• Home
  • About
    • Jazz Beyond Jazz
    • Howard Mandel
    • Contact
  • AJBlogs
  • ArtsJournal

Jazz Beyond Jazz

Howard Mandel's Urban Improvisation

MacArthur ignores jazz musicians and improvisers

October 2, 2012 by Howard Mandel

The new list of MacArthur fellows, just released, features not one musician from the world of jazz among the 23 distinguished Americans who will receive $100,000 a year for five years.

Two musicians are named among the fellows: Claire Chase, flutist and founder of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE)

Claire Chase, photo by Stephanie Berger

and Chris Thile, mandolinist of Nickle Creek and the Punch Brothers. I congratulate them both, as well as the other honored

Chris Thile

writers, artists, scientists, and a historian, economist, social services innovator. But considering the MacArthur program, established  since  in 1981 has included jazz-related musicians frequently since 1988 (starting with Ran Blake and Max Roach, continuing with George Russell, Ali Akbar Khan, Gunther Schuller, Cecil Taylor, Steve Lacy, Anthony Braxton, Ornette Coleman, Ken Vandermark, George E. Lewis, Edgar Meyer — with whom Chris Thile has collaborated — Reginald Robinson, Regina Carter, John Zorn, Corey Harris, Miguel Zenon, Jason Moran and Dafnis Prieto), and that the fellowships are not for past works but rather investments in the artists and hence their art forms’ futures, the absence this year is disappointing.

howardmandel.com

Subscribe by Email or RSS

All JBJ posts

Share this:

  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: main

Comments

  1. Paul Nelson says

    October 2, 2012 at 11:18 pm

    When will Julian Preister get the recognition he so richly deserves, from MacArthur or the NEA Jazz Masters grant program?

  2. Paul Lindemeyer says

    October 11, 2012 at 11:21 am

    What if jazz has undergone a process of re-ghettoization, away from the social and intellectual engagement it once enjoyed and implied? Artistic merit aside, what if it no longer connects meaningfully outside of the tribe of educated player-listeners?

    I always find comparisons with the classical music scene – in which I’ve been helped greatly by Greg Sandow’s blog about bringing new contexts to concert music. The classical scene got by on prestige so long that it couldn’t react meaningfully to changes in society, demographics, or how people use music. Sandow and his commenters illustrate how caring and creative programmers, musicians, ensembles, are making small cracks in the wall that has grown up between the music and the community.

    Jazz’s prestige was never so broad or so deep socially, but I have suspected for quite awhile that we’ve come to the end of a similar rope. But what’s lacking is a discussion on the “Sandovian” level – taking it to the streets, the parks, the museums, the halls, the clubs, the space inside people’s ears.

    There’s no question that jazz people have the talent, intellect, and commitment. Is the missing link awareness? engagement with the world outside the music and its capital cities? a permanent sense of being on the Outside of the culture???

    • Howard Mandel says

      October 11, 2012 at 11:41 am

      I hear your question, Paul, but I think jazz is far from being in the position you describe. Although the diy recording industry (which has made a huge contribution to documentation and dissemination of what’s going on now) might suggest otherwise, I can attest by personal witness that there is a lot of deeply involved, non-intellectual, localized (if yes, urban) jazz happening, much of which does not get recorded or broadcast by radio or reviewed in papers or in blogs, either. In Chicago and Boston I’ve seen and heard the music in clubs, parks, community centers, restaurants, and people of all ages and ethnic backgrounds getting into (ok, are those capital cities? I know of similar activities in Tucson, Tallahassee, Nashville, Detroit, Philadelphia, Raleigh. . .) The music is not only being propagated by conservatories and educational institutions, though there has been an extraordinary increase in that. There’s a lot of soul-influenced jazz being played in African American neighborhoods and favored venues that retain the social engagement. And I think the contemporary composition world Greg Sandow addresses is not in a better position than jazz right now. You may not know that I used to be rather deeply connected to that sphere in NYC (less so currently), but the gains Greg has helped instigate (along with NewMusicBox.org, edited wonderfully by Frank J. Oteri) still do not go very far beyond the immediate circle of the composers’ colleagues, friends and family.

      I continue to think that the problem is simply not much $ for marketing has been put into jazz for 40 to 50 years. During that time, pop music has as an industry completely dominated musical airwaves, though the music has developed from rock ‘n’ roll and Atlantic/Stax/Motown soul through psychedelia into prog rock, stadium rock, pure pop including disco, punk, roots Americana, rap, hip-hop, neo-soul, various derivations of techno, soft “rock,” Euro pop . . . most of those genres based on strong dance beats, words and attitudes rather than instrumental exploration and expressivity. I believe only an enormous and well-funded marketing and distribution campaign reaching an open-minded and musically curious audience will produce a sea-change in jazz’s profile and popularity. I don’t think the economic and educative conditions for this currently exist, yet jazz is tenacious and not about to lose its direct connections to the heart of communities where it resides.

