JAZZ ST. LOUIS BOOK CLUB: The Battle of the Five Spot: Ornette Coleman and the New York Jazz Field by David Lee
Item details
Date
Nov 11, 2024 7:00PM
Name
JAZZ ST. LOUIS BOOK CLUB: The Battle of the Five Spot: Ornette Coleman and the New York Jazz Field by David Lee
Description
Join us for the Jazz St. Louis Book Club event!
The Battle of the Five Spot is an engaging look at a milestone of jazz history. When California saxophonist Ornette Coleman brought his quartet to New York’s Five Spot Café, the music ignited a storm of controversy, and spurred a struggle between old and new styles of jazz that has never quite subsided. David Lee explores the debate around Coleman’s innovation in terms of its relationships to social change and issues of power within arts communities. When Coleman then appeared at the Five Spot nightclub in New York in the early winter, he inspired a small riot among jazz artists and critics. By abandoning harmony on The Shape of Jazz to Come, Coleman sought rhythm the way abstract expressionist painters went after sensation. At the Five Spot, therefore, his melodies were experienced by the audience as if they were swirling in a musical maze, driven by an acceleration of tempo, which challenged these stunned listeners to follow along as he gleefully rejected jazz's adherence to strict time.
With its scholarly approach to jazz history's hottest topic, The Battle of the Five Spot has won praise from the music's most knowledgeable readers. Point of Departure's Bill Shoemaker called it a "crisply written, illuminating analysis of one of the most pivotal events in jazz history." Pamela Margles in The Whole Note called it "a provocative study...a heartfelt - and powerful - tribute to the creative validity of free jazz." First published in 2006, the Wolsak and Wynn edition of The Battle of the Five Spot has been newly revised, with an afterword by the author.
Jazz St. Louis Book Club is free and open to anyone willing to show up, participate, and have a good time! Light refreshments will be provided at the conclusion of each book club meeting. While we encourage everyone to participate in reading each book, there is no requirement that you do so. Spread the word and register today!
This is a free, ticketed event. No ticketing fees will apply to your order. Please not that you do not need to have read the book to participate!
We're Sorry!
Tickets are not currently available online for this event. Please contact our box office to get up-to-the-minute ticket availability information.