Critic Kevin Whitehead evaluations biographies of two musicians who transcended jazz, and to whom recognition was gradual in coming: James P. Johnson, born in 1894, and Alice Coltrane, born in 1937.
TONYA MOSLEY, HOST:
That is FRESH AIR. There are two fats, new biographies of composers and pianists born 43 years aside. Their music transcended jazz, however recognition for his or her work was gradual – James P. Johnson, born in 1894, and Alice Coltrane, born in 1937. Jazz historian Kevin Whitehead evaluations each books.
(SOUNDBITE OF JAMES P. JOHNSON’S “ROSETTA”)
KEVIN WHITEHEAD, BYLINE: James P. Johnson on “Rosetta,” 1939. Within the Nineteen Twenties, Johnson was the foremost proponent of stride piano, the type that reworked ragtimes, oompah beats and tidy syncopations into extra flexibly propulsive jazz piano. His buoyant contact and phrasing influenced Fat Waller, Duke Ellington, Earl Hines, Artwork Tatum, Depend Basie, Thelonious Monk and lots of of their admirers. Johnson wrote songs for Black Broadway, was king of Harlem’s legendary hire social gathering piano gladiators, was blues singer Bessie Smith’s greatest accompanist and composer of 1920′ signature tune “The Charleston.” That is from a participant piano roll James P. Johnson minimize. He by no means bothered to report his largest hit.
(SOUNDBITE OF JAMES P. JOHNSON’S “RUNNIN’ WILD MEDLEY”)
WHITEHEAD: Scott Brown’s excellent new biography “Speakeasies To Symphonies: The Jazz Genius Of James P. Johnson” solutions the query given all Johnson had completed, why is not he as well-known as his disciples? In hindsight, we all know it is recordings that cement a musician’s fame, however making information paid poorly within the ’20s and Johnson did not take them so significantly. He wasn’t a pure showman like his protege Fat Waller, had no real interest in main a working band to advertise his tunes and did not at all times characteristic his virtuoso piano sufficient. He did have a comeback within the Forties, working in conventional jazz bands, however that made him look like a relic of an earlier period.
(SOUNDBITE OF EDDIE CONDON’S “JUST YOU, JUST ME “)
WHITEHEAD: Beginning within the Nineteen Twenties, James P. Johnson additionally composed blues rhapsodies for orchestra that symphonic gatekeepers ignored. However in latest many years, his African American classical music has introduced him renewed consideration. Revivals embrace a brand new, modernized revamp of Johnson’s candy “Yamekraw,” by pianist Marcus Roberts. The world might lastly be catching up.
(SOUNDBITE OF CINCINNATI POPS ORCHESTRA, ET AL.’S PERFORMANCE OF JOHNSON’S “YAMEKRAW”)
WHITEHEAD: At this time’s different biographical topic additionally will get extra respect now that she’s gone. Alice McLeod began out taking part in piano in church as a lady in Detroit, however grew to become well-known as harpist Alice Coltrane, spouse and widow of saxophonist John. From the primary, there may very well be one thing oddly harp-like about Alice’s swirly, sweeping piano strikes, an inclination that grew extra pronounced when she joined her husband’s band in 1966.
(SOUNDBITE OF JOHN COLTRANE’S “CRESCENT (LIVE AT SANKEI HALL, TOKYO, JAPAN / JULY 11, 1966)”)
WHITEHEAD: John Coltrane was fascinated by the shimmering, angelic sound of the harp and had ordered one constructed for Alice, which arrived solely after his premature demise in 1967, as if harp was his bequest, a directive on the right way to proceed. Alice Coltrane took to it instantly, pursuing orchestral concepts she and John had mentioned. Again then, she took a whole lot of criticism, particularly after overdubbing a string part onto a few John’s unreleased recordings. When her music resembled his, people mentioned it fell quick. When she then went her personal method, they did not know what to suppose. That is from 1971’s “Common Consciousness.”
(SOUNDBITE OF ALICE COLTRANE’S “UNIVERSAL CONSCIOUSNESS”)
WHITEHEAD: Andy Beta’s good new bio, “Cosmic Music: The Life, Artwork, And Transcendence Of Alice Coltrane,” traces her musical life from early Detroit days by means of her years with John Coltrane and her wild ’70s recordings, that includes harp, strings and her dynamic work on electrical organ, the place she would possibly maintain notes like a saxophonist.
(SOUNDBITE OF ALICE COLTRANE’S “SPIRITUAL ETERNAL”)
WHITEHEAD: Then got here her lengthy final act. By the late Nineteen Seventies, Alice Coltrane withdrew from public music making, having turn into a Hindu mystic. Within the ’80s, she based a California ashram, the place she was often called Swamini Turiyasangitananda. Her musical focus was now on devotional chants. After she died in 2007, a well-recognized story performed out. Her information, as soon as dismissed as loopy, acquired rediscovered and reappraised. I used to be asleep on her jaw-dropping ’70s stuff myself. For higher or worse, she helped encourage a latest non secular jazz revival, with two Coltranes as patron saints. Alice Coltrane got here out of her husband’s shadow by shining her personal vivid gentle. Her music remains to be on the market in each sense.
(SOUNDBITE OF ALICE COLTRANE’S “GALAXY IN SATCHIDANANDA”)
MOSLEY: Jazz historian Kevin Whitehead reviewed “Speakeasies To Symphonies: The Jazz Genius Of James P. Johnson,” by Scott E. Brown, and “Cosmic Music: The Life, Artwork, And Transcendence Of Alice Coltrane,” by Andy Beta.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MOSLEY: On tomorrow’s present, we discuss concerning the state of the battle with Iran and prospects for peace with Aaron David Miller, a veteran of the State Division who suggested Republican and Democratic presidents on Center East coverage. He is the writer of 5 books and is at present a senior fellow on the Carnegie Endowment for Worldwide Peace. I hope you may be a part of us.
FRESH AIR’s government producer is Sam Briger. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham. Our interviews and evaluations are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Ann Marie Baldonado, Lauren Krenzel, Therese Madden, Monique Nazareth, Thea Chaloner, Susan Nyakundi, Anna Bauman and Nico Gonzalez-Wisler. Our digital media producer is Molly Seavy-Nesper. Roberta Shorrock directs the present. With Terry Gross, I am Tonya Mosley.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
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