In the mid-20th century, faced with moral travesties such as lynching, segregation, and black disempowerment, black jazz musicians began to create something that truly demonstrated the their undeniable technical skill, depth of artistic knowledge and overall passion for an art form they have developed: Bebop. In the 1950s, the bebop style of jazz was the most popular and innovative musical phenomenon—one of the first moments in American history when black artists (such as Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Duke Ellington) were the center of artistic attention. Soon the crowds of happy bebop fans would witness the emergence of an entirely different form of expression, suited to a complex new era. By the 1960s, politicians and social unrest were pushing black Americans to completely reconsider their position in society and how they should integrate into it. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Much of black social development from the late 1950s to the 1960s focused on respecting black personhood. Fittingly, jazz pianist Cecil Taylor and saxophonists John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman began to rethink the time, harmony, and space of bebop, creating a new, introspective sound that was less about what they played and more about what they had to say. They were transforming from “artists” to “artists,” commanding the same respect as great painters or writers. As black political leaders began to make progress in breaking the chains of oppression, black jazz musicians began to use jazz as more than just music; their work became an introduction to white people who would express themselves freely and radically beyond the bebop model. This "New Jazz" or "Free Jazz", unlike bebop, integrates non-harmonic dissonant tones, very unconventional rhythms and a much clearer reflection of the musicians' souls and emotions beyond just basic skills. This emerging music served as a wake-up call signaling the end of African Americans' pacification and their insistence on expressing their humanity, mirroring the political revolution of the same era. A new era of freedom was coming with this music. During the bebop era, black Americans and jazz musicians believed that their music had been co-opted by whites and that they were not making any money, because White record label owners kept all the proceeds from record sales. The situation was summed up by saxophonist Archie Shepp: “you own the music and we make it.” Black musicians argued that they were leading the way in innovation and creativity and worked very hard to do so. Meanwhile, the white-owned record labels collected and kept all the money. Frank Kofsky, Trotskyist, jazz historian and writer explained: “The artistry of the jazz musician operates primarily to enrich not its possessor, but those white executives who own and/or operate the means of production and distribution within the political economy of jazz; and the decisions of such owners and managers, particularly those involved in the recording industry, are absolutely crucial in determining both the total amount of employment for black musicians and which specific musicians will be able to access it.” This experience was personally described by Ornette Coleman states: “Here I'm being used as a nigga who can play jazz, and all the people I've recorded for and worked for act like they own me and my product. They are guilty of making me believe that notI should have made profits from my product simply because they took over the production channels.” The language Coleman uses is highly political with words like production channels. He even seems to give off a Marxist vibe, which is probably no accident given the point he's trying to make. This notion is further expanded by Kofsky who, in 1970, stated that whites owned the “major economic institutions of the jazz world – the booking agencies, record companies, nightclubs, festivals, magazines, radio stations, etc. Black people have nothing but their own talent.” White managers of the bebop era had an easy time ripping off these extraordinary musicians, because there were young, qualified musicians in great numbers waiting to fill any free space on a recording or concert. But as jazz moved from pre-packaged bands to individual artists with something completely genuine and authentic to say, the power began to level out: Unlike firing a difficult but faceless band member, firing a star artist was impossible for executives without serious financial consequences. The disparity between the financial success of white jazz pianist Dave Brubeck and his black jazz contemporaries has been a matter of controversy among jazz musicians and critics. In 1954, Time magazine published a cover photo of Dave Brubeck and a story about a "new kind of jazz age" that omitted the contributions of black musicians and suggested that Brubeck and other white musicians represented an improvement over earlier jazz musicians immoral blacks. . The Time article also reported that in 1954 Brubeck reportedly earned $100,000 while equally experienced and talented black jazz musicians could barely pay the rent. This is reminiscent, in some ways, of slavery: with whites profiting enormously from the economically fertile waters of their slaves' blood, sweat, and tears. But instead of slaves picking cotton, jazz musicians harvested new zeniths of creativity and poured their souls onto a canvas of harmonies and rhythms and gave it to white people without asking for just monetary compensation. In the summer of 1963, Martin Luther King led the March on Washington and delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech to a crowd of more than 200,000 people. Eighteen days later, a bomb exploded in a Birmingham church and four young black girls were killed. Americans watched as police in Birmingham, Alabama hit black children with high-powered water cannons. Television screens have brought acts of racist violence and hateful statements from whites into American living rooms and forced Americans to face the harsh reality of discrimination faced by Black Americans. In February 1965, Malcom In August 1965, the Los Angeles riots broke out in Watts. There was looting and bombing of shops, thirty-four people were killed and thousands arrested. Blacks expressed the hypocrisy of the American government's focus on the anti-colonial struggles of Vietnam, while ignoring the struggles of the freedom movement at home. Kofsky, “could there be anything more patently absurd than the claim that the United States government is fighting for the freedom and democratic rights of the non-white population in Vietnam, when it allows those same rights to be violated with impunity by some KKK redneck who does he get it into his head to raise his status among his peers by 'getting him a nigger'?” Inevitably, black Americans' frustrations were coming to the fore. Volatilityof the times, consciously or unconsciously, has infiltrated the music of the pioneers of New Jazz, Coltrane, Coleman and Taylor, musicians