John Coltrane and the Jazz Revolution of the 1960's

Rating:
Summary: Read, study and be inspired!
Review: Although I am not particularly familiar with jazz, I found this book a fascinating.

Kofsky's work takes on the white-owned big-business music establishment, debunking their myths and prejudices. He explains the evolution of jazz in the context of the changing social conditions of Afro-Americans-- not least of which are the social struggles they waged, from the battles to unionize industry in the 1930s to the civil rights and Black power movements of the 1960s. He details the use and abuse of human beings-- the actual musicians-- by the recording industry and club owners in their relentless pursuit of profits from the labor of others.

Kofsky has extensive chapters on the rhythms and other musical innovations of Coltrane and those he worked with, material I found particularly challenging to work through, but which help to understand the real, complex questions Coltrane took on as an artist and why his contributions were so important and inspiring to others. Of particular interest is his discussion of the interrelations between Coltrane, Albert Ayler, Elvin Jones and other artists-- of the collective social process that makes artistic creation possible.

Rating:
Summary: Read, study and be inspired!
Review: Although I am not particularly familiar with jazz, I found this book a fascinating.

Kofsky's work takes on the white-owned big-business music establishment, debunking their myths and prejudices. He explains the evolution of jazz in the context of the changing social conditions of Afro-Americans-- not least of which are the social struggles they waged, from the battles to unionize industry in the 1930s to the civil rights and Black power movements of the 1960s. He details the use and abuse of human beings-- the actual musicians-- by the recording industry and club owners in their relentless pursuit of profits from the labor of others.

Kofsky has extensive chapters on the rhythms and other musical innovations of Coltrane and those he worked with, material I found particularly challenging to work through, but which help to understand the real, complex questions Coltrane took on as an artist and why his contributions were so important and inspiring to others. Of particular interest is his discussion of the interrelations between Coltrane, Albert Ayler, Elvin Jones and other artists-- of the collective social process that makes artistic creation possible.

Rating:
Summary: This is a mixed effort at understanding the jazz revolution.
Review: Frank Kofsky (d. 1997) was a lover of jazz--particularly black jazz--and a Marxist ideologue. He goes to great length to argue that jazz is essentially an African-American phenomenon, and that whites are second-best or interlopers. (He does reluctantly grant that Bill Evans was a legitimate innovator and considerable influence...) That racial claim is questionable enough, but his political ideas intrude on his analysis repeatedly. His interviews with McCoy Tyner and John Coltrane attempt to pull political ideas out of them that they appear to have thought little about.

The book is somewhat mistitled because it is not primarily about John Coltrane, but about the black jazz and political revolution of the 1960. Kofsky speaks almost as much about Archie Shepp (saxophonist influenced by Coltrane who played with him late in Coltrane's career) than about Coltrane, partially, I think, because Shepp was much more outspoken in his leftist political ideas than was Coltrane who was, I take it, basically apolitical--despite some of his ethical concerns expressed, for instance, in his piece, "Alamaba," which was written to lament the racially-based murder of several black children in their church during the civil rights movement.

Nevertheless, the die-hard Coltrane fans may enjoy this book because of its analysis of Coltrane's music and influence. I appreciated the interviews with Coltrane, Tyner, and Elvin Jones, despite Kofsky's overly political insinuations. Kofsky gives some purely musical descriptions and explanations that I found noteworthy.

Kofsky, to his credit, does integrate the black nationalist movement of the 1960s with certain aspects of jazz during that period. Although some of his connections are questionable, he does emply this construct to illuminate the jazz scene of the day in ways that some jazz critics have failed to recognize.

The book suffers from poor editing, much repetition, and a sense that Kofsky is getting even after he was alienated from the jazz critics scene in the 1960s because of his political views. A kind of whining tone pervades much of the book, which becomes tiring.

I give the book three stars more for its subject matter than for its author's insights or writing ability. The definitive factual biography on Coltrane is Lewis Potter's, "John Coltrane: His Life and Music." The best treatment of Coltrane's spirituality in relatin to his music is Nisenson's, "Ascension: John Coltane and His Quest."

Douglas Groothuis, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Philosophy Denver Seminary Email: [e-mail]

Rating:
Summary: Well-intentioned but misdirected
Review: Kofsky's effort in this book is to tie the avant-garde jazz music that emerged in the sixties to the politics of black nationalism that were boiling up at the same time. His essential thesis is that jazz is an African American art form that is and always has been by its very nature a form of protest against the physical and ideological shackles placed on black people by an oppressive society. He asserts that the musical freedom that black jazz artists searched for in the '60s went hand-in-hand with the efforts of Malcolm X and others to create a new, Afrocentric society that would presumably free black people to nurture their cultural identity.

As the title suggests, Kofsky saw John Coltrane as the key figure in this movement. He is unstinting in his praise of Coltrane's music, so much so that even I, a hard-core fan of Trane's for more than 30 years, found myself yearning for a more leavened approach. Kofsky certainly knows Coltrane's music well. But he makes, in my opinion, a fatal error in investing that music with a political consciousness and aim that Coltrane himself never professed. In fact, in an interview included in the book that Kofsky conducted with the saxophonist, he (Coltrane) makes clear that he does not subscribe to Kofsky's thesis, despite the writer's repeated attempts to put words in his mouth. Some years ago, I secured a tape of this interview, and it's startling to hear how insistent Kofsky becomes in attempting to lead his subject where he clearly doesn't want to go.

