Date

5-2025

Document Type

Capstone Project (Open Access)

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)

Department

Music & Performing Arts

Major

Music

First Advisor

Violet Cavicchi Munoz

Abstract

Abstract This capstone project explores how three landmark jazz works—Louis Armstrong’s The Real Ambassadors (1961), John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme (1965), and Duke Ellington’s Sacred Concerts (1965–1973)—responded to the social challenges of the Civil Rights era while advancing the artistic stature of jazz. Each composition challenged systemic racism through its unique blend of innovation and cultural expression: Armstrong’s performance in The Real Ambassadors used satire to critique American racial hypocrisy; Coltrane’s A Love Supreme presented a spiritual and musical journey grounded in modal development and personal transformation; and Ellington’s Sacred Concerts fused jazz with sacred and classical traditions to elevate jazz into cathedral and concert hall spaces. These works not only addressed the Black American experience but also redefined jazz as a serious compositional art form, capable of achieving the thematic and structural depth long associated with Western Art Music. By influencing prominent classical composers such as Leonard Bernstein, Steve Reich, and Gunther Schuller, these compositions helped bridge cultural and stylistic divides, asserting jazz’s place within the broader canon of American and global high art. This project analyzes their musical innovations, historical context, and cultural impact to argue that jazz, at its most visionary, is both a force for social commentary and a rival to the classical tradition in expressive power and complexity.

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