Notation Is Not All That It Appears to Be: Roger Smalley on Changing Musical Relationships

How does one go about writing the history of musical composition in the late twentieth century when, on the one hand, so much of it seems impossibly fractured and disassociated, and, on the other, there has been so little certainty about what the notion of 'music history' might entail under the critiques of post-modernism? One of the most productive ways forward is to pursue case studies involving single composers whose music reflects several aspects of recent activity. This enables the discussion of broad issues in a relatively focussed way whilst avoiding the pitfalls of traditional narrative histories and the centrifugal tendencies of the relativistic approach that some have called for. The music of the English-born (1943) and Australia-domiciled composer Roger Smalley is ideal material for such a study, because of his involvement with and response to an unusually large number of the myriad concerns and practices of post-1950s composition, including post-serial constructivism; parody; electro-acoustic composition and the electronic modification of conventionally-produced sound; Moment Form; aleatorism; minimalism; the use of non-Western resources (Aboriginal and South-East Asian sonorities); neo-Romanticism; and, arguably, the 'new classicism', as well as a brief flirtation with rock music in the late '60s. Employing an interview with the composer as a kind of cantus firmus, the book – the first extended single-author study of Smalley's music to be published – incorporates critical commentary on the composer's major works in a chronological narrative that engages with broad issues of central relevance to Smalley's generation, such as the process of learning the craft of composition in the early '60s; the motivation behind the adoption of certain technical and aesthetic positions; the effects on technical and aesthetic orientation of both the changing relationships between composer, performer, and audience and technological change; and the distinction between 'late-' and 'post-' modernism in music.

Introduction

The development of jazz and swing in the African-American community in Los Angeles in the years before the second World War received a boost from the arrival of a significant numbers of musicians from Chicago and the southwestern states. In Swingin’ on Central: African-American Jazz in Los Angeles, a new study of that vibrant jazz community, music historian and jazz journalist Peter Vacher traveled between Los Angeles and London over several years in order to track down key figures and interview them for this oral history of one of the most swinging jazz scenes in the United States. Vacher recreates the energy and vibrancy of the Central Avenue scene through first-hand accounts from such West Coast notables as trumpeters Andy Blakeney , George Orendorff, and McLure “Red Mack” Morris; pianists Betty Hall Jones, Chester Lane, and Gideon Honore, saxophonists Chuck Thomas, Jack McVea, and Caughey Roberts Jr; drummers Jesse Sailes, Red Minor Robinson, and Nathaniel “Monk” McFay; and others. Throughout, readers learn the story behind the formative years of these musicians, most of whom have never been interviewed until now. While not exactly headliners—nor heavily recorded—this community of jazz musicians was among the most talented in pre-war America. Arriving in Los Angeles at a time when black Americans faced restrictions on where they could live and work, jazz artists of color commonly found themselves limited to the Central Avenue area. This scene, supplemented by road travel, constituted their daily bread as players—with none of them making it to New York. Through their own words, Vacher tells their story in Los Angeles, offering along the way a close look at the role the black musicians union played in their lives while also taking on jazz historiography’s comparative neglect of these West Coast players. Music historians with a particular interest in pre-bop jazz in California will find much new material here as Vacher paints a world of luxurious white nightclubs with black bands, ghetto clubs and after-hours joints, a world within a world that resulted from the migration of black musicians to the West Coast.

THE HISTORY OF MUSIC AND brands is best described as a palimpsest. The relationships have been written and rewritten many times but the roots are still visible and still inform the present.

In Rhythm Is My Beat: Jazz Guitar Great Freddie Green and the Count Basie Sound, Alfred Green tells the story of his father, rhythm guitarist Freddie Green, whose guitar work served as the pulse of the Count Basie Band. A quiet but key figure in big band jazz, Freddie Green took a distinct pride in his role as Basie’s rhythm guitarist, redefining the outer limits of acoustic rhythm guitar and morphing it into an art form. So distinct was Green’s style that it would eventually give birth to notations on guitar charts that read: “Play in the style of Freddie Green.” This American jazz icon, much like his inimitable sound, achieved stardom as a sideman, both in and out of Basie’s band. Green’s signature sound provided lift to soloists like Lester Young and vocalist Lil’ Jimmy Rushing, a reflection of Green’s sophisticated technique, that produced, in Green’s words, his “rhythm wave.” Billie Holiday, Ruby Braff, Benny Goodman, Gerry Mulligan, Teddy Wilson, Ray Charles, Judy Carmichael, Joe Williams and other recording artists all benefited from the relentless fours of the man who came to be known as Mr. Rhythm. The mystique surrounding Freddie Green’s technique is illuminated through generous commentary by insightful interviews with other musicians, guitar professionals and scholars, all of whom offer their ideas on Freddie Green’s sound. Alfred Green throughout demystifies the man behind the legend. This work will interest jazz fans, students, and scholars; guitar enthusiasts and professionals; music historians and anyone interested not only in the history of jazz but of the African American experience in jazz.

