Adorno’s views—regardless of any
amount of perceived snobbery, or perhaps unfounded judgments on pop music (and
jazz in particular)—are incredibly incisive, and could be interpreted, rather
than a denouncement of all pop music, as constructive criticism (even if it
isn’t Adorno’s intention) which seeks to free pop music from the constraints it
has imposed on itself, and ultimately elevate it to the level of art. To a
certain extent, pop music has developed in accordance with Adorno’s
assessments, and in those cases has benefited greatly. Take for example his
judgment of jazz. While his focus might
be in particular “commercial jazz,” his judgment applies to even the more
compelling variations of jazz from this time.
He asserts that there are established patterns that artists adhere to, and even improvisation is subject to limitations. I would agree with Adorno that classical music in the 30’s and early 40’s, was—on average—much more exciting than jazz of the time. What Adorno does not account for is the possibility of convergence of popular music styles, and art music. Jazz and classical are not entirely separate from each other. The multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy, for example, showed a strong influence from Bela Bartok, mixing jazz and classical composition to create what Adorno might have considered to be, as I do, much more interesting jazz than the swing and big band music of earlier decades (but of course there was some pretty fantastic jazz from the get go, that perhaps Adorno was not aware of):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ7xBggveyY
And now for some Bartok: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E18snckRCxM
Bartok, who Adorno would probably approve of, even largely borrowed from "popular music," with folk songs from around the world informing much of his composition. This mixing of styles is what creates the most interesting music, but that is something Adorno does not allow for, or at least does not specifically address. I wonder what Adorno would have thought of Shostakovich's Jazz Music, which is essentially the reverse of Dolphy's appropriation of classical:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDSeqqEN9Rg
Adorno's assertion about the structured nature of improvisation could perhaps be seen as a prophecy for the creation of free jazz, and he is correct in saying that when the constraints of improvisation are removed, the music does become more interesting. A chronological listen to Coltrane's discography illustrates the true potential of jazz--after years of playing bop, and adhering to certain chord structures and relying on recurring motifs and themes, Coltrane felt he had reached a dead end. His music, upon turning to free jazz (and probably LSD), is elevated to what I think Adorno would certainly consider art (and perhaps does have more in common with the avant-garde classical music of Adorno's time, than it does to earlier forms of jazz).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtlEX9NKeRo
Alice Coltrane (John's wife) combined both a resemblance to classical music--though more specifically Indian and other eastern nations' classical music--and the lack of limitations on improvisation to even further the genre. And being that her main instrument was the harp--a predominantly classical instrument--I think Adorno really would have dug her:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eACC7W5xX9I
All of these examples are most likely exceptions to Adorno's diatribe, being that no one would consider any of it to be "pop music." But this music came about because the musicians were approaching their music with ideas similar to Adorno's in mind. It came from pop music, but becomes art. Other artists, in other genres as well, exhibit similar progressions. I will not provide any more links, as I've already posted hours of music, but I would not hesitate to say that, in the decades since On Popular Music was written, every genre within pop music has had artists who have approached their own music with the intention of creating something truly unique, and have done so with sentiments very similar to those expressed by Adorno, and have in this way truly elevated their craft. In this way, I think the views of Adorno have been validated.
He asserts that there are established patterns that artists adhere to, and even improvisation is subject to limitations. I would agree with Adorno that classical music in the 30’s and early 40’s, was—on average—much more exciting than jazz of the time. What Adorno does not account for is the possibility of convergence of popular music styles, and art music. Jazz and classical are not entirely separate from each other. The multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy, for example, showed a strong influence from Bela Bartok, mixing jazz and classical composition to create what Adorno might have considered to be, as I do, much more interesting jazz than the swing and big band music of earlier decades (but of course there was some pretty fantastic jazz from the get go, that perhaps Adorno was not aware of):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZ7xBggveyY
And now for some Bartok: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E18snckRCxM
Bartok, who Adorno would probably approve of, even largely borrowed from "popular music," with folk songs from around the world informing much of his composition. This mixing of styles is what creates the most interesting music, but that is something Adorno does not allow for, or at least does not specifically address. I wonder what Adorno would have thought of Shostakovich's Jazz Music, which is essentially the reverse of Dolphy's appropriation of classical:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDSeqqEN9Rg
Adorno's assertion about the structured nature of improvisation could perhaps be seen as a prophecy for the creation of free jazz, and he is correct in saying that when the constraints of improvisation are removed, the music does become more interesting. A chronological listen to Coltrane's discography illustrates the true potential of jazz--after years of playing bop, and adhering to certain chord structures and relying on recurring motifs and themes, Coltrane felt he had reached a dead end. His music, upon turning to free jazz (and probably LSD), is elevated to what I think Adorno would certainly consider art (and perhaps does have more in common with the avant-garde classical music of Adorno's time, than it does to earlier forms of jazz).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtlEX9NKeRo
Alice Coltrane (John's wife) combined both a resemblance to classical music--though more specifically Indian and other eastern nations' classical music--and the lack of limitations on improvisation to even further the genre. And being that her main instrument was the harp--a predominantly classical instrument--I think Adorno really would have dug her:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eACC7W5xX9I
All of these examples are most likely exceptions to Adorno's diatribe, being that no one would consider any of it to be "pop music." But this music came about because the musicians were approaching their music with ideas similar to Adorno's in mind. It came from pop music, but becomes art. Other artists, in other genres as well, exhibit similar progressions. I will not provide any more links, as I've already posted hours of music, but I would not hesitate to say that, in the decades since On Popular Music was written, every genre within pop music has had artists who have approached their own music with the intention of creating something truly unique, and have done so with sentiments very similar to those expressed by Adorno, and have in this way truly elevated their craft. In this way, I think the views of Adorno have been validated.
"What Adorno does not account for is the possibility of convergence of popular music styles, and art music." totally TRUE and you have lots of great evidence for that here. I don't think his framework holds up in the flowering of music styles and genre-bendings that have emerged in the latter half of this century. His binary system of "popular" or "serious" doesn't hold water with some of these interesting limit cases even from eras when he was alive. i think postmodern theory might be a more interesting model for accounting for some of this avant-pop experimentation.
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