I’m sure I’m not the only one who
thought of Bill Shankly’s famous quote on seeing the title (Football’s not a
matter of life and death. It’s more important than that). This is a collection
of pieces about the ‘New Jazz’ in America from 1957 to 1977 and deals with
those uncompromising artists who threw off any recognisable existing shackles
in jazz and (mostly) failed to prosper as a result. It was a New York loft
based phenomenon with occasional nods to Chicago, Philadelphia and New Orleans.
It was a scene in which Wilmer fully immersed herself and, as a result, the
writing matches the music. It feels as if she wrote the whole book in one
sitting barely pausing to breathe. There is a dynamism and drive to the writing
that, you feel, might have been dissipated if she stopped to sleep.
The tale is told in a series of
chapters on all the major artists, whilst recognising that there are others who
played significant developmental and supporting roles. There are discussions on
who first started doing what and who identified which restrictions should be
abandoned. She also looks at the collectives that sprang up (e.g. the Jazz
Composers Orchestra Association and the Association for the Advancement of
Creative Musicians) which helped to develop the music and the artists and to
give them spaces to play. In the last few chapters she looks at the musicians
who pursued opportunities in Europe or who moved into academia or who managed
to secure grants to compose and she sees these outlets as providing some,
hitherto absent, financial support.
Looking back through 2022 eyes,
it was also a very sexist, almost misogynist, milieu with women required to
work to provide wages so that the men could work full time on their music and
be available if the chance of a gig came up.
The book was first published in
1977 when the scene had probably passed its maturity but was still extant. It
is now 45 years later and it’s reasonable to consider its legacy. I think that
jazz in America has become more staid since then. There are still artists doing
interesting things but we have to look closer to home now for the sound of
surprise. Perhaps that is a legacy of the fact that jazz is now seriously
taught in colleges and universities, but that, in America, the artists of the
‘New Thing’ are not studied to the extent that they might be. Certainly British
artists such as Led Bib/Acoustic Ladyland and, closer to home, Taupe and
Archipelago do owe something to the jazz that Wilmer writes about.
‘As Serious As Your Life’ remains a tremendous, vibrant read.
Despite the passage of 45 years, it does not feel like an historical snapshot
such as One Day in Harlem. It still
prompts and provokes and raises questions about life and music that are still
worth considering.
Of course, one of the great things about a book like this is that it makes you dig out the music and listen to it again. So, this week we have been listening to Coltrane, Archie Shepp, Don Cherry, Albert Ayler and Ornette Coleman. Not a bad thing in itself. Dave Sayer
Serpent’s Tail Classics
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