1
11/10/10 1 Agenda for Tue., Nov. 9 • Announcements, etc. • Go over final project prompt • Discuss trip to the Louis Armstrong archives • Discuss definitions of jazz according to Gridley and Armstrong • Discuss Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” Jazz and Swing • Diverse and contested definitions • 2 main elements – Improvisation – Jazz swing feeling • Question of jazz as popular music vs. art music • Armstrong’s reclaiming of swing – Tensions between musician and conductor, the ordinary vs. good, the familiar vs. not familiar, tradition vs. commercialization Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” (1957) • What does jazz and music reveal about the differences between the narrator and Sonny? – Charlie Parker vs. Louis Armstrong Baldwin’s “Sonny’s Blues” (1957) • What can music do that nothing else can? • How does Baldwin portray the cyclical nature of oppression and marginalization?
