I believe in a strong connection between research (theory), practice (performance and compositon), and teaching. A cursory glance at the history of American and African American experimental music(s) illustrates that these three threads have acted in dialogic synchronicity for much, if not all, of their histories. I have taken this understanding to heart; my life as a performer and composer fuels the creative theorizing that I develop in my scholarship and my academic research provokes important directions in my musical activities.
Broadly speaking, my work questions the relationship between experimentalism and cultural/social identity and focuses on American, African American, and African diasporic music. Although rooted in musicology, ethnomusicology, and popular music studies, I have deeply interdisciplinary interests; my work draws on cultural studies, race theory, gender studies, and new trends in postocolonialism. Most of my work fits snugly within the emerging field of improvised music studies.
Large-scale research projects
(Re)Sounding the African Diaspora: Transnationalism, Experimentalism, and Improvisation
An ongoing ethnographic and historiographic project that examines "transdiasporic" collaboration within the African diaspora. I am developing a nuanced definition of "transnationalism" that moves beyond immigration-based accounts of transnationalism. By focusing on musician accounts of the importance of diaspora in their work, I strive to show that creative articulations of global interconnectedness underwrite some of the most intriguing experimental musics found in the fabric of globalization. The project is designed to produce a book-length manuscript.
Dubbing the Reggae Nation: Transnationalism, Globalization, and Interculturalism
Drawing upon my experience within the global reggae community, I use the concept of the "reggae nation" to propose a new theoretical framework for transnationalism. The reggae nation is a common concept within reggae communities around the world. For more than five years, I have conducted interviews with reggae musicians, producers, and listeners in the hopes of understanding new cultural configurations that strategically seek to transcend political nation-state boundaries. This project is also designed to produce a book-length manuscript.
Articles in progress
Ambivalence and the Blues: William Grant Still’s Afro-American Symphony
Black Los Angeles Redefined: Horace Tapscott and the Freestyle Fellowship
Space, Race, and Transcending Place: Sun Ra, Afrofuturism, and Black Nationalism
Publications
Articles
The Challenge of the Changing Same: The Jazz Avant-Garde of the 1960s, the Black Aesthetic and the Black Arts Movement. Critical Studies in Improvisation/Études critiques en improvisation 1:2 (May 2005). Weblink
Review Articles
Race Music: Black Cultures From Bebop to Hip-hop, by Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr. Critical Studies in Improvisation/Études critiques en improvisation 2:1 (2006). Weblink
Freedom Is, Freedom Ain’t: Jazz and the Making of the Sixties, by Scott Saul. Critical Studies in Improvisation/Études critiques en improvisation 1:2 (2005). Weblink
The Other Side of Nowhere: Jazz, Improvisation and Communities in Dialogue, edited by Daniel Fischlin and Ajay Heble. Critical Studies in Improvisation/Études critiques en improvisation 1:1 (2004). Weblink
Reviews
Freestyle: the Art of Rhyme, directed by Kevin Fitzgerald. Ethnomusicology 50:3 (Fall 2006)
Encyclopedia Entries
"Bebop" and "Hardbop" for the Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World. Under contract. Continuum.
“Cootie Williams” for the Encyclopedia of the Blues. Edward Komara, ed. New York: Routledge, 2006.