Blues: Country and Urban

1/13

Required Reading
Gioia: The History of Jazz, pp. 12-25
The City (GauchoSpace)

View videos of the blues

Featured: Robert Johnson, Leadbelly, Mamie Smith

New Orleans Jazz: Urban Music and Jazz Soloists

1/15

Required Reading
Gioia: The History of Jazz, pp. 27-51.

View videos of the Second

Line

Featured: Buddy Bolden, Jelly Roll Morton, Original

Dixieland Jazz Band, Louis Armstrong

Complicating New Orleans: Borderlands and

Community
1/20

Required Reading
Gaye Theresa Johnson, `Sobre Las Olas: A Mexican
Genesis in Borderlands Jazz and the Legacy for Ethnic
Studies. (GauchoSpace)

Blog #1 & Comment

Due no later than
1/22/2015
(by 11:59pm)

Featured: Jelly Roll Morton, Anita Gonzales, Louis

Armstrong

Chicago: Migration and Community

Chicago Style: Migrating Musicians
and the Black Belt

1/22

Required Readings
King Oliver
Chapter 6: You Are Going to Be More Than Me.
Liz Cohen, Blacks Go Commercial
(all on GauchoSpace)
Giola, The History of Jazz, [The Age of the Soloist],
pp. 53-57.
Featured: King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Lil Hardin

Bix and the White Chicagoans

1/27

Required Readings
Giola, The History of Jazz, pp. 57-87.
The Jazz Slave Masters (GauchoSpace)
The Chicagoans (GauchoSpace)
Featured: Bix Beiderbecke, the Austin Hill Gang

What

is Jazz? New York, Man!

The Two Harlems: Stride Piano

1/29

Required Readings
Gioia: The History of Jazz, pp. 89-125.
James P. Johnson (GauchoSpace)

View videos of Stephanie

Trick playing Stride Piano

Featured: James P. Johnson, William "The Lion" Smith

Jazz Culture in New York

2/3

Required Readings
Gioia: The History of Jazz, pp. 127-147.
Fletcher Henderson (GauchoSpace)

Blog #2 & Comment

Due no later than
2/5/2015
(by 11:59pm)

Featured: Fletcher Henderson and Duke Ellington

Jazz Migrations of the 1920s and 1930s

Paris, Le Grand Duc, le tumulte noir and
the Women of Jazz
2/5

Required Reading
Shack: Harlem in Montmartre, ch. 2 and 3.
Featured: Eugene Bullard Alberta Hunter, Josephine
Baker, Bricktop, Florence Mills, Nancy Cunard

Swing and Jazz in Kansas City

Required Reading
2/10

Gioia: The History of Jazz, pp. 147-183.

Featured: Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Count Basie

Blog #3 & Comment

Due no later than
2/12/2014
(by 11:59pm)

The Political Economy of Race and Swing

2/12

Required Reading
Swing Changes (GauchoSpace)
Featured: Duke Ellington, John Hammond, Glen Miller
and Billie Holiday

Bebop to New York in the 1940s

Bebop in New York
2/17

Required Reading

Gioia: The History of Jazz, pp. 185-236.

Take Home Exam

Due on 2/24

Featured: Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie

Insiders View of Miltons

2/19

Required Reading
Miles: Autobiography, Chapter 3
Featured: Charlie Parker, Miles Davis

Thelonius Monk and San Juan Hill

2/24

Required Reading
Kelly: Thelonius Monk, Chapters 2 & 3

Blog #4 & Comment

Due no later than
2/26/2014
(by 11:59pm)

Miles Davis: New York, Alabama, and Los Angeles

Monks Dream at the Five Spot and Nightmare in
New Jersey
2/26
Required Reading
Kelly: Thelonius Monk, Chapters 18 & 19

Choose groups and

begin collaboration
for Final Project.

Blog #5
Modal ThingKind of Blue: Alabama sounds
3/3
Required Reading
Miles: Autobiography, Chapter 2 & 11.

Due no later than

3/5/2014
(by 11:59pm)

The Second Great Quintet: Urbanism

3/5

Required Reading
Miles: Autobiography, Chapter 13

Meet with members

to work on Final
Project.

Final Project: Jazz and the City

The Street in Jazz: From In A Silent Way to On the
Corner
Required Reading
Miles: Autobiography, Chapters 14 & 15.
3/10

Featured: Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix, Joe Zawinul, Paul

Buckmaster

Work on Final
Project!

Guest Presenter: Dr. Anissa Stewart, Project Director,

UCSB Extension: Creating iMovie Presentations on
the History of Jazz in the City.
3/12

Workshop/Lab Time

Complete Final
Project!

3/16

Final Project Presentations

12-3 pm