I HAVE A DREAM: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF JAZZ MUSIC WRITTEN AND PERFORMED IN RESPONSE TO THE MARTIN LUTHER KING ASSASSINATION

Jazz and the civil rights movement share a significant historical connection within America. Most scholarly literature on this subject is categorized into two primary groups: works such as Harvey Cohen’s book titled Duke Ellington’s America and Nadine Cohodas’ Princess Noire, which concentrate on individual artists and their contributions to protest music. The second group encompasses publications like Chris Gertzen’s Freedom Songs and Ingrid Monson’s Freedom Sounds, which examine music and the civil rights movement in a broader context. Although both categories provide valuable insights, there appears to be a lack of current literature specifically addressing the music of the movement created in response to one of the period's pivotal events—the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. My research aims to contribute to the extensive body of scholarship in this area. I intend to incorporate perspectives from jazz studies, civil rights history, and trauma studies to frame the experiences of Black jazz musicians as a crucial element in documenting cultural trauma within the Black community. Two fundamental questions will guide my investigation: firstly, in what ways did these artists utilize their music to respond to this communal tragedy, and secondly, how can musical witness be employed as an analytical tool to effectively identify and articulate the musical characteristics that serve as attestations to this historic event. This study utilizes interviews, discographies, biographies, music periodicals, newspapers, recordings, and manuscripts to analyze how jazz music, composed and performed in response to the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., functions as a musical witness to trauma. This research aims to explore the understanding of jazz music and its role in documenting trauma within the civil rights movement beyond the protest songs of the early 1960s.

Author

• Bratcher, Paul

• Dizzy Gillespie
• Herbie Hancock
• Jazz
• Martin Luther King
• Musical Witness
• Nina Simone

Identifier

hdl:1920/15220

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:MARS:1920/15220