Signifying on the Greeks: the use of rhetorical devices in jazz improvisation analysis

Erickson, Jeffrey D.

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/89017 Copy

Description

Title

Signifying on the Greeks: the use of rhetorical devices in jazz improvisation analysis

Author(s)

Erickson, Jeffrey D.

Issue Date

2015-12-01

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

McNeill, Charles

Doctoral Committee Chair(s)

McNeill, Charles

Committee Member(s)

• Richtmeyer, Debra
• Lund, Erik
• Solis, Gabriel

Department of Study

Music

Discipline

Jazz Performance

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

A.Mus.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• jazz improvisation analysis
• musical rhetoric
• rhetorical analysis
• Western musical rhetoric
• African American musical rhetoric
• musical-rhetorical devices
• musical-rhetorical figures
• signifying
• Horace Silver
• """The Tokyo Blues"""
• Jim Hall
• """Hide and Seek"""
• Lester Young
• """Lady Be Good"""
• Sonny Rollins
• """Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise"""
• Miles Davis
• """My Funny Valentine"""
• Steve Lacy
• """Longing"""
• Martin Luther King
• """I have a Dream"""

Abstract

Rhetoric is the art of effective and persuasive communication. Building upon and bringing together musical and rhetorical scholarship from both Western and Afrological perspectives, this study lays out a theoretical framework and analytical process for applying the principles and devices of rhetoric to jazz improvisation analysis. Taken from both Western and Afrological sources, approximately four dozen rhetorical devices are defined, translated into musical figures, and applied to the transcribed solos of six jazz artists. These musicians, Lester Young, Jim Hall, Horace Silver, Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, and Steve Lacy, are master communicators; their ability to craft a “message” and communicate effectively and persuasively is reflected in their significant use of rhetorical figures in these improvisations. These six analyses show how a rhetorical approach to jazz improvisation analysis is unique in jazz scholarship and offers new insights that existing forms of analysis do not provide. By combining both European and African rhetorical traditions, this study moves beyond traditional musical analysis, based primarily on Western music theory concepts, to incorporate the unique qualities and semantics of African American musical and rhetorical culture. Along with the solo analysis, this study provides a historical background of the two rhetorical and musical-rhetorical traditions upon which jazz draws: the Western European, via the ancient Greeks and Romans, and the African American, via the Africans and ancient Egyptians. Additionally, Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream Speech” is transcribed and analyzed for its rhetorical and musical-rhetorical use; the solo analysis draws on this speech for comparative purposes.

Graduation Semester

2015-12

Type of Resource

text

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/89017

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2015 Jeff D. Erickson

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