Hans von Bülow is a key figure in 19th century music whose career path was as broad as it was successful. Music history's first virtuoso orchestral conductor, Bülow created the model for the profession-both in musical brilliance and in domineering personality-which still holds forth today. He was an eminent and renowned concert pianist, a respected (and often feared) teacher and music critic, an influential editor of works by Bach, Mendelssohn, Chopin, and Beethoven, and a composer in a variety of musical genres. As a student and son-in-law of Franz Liszt, and estranged friend of Richard Wagner (for whom his wife Cosima famously left him), Bülow is intricately connected with the canonical greats of the period. Yet despite his critical and lasting importance for orchestral music, Bülow's life and significant achievements have yet to be heralded in biographical form. In Hans von Bülow: A Life and Times, Alan Walker, the acclaimed author of numerous award-winning books on the era's iconic composers, provides the first full-length English biography of this remarkable musical figure. Walker traces Bülow's life in illuminating and engaging detail, from the first piano lessons of his boyhood days, to his first American tour, to his last days as conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic. Unearthing Bülow's extensive and previously unavailable correspondence and writings, Walker conveys amusing and informative anecdotes about this unique musical legend- from his sardonic and clever personality to his meticulous devotion to his work-and reveals enlightening insights on the still-contested sensibilities of musical-compositional style and "idea" at play in the vibrant musical world of which Bülow was a part.

This submission is based on the author’s extensive work on the libraries that were looted by Nazi forces in France during World War II. After the Liberation, France created a Commission for Art Recovery, which included a Sub-Commission for Books. This task force was in charge of finding and returning libraries and works of art to their rightful owners. Victims of looting were required to submit a dossier to the sub-commission describing the damage done to their library, the circumstances and parties involved in the looting, and a list of the stolen documents that was as precise as possible. These lists include evidence of a substantial interest in music and musicianship. Books on music, music history, and key figures in the music industry underscore this interest, while the presence of a significant amount of sheet music point to a practice that extends far beyond the upper classes. While the library of Vladimir Jankélévitch, which was entirely dedicated to his two main interests, philosophy and music, is iconic, it is obviously not the only case. These documents, which were taken from looted victims who were involved in music on a professional level, such as composers, players, and teachers, were also found in many other homes whose owners did not pursue these careers.

Review essay: Between the Material and the Ephemeral

Drawing on different contexts, scenes and histories across the UK, all of the articles in this specialissue suggest that although local popular music histories resonate both positively and negativelywith mainstream narratives, they also have a specificity that is unique to the region. Thiscollection represents an historical snapshot of these expressions and feelings in the UK, highlightingnot just music's importance as a symbolic anchor of locality, but also how the voices ofmusicians, audiences, critics, venues, curators and other music industry stakeholders can forma collective identity, in a series of competing narratives, that are often hidden from mainstreamhistory. The collection displays how these narratives can facilitate community members to considerwho they were, are and want to be, often reflecting on at least two of these parameterssimultaneously. All of the articles focus on the 'lost' history of local music participation, rangingfrom issues surrounding curated history (via exhibitions and re-enactments); influences ofthe built environment on popular music activity; impacts of popular music's past on the community,to the ways in which changing relationships with local music venues reflect both localconcerns and wider trends in popular culture.

With business seemingly everywhere on television, from the risks of the retail and restaurant trade to pitching for investment or competing to become the next 'apprentice', The Television Entrepreneurs draws upon popular business-oriented shows such as The Apprentice and Dragons' Den to explore the relationship between television and business. Based on extensive interviews with key industry and business figures and drawing on new empirical research into audience perceptions of business, this book examines our changing relationship with entrepreneurship and the role played by television in shaping our understanding of the world of business. The book identifies the key structural shifts in both the television industry and the wider economy that account for these changing representations, whilst examining the extent to which television's developing interest in business and entrepreneurial issues is simply a response to wider social and economic change in society. Does a more commercial and competitive television marketplace, for instance, mean that the medium itself, through a particular focus on drama, entertainment and performance, now plays a key role in re-defining how society frames its engagements with business, finance, entrepreneurship, risk and wealth creation? Mapping the narratives of entrepreneurship constructed by television and analysing the context that produces them, The Television Entrepreneurs investigates how the television audience engages with such programmes and the possible impact these may have on public understanding of the nature of business.

This Seminar Studies title is a succinct study of modern British foreign policy, focusing on the period from 1945 to the present day. Since the end of the Second World War, Britain has been engaged in international conflicts from the Suez Crisis to the Gulf War and has actively sought involvement in transnational and global affairs. Starting with a brief overview of the rise and fall of the British Empire and continuing chronologically with detailed chapters covering the second half of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first, Alasdair Blair discusses the highs and lows of British foreign policy in an accessible yet analytical manner. Dealing with themes such as the issues triggered by decolonisation and the changing relationship between Britain and Europe, this text considers the pivotal moments in modern Britain’s engagement with the wider world. Included in this title are supporting materials, such as a chronology of important events from 1945, a Who’s Who of key government figures and a collection of relevant primary sources. Thorough yet concise, Britain and the World since 1945 is the ideal resource for students interested in the development of British foreign policy.

