Sigma Alpha Iota

P A N P I P E S Winter 2021 27 27 bc bc ODETTA: A LIFE IN MUSIC AND PROTEST By Ian Zack Beacon Press, 2020. W ith Odetta: A Life in Music and Protest, Ian Zack has given us the first in-depth biography of folk singer and recording artist Odetta (otherwise known as Odetta Felious Gordon). Using a combination of documents — letters, newspapers, and contracts — and oral interviews with those who had a personal knowledge of Odetta (1930-2008), Zack succeeds in giving readers a look at the challenges and successes she faced throughout her musical career. Zack first turns his attention to Odetta's formative years, and the increasingly important role music was to play in her life. Although she was born in Birmingham, AL, she really grew up in Los Angeles, where her family moved when she was six years old. They sought a city that was not so fraught with racial violence and had new opportunities for African Americans that were not available in the South. The situation was not perfect, however, and the practice of segregation in schools (even though Los Angeles was officially non-segregated in education), as well the white-centric curriculum they relied on (where the only people who looked like her were "happy slaves"), only served to augment her already low self-esteem and innate shyness. Her large size also gave others an excuse to dismiss or ignore her. It was here, though, that Odetta began piano lessons at the age of 11, as well as her study of classical voice a few years later. Her voice lessons were paid for by Harry Burnett, who ran the Turnabout Theatre in Los Angeles where Odetta's mother worked as part-time custodian and who was able to see the musical potential in the young girl. Subsequently she joined the South Hollywood Civic Chorus and studied classical music for a time at Los Angeles City College. Her distinctive vocal power and her interpretive skills made her stand out, and she soon started performing at small folk music clubs in Los Angeles and San Francisco, singing while accompanying herself on guitar (on which she was primarily self-taught). It was around this time that she stopped straightening her hair, which was an extremely radical move for an African American woman then; straightened hair had been an ingrained part of African American culture, and a way to further a connection to whiteness, seen at the time as "good." Her hair style was just one tool that Odetta used to uplift and reinforce the value of African American people. Zack describes many instances in his book in which Odetta performed free for social causes, including the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963, as well as benefit concerts for voters' rights. Odetta's international success was achieved in tandem with a universal folk revival and was achieved through her ability to feel and inhabit the emotions of her music. In general, Odetta had a profound and lasting influence on folk music; performers such as Bob Dylan and Joan Baez earned their success by following a road paved by Odetta. Zack delves into this subject in some detail and examines the legacy of her repertoire in relation to subsequent generations. He also illustrates the effect her various managers had on her career and concludes, that if not for poor management that was significantly affected by race, she could have been even more of a star. The book concludes with a look at Odetta's career late in her life and how it experienced something of a resurgence due to her foray away from folk toward a blues sound. He effectively brings the reader an evocative picture of a determined, supremely talented musician whose legacy lives on. Kathi Bower Peterson, an SAI Philanthropies coordinator, is a graduate of Indiana University, where she majored in music history and was a member of Iota Epsilon chapter. She has an MM in musicology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MLIS from San Jose State University. She has been the librarian at the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library in La Jolla, CA for 22 years and currently serves as the treasurer of the San Diego County Alumnae Chapter. REVIEWS ARTFUL NOISE: PERCUSSION LITERATURE IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY By Thomas Siwe University of Illinois Press, 2020. P ercussionist Thomas Siwe, a professor emeritus of music from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has compiled a detailed history of twentieth century solo and ensemble percussion literature aimed at exploring the evolution of percussion music during the period, while encouraging others to expand their overall knowledge and repertoires. Siwe's chronological text includes chapters focused on a variety of topics, such as techniques used by early symphonic composers, the West Coast dance scene, post-World War II, Serialism, electronic music, and theater music, to name a few. Relevant musical examples are offered throughout to exemplify each genre, and additional works to consider are listed at the end of each chapter. While this book does not include an exhaustive list of percussion literature, this work does an excellent job of exploring the many influences on styles and techniques developed during the century, with an eye on historical events, changes in instrumentation, and developments in technology. — Reviewed by Christine Bruns, Editor

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