Jacques Coursil (March 31, 1938 – June 26, 2020) was a composer, jazz trumpeter, scholar, and professor of literature, linguistics, and philosophy.
Early life
Coursil was born in Paris, France, of Martinican parents. At age nine, he began studying the violin, but switched to trumpet as a teenager. His earliest musical influences included classical composers such as
Webern
Anton Webern (; 3 December 1883 – 15 September 1945) was an Austrian composer, conductor, and musicologist. His music was among the most radical of its milieu in its lyric poetry, lyrical, poetic concision and use of then novel atonality, aton ...
and Schoenberg, jazz, especially that of New Orleans musicians such as
Albert Nicholas
Albert Nicholas (May 27, 1900 – September 3, 1973) was an American jazz clarinet player, who was mostly based in Europe after 1953.
Career
Nicholas's primary instrument was the clarinet, which he studied with Lorenzo Tio in his hometown ...
and
Sidney Bechet
Sidney Joseph Bechet ( ; May 14, 1897 – May 14, 1959) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. He was one of the first important Solo (music), soloists in jazz, and first recorded several months before trumpeter Louis Ar ...
, and liturgical music, as well as Martinican-influenced
. At the age of 14, Coursil had the opportunity to hear saxophonist
Don Byas
Carlos Wesley "Don" Byas (October 21, 1912 – August 24, 1972) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, associated with swing and bebop. He played with Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Art Blakey, and Dizzy Gillespie, among others, and also l ...
, who made a deep impression, "with a white suit, white shoes, a shiny saxophone, playing so sweetly."
In 1958, Coursil left for Africa, spending three years in
Mauritania
Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a sovereign country in Maghreb, Northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to Mauritania–Western Sahara border, the north and northwest, ...
and
Senegal
Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...
. In 1961, he returned to France, working as a teacher and studying literature and mathematics.
New York
In 1965, following the assassination of
Malcolm X
Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an African American revolutionary, Islam in the United States, Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figur ...
, and drawn to the
free jazz
Free jazz, or free form in the early to mid-1970s, is a style of avant-garde jazz or an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventi ...
he'd heard on records, Coursil moved to New York. Upon his arrival, he took up residence in a building in lower Manhattan where his neighbors were drummer
Sunny Murray
James Marcellus Arthur "Sunny" Murray (September 21, 1936 – December 7, 2017) was an American musician, and was one of the pioneers of the free jazz style of drumming.
Biography
Murray was born in Idabel, Oklahoma, where he was raised by an ...
, saxophonist Frank Wright, and "a blues guy from the South" who "made such a sound that the whole building would be shaking." During this time, Coursil supported himself by working as a bartender and dishwasher at the Dom, a club that would later be called the
Electric Circus
''Electric Circus '' (also known as ''EC'') is a Canadian live dance music television program that aired on MuchMusic and Citytv from September 16, 1988, to December 12, 2003. The name originated from a nightclub that once existed at Citytv's fir ...
, and by playing jazz and rock music. He also studied with pianist
Jaki Byard
John Arthur "Jaki" Byard (; June 15, 1922 – February 11, 1999) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, and arranger. Mainly a pianist, he also played tenor and alto saxophones, among several other instruments. He was known for h ...
and composer Noel DaCosta. Regarding his musical interests at the time, Coursil stated: "I firmly intended to deconstruct the whole apparatus of rhythm. I wanted to 'destroy' the beat and harmony too. So, I wanted to play atonal without any rhythmic framework. I also wanted to stop playing scales, to get away from melody."
Later that year, Coursil joined Sunny Murray's band, leading to his first appearance on record as part of the January 1966 session for the drummer's eponymous album on
ESP-Disk
ESP-Disk is a New York–based record company and label founded in 1963 by lawyer Bernard Stollman.
History
Though it originally existed to release Esperanto-based music, beginning with its second release (Albert Ayler's ''Spiritual Unity''), E ...
