Saxophonist Roy Nathanson talks about his experiences as a Columbia student during the unrest at the University and the militant aftermath during the late 1960s, his development as an artist in an astonishing variety of forms (including composition, songwriting, poetry, acting and teaching) his work with global stars and with high school students, and his basic need to "tell a story" no matter what artistic language he uses. Click here for Part II.
Part II of the discussion of Miya Masaoka's work with Ms. Masaoka and pianist Vijay Iyer. Click here for Part I.
Miya Masaoka is a composer, kotoist, and sound artist. She has created works for solo koto, ensembles, mixed choirs, live electronics, and video that have been presented across the world. Discussing her work with her is composer, pianist, and scholar Vijay Iyer. Ms. Masaoka talks about how her and her family's experiences as members of a persecuted minority, Japanese Americans, shaped her works that deal with Japanese artistic traditions and with subaltern social groups--and even with marginalized biological subjects such as plants and insects.
Latin jazz artist and educator Bobby Sanabria and Columbia Professor of Music Chris Washburne discuss the recent elimination of the Latin jazz Category in the Grammy Awards. Surveying a broad panorama of the struggles and many triumphs of Latin jazz through the last century, they consider the implications of the Grammy Award decision for the future of this vibrant and interculturally expressive music.
Click here for Part II.
This talk by Dan Ellis and Douglas Repetto presents the basic tools of audio signal analysis for music information retrieval and the prospects for their useful application in jazz music collections. Click here for Part II.
This talk presents the basic tools of audio signal analysis for music information retrieval, and discusses the prospects for their useful application in jazz music collections. This work is part of a project led by the Center for Jazz Studies to build a collaborative online resource for information on jazz recordings known as J-DISC. Music Information Retrieval (MIR) is a young field that applies tools from machine learning and signal processing to obtain information about musical items.
Yale University
Anthropology
Spring 2004
An examination of the new jazz that emerged shortly after the middle of the 20th century. Discussion will include the work of musicians such as Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, Don Cherry, Anthony Braxton, Carla Bley, Albert Ayler, and the Art Ensemble of Chicago; the economics and politics of the period; parallel developments in other arts; the rise of new performance spaces, recording companies, and collectives; the accomplishments of the music and the problems it raised for jazz performance and criticism.
Yale University
African-American Studies
Spring 2002
A survey of the life and music of Miles Davis, examining the social history and musical traditions which shaped his work, and exploring his influence on music, literature and society.
ABOUT THE COURSE
Columbia University
Anthropology and American Studies
Spring 2007
Course Requirements
1. Regular attendance and participation at the seminar
2. Two or three class presentations based on papers of approximately 5 pages
3. A term paper of approximately 15-20 pages due on April 24
REQUIRED READING
Christoph Cox and Daniel Warner, eds. Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music. NY, 2004
Mark Katz, Capturing Sound: How Technology Has Changed Music. Berkeley, 2004 (with CD)
Michel Chion, Audio Vision
In 1974, Anthony Braxton was considered a radical among radicals. This was true not least for his distinctive embrace of post-war European avant-garde composition, then assumed to be particularly uncongenial to the average listener's taste.
