Fowler OutSpoken Conversation: Africa Speaks, America Answers
Thursday, 7 p.m.
Fowler Museum auditorium, FREE
While playing jazz on the piano at 18, historian Robin D.G. Kelley fell in love with the music and ingenuity of American jazz pianist and composer Thelonious Monk. Kelley decided to follow his interest beyond the keyboard and investigate the history behind it.
Kelley was driven enough to continue to pursue this interest and wrote a biography detailing Monk’s life and the development of jazz in America and Africa during the 1950s and 1960s.
On Thursday evening, Kelley and KCRW DJ Tom Schnabel will come together at the Fowler Museum for a Fowler OutSpoken Conversation and listening session. The event is intended to discuss how American and African jazz artists looked to each other for inspiration during the decolonization of Africa after World War II. This transcontinental connection will serve as the event’s basis for discussion and is also the topic of Kelley’s most recent book “Africa Speaks, America Answers: Modern Jazz in Revolutionary Times.”
When writing his book, Kelley said he chose to devote one chapter to each of four specific musicians ““ the late Guy Warren of Ghana, American pianist Randy Weston, the late American bass player Ahmed Abdul-Malik and South African jazz singer Sathima Bea Benjamin.
“They all come from different backgrounds but have one thing in common ““ they represent the same generation of artists who literally came of age musically and made a name for themselves during the period of decolonization in Africa,” Kelley said.
As a result of the decolonization, many African jazz musicians turned to America for inspiration while shaping a new cultural identity, and American jazz musicians began to look toward their African counterparts as they tried to mold jazz into a form beyond the bebop style.
Kelley, whose research pursuits on this topic took him not only to Africa but also to archives all around the world, was able to meet Warren, Weston and Benjamin in person to discuss their individual journeys and struggles.
He said he found that each of these musicians represent a particular relationship or connection to Africa and jazz. As a Ghanaian drummer, Warren fused the traditional African beats with new jazz innovations, an approach that Benjamin also adopted as a jazz vocalist. Kelley said traveling to Africa was an eye-opening experience for Americans Weston and Abdul-Malik that helped them realize relatable art requires interaction with the rest of the world.
“No country is an island,” Kelley said. “We have to think of art as a connective tissue that brings together all of these people.”
Christopher Waterman, an ethnomusicologist and dean of UCLA School of Arts and Architecture, said he is delighted that Kelley engages with issues about musical identity and the meaning of jazz. He also said that this event will help people understand the complex origins of jazz music.
Schnabel, who previously moderated a Fowler OutSpoken Conversation that discussed jazz diplomacy, said that the topic of this upcoming event and the “characters” in Kelley’s book are significant because they call attention to musicians that people have most likely never heard of before.
“This is an academic book and these are figures who are not well known by people today,” Schnabel said. “We get to learn about them and the parallel struggles of jazz musicians in Africa and America.”
Kelley said that this event is also an opportunity for him to bring his book to life.
“When you read a book, you have to imagine the music or try to find it, but this way I get to share it right away,” Kelley said.