Howard Mandel

I'm a Chicago-born (and after 32 years in NYC, recently repatriated) writer, editor, author, arts reporter for National Public Radio, consultant and nascent videographer -- a veteran freelance journalist working on newspapers, magazines and websites, appearing on tv and radio, teaching at New York University and elsewhere, consulting on media, publishing and jazz-related issues. I'm president of the Jazz Journalists Association, a non-profit membership organization devoted to using all media to disseminate news and views about all kinds of jazz.
My books are Future Jazz (Oxford U Press, 1999) and Miles Ornette Cecil - Jazz Beyond Jazz (Routledge, 2008). I was general editor of the Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz and Blues (Flame Tree 2005/Billboard Books 2006). Of course I'm working on something new. . . Read More…

About Jazz Beyond Jazz

What if there's more to jazz than you suppose? What if jazz demolishes suppositions and breaks all bounds? What if jazz - and the jazz beyond, behind, under and around jazz - could enrich your life? What if jazz is the subtle, insightful, stylish, … [Read More...]

Recent Comments

  • Kevin E Lynch on International Jazz RIPs, 2017: “re: previous comment” Jan 8, 12:59
  • Kevin E Lynch on International Jazz RIPs, 2017: “What a profoundly moving and thought-provoking list. Who knew so many, gone. And these few precious days...I'll spend with…” Jan 8, 12:57
  • Howard Mandel on Hyde Park Jazz Fest, summer’s last dance (photos): “thanks Bob -- Andrew is playing at his peak, should be heard!” Oct 1, 17:05
  • Bob Gluck on Hyde Park Jazz Fest, summer’s last dance (photos): “Thanks for the report on what sounds like a vibrant festival mixing generations and approaches. I particularly appreciate the space…” Oct 1, 14:57
  • Howard Mandel on The Jazz & Blues Art Box — instant collection, rare data trove: “I dont know about the publicfunding for the Bern jazz festival OR the videos; the Box itself seems to be…” Jul 31, 00:13

@JazzMandel

Tweets by @jazzbeyondjazz

More Me

I'll be speaking:

JBJ Essentials

Archives

Interviews & Articles

ESP Disks — origins of jazz beyond jazz

Reviewing a sleeping giant, ESP Disks before its early '00s revival  Howard Mandel c 1997, published in issue 157, The Wire It was a time before psychedelics. Following the seismic cultural disruptions of the mid '50s, rock 'n' roll had hit a … [Read More...]

William Parker, my DownBeat feature from 1998

Howard Mandel c 1998/published by DownBeat, July 1998, under headline Beneath the Underdog (the editor's reference to Charles Mingus's autobiography): There's an anchor for New York's downtown free jazz and improv "wild bunch": his name is William … [Read More...]

Matthew Shipp, my feature for The Wire, 1998

[contextly_auto_sidebar id="IFeXJPobvykRyuU4dU68FilRPv0EE8oC"] This is a complete version of the feature on pianist Matthew Shipp I wrote for The Wire, published in February, 1998 Is this the face of New York's jazz avant now? Pianist Matt … [Read More...]

Rashied Ali (1935 – 2009), multi-directional drummer, speaks

A 1990 interview with drummer Rashied Ali, about his relationship with John Coltrane. … [Read More...]

On The Corner program notes, Merkin Hall concert 5/25/09

Miles Davis intended On The Corner to be a personal statement, an esthetic breakthrough and a social provocation upon its release in fall of 1972. He could hardly have been more successful: the album was all that, though it has taken decades for its … [Read More...]

Blogroll

Jazz Beyond Jazz
Jose Reyes’ Jazz Con Class
Roanna Forman’s Boston Jazz Blog
David Hadju’s The Famous Door
Matt Miller’s tuneOUToptIN
Richard Mitnick’s Musicsprings
A Blog Supreme (NPR)
George Grella’s The Big City
Sebastian Scotney’s LondonJazz
Alex W. Rodriguez’s Lubricity
Ralph Mirlello’s Notes on Jazz

Share this:

  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

Related

Return to top of page

an ArtsJournal blog

This blog published under a Creative Commons license

Copyright © 2018 · Magazine Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.