This is a study of the economic and political organization of the Shahsavan, nomadic and semi-nomadic pastoralists inhabiting the region of northeast Azarbaijan (Persia), and arises from fieldwork carried out among them and from an examination of historical records relating to them. Until very recently the Shahsavan formed a confederation of some 30-40 tribes, but now much of this overall political organization has been dismantled by the Persian Government. The central theme of the study is the changing relationship between the nomadic groups and their economic and political environment. For the purposes of analysis I have divided the study into two parts. In Part I, I show how the organization of the nomadic community - a corporate group of roughly thirty households and the basic social and political unit of Shahsavan society - can be understood in terms of a few cultural principles and ecological and other constraints. The argument proceeds in a cumulative fashion by analysis of the household organization, herding and husbandry activities, camping patterns, kinship and affinal relationships within the community, and finally ritual organization and leadership. The community elder emerges as the key political figure in Shahsavan nomadic society today. However, the role played by the elder, the nature of some of the principles and constraints affecting the organization of the community, the grosser economic and political patterns of tribal organization and the manner in which the nomadic groups are encapsulated within the tribe, the region and the Persian State, can be fully understood only by an extended discussion of the processes of economic, political and ideological change of which these features are largely the result. In Part II, I attempt to provide such an understanding through an examination of the historical development of the tribal confederation, and conclude with an analysis of the organization of the tribes and the political role of their chiefs.

Teaching and Learning Guide for: Popular Music Cultures, Media and Youth Consumption: Towards an Integration of Structure, Culture and Agency

Beyond the New Deal Order: U.S. Politics from the Great Depression to the Great RecessionCapitalism Contested: The New Deal and Its Legacies

3 April 2006 was not an ordinary day in the history of the National Bank of Greece. Greece's biggest and oldest bank announced the acquisition of Turkey's eighth-largest bank, Finansbank. This was by far the biggest foreign investment ever realized by a Greek company. It was also the biggest foreign direct investment deal for that year in Turkey. Nonetheless, not everyone was happy on either coast of the Aegean. On the Turkish side, many opinionmakers were weary about the prospects of foreign - let alone Greek - domination in the country's financial sector. Greek columnists, in contrast, raised concerns about the enormous risk entailed in investing billions of euros in a country that is volatile and inimical to Greece. What made this previously unthinkable deal possible - and ultimately successful - was what had transpired in Greek-Turkish relations since 1999.The December 1999 decision of the European Council in Helsinki is normally considered to be the beginning of a new era in Greek-Turkish relations, yet it did not come out of the blue. A slow change in bilateral relations could be observed since the mid-1990s, despite adversity and setbacks. The first signals of a new approach became evident in 1994. Yannos Rranidiotis was a key figure as the deputy and alternate foreign minister who succeeded in changing the agenda of Greek-Turkish relations. In March 1995, Greece lifted its veto against the EU-Turkey customs union and the disbursement of the fourth additional protocol funds under the condition that accession negotiations between Cyprus and the European Union begin within six months from the end of the EU intergovernmental conference - i.e., within 1998. The customs union between Turkey and the European Union came into force on 1 January 1996. The decision of the Greek government to lift its veto marked a significant shift in Greek views of EU-Turkey relations. Nonetheless, in the view of most experts and public opinion, it was still seen as a sacrifice made to promote a major national goal, namely Cyprus' EU membership prospects. Relations remained frosty, and in fact deteriorated when the Turkish national assembly issued a declaration that an extension of Greek territorial waters in the Aegean to 12 miles would amount to a casus belli. The succession of Prime Minister Andreas Papandreou by the moderate Konstantinos Simitis coincided with the Imia-Kardak crisis which brought Greece and Turkey to the brink of armed conflict over the sovereignty of an islet in the Aegean.1 Greece's development of a joint defence doctrine with Cyprus, and its support for Cyprus' decision to install a unit of 8-300 antiaircraft ballistic missiles in 1998, only worsened relations. An all-time low was reached in February 1999 when it was revealed that Abdullah ocalan, the leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party and at the top of Turkey's mostwanted list, had found refuge in the Greek embassy in Nairobi before he was captured by Turkish security forces.The Ocalan crisis proved an opportunity for the Simitis administration to reorient its foreign policy towards Turkey and take a more moderate stance. The agreement to host the controversial 8-300 missiles in Crete instead of Cyprus was a first signal of this change. The appointment of George Papandreou - a known moderate - as foreign minister in the aftermath of the ocalan crisis catalyzed Greek-Turkish relations. Interestingly, the Greek academic community remained aloof and this shift remained limited to the political elite.2 Shortly after the Ocalan affair, foreign ministers George Papandreou and Ismail Gem instituted careful steps towards the normalization of Greek-Turkish relations. A first opportunity for dialogue emerged with the outbreak of the Kosovo War, a major regional crisis involving both countries.3 In May 1999 Papandreou and Gem launched a dialogue. Avoiding explosive high-politics disputes, both ministers prioritized collaborating in low-profile bilateral issues, such as trade, tourism, and environment. …