{"id":5372,"date":"2014-01-10T20:51:19","date_gmt":"2014-01-11T04:51:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/?p=5372"},"modified":"2014-01-10T20:51:19","modified_gmt":"2014-01-11T04:51:19","slug":"the-new-nea-jazz-masters-anthony-braxton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/2014\/01\/the-new-nea-jazz-masters-anthony-braxton\/","title":{"rendered":"The New NEA Jazz Masters: Anthony Braxton"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Braxton,<\/a>There has been disagreement for more than forty years about whether the saxophonist, composer and sometime pianist Anthony Braxton is a jazz musician. With many others, he long insisted that the music he wrote and played was not jazz, but in 1993 he told author Cole Gagne<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6even though I have been saying I’m not a jazz musician for the last 25 years; in the final analysis, an African-American with a saxophone? Ahh, he’s jazz!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Maybe that concession is part of what led the National Endowment for the Arts to name Braxton one of the four NEA Jazz Masters for 2014. He, pianist Keith Jarrett, bassist Richard Davis and musician-entrepreneur Jamey Aebersold will receive their medals and their $25,000 awards on Monday evening. In a moment, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll hear one of Braxton\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s controversial early recordings. But it may be helpful to first see and hear him discuss his approach to music.<\/p>\n

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