Using Logical Perspective to Shape a Jazz Essay

Sidney Bechet (1897-1959)

This is an essay within an essay, the inner one being about music and the outer about strategies one can use to shape a topic. The two are meant to work together to show how academic purpose can be matched with resources that suit the writing. I hope it to be of equal utility to writers and music enthusiasts as it is for discussion in a class.

Read the essay on Google Docs.

In making this essay I maintained a focus of musical choices in connection to  the narrative. I made a point to emphasize musicians that hail from New York, but as you see, the music covers a wide variety. Some names have yet to be mentioned that can become part of the picture. A student suggested Allan Holdsworth to me, and I went home to discover The Sixteen Men of Tain (2000). Brilliant. I can add others, trombone players — Frank Rosolino (1956), “I May Be Wrong (But I Think You’re Wonderful).” Hiroshi Suzuki gets slick in Cat (1975). Then Albert Mangelsdorff,  a German trombone guru, did something unique and coupled a folk song from the northern reaches of the New World with free jazz in “Icy Acres” (1969). Sure there are others yet: feel free to mention any favorite performers that you have in the comments.