Skip to main content

  • HOME
  • CURRENT CONTENT
  • ALL CONTENT
  • SUBMIT
  • ABOUT
    • Journal
    • Editorial
  • INFO FOR
    • Librarians
    • Authors
    • Reprints and Permissions
    • Advertisers
    • Subscriptions and Single Issues
  • MORE
    • Alerts
    • Contact Us

  • Login

  • Advanced search

  • Login
Advanced Search
  • HOME
  • CURRENT CONTENT
  • ALL CONTENT
  • SUBMIT
  • ABOUT
    • Journal
    • Editorial
  • INFO FOR
    • Librarians
    • Authors
    • Reprints and Permissions
    • Advertisers
    • Subscriptions and Single Issues
  • MORE
    • Alerts
    • Contact Us
Religion and American Culture

“An Authentic Record of My Race”
Exploring the Popular Narratives of African American Religion in the Music of Duke Ellington
Vaughn Booker
Religion and American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation, Vol. 25 No. 1, Winter 2015; (pp. 1-36) DOI: 10.1525/rac.2015.25.1.1
Vaughn Booker
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Search for this author on this site
  • View author's works on this site
  • Article
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
PreviousNext
Loading

Abstract

Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington (1899–1974) emerged within the jazz profession as a prominent exponent of Harlem Renaissance racial uplift ideals about incorporating African American culture into artistic production. Formed in the early twentieth century’s middle-class black Protestant culture but not a churchgoer in adulthood, Ellington conveyed a nostalgic appreciation of African American Christianity whenever he wrote music to chronicle African American history. This prominent jazz musician’s religious nostalgia resulted in compositions that conveyed to a broader American audience a portrait of African American religiosity that was constantly “classical” and static—not quite primitive, but never appreciated as a modern aspect of black culture.

This article examines several Ellington compositions from the late 1920s through the 1960s that exemplify his deployment of popular representations of African American religious belief and practice. Through the short film Black and Tan in the 1920s, the satirical popular song “Is That Religion?” in the 1930s, the long-form symphonic movement Black, Brown and Beige in the 1940s, the lyricism of “Come Sunday” in the 1950s, and the dramatic prose of “My People” in the 1960s, Ellington attempted to capture a portrait of black religious practice without recognition of contemporaneous developments in black Protestant Christianity in the twentieth century’s middle decades. Although existing Ellington scholarship has covered his “Sacred Concerts” in the 1960s and 1970s, this article engages themes and representations in Ellington’s work prefiguring the religious jazz that became popular with white liberal Protestants in America and Europe. This discussion of religious narratives in Ellington’s compositions affords an opportunity to reflect upon the (un)intended consequences of progressive, sympathetic cultural production, particularly on the part of prominent African American historical figures in their time. Moreover, this article attempts to locate the jazz profession as a critical site for the examination of racial and religious representation in African American religious history.

  • jazz
  • African American religion
  • Come Sunday
  • race
  • Harlem Renaissance
  • © 2015 by The Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture
PreviousNext
Back to top

Vol. 25 No. 1, Winter 2015

Religion and American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation: 25 (1)
  • Table of Contents
  • Table of Contents (PDF)
  • Cover (PDF)
  • Index by author
  • Front Matter (PDF)
eTOC Alert

RSSRSS Icon

Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on Religion and American Culture.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
“An Authentic Record of My Race”
(Your Name) has sent you a message from Religion and American Culture
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the Religion and American Culture web site.
Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Citation Tools
“An Authentic Record of My Race”
Exploring the Popular Narratives of African American Religion in the Music of Duke Ellington
Vaughn Booker
Religion and American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation, Vol. 25 No. 1, Winter 2015; (pp. 1-36) DOI: 10.1525/rac.2015.25.1.1
Vaughn Booker
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Search for this author on this site
  • View author's works on this site

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Request Permissions
Share
“An Authentic Record of My Race”
Exploring the Popular Narratives of African American Religion in the Music of Duke Ellington
Vaughn Booker
Religion and American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation, Vol. 25 No. 1, Winter 2015; (pp. 1-36) DOI: 10.1525/rac.2015.25.1.1
Vaughn Booker
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Search for this author on this site
  • View author's works on this site
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Technorati logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
View Full Page PDF
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

  • Top
  • Article
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF

Related Articles

Cited By...

Similar Articles

FIND US Facebook Account LinkRSS Feeds LinkTwitter Account LinkInstagram Account LinkLinkedin Account LinkYoutube Account LinkEmail Link

Customer Service

  • Reprints and Permissions
  • Contact

UC Press

  • About UC Press

Navigate

  • Home
  • About
  • Submit
  • Editorial
  • Contact

Content

  • Current Issue
  • All Content

Info For

  • Librarians
  • Authors
  • Advertisers
  • Subscriptions and Single Issues

Copyright © 2018 by the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture   Privacy   Accessibility