Tony Whyton
Jazz Icons
In Jazz Icons, I argue that jazz history is now dominated by iconic figures who have taken on an almost God-like status.
When musicians and fans discuss the life and music of Satchmo, Duke, Bird or Trane, they often create a mythic world where legendary jazzmen are used to tell the story of jazz.
So I explore the growing significance of icons in jazz through individual case studies—to explain the politics behind why jazz history is frequently portrayed as a succession of heroic male figures.
I am interested in contemporary uses of mythology and how the telling of the story of jazz history ties into American politics and values. I want readers to examine their own relationships with iconic figures. Why do we invest so much of our energy in icons? (And this could apply to other types of art, not only jazz.) How can our behaviour be understood in broader contexts?
Editor: Erind Pajo
Jazz Icons
Tony Whyton Jazz Icons: Heroes, Myths and the Jazz Tradition Cambridge University Press 230 pages, 10 x 7 inches ISBN 978 0521896450
Available here →August 9, 2010
20100809-whyton-tony-on-jazz-icons-heroes-myths-jazz-tradition-1
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Jason Broadhurst
Tony Whyton
Tony Whyton is co-editor of the internationally peer-reviewed Jazz Research Journal and is currently working on his second book, Beyond A Love Supreme, a cross-disciplinary study of the musical and cultural influence of John Coltrane’s seminal album. A leading figure in international jazz research, he established the Centre for Jazz Studies UK, and is currently the Project Leader for the €1 million European research programme Rhythm Changes: Jazz Cultures and European Identities, funded as part of the HERA Joint Research Programme. Tony is a Reader in Music at the University of Salford.
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Jazz history, told as a succession of God-like male heroes, enforces masculine and heterosexual norms.
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