Braxton's Reputation

Author(s): Ronald M. Radano

Source: The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 72, No. 4, (1986), pp. 503-522
Published by: Oxford University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3113966
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 Braxton'sReputation

RONALDM. RADANO

FROM 1974 to 1977, Anthony Braxton stood at the pinnacleof his pro-
fession-one of the most widely acclaimedmusiciansin the jazz community.
Criticswere calling him "a genius,""a [jazz] giant," "the new high priest
of jazz."' David Less namedBraxton"the premierereedmanof the 1970s,"
while for ChrisAlbertsonhe was "the most importantjazz composer-player
since John Coltrane."2At the height of his popularityin 1977, Braxton's
reputationenteredthe mainstreamof Americanlife. For that briefmoment
he was a name known to the generalpublic;Newsweek called him "the
most innovativeforce in the worldof jazz."3
Yet Braxtonwas not favoredby all and some critics accompaniedtheir
praisewith vividcommentaryon the commotionhe had caused.Braxtonwas
said to be controversialchiefly because critics could not agreewhetheror
not he was truly a jazz musician.Ray Townley first called attention to the
question in April, 1974, noting that "a few" still believed "that Braxton
only plays 'far-out' because he can't play 'far-in'."4The following year
John Litweiler described the issue more dramatically:"Currentlypeople
seem to love Braxtonardentlyor shunhim completely."5Dozensof articles
followed, some of which made specific reference to the "acidic critical
comments," or to Braxton "being hailed as the new jazz messiah."6In

This essay first appeared as a chapter in my dissertation, "Anthony Braxton and His Two Musical
Traditions, The Meeting of Concert Music and Jazz" (University of Michigan, 1985). I am grateful
to Richard Crawford for his comments on the manuscript.
' Barry Tepperman, "Heard and Seen: Anthony Braxton," Coda
(September-October, 1973),
pp. 43-44; Steve Lake, "Jazz Records," Melody Maker (July 27, 1974), p. 49; Bill Smith, "Anthony
Braxton: Saxophone Improvisations Series F," Coda (April, 1974), pp. 15-16.
2 David Less, "Record Review: Richard Teitelbaum," Down Beat (October 20,
1977), p. 29;
Chris Albertson, "Improvisations as Liberated and Fresh as Louis Armstrong's," Stereo Review
(February, 1976), p. 76.
3 H. Saal, "Two Free Spirits," Newsweek (August 8, 1977),
pp. 52-53.
4 "Anthony Braxton: Four Compositions 1973," Down Beat (April 11, 1974),
p. 22.
s "Record Reviews," Down Beat (June 5, 1975), p. 18.
6
Bryan Hunt, "Anthony Braxton: A Space Toronto, November 2, 1975," Coda (January-
February, 1976), p. 33; Whitney Balliett, "Jazz," The New Yorker (November 3, 1975).

503
504 The Musical Quarterly

a 1979 review, Art Lange, then associate editor of Down Beat, outlined
the objections of Braxton's critics:

The music of Anthony Braxton has created a storm of controversyever since his works
were first documented by DelmarkRecords over a decade ago .... Braxton'sdetractors
have held his catholicism againsthim; by claiminghe has "sold out" the jazz community,
by claiminghis music doesn't "swing,"by claimingthat his name-droppingof European
composersis merely a backwardattempt to obtain classicalrespectability.7

This view of Braxton seems off the mark, however, for most critics
fervently praised him. A survey of the literature from 1974 to 1982 shows
that only two critics disliked Braxton's music and wrote vituperative
commentary about it.8 The writers for Down Beat, America's most popular
jazz magazine, consistently spoke in his favor. Of the twenty-three Braxton
albums reviewed from 1974 to 1982, eleven received the five-star
"excellent" rating, and seven the four- or four-and-one-half-star "good"
rating.9 In Down Beat's international critics' polls, Braxton took third,
fourth, or fifth place in the alto-saxophone category six years in a row
(1974-79), and his Creative Orchestra Music 1976 (Arista AL 4080) won
the "Album of the Year" award in 1977. Furthermore, Lange's assessment
seems particularly questionable, given that published reports treating
Braxton as "controversial" correspond precisely with the time when he
was recording his most accessible music. His first two albums on Arista,
New York, Fall 1974 (Arista AL 4032) and Five Pieces 1975 (Arista AL
4064), consisted mostly of works firmly fixed in the jazz tradition, and
a few which were, as Robert Palmer remarked admiringly, "downright
old-fashioned."'? Of the five albums released on Arista in 1976 and 1977,
only two-The Complete Braxton (Arista AF 1902) and Montreux/Berlin
(AL 5002)-contained music that did not fit comfortably into the context
of jazz.
Yet despite the consistent praise of Braxton, the critics' repeated
references to a controversy suggest that a dispute of some dimension must
have existed. One suspects that critical reviews rarely appeared in print
because many of those who disliked Braxton's music probably preferred