. The following year, having left Murray's group, he joined Frank Wright's quintet, and participated in the recording of '' Your Prayer'', also for ESP-Disk. He also recorded his first album as a leader, an unreleased ESP-Disk project with a group that featured saxophonist
Marion Brown
Marion Brown (September 8, 1931 – October 18, 2010) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, composer, writer, visual artist, and ethnomusicologist. He was a member of the avant-garde jazz scene in New York City during the 1960s, playing alongsi ...
and drummer
Eddie Marshall
Edwin "Eddie" Marshall (April 13, 1938 – September 7, 2011Obituary ) was an American , with original compositions that, according to Coursil, resembled those of
Ornette Coleman
Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman (March 9, 1930 – June 11, 2015) was an American jazz saxophonist, trumpeter, violinist, and composer. He is best known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album '' Free Ja ...
. Recordings of his participation in a 1967 jam session with Laurence Cook, Warren Gale,
Perry Robinson
Perry Morris Robinson (September 17, 1938 – December 2, 2018) was an American jazz clarinetist and composer. He was the son of composer Earl Robinson.
Early life and education
Robinson was born and grew up in New York City. He attended the Len ...
, and Steve Tintweiss were released in 2021 by the Inky Dot label with the title '' Ave B Free Jam''.
Coursil also began rehearsing with
Sun Ra
Le Sony'r Ra (born Herman Poole Blount, May 22, 1914 – May 30, 1993), better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific ou ...
's band (he recalled, "the saxophone section was so great, the best since Duke Ellington"), and joined
Bill Dixon
William Robert Dixon (October 5, 1925 – June 16, 2010) was an American composer and educator. Dixon was one of the seminal figures in free jazz and late twentieth-century contemporary music. He was also a prominent activist for artist's right ...
's University of the Streets orchestra as well as the Judith Dunn/Bill Dixon Company. Influenced by Dixon, he developed his own version of
serialism
In music, serialism is a method of composition using series of pitches, rhythms, dynamics, timbres or other musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, though some of his contemporaries were also ...
, leading to the composition of ''Black Suite''. In 1969, Coursil visited France, where he recorded two albums under his own name for
BYG Records
BYG Records was a French record label known for the Actuel series specializing in free jazz. However, the label released a handful of non-jazz recordings by artists such as Musica Elettronica Viva, Terry Riley, Freedom and Gong.
History
BYG Reco ...
Anthony Braxton
Anthony Braxton (born June 4, 1945) is an American experimental composer, educator, music theorist, improviser and multi-instrumentalist who is best known for playing saxophones, particularly the alto. Braxton grew up on the South Side of Chi ...
on contrabass clarinet and
Burton Greene
Burton Greene (June 14, 1937 – June 28, 2021) was an American free jazz pianist born in Chicago, Illinois, though most known for his work in New York City. He explored multiple genres, including avant-garde jazz and the Klezmer medium.
Biogra ...
on piano. He also played on Greene's Actuel album ''Aquariana''. Upon his return to New York, Coursil taught French and mathematics at the
United Nations International School
The United Nations International School (UNIS) is a private international school in New York City which was established in 1947. Many members of the United Nations staff arriving with young families found unexpected difficulties with the school s ...
, where one of his students was
John Zorn
John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, conducting, conductor, saxophonist, arrangement, arranger and record producer, producer who "deliberately resists category". His Avant-garde music, avant-garde and experimental music, ex ...
.
Academic career and hiatus from music
In 1975, Coursil departed for France, where he resumed his studies, leading to an Ph.D. in linguistics in 1977, and a second Ph.D. in applied science in 1992, both from the
, where he also taught literature, linguistics, and philosophy of language. During these years, aside from occasional gigs with pianist François Tusques, Coursil abstained from performing in public. In 1995, he accepted a teaching position at the
University of the West Indies
The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 18 English-speaking countries and territories in t ...
in Martinique. Over the coming years, he established a reputation as an expert in the literature of
Édouard Glissant
Édouard Glissant (; 21 September 1928 – 3 February 2011) was a French writer, poet, philosopher, and literary critic from Martinique. He is an influential figure in Caribbean thought and cultural commentary and Francophone literature.
Li ...
as well as
Saussurean
Ferdinand Mongin de Saussure (; ; 26 November 185722 February 1913) was a Swiss linguist, semiotician and philosopher. His ideas laid a foundation for many significant developments in both linguistics and semiotics in the 20th century. He is wid ...
Cornell University
Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...
