Dear trtrryl,
The tensions between "purists" or those who prefer traditional style,
and those who introduced the usage of electric instruments began
mostly in the 1960s, although some transition into electric instrument
was already visible in the 1950s Jazz, with musician such as Jimmy
Smith moving to electric organ.
However, Smith - for example - is very much of a purist, even through
his own definition:
"However, his instrument, the Hammond B-3 organ, was the subject of
much derision by snooty jazz critics during the peak of its popularity
in the Sixties. In fact, it fell out of fashion to the extent that the
Hammond Organ Company even stopped manufacturing the model. Smith
himself occasionally dabbles in synthesizers and electric piano but
always returns to the straight-ahead crunchy sounds of the B-3. "The
synthesizers and all that junk were coming in a few years ago," he
explains, "but now the people want pure jazz."
(SOURCE: Jimmy Smith Comes to Austin/ by Kavid Day
<http://www.diversearts.org/archive/v2n5/jimmy.html>).
During the 1960s - and about the same time - jazz and folk musicians
began to use electric instruments - to the dismay of the "purists".
The most conspicuous event - perhaps in folk history altogether - was,
indeed, the one Poe-GA mentioned. Another point, besides the
distraction from the original style, was that those who use electric
instruments are a "sell-out" - they want to attract wider audience of
pop/rock lovers.
In 1965, Bob Dylan participated in the Newport festival, playing
electric folk for the very first time. The debate existed before that,
but Dylan's performance (that was booed by the audience), enraged folk
icon Pete Seeger so much, that he tried to pull Dylan's amplifiers:
"Bob Dylan's switch to electric rock at the Newport Folk Festival is
often cited as a turning point, but the fact is that the sound system
was not set up properly, and Dylan's voice could not be heard above
the roar of the backup band (the Paul Butterfield Blues Band with Mike
Bloomfield and Elvin Bishop). At first, the shouting from the audience
was for more amplification of Dylan's voice, then for turning down the
electric guitars. There was, however, a minority of audience members
and performers who were upset at Dylan's "switch" from folk to rock.
News of Dylan's hard time at Newport (preserved in the song "Rainy Day
Women #12 and 35" -- "Everybody must get stoned!") was global, and
insults and angry shouts greeted him at subsequent shows for more than
a year. Some say it was mostly folk purists who'd read about the
Newport incident and joined the hate bandwagon. By the time Live 1966
was recorded the audience was clearly divided between folkies and
rockers. The polarity of their response to Dylan's music actually
increases the passion and intensity of the performances."
(SOURCE: My Back Pages - The Bob Dylan Time Capsule /
<http://www.rockument.com/Dylan1.html>).
You can read more about it in the following articles:
Bob Dylan Interview/ by Nora Ephron & Susan Edmiston
<http://www.interferenza.com/bcs/interw/65-aug.htm>
And August 1965 interview, just after the scandal, where Dylan played electric.
"Critics tangled up in Dylan hairstyle, miss the music", Tony Norman,
August 13, 2002
<http://www.post-gazette.com/columnists/20020813tony0813p5.asp>
A Post Gazette article about Dylan's performance and the havoc it raised.
DYLAN GOES ELECTRIC - The Newport Folk Festival, July 1965
from Robert Shelton, No Direction Home: The Life and Music of Bob
Dylan, New York, 1986, pp. 301-304.
<http://campus.queens.edu/depts/english/dylan_goes_electric_the_newport_.htm>
Pete Seeger
<http://www.public.asu.edu/~cpowers/seeger%20bio.htm>
On Seeger's attempt to prevent Dylan from playing the impure electric music.
A Twentieth-Century Orpheus Takes Hold of a Lightning Bolt / Mike Hiller
<http://www.skewedperspective.com/longhairedlogicdylan.html>
37 years after he enraged folk-music purists, Dylan returns to Newport
fest / By Brian Carovillano (Associated Press Writer) , Dodge Globe,
<http://www.dodgeglobe.com/stories/080202/ent_dylan.shtml>
The "Reel" Bob Dylan - Footage of historic 1966 Dylan tour discovered/
Dana Bartholomew , Daily News.com
<http://www.1966tourhomemovies.com/dailynews.htm>
Top 50 Defining Moments in Classic Rock.
#6 - Dylan Hangs Up The Acoustic
<http://97rock.com/14909.html>
Booing by Folkies in 1965
<http://www.edlis.org/twice/threads/booing_by_folkies.html>
Fascinating discussion on Dylan's moves in 1965-1966 and its reasons.
However, it was not only Dylan who went astray to the traditional folk
lovers. The Byrds' "guest" guitarist Clarence White did also that,
combining Bluegrass and folk with pop and rock - actually Dylan
claimed that he was inspired by the Byrds' "electric" treatment of his
songs; Peter Paul and Mary ; Simon and Garfunkel; and many others:
Clarence White
<http://www.byrdsnet.com/white.html>
THE LEGACY OF PHIL OCHS / BY SANDY CARTER
<http://zena.secureforum.com/Znet/zmag/articles/nov97carter.htm>
Roots: Folk Songs in Rock, Part 1
<http://www.rockument.com/roots_folksongs1.html> - a compilation of
LPs that signify the transition from folk to rock/pop for those
musicians.
DAVID REA: AMERICAN FOLK MUSICIAN / By Doug Bright
<http://www.freestone.com/davidheritagemusicreview.html>
Some of those who resisted the change accepted it later, most notable
Joan Baez, who began to use some electric instruments only on the
1970s.