7"Record Reviews: For Four Orchestras," Down Beat (June 7, 1979), p. 18.
8Scott Albin, "Caught: Anthony Braxton Quartet," Down Beat (March 25, 1976), pp. 41, 48;
John Storm Roberts, "Anthony Braxton," Melody Maker (February 7, 1976), p. 47. Both Albin
and Roberts reviewed one of Braxton's Bottom Line concerts. Gary Giddins has also criticized
Braxton, but he has balanced his taunts with praise.
9 Braxton's In the Tradition, Vol. 2 (Inner City IC 2045), received a two-and-a-half-star review,
which was his lowest. The reviewer, Charles Mitchell, criticized the record company for releasing
the album, which he felt was not up to Braxton's normally high standards. "Record Reviews: Anthony
Braxton," Down Beat (October 7, 1976), p. 20.
10 Liner Notes to Five Pieces 1975 (Arista AB 4064).
 Braxton's Reputation 505

not to write about it, and reviewers with more tentative opinions may
have curbed their rebuffs for fear of seeming reactionary." Moreover,
the opinions of musicians and fans are nearly impossible to measure. But
comments and ratings appearing in print suggest that, compared with critics,
they too had some reservations about Braxton's music. Jazz polls show,
for example, that Braxton consistently rated better among critics than
.he did among fans. Furthermore, while he seemed to have earned the respect
of many of his peers, some musicians, notably Phil Woods and Art Farmer,
spoke out publicly against him.12
Still, Braxton's music was probably less controversial than the critics
claimed it to be. Extreme views, for and against it, were most visible and
therefore received the most attention from the press. But most critics,
musicians, and fans seemed to be reasonably disposed toward Braxton's
Arista recordings of 1975 to 1977, and those who were not ignored them.
The revised interpretation raises two questions. First, why did critics insist
that Braxton was so controversial? Second, why was Braxton's music during
the Arista period (1974-82), much of which was accessible by most
standards, even mildly controversial?
At least some of the controversy can be attributed to Braxton's early
reputation. His membership in the Association for the Advancement of
Creative Musicians13 (AACM) during the late 1960s typed him a black
musician with radical leanings, and his recordings from 1968 to 1969,
greatly influenced by avant-garde concert music, baffled and disturbed
many jazz critics. When Braxton gained national attention after 1974, he
carried his past reputation with him, and the popular press gave it greater
visibility than before. As a result many of the people who claimed to dislike
Braxton's music may have been pointing to his past efforts, while his
champions were celebrating his more recent achievements.
" The fear stemmed from the 1960s when critics learned to bridle their criticisms in order
to avoid confrontations with the jazz avant-garde's radical supporters.
12
See Leonard Feather's blindfold tests with Phil Woods in Down Beat (October 14, 1971),
p. 33, and (October 19, 1978), p. 32. Feather published Art Farmer's comments in Down Beat
(September 8, 1977), p. 43. Michael and Randy Brecker spoke favorably of Braxton in a blindfold
test on August 12, 1976, p. 39. New York jazz musicians including Dave Liebman, Dave Sanborn,
and Richard Beirach have told me that they respect and admire Braxton's playing.
13 The AACM was an exclusively black musicians' collective located on Chicago's South Side.

(It briefly had one white member.) As a group, it was responsible for forging a new direction in
free jazz, departing from the loud, static approach popularized in New York, toward a highly inter-
active style emphasizing nontraditional conceptions of color, sound, and rhythm. Its stance on issues
of race and black culture, moreover, were expressed publicly in articles and interviews by Muhal
Richard Abrams, its founder, and the membership of the Art Ensemble of Chicago (formerly the
Roscoe Mitchell Art Ensemble), an AACM group. For example: "Jazz Musicians' Group in Chicago
is Growing," Down Beat, 33 (July 28, 1966), p. 11; Leslie B. Rout Jr., "AACM: New Music(!) New
Ideas(?)," