A New York Times obituary characterizes Stanley Crouch as a “fiercely iconoclastic social critic who elevated the invention of jazz into a metaphor for the indelible contributions that Black people have made to American democracy.”
The Crouch model of criticism as combat is one I have little use for. Nor am I a fan of the Crouch–Wynton Marsalis neo-conservative aesthetic that shaped Jazz at Lincoln Center and the Ken Burns PBS series Jazz. But there was no doubting Crouch’s love of and devotion to the music.
Thursday, September 17, 2020
Stanley Crouch (1945–2020)
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comments: 7
I'm so happy to read this. I'm always in a pack of Ken Burns-adoring people, and I say I don't like him. I've watched a couple of Ken Burns documentaries, but when I watched Jazz, I thought, here is something I know about and he's getting it so wrong. What about those other shows I didn't know so much about?
Good question.
The great-man theory of musical history, the fetishizing of “swing,” the short shrift given to so many musicians, the general dissing of the so-called avant-garde, the “No one had ever heard anything like it before,” the relentless claims about jazz and democracy — it’s all so tiresome. I just found this piece from 2014 via NPR’s obit for Crouch — you should find it interesting.
Good question.
The great-man theory of musical history, the fetishizing of “swing,” the short shrift given to so many musicians, the general dissing of the so-called avant-garde, the “No one had ever heard anything like it before,” the relentless claims about jazz and democracy — it’s all so tiresome. I just found this piece from 2014 via NPR’s obit for Crouch — you should find it interesting.
You can say that again.
I often chatted with Stanley at various Jazz clubs around NYC. He was fiercely intelligent, sharp-tongued and frequently dismissive of any and all differing opinion.
I believe it. :)
George, I don’t know how I posted my comment twice. Now I get the joke. Earlier today, I just thought you were agreeing with me.
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