Postmodernizm ve Postbop Koşutluğu Üzerine

Abstract

This study is focused on jazz music that was made between 1955-1980, known as “the postbop era” and its similarities with postmodernism. The research is made through the investigation of twenty-one recordings made by pioneering jazz musicians and comparing their idiosyncrasies to the characteristics of Postmodernism in order to expose the existing uniformities. After the statements on postmodernism, the effects of postmodernist thought on various fields such as architecture, urban planning and classical music is discussed. Following that, the beginning of jazz music and its periods are defined. The albums and the artists of the target era are represented under two main titles for the viewing and the identification of the parallels. The first essential postmodern quality of postbop music is that its multicultural theme structure is a method of construction and deconstruction at once. Due to its’ multicultural aspect, the cultural centrification is volatile. With the use of the patchwork technique, the importance that was once given to the constructional unity during modernist era is shifted to the multilayered artifact. Postmodernism accepts and reflects ideological and motivic differences regardless of their social status as postbop music mixes various creative sources’ output under one genre irrespective of their cultural background. Regarding the past, the values and the significance of the black culture is outcasted by the dominant white culture, it would rather be logical to expect an antielitist and all inclusive behaviour from such a rejected minority thus their status quo can possibly be described as an absolute postmodern. In this research, the jazz history is explained in detail because it’s being told from the angle of its creators; artists of the black culture. The ideological dilemma of postbop is also quite similar to the dilemma that postmodernism brings; the choice between the roots and the inevitable future arises as the discussions on whether a jazz musician should hold on to the prebop and bop music or to accept the output that is brought by technological developments and social evolution. The satiric expressiveness of the lyrics and the instrumental performances are found through out the jazz and blues and this tongue in cheek attitude is the very creative force behind the black culture. The motto of postbop music could be “the only thing that doesn’t change is the change itself” for it is neither totally made of patchwork nor consists of a monolithic frame, neither it is entirely free nor tied up by strict rules. It is never fully devoted to any culture and its local products. Therefore, the entirety of the art work consists of various fabrication methods just as postmodern approach to production. Each performance and recording is dissimilar simply because jazz music is based on improvised textures. The meaning, the mould and the intention are not confined by a sole recording or by notes written on a page thus every aspect of the artwork is engaged to the changeable tone of the interpreter. Unorthodox instrumental sounds such as squeaks and screams or sounds that are made by bottles, car horns, etc., are used in the creative process which could only add to the polystylisation aspect of postbop. It should also be stated that the randomness that is fueled by the improvisor’s instantaneous stream of consciousness is very a crucial motive of jazz music. Thus, it becomes rather clear that postbop jazz music may be viewed as a product of postmodernism and the postmodern society.