Larry Blumenfeld
Larry Blumenfeld, cultural journalist, music critic and longtime contributor to The Wall Street Journal, will serve as the at 黑料不打烊, March 25-April 5.
Blumenfeld’s residency, titled 鈥淛azz in Troubled Times: The Relevance and Resonance of a Culture,鈥� will explore the convergence of politics, activism and the arts, while rethinking the nature of jazz as an enduring culture.
The Humanities Center in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S) supports the annual Watson Professorship in partnership with a faculty host鈥攖his year鈥檚 is Eric Grode, assistant professor in the Newhouse School and director of the Goldring Arts Journalism Program.
Blumenfeld will headline eight scholarly and artistic events, drawing on his extensive fieldwork in New York City, New Orleans and Havana. The schedule includes public discussions with performances by saxophonist Yosvany Terry and his quartet (March 29) and pianist Jason Moran (April 5), as well as a listening party co-curated by bassist Linda May Han Oh. (April 4).
Jason Moran
All events are free and open to the public. For more information, including a complete schedule, contact the Humanities Center at 315.443.7192 or visit .
Humanities Center Director Vivian May looks forward to Blumenfeld鈥檚 residency, saying it will underscore how jazz culture influences鈥攁nd is influenced by鈥攕ocial change.
鈥淟arry鈥檚 work embodies public humanities scholarship,鈥� says May, also a professor of women鈥檚 and gender studies in A&S. 鈥淗e will explore jazz鈥檚 deep resonance as an art form; its improvisational power to bridge arts and activism; and its continued relevance as framework for understanding questions of inequity, identity and community in turbulent times.鈥�
Undergirding Blumenfeld鈥檚 visit is jazz’s alleged resurgence. In the WSJ, he wrote, 鈥淩eports of jazz鈥檚 death have been ill-advised. So, too, have tales of [its] resurrections.鈥�
Linda May Han Oh (Photo by Shervin Lainez)
Against this backdrop, the former Jazziz editor in chief will examine 鈥淎merica鈥檚 classical music鈥� through a multicultural lens. Emphasis will be on how questions of race, gender, ethnicity, class and cultural heritage are intertwined.
One of Blumenfeld鈥檚 lectures will draw on his extensive study of cultural recovery in post-Katrina New Orleans鈥攁lso the basis for his forthcoming book from the University of California Press. 鈥淛azz has been a powerful conduit for political action, social justice and healing,鈥� he says, recalling his time along the Gulf Coast in the wake of the deadly 2005 hurricane.
Another lecture will stem from his research into the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), a Chicago-based nonprofit that, for more than 50 years, has championed original music spanning avant-garde jazz, classical and world music. Blumenfeld considers the AACM the 鈥渃learest driving force of any new jazz aesthetic,鈥� responsible for erasing borders between genres and disciplines.
Among the beneficiaries of AACM鈥檚 aesthetic鈥攁nd the consistent foci of Blumenfeld鈥檚 scholarship鈥攁re Moran, the Kennedy Center artistic director for jazz, who teaches at the New England Conservatory (and whose artwork is on view this fall at the Whitney Museum of American Art), and Terry, a leading proponent of Afro-Cuban jazz, who is both a senior lecturer on music and director of jazz ensembles at Harvard University.
Yosvany Terry
Terry and Moran will precede their performances at La Casita Cultural Center and in Hendricks Chapel, respectively, with interdisciplinary discussions about jazz culture.
鈥淗ow do you write about something being created in front of you?鈥� Grode asks. 鈥淗ow do you harness art for the greater good?
“Larry has spent decades answering these questions, and music lovers of all stripes will benefit enormously from hearing what he鈥檚 learned, through workshops, roundtables, lectures, performances and a public listening session of recordings made by female musicians throughout jazz history.鈥�
The listening party co-led by Oh, who teaches bass at The New School, involves The Diane Arthur Belfer Audio Laboratory and Archive in 黑料不打烊 Libraries’ Special Collections Research Center.
Blumenfeld adds that, with all the recent talk about walls, jazz stands as a metaphor for and a document of this nation鈥檚 multicultural truth.
鈥淚ts aesthetic demands and develops an elevated, open-minded exchange of ideas that opposes caricature and fundamentalism,鈥� says the Brooklyn resident, who also curates a music series for Spoleto Festival USA and presents the popular 鈥淛azz and Social Justice鈥� series for the National Jazz Museum in Harlem. 鈥淛azz is not in need of a revival; it is a culture through which we summon spiritual energy, humanistic focus and political power鈥攖he stuff of real transformation.鈥�
