The African American civil rights movement was a social movement that saw direct action from individuals, groups and communities outlawing racial discrimination. Influential civil rights activists such as Jazz composer and bass player Charles Minus pushed this movement Into a more radical position. Minus was powerful In forming public opinion as he was able to reach the largely African-American jazz community, the predominant music during the civil rights movement (CRM). This essay evaluates the significance of Charles Minus’ role In the American CRM.

During the sass’s-sass’s, the Southern States in the united States of America were openly discriminating against Black Americans. 1 activists speak out for an end to southern racial violence and police brutality, equal opportunity in employment, and equal access in education and public accommodations. 2 was Charles Minus. This virtuosic bass player gained fame In the sass and sass working with fellow activists Louis Armstrong and Duke Longtime. He later pushed boundaries both musically and politically.

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Minus was significant In the African – American call rights movement as he provided a rueful view of the attitudes of African-Americans towards the racial inequalities in America. Lived – that is of the Jazz community – where he pursued freedom and Justice in music through compositional devices and musical expression. One way he contributed to the CRM was by influencing powerful and subordinate classes through holding hidden and public protests. His composition ‘Fables of Faustus’ attests to these statements, as described below.

Minus’ popularity in the Jazz community made him more influential in the political jazz climate. His regular performing schedule and frequent discography of records which made significant sales during the sass’s-sass’s powerful view of racial segregation and prejudice as present in American about racial injustices evident in the music industry. He directly challenged the accepted norms through his music by often using political titles for his pieces and his innovative compositional process enabled him to contest racial stereotypes through his outspoken critics. Punctuated with his position as a composer, allowed him to incorporate politics into his music. The most outstanding example of this is “Fables of Faustus” first recorded on Minus’ 1959 album, “Minus, Ah Um”. The song was written as a direct protest against Arkansas governor, American civil rights movement. 2013. UnicycleГdid Britannica Online. Retrieved 08 August, 2013, movement Civil rights movement. 2013. The Free Dictionary. Retrieved 09 August, 2013, from http://legal- dictionary. Defenestration. Mom/Civil+Rights+Movement 2 The African American civil rights movement saw , provided an ideal forum to express to his wide audience his Charles Minus Discography – session index. 2001. Jazz Discography Project. Retrieved 03 August, 2013, from http://www. ]zodiacs. Org/Charles-minus/discography/session-index/ Minus, Charles. ” Contemporary Musicians. Volvo. 9. Gale Coinage, 2006 4 M. Reef, ‘Unexpected Activism”. A Study of Louis Armstrong and Charles Minus as Activists Using 5 James Coot’s Theory of Public Versus Hidden Transcripts, p. 18 Thomas Vacancies Rival E.

Faustus, who in 1957 sent out the National Guard to prevent the integration of Little Rock Central High School by nine African American teenagers. And response from the horn section which is played in a combination of a somewhat mocking tone – in order to depict Faustus as a fool, and in a raucous tone, to portray the anger as present n the African – American community jazz critic Don Hickman who commented “”a classic Negro put-down in which satire becomes a deadly rapier-thrust. Faustus emerges in a glare of ridicule as a mock villain whom no-one really takes seriously.

This kind of commentary… Appears far too rarely in Jazz. ” achieved international acclaim as it was played and recorded extensively by the Minus Band during their 1964 European Tour. The influence of this composition was obvious in the Jazz community as it was recorded and played on numerous occasions by various musicians, including white musicians he popularity of Minus’ compositions, which depicted harsh, emotional power, influenced his musical peers to become increasingly outspoken and to play Minus’ political compositions.

Minus’ influence in the political Jazz climate increased political action in his fellow jazz musicians and also those people in the public who attended his concerts. Racist practices in the recording industry, the commercialism’s of music festivals, and the exploitation of black artists led to Minus forming his own record company ‘Debut Records’, his own publishing company, organizing a counter-festival to the increasingly commercialism ‘Newport Jazz Festival’, and founding the Jazz Artists’ Guild GAG) – a collective in powerful classes was most evident in the formation of the JAG.

The JAG was influential in preceding numerous musicians’ collectives which were all cooperative ventures that protested the rules governing the Jazz marketplace 1 a powerful force against racial discrimination, particularly in the music industry. Minus’ ability to communicate an agenda of resistance and protest to his audience hidden transcripts such as allegories in his compositions and musical statements made him ore outspoken than his counterparts Brown v. Board at Fifty: “With an Even Hand”. 2013.

Library of Congress. Retrieved 06 June, 2013, from 6 http://www. Loc. Gob/exhibits/brown/brown-aftermath. HTML Fables of Faustus Song Review – Ken Dryden. All Music. Retrieved 18 July, 2013, from http:// 7 www. Alembic. Com/song/fables-of-Faustus-mt0007689362 8 Hickman, Don (August 1962). “About Charles Minus”. American Record Guide: 916-18. AS cited cantors 2001, p. 198 The European Tour of 1964, Charles Minus, Retrieved 06 June, 2013, from http:// 9 minus. Monotone. Info/1964. HTML 10 (Masterpiece), p. M.

Dunked, ‘Aesthetics of Resistance’ Charles Minus and the Civil Rights Movement 11 (Masterpiece), p. 16 MOM. Reef, ‘Unexpected Activism”. A Study of Louis Armstrong and Charles Minus as . In 1962, the song was re-recorded with lyrics to further . Musicians Joined Minus’ protest and thus presented . Thus, he could use music as a vehicle to express 3 strong political views supported the clear activism Minus’ freedom for Justice through music was an effective way of influencing the ordinate classes and subordinate classes.

This was achieved through compositional devices and was giggly effective as it exemplified counterculture through music. He played bebop; a style of modern Jazz that developed in New York City during the early sass. It contained fast tempos, open soloing and complicated improvisation. 14 from post sass, bebop was a form of aesthetic protest and rebellion. 1 5 permanent black experience of oppression and discrimination in the USA. 16 interacted with the communal ideas of the CRM. Eh merged musical elements that represented diverse social groups within the Black community.

He combined modern bebop elements with blues and sacred gospel music, representative of the lower classes pacification of bebop, combined with lower class blues and gospel music, Minus unified a diverse social group including the ordinate musician class through free, musical expression. Minus also used collective improvisation, a method where musicians improvised simultaneously. It paved particular attention to how each band member interacted with the group as a whole. 19 band member expressed their musical freedom whilst playing a style of music reflecting Black grievances against discrimination.

Minus captured the ordinate musician classes as many notable musicians played Minus’ songs which included these compositional squishiness they exerted activism. In Fables of Faustus, Minus cleverly uses lyrics in conjunction with staccato (short and choppy) notes, stable sounds and unstable sounds which produces a tone of insanity. Since this song attempts to criticism Governor Faustus, this compositional device gives the impression that Faustus is psychotic. Hence, Minus used compositional form of activism to underpin the outspoken forms of activism.

He attempted to break the barriers that lay between Jazz and classical music by incorporating elements from both fields, creating a medium. 22 musicians where he imagined a world free of racial restrictions and generic atdisgorgesHis activism was in the form of outspoken statements where he called for greater integration in the music world; “Today, musicians in all races are proving that no race is endowed with special abilities for any profession and that every musician has an equal chance if given the proper start and study needed for playing correctly. 23 Arguably his most effective contribution to the CRM was his articulation of free musical expression as depicted in the prestigious downbeat magazines. MiMinuserecognizedf Jazz Journalist and its effect on the ability of the Jazz musician to make a living as Black West Coast America suffered from a lack of critique and was subsequently not rerecognizedn merit. He wrote to Gleason, expressing his belief that music was an expression of the emotional self.

In doing so, he tried to create a climate in which these musicians would have the creative freedom and material resources to pursue their art. By writing to the critic, MiMinusrticulated his aesthetic vision of inequality in the music business. This encouraged musicians in the future to strive for free musical expression, where black musicians would predominantly create music infused with musical expression ideas about race, culture citizenship, civil and coeconomicights, and black rirightisthe supportive critic, Gleason.

MiMinusethos prior to this publication was already respected as he had been written glowingly in Downbeat during 1949. Therefore, he was more influential to the ordinate musician class. This was further underpinned when the article was reproduced in 1953 and to an even greater extent when MiMinusonducted a ‘CoColorlind Test”, notable musicians had to identify personnel on records – people identifying anonymous black artists as white artists and vice versa. The results were published, along with the support of critic