Re: African roots of jazz - opinionated

Music Lane

It's all about the music, dude! Sit down, relax and listen to some tunes.

Re: African roots of jazz

141.153.223.161

Posted by opinionated on February 19, 2004 at 10:41:50

In Reply to: Re: African roots of jazz posted by Jamboree Jones on February 16, 2004 at 11:54:42:

I suggest you try to find "Giants of Black Music" (originally "The Black Giants") although it is probably out of print by now. There is an interview with Oliver Nelson just after he returned from a trip to West Africa with a septet in 1969. His comments might be enlightening for you all. He said that the Africans had no sense of the blues and couldn't find one African who knew when to change from the I to IV chords, nor did they understand the twelve bar structure. Their music is functional (rituals, processions, dancing, etc.)and of course rhythmic. They do not hear vertically (harmonically) as we know it. The music is linear. They did not use music intellectually. There was an eventual harmonic influence, generally hymnal but the drums remained intact. That's some of it in a nutshell. Some of his other observations...he didn't see any afros (the hair style), the history of Africa is written in Arabic and you better know a lot of languages if you go. The tribal differences are immense. Oh yeah, his ultimate conclusion is that jazz is American. The Caribbean or any other places that had African influences did not produce jazz. Interesting?

bgs

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Follow Ups Full Thread

Topic - African roots of jazz - njjohn 05:08:18 02/16/04 (18)

Re: African roots of jazz - Davet 12:40:57 02/17/04 (4)

Re: African roots of jazz and American Fed Beef - vocalion 20:44:26 02/18/04 (3)

Jazz and American Fed Beef - Davet 22:25:34 02/18/04 (2)

Re: Jazz and American Fed Beef - vocalion 23:57:42 02/18/04 (1)

this sidethread - njjohn 04:09:21 02/20/04 (0)

Re: African roots of jazz - J 21:15:27 02/16/04 (1)

Re: African roots of jazz - njjohn 03:25:25 02/17/04 (0)

Re: European roots of jazz - vocalion 18:24:36 02/16/04 (4)

Re: European roots of jazz - njjohn 20:15:31 02/16/04 (3)

Re: European roots of jazz - vocalion 02:02:00 02/17/04 (2)

Re: European roots of jazz - njjohn 03:44:49 02/17/04 (1)

"With everything so racially sensitive"... - SE 04:33:17 02/17/04 (0)

Re: African roots of jazz - Jamboree Jones 11:54:42 02/16/04 (3)

Re: African roots of jazz - opinionated 10:41:50 02/19/04 (0)

As though most of those didn't occur in (older) European music... nt - clarkjohnsen 08:25:06 02/17/04 (0)

Re: African roots of jazz - njjohn 19:59:46 02/16/04 (0)

True enough, but... - SE 05:49:39 02/16/04 (1)

Re: True enough, but... - kerr 09:39:06 02/16/04 (0)

Follow Ups

Re: African roots of jazz - opinionated 10:41:50 02/19/04 (0)

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