REQUIRED READING
(In the order we'll read them; any edition is fine, we can compare them)
Alan Lomax, Mr. Jelly Roll
Louis Armstrong, Satchmo: My Life in New Orleans
Armstrong, In His Own Words (ed. Thomas Brothers)
Mezz Mezzrow (with Bernard Wolfe), Really the Blues
Billie Holiday (with William Dufty), Lady Sings the Blues
Hampton Hawes (with Don Asher), Raise Up Off Me
Charles Mingus, Beneath the Underdog
Nina Simone (with Stephen Cleary), I Put a Spell on You
There may be additional, mostly shortish reading assignments from time to time, posted online at the class Blackboard site. You may be asked to print those out and bring them to class.
WEEKLY TOPICS
(Subject to change, improvisation, etc.)
Week 1A: Don't read this while I'm talking to you
Week 1B: Mister Jelly Roll to p. 60 (read the introductory stuff)
Week 2A: Jelly Roll > p. 176; RESPONSE PAPER DUE, GROUP C
Week 2B: Jelly Roll > P. 261; RESPONSE PAPER DUE, GROUP B
Week 3A: Jelly Roll: read end matter: appendices and afterword; RESPONSE PAPER DUE, GROUP A
Week 3B: Satchmo > 135
Week 4A: Satchmo > 240 (end); RESPONSE PAPER DUE, GROUP C
Week 4B: RESPONSE PAPER DUE, GROUP B
Week 5A: In His Own Words vii-xxvi, 42-76, 200-204; RESPONSE PAPER DUE, GROUP A
Week 5B: In His Own Words 82-144, 176-190, 204-209, 219-220; RESPONSE PAPER DUE, GROUP C
Week 6A: Own Words 1-36, 191-196; RESPONSE PAPER DUE, GROUP B
Week 6B: RESPONSE PAPER DUE, GROUP A
Week 7A: His Eye Is on the Sparrow, complete
Week 7B: RESPONSE PAPERS DUE, GROUPS C, B,&A
Week 8A:
Week 8B: TERM PAPER (I) DUE
SPRING BREAK
Week 10A: Condon or Mezzrow, complete
Week 10B: RESPONSE PAPERS DUE, GROUP A
Week 11A: RESPONSE PAPERS DUE, GROUPS B & C
Week 11B: Lady Sings the Blues, complete
Week 12A: RESPONSE PAPERS DUE, GROUP A
Week 12B: RESPONSE PAPERS DUE, GROUPS B & C
Week 13A: Straight Life (to 243); RESPONSE PAPER DUE, GROUP A
Week 13B: Straight Life (to end); RESPONSE PAPER DUE, GROUP B
Week 14A: RESPONSE PAPER DUE, GROUP C
Week 14B: Beneath the Underdog (complete); RESPONSE PAPER DUE, GROUP A
Week 15A: RESPONSE PAPER DUE, GROUP B
Week 15B: RESPONSE PAPER DUE, GROUP C; CLASS EVALUATIONS
Week 16A:
Week 16B: TERM PAPER (II) DUE