This book represents the best of jazz journalism. Radano writes extensivly about Braxton, but also captures the essence of the Chicago Jazz scene in the late 60's and the complexities of being a black avant-garde artist in an era where such things are just not accepted.
Part biography, part explication, part cultural critique, Radano manages to talk knowledgably and extensively about Braxton's music without resorting to technical jargon or waxing romantic like a fan...both serious mistakes of most jazz critics. And he also charts a sympethetic course through the philosophical divides of black artists in the 60's without taking sides or launching into unfounded polemics. Instead, Radaon's central premise, that Braxton's unique musical vision has never found a place in American musical society due to it's difficulty of classification (is it jazz? is it European oriented experimental music? What do we call this stuff?) and due to the less than orthodox education and views of it's creator, rings true in light of the facts of Braxto's life and the critical coverage and destruction that he recieved in the 70s and 80s.
Radano also does a marvelous job explaining Braxton's notoriously difficult philosophic/musical theories. The Triaxium writings are very difficult for the uninitiated (as are most free musician's theories - try making sense out of Ornette Coleman's descriptions of harmelodics...it's pretty tough going, though the results are stunning.) Radano strips away some of the deliberately obscure language that Braxton uses and gives us "Triaxium lite" as it were. Though this may seem on some level sacriligious, for many of us who truly admire Braxton and want to understand his thought, this helps enormously. It's made it possible for me to understand more of the liner notes on Braxton albums.
This book is recommended highly, both for fans of the composer/improvisor, and for anyone interested in the sad state of American culture at the end of the millenium. One hopes that Radano will decide to revise this book in light of the developments of the last 10 years (the book came out in 1993). Braxton's tenure as professor at Wesleyan University and his creation of an entirely new genre of music (Ghost Trance Music), along with a greater, belated appreciation of his notated music, may change some of Radano's conclusions, or at least inform them a bit.
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