March 13, 2003
Conversation in music, sociology benefits both
Two friends are taking a conversation that has gone on for years and inviting other friends, and the community, to sit in on it.
Marc Seales, associate professor of music, and Robert Crutchfield, professor and chair of sociology, will present an evening of music and dialogue, “Jazzing Up Society: Performance and Commentary from Bebop to Hip Hop,” at 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 17 at Dimitrou’s Jazz Alley.
“Marc and I have been friends for a long time, and we frequently have lunch together,” Crutchfield says. “We often talk about two subjects: music and society. So we thought we might broaden and deepen the discussion, interspersing a little commentary with a lot of music.”
Crutchfield and three colleagues from the Sociology Department will provide some background on the social changes that occurred, beginning around the middle of the last century, and the music that grew out of those changes.
“We’re not going to talk about the music itself, because that’s not our expertise,” he says. “But emotions are often expressed through music. Music captures both the joy and angst of the historical period within which it is created. We’re planning an evening that is long on music, with short but pithy commentary. The plan is to make it fun.”
The exploration will begin with the period around World War II. Crutchfield will talk about the Great Migration that brought southern rural blacks to the cities of the North, Midwest and West. Miles Davis, a resident of St. Louis, grew up in a community strongly shaped by the influx of blacks seeking a new and better life in the city’s factories and plants.
“For some, the life was indeed better; for others, it was often harder,” Crutchfield says. “The music reflects the fact that life was not uniformly better and that people also sought escape from some of its harsher realities.” Crutchfield will describe some of the social forces that influenced Davis, one of the major figures in bebop, and his contemporaries.
Crutchfield will be followed by Lecturer Albert Black, who will talk about race relations in the turbulent 1960s. Professor George Bridges will talk about the growing economic inequality in the 1980s and 1990s. Assistant Professor Katherine Stovel will discuss the ever changing ways in which we see ourselves, and the categories we use to describe each other. And Seales will illustrate musically the changing patterns and sounds that reflected the changes in society.
“It’s important not to think about jazz as ‘old’ music,” Crutchfield says. “It is always changing and growing, and reflecting the times within which it is played. We’ve seen it rise in popularity and fall. Now it is undergoing a resurgence, especially in our schools.”
Seales, one of Seattle’s most popular pianists and composers, has attracted a wide following with his New Stories trio. For the Jazz Alley event, he will be accompanied by several friends and colleagues.
Admission is $20 for those affiliated with the UW and $25 for the general public. Proceeds benefit the UW School of Music and Department of Sociology. For information or to register, visit UWalum.com or call 206-543-3829. “Jazzing Up Society” is presented by the UW Alumni Association and the College of Arts and Sciences.
