Class Policies » Calendar :: Links :: Listening :: Viewing

Intro

In this colloquium we will study the movements, styles, and ideas behind African American popular music -- from Jim Crow to hip hop. Special attention will be given to the contributions of key jazz and blues musicians over the last century. Within the context of this course, you will learn various college "survival techniques” and life skills (e.g., time management, stress management), how to use the library and find media, how to create a Web page, and, hopefully, what it means to be a part of a diverse and engaging academic community.

Texts

Jones, LeRoi (Amiri Baraka). Blues People: Negro Music in White America. William Morrow, 1999.

Szwed, John F. Jazz 101: A Complete Guide to Learning and Loving Jazz. Hyperion, 2000.

Grading

Attendance

You are expected to attend each class meeting. “Make-ups” are generally frowned upon. If you must miss class due to personal crisis, illness, etc., email your instructor ahead of time. Only two (2) “unexcused” absences will be allowed; for each unexcused absence over two (2) you will be docked one point from your 10-point participation grade.

Journal

You are required to keep a journal for this class, preferably a small notebook used only for this class. All of your written responses should be recorded here, including any impromptu writing exercises done in class and the 7 written responses to listening/viewing (worth 35 points).

Summit Program Seminars/College Success Workshops

You are required to attend at least three (3) seminars or workshops outside of class, and to write a one-page response to each. This is worth 15 points of your final grade (5 points each). See brochure provided.

Calendar (Subject to Change)

Week 1

Aug. 21 - Introductions – “Expressions of the disenfranchised” - "folk art” v. "fine art”
Listening: various examples

Week 2

Aug. 26 - What is the blues? - Pre-war blues / Country blues
Geography of the blues
Viewing: Devil Got My Woman
Aug. 28 - Intro to the Library and Media Center

Week 3

Sept. 2 - Intro to Delta Blues
Viewing: Muddy Waters: Can’t Be Satisfied, part 1
Sept. 4 - Chicago Blues – The “Great Migration” 
Viewing: Muddy Waters: Can’t Be Satisfied, part 2 
**Written response 1 - due Sept. 9**

Week 4

Sept. 9 - Folk legends and Robert Johnson
Viewing: Search for Robert Johnson, part 1
Sept. 11
Viewing: Search for Robert Johnson, part 2
**Written response 2 – due Sept. 16**

Week 5

Sept. 16 - Texas Blues & East Coast Piedmont Blues
Listening: Blind Lemon Jefferson and Lightnin’ Hopkins selections (Texas); Blind Boy Fuller, Blind Willie McTell, Rev. Gary Davis selections (East Coast Piedmont Blues)
Viewing: Rev. Gary Davis and Sonny Terry: Masters of the Country Blues; Mance Lipsomb and Lightnin' Hopkins: Masters of the Country Blues
Sept. 18  - Musician search assignment – Using the Library and Media Center

Week 6

Sept. 23 - Baraka discussion – Blues People
Sept. 25 - Piedmont Blues - North Carolina
Viewing: Rev. Gary Davis and Sonny Terry: Masters of the Country Blues

Week 7

Sept. 30 - North Carolina Blues Musicians
Viewing: Piedmont Blues: North Carolina Style (UNC-TV); Folkways: Piedmont Blues (UNC-TV)
**Written response 3- Due Oct. 7**
Oct. 2 - The “Humanistic Tradition” & the Liberal Arts
College Survival Skills

Week 8

Oct. 7 - Blues wrap-up; final discussions 
Viewing: TBA
Oct. 9 - **Fall Break (no class)**

Week 9

Oct. 14 - Intro to jazz – Defining Jazz – from the Savoy Ballroom to the lecture hall
Pre-jazz, Ragtime, and Blues
Early jazz – New Orleans – Louis Armstrong
Listening: Scott Joplin, James P. Johnson, Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton
Oct. 16 - Viewing: Ken Burns’ Jazz, Episode 1

Week 10

Oct. 21 - Musician Search Assignment
Oct. 23 - Swing v. Bebop – Music for dancing v. music for “listening”
Listening: (swing) Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington, Count Basie 
Listening: (bebop) Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk
**Written response 4 – Due Oct. 28**

Week 11

Oct. 28 - Intro to Modern Jazz
Viewing: Ken Burns' Jazz, Episode 8
Oct. 30 - Cool – West Coast – “White Jazz”
Listening: Miles Davis, Modern Jazz Quartet, Gerry Mulligan
Viewing: Jazz on a Summer’s Day

Week 12

Nov. 4 - Musician Search Assignment
Nov. 6 - Hard Bop – Funk/Soul Jazz – Blue Note (label)
Listening: Various cuts
The “Big Year” – 1959
Listening: Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane

