Firing the Canon: Multiple Insularities in Jazz Criticism

Abstract

Whereas many jazz scholars focus on jazz criticism's construction and implications of a single, or insular, jazz canon, this dissertation argues that what many jazz critics do is precisely the opposite. These critics disrupt the sense of a singular and insular jazz canon by challenging it through the creation of what I call an insularity, which is a bounded collection of artists and music with a definable tradition, values and established criteria which regulates what is suitable for inclusion. This dissertation argues that jazz does not consist of a single canon and music that exists beyond the canon's boundaries; rather, jazz contains multiple insularities that challenge the canon and vie for the opportunity to overthrow the canon in order to reach canonical status. This dissertation conceptualizes jazz critics as cultural authorities who create or deconstruct insularities through a variety of race, gender and nation projects. It examines the criticism of Leonard Feather, Val Wilmer and Nathaniel Mackey to highlight the numerous ways in which critics engage with multiple insularities. Feather believed that jazz was university and that it transcended social difference. As such, he worked to create an insularity where female musicians deserved acceptance by the jazz world. Wilmer emphasizes that jazz is a social practice and that it belongs to those who created it. Working to counter the marginalization of African American musicians, she constructed an insularity that showed musicians as real people as opposed to mythological figures. Mackey rejects the concept of insularities and this dissertation shows how his novel Bedouin Hornbook works to deconstruct insularities. Feather's, Wilmer's and Mackey's criticism attempts to solve perceived social exclusion marginalization wrought by the jazz canon. Multiple insularities in jazz criticism exist as a byproduct of the complexity of jazz's cultural space, the problems which exist in that space, and the multitude of ways in which critics attempt to address these problems. A heterodox practice involving innumerable methods and strategies to address social problems, jazz criticism, itself a diverse practice involving people of many social backgrounds and experiences, manifests itself in the construction and challenging of multiple insularities.