Native American Jazz

[Pim]

Listening to Jim Pepper it strikes me that this is a combination I have almost never heard though the combination doesn't sound bad or weird at all. Is there more jazz to be found that was influenced by Native American music or that even blends with it. First that comes to my mind is Don Cherry. More, anyone?

[jlhoots]

Joy Harjo is better known as a poet. However she's a pretty good saxophone player influenced by reggae & jazz.

[HutchFan]

Pim,

You might want to look into Don Pullen's final recording, Sacred Common Ground (Blue Note, 1994).  The music features a seven-voice Native American group, the Chief Cliff Singers.

[Pim]

1 hour ago, HutchFan said:

Pim,

You might want to look into Don Pullen's final recording, Sacred Common Ground (Blue Note, 1994).  The music features a seven-voice Native American group, the Chief Cliff Singers.

That sounds like the stuff I am looking for. Thanks!

[Niko]

it's an interesting document of its time... don't know how much genuine native American influence went in there beyond the song titles and the costume...

[Teasing the Korean]

Brother Jack McDuff covered Cher's "Half Breed."

 

Edited May 2, 2021 by Teasing the Korean

[jlhoots]

43 minutes ago, Niko said:

it's an interesting document of its time... don't know how much genuine native American influence went in there beyond the song titles and the costume...

Love Horace, but I find the regalia a little offensive for him to wear. Don't believe that's a Cape Verdean Island "costume".

Edited May 2, 2021 by jlhoots

[JSngry]

Back in the day, some writers would talk about Oklahoma players having that influence in their playing. Nobody really expounded on it that I know of, though. People didn't do like they do now.

[Jim Duckworth]

Oscar Pettiford was born at Okmulgee, Oklahoma. His mother was Choctaw, and his father was half Cherokee and half African American.

[Joe]

This resource may be of interest.

https://hartfordjazzsociety.com/2017/07/21/native-americans-in-jazz-present-and-past/

Mildred Bailey was not a name I expected to see on this list.

Edited May 2, 2021 by Joe

[Teasing the Korean]

Keely Smith recorded Thee Definitive version of "The Song is You," with a great chart by Billy May.

 

[Hardbopjazz]

In an interview at the time of its release, Sonny Rollins' last studio album, "Sonny, Please!", the track with the same title was inspired by Sonny listening to Native American music.  

 

[Niko]

1 hour ago, jlhoots said:

Love Horace, but I find the regalia a little offensive for him to wear. Don't believe that's a Cape Verdean Island "costume".

yes, I agree, nowadays a cover like this wouldn't be acceptable anymore and for good reasons

[Milestones]

Yes, the Silver album cover would be called cultural appropriation at its worst.

 

[JSngry]

Oh, I don't know... there's always Cher's Half Breed LP..

 

 

[Jim Duckworth]

 

[funkytonk]

Jill McManus - Symbols of Hopi on Concord from 1984. 

[Pim]

Thanks for all the replies. Interesting stuff to dig out. Bit what I expected: crossovers with this kind of music are way less common in jazz than crossovers with Eastern-Asian, Middle-Eastern, Sub-Saharan or latin music. Funny for it's so much closer geographically.

[clifford_thornton]

12 hours ago, funkytonk said:

Jill McManus - Symbols of Hopi on Concord from 1984. 

great record.

Afro Algonquin, the group co-led by Mixashawn Lee Rozie (reeds, guitar) and his brother Rick Rozie (bass), is also fantastic.

[JSngry]

No doubt a great record, but...that appropriation thing? There's a line somewhere?

[mjazzg]

1 hour ago, clifford_thornton said:

great record.

Afro Algonquin, the group co-led by Mixashawn Lee Rozie (reeds, guitar) and his brother Rick Rozie (bass), is also fantastic.

Thanks for thee tip on Afro Algonquin, just found a M copy to buy

[ghost of miles]

Great topic, Pim.  I've had this on the Night Lights drawing board for a number of years now, but have never gotten around to doing a show.  Looking at possibly putting together one this year for November, which is Native American Heritage Month.

[clifford_thornton]

2 hours ago, JSngry said:

No doubt a great record, but...that appropriation thing? There's a line somewhere?

Having spoken with her at length, she comes by her dedication honestly -- spent much time in First Nations communities of the Southwest working with native people, especially on the political/activism front. Too bad her music has been so little documented, but she is an excellent composer. 

[JSngry]

So do proceeds from the record go back into the community or to an activist group? Did the band work for free? Where does she go home to?

Snarky questions, but the question of "appropriation" is, it seems, separate from one of sincerity.

Those are two good questions to be asking, but hell is full of sincere people, ya' know? And there's too damn many people who have been served by "activism"  who are still more or less where they've always been.

Let's put on a fundraiser! To buy guns for the oppressed! That's how it works in America, right? Or anywhere, really? Turn that Andrew Jackson shit back on itself, activismate THAT!!!

Speaking strictly in the figurative, of course.

Of course.

 

 

[Don]

Not helpful, but when I was in northern Saskatchewan there were a lot of native country bands on the local radio. Or I guess they say First Nations up there.