You could read more about the change in general articles about folk music:
Folk music
http://www.worldhistory.com/wiki/f/folk-music.htm
Maryl L. Neff, "American Folk Music Community"
<http://www.coe.ufl.edu/courses/EdTech/Vault/Folk/Home.htm> - a
summary of a dissertation on the American folk music community.
References to the arguments could be found all over but the last part
of this section has a description of the rapture:
The Folk Revival - 1950-1970
<http://www.coe.ufl.edu/courses/EdTech/Vault/Folk/revival.htm>
Survey of American Popular Music/ by Frank Hoffmann and modified for
the web by Robert Birkline
<http://www.shsu.edu/~lis_fwh/book/american_renaissance/Folk%20Rock2.htm>
Folk Music Grows Up / John Hagelston
<http://www.rhino.com/news/articles/folkmusic.lasso>
ROB PATTERSON / 'Mighty Wind' Might Have Been
<http://www.populist.com/03.11.patterson.html> - about a parody on
traditional folk music, and how it doesn't hold water since Dylan's
revolution.
Richie Unterberger, Interview with Sylvia Thyson on the issue
<http://www.richieunterberger.com/tyson2.html>
<http://www.richieunterberger.com/tyson.html>
--------------, Interview with Bruce Langhorn
<http://www.richieunterberger.com/langhorne2.html>
The Free-Floating Bob Dylan - The wonderfully inauthentic art of
America's most vital singer-songwriter/ By Brian Doherty
<http://reason.com/0111/cr.bd.the.shtml>
In Jazz, too, revolution happened. However, maybe because of the
structure of jazz, or because of the people involved, this was not an
earthquake of the sort that happened in folk.
Unlike folk musicians, who turned into rock/pop creations with the
electronics (thereby justifying the purists' claims on being a
"sell-out"), jazz musicians who turned electronic usually maintained a
very unique jazz style, with some of them - like Sun Ra - even working
on avant-garde jazz, not exactly the most popular style.
Interview with Carl Craig
In A Zone: After A Decade As The Impresario of Detroit Techno, Carl
Craig Rewires Future Jazz Beats On Programmed.
By Brian O'Connor
December 1999 by DJ Times Magazine
<http://www.djtimes.com/original/djmag/dec99/Inazone.htm>
Includes stories about the outbreak of electronic in jazz, including
Sun Ra experimental works.
Don Ellis, Dave Douglas, and the Progression of Jazz / by Marshall Bowden
<http://www.jazzitude.com/ellis_douglas01.htm> - On Don Ellis'
transition to electric; another alternative jazz artist of the 1960s.
However, avant-garde jazz is not what brought up the heated discussion
in the jazz scene. It was funk jazz, and especially Miles Davies, who
enraged the "purists". Davies used electrical guitar, or electrical
trumpet, for the one of first times in "mainstream" jazz.
Bitches Brew and Art of Forgetting / by Eric Nisenson
<http://servercc.oakton.edu/~larry/miles/main/articles/nisenson96.html>
- from the Miles Davies archive. A biographic article discussing his
disputed transition to electric instruments.
ELECTRIC TRUMPETS - The influence of Miles Davis on a generation of trumpet players
<http://www.jazzitude.com/electro_trumpet01.htm> - Jazzitude article
on Davies' influence in his transition on other musicians.
Electric Miles / by Greg Masters
<http://servercc.oakton.edu/~larry/miles/main/articles/masters.html>
Miles After Miles by Amiri Baraka
<http://miles-davis.com/Panthalassa/amiri.html>
Davies nourished two pianists who would later become names on their
own sake: Herbie Hancock, and Chick Corea.
Chick Corea's Spirit of Creativity , 2003-03-28 / R.J. DeLuke , All
About Jazz, <http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=226> - an
interview where he tells about his first encounter with the electronic
world, and its influence on him (as well as the responses).
Brian Auger's Revolution In Jazz / By Jim Santella, All about Jazz
<http://www.allaboutjazz.com/iviews/bauger.htm>
More about the tensions between traditionalists and electronic
instruments users in the 1960s/1970s jazz.
General articles about the issue in jazz:
The Funk Transition, 2003-04-06 / By Max Babi
<http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=252>
A History of Jazz-Rock Fusion /by Alfred Garcia
<http://liraproductions.com/jazzrock/htdocs/histhome.htm> - an article
describing the beginning of the fusion style, and also a bit about the
disputes.
Jazz fusion / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz_fusion>
Not much new information, but might be helpful
History of Jazz
<http://cpinfo.berkeley.edu/information/education/pdf_files/StudyGuideJR.21-26.pdf>
(PDF Document, requires Adobe acrobat reader).
Richie Unterberger, Independent Blues Labels: The 1960s To The Present in:
The Genre Encyclopedia
<http://www.bobsmusicindex.com/IndependentBluesLabelsEssay.html>
Smithsonian Celebrates the Electric Guitar/ By Kevin Galvin
<http://www.s-t.com/daily/12-96/12-04-96/b04li064.htm>
Milestones in Kozmigroov History
<http://www.freeform.org/music/kozmigroov-timeline.html>
A timeline of the transition into electric, mostly in jazz, but also
in pop and folk.
Off-Line Information
--------------------
Rosenberg, N. (1985). Bluegrass: A history. Urbana, IL: University of
Illinois Press.
Robert Cantwell When We Were Good (2002) Harvard University Press.
Richie Unterberger (2002), Turn! Turn! Turn!: The '60s Folk-Rock
Revolution ; Backbeat Books.
Excerpts from the book could be found at
<http://www.richieunterberger.com/turnhome.html>
I hope this answered your question. |
