Text

theses

This thesis represented the fusion of my passion for music with Soviet history. While I initially envisioned a study of the Soviet counterculture movement within the global 1960s at the start of my preparation for the thesis, my love for music and the proximity of the research treasure trove at the Institute of Jazz Studies helped me to narrow my focus and examine more closely the complex environment in which Soviet jazz musicians lived in the postwar period. My main question for this paper involved how musicians viewed their professional relationship with state actors in terms of their conceptions of authentic Soviet jazz. To explore this topic, I looked at the Melodiya record collection at IJS and autobiographies by Soviet jazz musicians active during the period. My analysis revealed that musicians had differing epistemologies regarding Soviet jazz, which influenced their perceptions of authentic Soviet jazz and the state’s role in its creation. These conceptions often clashed with one another, which created deep rifts in the Soviet jazz scene. In my conclusion, I argued that musicians attempted to break this deadlock and establish a hegemonic conception of authentic Soviet jazz by couching their arguments in official ideological discourse, which directed the negative scrutiny of the Soviet authorities towards certain conceptions of authentic Soviet jazz. The efficacy and ubiquity of musicians’ use of official ideology in their arguments represented proof of their cultural fusion with the Soviet state regardless of any personal misgivings towards it.

ETD_9127

M.A.

Includes bibliographical references

by Shawn Michael Conroy

doi:10.7282/t3-n5ek-ea27

ETD graduate

The author owns the copyright to this work.