Another key weakness of the book is that it gives short shrift to so many fine musicians of the period. Charles Mingus, for example, a key influence on the avant-garde, is barely mentioned. If you read the book and had never heard of Miles Davis, you'd come away thinking that he was just another planet circling the Coltrane star instead of one of the formative influences on the saxophonist himself. And of course solid and influential musicians who made incremental contributions to the music -- Joe Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson, Lee Morgan, Jaki Byard, Herbie Hancock (the list could go on and on) -- receive nary a word. Meanwhile, Archie Shepp is lionized, first and foremost because of his radical politics.

Lest anyone think I'm taking a shot at Archie, I hasten to add that I think he's made a number of fine albums, and I own quite a few of them. The point is that one realizes early on that Kofsky is less interested in understanding the creative process and analyzing the relative musical merits of jazz musicians than he is in developing a social critique and applying his political litmus tests to the musicians of the era. Viewed in this light, the book is not very informative. A long critique of the "cockroach capitalism" practiced by jazz club owners 40 years ago doesn't carry much weight today. And alas, the socialist revolution that Kofsky proclaimed was imminent has somehow failed to come to pass, yet jazz has endured. Is there a lesson there?

In the end, Kofsky manages to minimize the artistry of the musicians and make them appear to be guided inexorably by Marxist ideology. That's pretty flimsy and it certainly in my mind is a disservice to the many great musicians of the '60s who could never be pinned down to one influence. In fact, their stubborn resistance to being pinned down, and to be endlessly open to new ideas, is precisely what made them jazz musicians.

For a much better insight into the life of the jazz musician, I would suggest A.B. Spellman's "Four Lives in the Bebop Business," and for a balanced analysis of Coltrane's music, Eric Nisenson's "Ascension."

Rating:
Summary: This book got me listening to jazz and enjoying it
Review: Not a biography of Coltrane, this is a really interesting discourse on jazz as it evolved through the racism, civil rights movement and African liberation struggles of the times. Kofsky (the author) was a protagonist in the jazz world and although his obsession with petty quarrels among critics can get a bit wearing, the book is so grounded in the real, lived-through conflicts sodden in the overt racism of the music establishment, it is a good read. Imagine, many critics wouldn't even admit jazz was Black music - couldn't concede such a contribution from "the Negros"!

Several chapters replete with musical scores were too much for me to understand, since I don't play an instrument, but they clearly round out Kofsky's points on the structure of jazz. Learned all kinds of stuff about how the measured, symmetrical symphony compositions of Europe reflect that society's inner workings, versus the different beat of African music picked up by jazz. Instead of exploring a different take on rythm and sound, early critics hrrumphed and complained of cacophony. The chauvinism is so damn self-assured.

Also has beautiful photos, many taken by the author himself. Proof he was really there through thick and thin.

Rating:
Summary: Required reading for an understanding of...
Review: sixties jazz culture. I'm not going to add much to the above reviews as there's already a pretty good balance of opinion, and a lot depends on how you wish to view things. Understand that there was a great political undercurrent to the music at that time and many of the struggles as depicted here paved the way for the opportunities that are available to jazz musicians today. If you can get your hands on it - better still if someone could reprint it - try to find Rob Backus' 'Fire Music - A Political History of Jazz' and AB Spellman's wonderful 'Four Lives in the Bebop Business.' There's a lot more to the music than just the music, and I believe that a fuller understanding makes the listening that much more enjoyable.

Rating:
Summary: A powerful but frustrating read
Review: The late Frank Kofsky was a radical historian, and a lover of Jazz. This book is based on articles he published in Jazz magazines in the middle 1960s, interviews he did with Coltrane. Despite its weaknesses, this book is important in that it stresses the importance of the African American nature of Coltrane and modern jazz, and its links to Black militancy in the 1960s. As such, it is a good answer to the current Wynton Marsalis-Stanley Crouch-Albert Murray mafia's insistence that Jazz is not African American, but a product of 'greatness" of American capitalism and that Jazz needs to acquire the forms, conventions, and practices of European classical music. . . And this is vital to Coltrane's importance in the advancement of Jazz completely against these conventions.
This book has weaknesses. Kofsy's analysis is distant from Marxist cultural theory, especially as he tries to identify artistic validity with political content. Kofsky seems unaware of the question of class within the African American people or among jazz musicians. Kofsky never really lets the reader know how religion and spirituality became central to John Coltrane and his music in his later years... .
Still, this book is part of the defense of the place of John Coltrane in the history of Jazz, and of Jazz's own place in history.

Rating:
Summary: The Politics of Jazz
Review: There are a lot of books on jazz and plenty on the subject of Black liberation. What makes this book special is how it combines a serious musical analysis of jazz-as in the chapter on Elvin Jones' drumming-with an understanding of the social and political dimensions of the music-as in the piece on jazz as a weapon of the Cold War. Kofsky takes on a range of music critics to argue the case for considering jazz as distinctively Black music. And he shows how John Coltrane and his collaborators had to fight to maintain their musical integrity in a business dominated by white critics, promoters, club owners and the like. Occasionally, the book reads like a personal vendetta by Kofsky against particular jazz critics, which is distracting. But for anyone who wants to understand better the connections between jazz music and the politics of the 1960s, this is a very useful book.

Rating:
Summary: The Politics of Jazz
Review: There are a lot of books on jazz and plenty on the subject of Black liberation. What makes this book special is how it combines a serious musical analysis of jazz-as in the chapter on Elvin Jones' drumming-with an understanding of the social and political dimensions of the music-as in the piece on jazz as a weapon of the Cold War. Kofsky takes on a range of music critics to argue the case for considering jazz as distinctively Black music. And he shows how John Coltrane and his collaborators had to fight to maintain their musical integrity in a business dominated by white critics, promoters, club owners and the like. Occasionally, the book reads like a personal vendetta by Kofsky against particular jazz critics, which is distracting. But for anyone who wants to understand better the connections between jazz music and the politics of the 1960s, this is a very useful book.