Rooster_Ties Posted September 27, 2019 Report Share Posted September 27, 2019 (edited) Moments ago I just stumbled on a 200+ page dissertation about Joe Henderson, that I found entirely by accident searching for something unrelated. I haven't even had a minute to look at this thing - probably won't until this weekend. But I thought I'd start a general thread about Doctoral Dissertations (or other similar scholarly research), about jazz topics -- especially about specific musicians -- that are otherwise unpublished, or (even if published) not widely known. Anyway, here's the link to the one I just found about Joe -- and its title (and author) in case the link doesn't come through in the future... https://digscholarship.unco.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1380&context=dissertations UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN COLORADO Greeley, Colorado -- The Graduate School JOE HENDERSON: A BIOGRAPHICAL STUDY OF HIS LIFE AND CAREER A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Arts Joel Geoffrey Harris College of Performing and Visual Arts School of Music Jazz Studies -- December 2016 Edited September 27, 2019 by Rooster_Ties Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost of miles Posted September 27, 2019 Report Share Posted September 27, 2019 I use these occasionally when I'm doing research for Night Lights shows, and you're right, there are a bunch of them out there. I'm fortunate to work at IU, which gives me access to a lot of online electronic copies of such works. Rutgers University's jazz-studies program has produced quite a few, as you can well imagine. Some of these eventually evolve into commercially published books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewinder Posted September 27, 2019 Report Share Posted September 27, 2019 That Joe Henderson dissertation looks like quite the read - and it was nice to read about the one gig I actually witnessed by him (had forgotten the lineup). Wish he had got the title of ‘Trompeta Tocatta’ correct though - I’d have docked marks for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgcim Posted September 27, 2019 Report Share Posted September 27, 2019 (edited) Some interesting dissertations I've read have been on Graettinger, George Handy, Bill Evans, Mulligan, and others i can't recall right now. I'll list others when I visit the library online next. They seem to concentrate on musicians who were either primarily composers, or who composed in addition to playing. Edited September 27, 2019 by sgcim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmonahan Posted September 27, 2019 Report Share Posted September 27, 2019 This was a dissertation by a friend and colleague of mine that was eventually published, albeit by a very small academic press: Duke Ellington as Pianist: A Study of Styles gregmo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clifford_thornton Posted September 27, 2019 Report Share Posted September 27, 2019 The CMIF (New Haven AACM-inspired organization founded by Wadada Leo Smith, Bobby Naughton, and Gerry Hemingway) and CMS Woodstock (Karl Berger/Ingrid Sertso) are the subject of saxophonist/scholar Sean Sonderegger's dissertation: https://wesscholar.wesleyan.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1095&context=etd_diss Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgcim Posted October 2, 2019 Report Share Posted October 2, 2019 I've found some fascinating dissertations about things like "George Russell's pre-LCC music",(The Jazz Workshop Sextet album, with Evans, Farmer, McKusick, Galbraith and rhythm.)," Jim Hall's role in the making of "The Bridge" with Rollins, and many other interesting topics. Some of them were so well researched that they would have made great books, back when they were publishing such things. Others were so formulaic, I felt like I could've written them in a few hours. Seemingly endless avenue of knowledge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted October 2, 2019 Report Share Posted October 2, 2019 31 minutes ago, sgcim said: I've found some fascinating dissertations about things like "George Russell's pre-LCC music",(The Jazz Workshop Sextet album, with Evans, Farmer, McKusick, Galbraith and rhythm.),"... Does that record really count as "pre-LCC"? The book was first published in 1954, the record made in 1956. Is the assertion that all these pieces were composed pre-LCC? Not sure if I hear that except on a piece or two. No matter, I'd like to read it anyway, possibly. That's some great music, period. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sgcim Posted October 2, 2019 Report Share Posted October 2, 2019 The author makes that claim at the beginning of the Diss. This claim was also made by Russell himself in his bio by Duncan Heining. In that book DH said that GR strictly forbids any public performances or recordings of his pre- LCC pieces under threat of a lawsuit. I think the last recording of Ezzthetic was by Grant Green in the 60s. The reason Russell gave was that it reflected white European music rather than his later LCC music. A friend of mine went to NEC of Music when Russell was teaching there, and he said all the students used to make fun of his LCC behind his back. It turned into an obsession with him that ruled his life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted October 2, 2019 Report Share Posted October 2, 2019 Ok, but that's weird in all kinds of ways. Not untrue, necessarily, just weird. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Kart Posted October 2, 2019 Report Share Posted October 2, 2019 15 hours ago, JSngry said: Ok, but that's weird in all kinds of ways. Not untrue, necessarily, just weird. I had a chance to observe Russell teaching/interacting with several of his students at the NEC at what must have been an end of semester summary of what they had done/what he wanted to say to each of them (and he did have specific pointed remarks to make to each student). There was a certain tension in the air, it seemed to me, and some sense of push back from at least one student, saxophonist Rob Schoeps, but this took place, again so it seemed to me, within an atmosphere of mutual respect. P.S. Make that Rob Scheps https://www.smallslive.com/artists/1334-rob-scheps/ Clips can be found on YouTube Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted October 3, 2019 Report Share Posted October 3, 2019 I had exposure to him one time, an all day clinic at UNM in Albuquerque, when I was living there. To say that Russell, on that day, was a quietly intense, perhaps obsessive, dude wound not be exaggeration. But there was never any doubt that he knew exactly what he was talking about, why he was talking about it, and that his logic was in perfect alignment with his premise. Anybody who "makes fun" of the LCC does so at their own risk, imo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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