Week 13

Nov. 11 - John Coltrane – NC roots – lasting impact
Viewing: The World According to John Coltrane
Listening: Various cuts
**Written response 5 – Due Nov. 18**
Nov. 13 - Free Jazz – Avant Garde – 1960s
Listening: Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, Sun Ra, Albert Ayler
Viewing: Ken Burns' Jazz, Episode 10

Week 14

Nov. 18 - Jazz Rock – Fusion
Listening: Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock
Funk, Black Consciousness, and Hip Hop
Listening: Gil Scott Heron, Last Poets, Sly Stone, James Brown, Funkadelic
Nov. 20 - Jazz-Rap connection – Acid Jazz – Sampling 
Listening: US3, Digable Planets, A Tribe Called Quest, Public Enemy
Viewing: Scratch
**Written response 6 – Due Nov. 25**

Week 15

Nov. 25 - Suggestions from the floor… Bring in your own CDs…
Nov. 27 - **Thanksgiving [no class]**

Week 16

Dec. 2 - Musician Search Assignment
Dec. 4 - Musician Search Assignment
**Written response 7 – Due Dec. 9

Final

Dec. 9

Links

Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues. PBS site.

Jazz: A Film by Ken Burns. PBS site

North Carolina Jazz Musicians

T-Bone's Piedmont Blues Page

Jazz Studies Links

Blues Books & Videos in Ramsey Library

Listening

You are NOT supposed to memorize these lists. This is not that kind of class. These musicians and album titles are provided here to help you when composing your written responses. In this class, creativity and written expressiveness are more important than memorizing a bunch of dates, names, and titles. All listening assignments will be placed on reserve in the Media Center of the library.

Blues

Mississippi Delta
Johnson, Robert. King of Delta Blues Singers, 1998. Columbia/Legacy 65746
Waters, Muddy. The Anthology: 1947-1972 (2 discs), 2001. MCA/Chess 112649

Texas Blues
Jefferson, Blind Lemon. King of the Country Blues. Yazoo 1069
Hopkins, Lightnin'. The Herald Recordings: 1954.

East Coast Piedmont Style - Carolinas
Fuller, Blind Boy. Truckin' My Blues Away. Yazoo 1060
Fuller, Blind Boy. East Coast Piedmont Style. Columbia/Legacy 46777
McGhee, Brownie, and Sonny Terry. Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry Sing. Smithsonian/Folkways 40011
Davis, Gary, Rev. Pure Religion and Bad Company. Smithsonian/Folkways 40035
McTell, Blind Willie. Blind Willie McTell, 1927-1935. Yazoo 1037 (Atlanta Blues)

Jazz

Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Collection of Recordings, 1987. UNCA AUDIO CD M1366 .S65 1987. 5 discs + booklet

Pre-jazz: Ragtime & Blues
Joplin, Scott, "Maple Leaf Rag" from Smithsonian Collection 
Johnson, James P. "Carolina Shout" from Smithsonian Collection

Early Jazz: New Orleans
Armstrong, Louis. Complete Hot Fives and Hot Sevens. 4 discs + booklet.
Morton, Jelly Roll. The Pearls. BMG/RCA 6588 (Recorded 1926-28)

Swing
Henderson, Fletcher. "Stampede" and "Wrappin' it up" from the Smithsonian Collection
Ellington, Duke. The Blanton-Webster Band. BMG/RCA Victor 5657. (Recorded 1940-42)
Basie, Count. The Essential Count Basie. Columbia CK 40608, Columbia CK 40835, Columbia CK 44150 (3 discs) (Recorded 1939-41)

Bebop
Parker, Charlie. The Charlie Parker Story. Savoy 105 (Recorded 1945)
Gillespie, Dizzy. Complete RCA Victor Recordings. RCA 66528 (Recorded 1937-49)
Monk, Thelonious. Genius of Modern Music, Volume 1. Blue Note 81510 (Recorded 1947-52)

Cool - West Coast - “White Jazz”
Davis, Miles. Complete Birth of the Cool. Capitol Jazz 7243 4 94550 2 3 (Recorded 1948-50)
Modern Jazz Quartet. Django. Prestige OJC 057-2 (Recorded 1953-54)
Mulligan, Gerry. The Best of the Gerry Mulligan Quartet with Chet Baker. Pacific Jazz 7 95481 2

Hard Bop - Funk/Soul Jazz - Blue Note (label)
Blakey, Art, and the Jazz Messengers. Moanin’.
Silver, Horace. Song for My Father. 
Various cuts from Blue Note albums (Lee Morgan, Tina Brooks, Lou Donaldson, Jimmy Smith, Cannonball Adderley, Joe Henderson, others)

The “Big Year” - 1959
Davis, Miles. Kind of Blue. Columbia/Legacy 64935
Coleman, Ornette. Shape of Jazz to Come. Atlantic 78139; Change of the Century. Atlantic 81341
Coltrane, John. Giant Steps. Atlantic 75203

Free Jazz - Avant Garde - 1960s
Coltrane, John. Later recordings on the Impulse! label
Dolphy, Eric. Out to Lunch. 
Sun Ra. Various recordings from Sinclair's collection.
Ayler, Albert. Spiritual Unity. ESP 1002 (Recorded 1964)

Jazz Rock - Fusion 
Davis, Miles. Bitches Brew.
Davis, Miles. Jack Johnson.
Hancock, Herbie. Headhunters.