who broke the predictable barriers of bebop and its imitative hard bop, which jazz musicians had accepted, and linked the their music to the energy started by the Civil Rights Movement. As noted by jazz historian AB Spellman, Coltrane, Taylor, and Coleman were working on separate, but related, principles. In a May 7, 2000 interview with Shipton, drummer Rashied Ali explained how this period was viewed within Coltrane's group of associates: “Those were the difficult times of the '60s. We had the civil rights issue, we had King, we had Malcolm, we had the Panthers. There was so much diversity going on. People shouted for their rights and wanted to be equal, free. And of course the music reflects that whole period. . . all that time definitely influenced the way we played. I think that's where that really free form came into play. Everyone wants to get out of rigidity, get away from what happened before; they wanted to relate to what was happening now, and I'm sure the music came out of that. “Coleman's main contribution to jazz can be said to be rhythmic, although his tonality has been widely discussed. Coltrane's is harmonious, setting, as he does, his wildest explorations against defined chordal patterns. Taylor is involved in the construction and organization of the sound. The unique output of musical brilliance created by these musicians was astonishing. They were constantly enriched by each other's innovations, creating an extremely lively and improving organism. Of all the Free Jazz artists, it was John Coltrane and his music that initially led and had the most profound and lasting effect on the movement and its fellow New Jazz. musicians. “When it comes to John Coltrane's music there is never any discussion. He was, quite simply, a giant." Jazz historians have debated and speculated about the conscious social or political intentions that Coltrane sought to communicate with his music. His album, A Love Supreme, considered by many to be the greatest jazz recording, features a message of universal love and was released in 1965 as the Vietnam War was beginning to intensify. When asked about the Vietnam War, he said, “I am against the war; so I am against the Vietnam War. I think all wars should be stopped." Coltrane's works after A Love Supreme, particularly Ascension, were perceived as more closely linked to the racial unrest of the times and the black political movement. Ascension made a political statement to jazz critics and black activists because the music sounded so different and because of the album's musicians, Archie Shepp, Pharoah Sanders and Marion Brown. Coltrane, unlike many of the more vocal Free Jazz musicians, did not publicly share his political opinions and beliefs. In a 1966 interview with Coltrane, Kofsky asks if there is a relationship between the black community, the ideas of Malcolm Wilmer quotes saxophonist Albert Ayler: “John was like a visitor on this planet. He came in peace and went in peace; but during his time here, he continued to try to reach new levels of awareness, of peace, of spirituality. That's why I consider the music he played to be spiritual music – John's way of getting closer and closer to the Creator” and Archie Shepp, “I think John's death brought us, as musicians, closer to a kind of unity. This is how we should evaluate a great man. Well, I think it depends on the individual musician, call it what you want, for whatever reason you may. I myselfI recognize the artist. I recognize an individual when I see his contribution; and when I know the sound of a man, well, to me that's him, that's this man. This is the way I see it. Labels, I don't worry about that." Instead of political discourse, Coltrane used his saxophone to respond to the political times. As new, freer, more intense and rule-breaking forms of jazz began to arise, black musicians including Charles Mingus , Max Roach, Miles Davis, and Thelonious Monk began using politically intentional music to address important issues including racism, segregation, the Vietnam War, and black community mobilization efforts under the banner of “Black Power.” is "Fables of Faubus" by Charlie Mingus, originally recorded for the 1959 album. Mingus Ah Um, who ridiculed Arkansas Governor Orval E. Faubus for attempting to prevent the desegregation of Little Rock Il public schools lyrics of “Fables of Faubus,” which refer to the Governor as a fascist Klu Klux Klan, were deemed too controversial and censored by Columbia Records only with the 1960 album, Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus, being released recording with lyrics. The sneering, searing lyrics end with a schoolyard chant, similar to the chants used by segregationists in their political culture. According to Scott Saul, “Fables of Faubus” attacks segregationalists: “not by blinding them with virtuosity (the bebop solution), but by baffling them with a professionalism so solid that it knows the virtues of an amateur.” This was a very moving and compelling case of a jazz musician using his music to speak out and protest against racism and segregation. Drummer Max Roach was another free jazz musician who used music to address political and racial issues. Inspired by the 1960 lunch counter sit-ins at the Woolworth store in Greensboro, North Carolina (as depicted on the album cover) and the momentum of the civil rights movement, Roach accelerated the recording of an album on which he stood working with songwriters Oscar Brown and Abbey Lincoln, for the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation. We insist! Freedom Now Suite, released in 1960, features five selections including the heavy, spiritual song, "Driva'man," on the theme of the urgency of the black struggle to achieve equality in America. Abbey Lincoln's screaming voice in the song Protest evokes the emotions felt from the slave camps to the police brutality exercised on King's nonviolent protestors as seen by black and white Americans on their modern televisions. Both Mingus and Roach name Billie Holiday's "Strange Fruit" as inspiration for their protest songs. Mingus said: “That's when I changed my idea of ​​a song telling a story. That music is here to tell the white world about racial wrongs. by the artists. For example, the liner notes to Coltrane's album Live at Birdland, written by LeRoi Jones, eloquently offer a connection between Coltrane's tune, "Alabama," and the racist struggles endured by Southern blacks. Coltrane wrote "Alabama" as a eulogy for the young girls killed in the Birmingham church bombing. The liner notes of We Insist! Freedom Now Suite, written by jazz critic Nat Hentoff, highlights the connection between the music and the civil rights movement. “If you've listened to Slow Dance or After The Rain, then you might be prepared for the kind of feeling that Alabama conveys. Until now I didn't realize how beautiful the word Alabama was. This is a function of art, to reveal beauty, common or uncommon, unusually. And that's what Trane does. Bob Thiele asked Trane if the title "has any meaning.