Blutopia: Visions of the Future and Revisions of the Past in the Work of Sun Ra, Duke Ellington, and Anthony Braxton
More than simply an overview of three remarkable musicians' lives, this stellar example of distinctive scholarship (together with Lock's previous works, Forces in Motion and Chasing the Vibration) provides an invaluable commentary on American society. Lock relies on African American cultural practices and mythologies to support his underlying themes, which include the purpose behind each musician's works, how they dealt with misconceptions and misunderstandings (particularly regarding jazz criticism and attempts to gain respect for the music), and the democratic nature of jazz, with an emphasis on its black roots and methods of disowning previous racial stereotyping of the music. In recent years, jazz artists such as Sun Ra and Braxton, who were once marginalized by market forces and critics alike, have become topics of exceptional scholarship, and authors simultaneously strive to correct past writing about jazz artists, including such eminences as Ellington. These promising developments saturate Lock's latest work. Recommended for music libraries and public and academic libraries supporting music collections.-William Kenz, Moorhead State Univ. Lib., MNCopyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.