. While at Cornell, he published a number of scholarly articles on
postcolonialism
Postcolonialism (also post-colonial theory) is the critical academic study of the cultural, political and economic consequences of colonialism and imperialism, focusing on the impact of human control and extractivism, exploitation of colonized pe ...
Wole Soyinka
Wole Soyinka , (born 13 July 1934) is a Nigerian author, best known as a playwright and poet. He has written three novels, ten collections of short stories, seven poetry collections, twenty five plays and five memoirs. He also wrote two transla ...
. During his time in the United States, he also taught at the
University of California, Irvine
The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Irvine, California, United States. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, U ...
.
Return to music and later life
Coursil recalled that, during his time away from performing in public, he "practiced trumpet like a painter trying to find his colors." He reflected: "The music was still there... I never left the instrument. It was part of my well-being, my breathing. If I don't have a trumpet I might just have a stroke. So I kept on playing. It's like a subterranean river that suddenly reaches the surface." In 2004, at a studio in a wooded area near Cornell, and with the encouragement of John Zorn, he recorded '' Minimal Brass'', an album of multiple, overdubbed trumpet parts on which he employed
circular breathing
Circular breathing is a breathing technique used by players of some wind instruments to produce a continuous tone without interruption. It is accomplished by inhaling through the nose while simultaneously pushing air out through the mouth usi ...
, a technique he learned from fellow trumpeter Jimmy Owens before leaving New York. The album was released in 2005 by Zorn's
Tzadik Records
Tzadik is a record label in New York City that specializes in avant-garde and experimental music. The label was established by composer and saxophonist John Zorn in 1995. He is the executive producer of all Tzadik releases. Tzadik is a not-for-p ...
.
''Minimal Brass'' was followed by an oratorio titled '' Clameurs'', recorded in Martinique in 2006 and released by Universal Music France the following year. The work, which employs spoken texts accompanied by trumpet and percussion, as well as choral passages, is based on writings by Martinicans such as
Frantz Fanon
Frantz Omar Fanon (, ; ; 20 July 1925 – 6 December 1961) was a French West Indian psychiatrist, political philosopher, and Marxist from the French colony of Martinique (today a French department). His works have become influential in the ...
, Monchoachi, and Édouard Glissant, as well as the pre-Islamic poet Antar. In 2008 and 2009, Coursil worked on the recording of '' Trails of Tears'', a composition which dealt with the forced relocation of Native Americans during the 1800s. On the album, which was released in 2010, he was reunited with Sunny Murray and other associates from his New York days. In 2014, he recorded '' FreeJazzArt (Sessions for Bill Dixon)'' with bassist
Alan Silva
Alan Lee da Silva (born 22 January 1939, in Bermuda) is an American free jazz multi-instrumentalist, best known as a double bassist. He has recorded on keyboards, violin, cello and trumpet among other instruments.
Biography
Silva was born a ...
021
069 is:
* in Brazil, the telephone area code for the city of Rio de Janeiro and surrounding cities (Greater Rio de Janeiro)
* in China, the telephone area code for the city of Shanghai.
* in Indonesia, the area code for the city of Jakarta and su ...
with Laurence Cook, Warren Gale,
Perry Robinson
Perry Morris Robinson (September 17, 1938 – December 2, 2018) was an American jazz clarinetist and composer. He was the son of composer Earl Robinson.
Early life and education
Robinson was born and grew up in New York City. He attended the Len ...
, and Steve Tintweiss
With
Burton Greene
Burton Greene (June 14, 1937 – June 28, 2021) was an American free jazz pianist born in Chicago, Illinois, though most known for his work in New York City. He explored multiple genres, including avant-garde jazz and the Klezmer medium.
Biogra ...
* ''Aquariana'' (BYG, 1969)
With
Sunny Murray
James Marcellus Arthur "Sunny" Murray (September 21, 1936 – December 7, 2017) was an American musician, and was one of the pioneers of the free jazz style of drumming.
Biography
Murray was born in Idabel, Oklahoma, where he was raised by an ...
* ''
Sunny Murray
James Marcellus Arthur "Sunny" Murray (September 21, 1936 – December 7, 2017) was an American musician, and was one of the pioneers of the free jazz style of drumming.
Biography
Murray was born in Idabel, Oklahoma, where he was raised by an ...