Black Talk

by Ben Sidran

Black Music—whether it be jazz, blues, r&b, gospel, or soul—has always expressed, consciously or not, its African "oral" heritage, reflecting the conditions of a minority culture in the midst of a white majority. Black Talk is one of those rare books since LeRoi Jones's Blues People to examine the social function of black music in the diaspora; it sounds the depths of experience and maps the history of a culture from the jazz age to the revolutionary outbursts of the 1960s. Ben Sidran finds radical challenges to the Western, white literary tradition in such varied music as Buddy Bolden's loud and hoarse cornet style, the call and response between brass and reeds in a swing band, the emotionalism of gospel, the primitivism of Ornette Coleman, and the cool ethic of bebop. "The musician is the document," says Sidran. "He is the information himself. The impact of stored information is transmitted not through records or archives, but through the human response to life."

Genres: Music, History, Nonfiction, African American

244 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1970

Reviews

[Taneli Viitahuhta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good on history of jazz, highlighting the cultural divide between black and white American culture. Sidran basically claims that black culture is based on unbroken oral tradition, whereas WASP America has a literary tendency (he never calles this latter culture anal, but it's quite obviously the counterpoint to oral in the double meaning that this text sets up).

Black Talk is not so strong on free jazz, though. From the 70's books on free jazz Val Wilmer's "As serious as your life" and Comolli's and Carles' "Free jazz / Black Power" are more forceful and detailed. I had a feeling this book exhausted itself by the time it got past bop, but maybe reading these excellent and concentrated studies on free jazz just made Black Talk pale in comparison. Otherwise fine read and recommended to anyone wanting to get to know jazz from the musicians point of view, but not through anecdote but social critique.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Along with Blues People, this is crucial to understanding the develop of jazz.