Funk, Black Consciousness, Hip Hop, Acid Jazz
Various cuts from Sinclair's collection (James Brown, Parliament/Funkadelic, Sly Stone, others)
Scott-Heron, Gil. The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. Bluebird 6994
Public Enemy. It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back.
A Tribe Called Quest. Low-End Theory.
US3, Digable Planets, etc.
Other stuff…? Suggestions from the floor…

Viewing

Jazz [videorecording] / a production of Florentine Films and WETA, Washington, D.C., in association with BBC; produced by Ken Burns, Lynn Novick; a film [directed] by Ken Burns ; written by Geoffrey C. Ward. Washington, D.C.: PBS DVD, 2000. UNCA DVD ML3506 .B87 2000 v.1-10

American Roots Music [videorecording] / a Ginger Group production ; directed by Jim Brown ; produced by Jim Brown, Sam Pollard and Jeff Rosen ; written by Charles Wolfe. New York: Palm Pictures, 2001. UNCA DVD ML3551 .A54 2001 pts.1-2, 3-4

Blues up the country [videorecording] : The Country Blues Guitar Legacy. Vestapol Productions ; Cambridge, MA : Distributed by Rounder Productions, 1995. Sinclair copy.

Devil Got My Woman [videorecording] : Blues at Newport 1966 / featuring Skip James, Howlin' Wolf, Son House, Rev. Pearly Brown, Bukka White. Cambridge, Mass.: Vestapol Productions, 1996. UNCA VIDEO CASS M1630.18 .D48 1996

Deep blues : a musical pilgrimage to the crossroads. Robert Mugge; Robert Palmer. New York : Fox Lorber CentreStage, 1999. (Sinclair copy; DVD)

Repercussions: A Celebration of African-American Music [videorecording] / Third Eye Productions Ltd. for Channel Four in association with RM Arts ; directed by Geoffrey Haydon and Dennis Marks. Chicago: Home Vision, 1984. UNCA VIDEO CASS M1670 .R4 1984 v.1-4

Out of the Blacks, Into the Blues [videorecording] / Neyrac Film. Newton, N.J. : Yazoo Video, 1992. UNCA VIDEO CASS ML3521 .O88 1992 pt.1-2

The Search for Robert Johnson [videorecording] / New York: Sony Music Entertainment, 1992. UNCA DVD ML420.J735 S4 1992

Muddy Waters: Can't Be Satisfied [videorecording] / Tremolo Productions in association with Wellspring Productions, American Masters and Channel Four Television ; produced and directed by Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon. New York: Wellspring Media, 2002. UNCA DVD

Rev. Gary Davis and Sonny Terry: Masters of the Country Blues [videorecording] / Yazoo Video, 2001. UNCA DVD

Mance Lipsomb and Lightnin' Hopkins: Masters of the Country Blues [videorecording] / Yazoo Video, 1991. UNCA DVD

The World According to John Coltrane [videorecording] / a co-production of Toby Byron/Multiprises in association with Taurus Film, Munich and Video Arts, Japan . New York: BMG Video, 1991. UNCA VIDEO CASS M1366.C658 W67 1991

Jazz Casual: Dizzy Gillespie [videorecording] / Jazz Casual Productions; produced by Ralph J. Gleason. Los Angeles: Rhino Home Video, 2000. UNCA DVD M1366.B375 .J39 2000

Jazz Casual: B.B. King (Sinclair copy; DVD)

Scratch [videorecording] / Palm Pictures and Ridgeway Entertainment presents a Firework Films production of a Doug Pray film ; Directed and edited by Doug Pray ; produced by Brad Blondheim and Ernest Meza, New York : Palm Pictures, 2002. UNCA DVD ML3531 .S373 2002 (2 DVDs)

David, Moffett & Ornette [videorecording] / Tempo-International, France; producer, Mike Hodges ; director, Dick Fontaine. New York, N.Y. : Rhapsody Films, 1988. UNCA VIDEO CASS ML419.C65 D38 1988

Jazz on a Summer's Day (Sinclair copy; DVD)

Piedmont Blues: North Carolina Style. A North Carolina Now Special. UNC-TV

Folkways: Piedmont Blues. Hosted by David Holt. UNC-TV

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The URL for this page: http://www.unca.edu/~sinclair/colloquia/jazzandblues.html
Last updated 8 December 2003. Comments to Bryan Sinclair, sinclair@bulldog.unca.edu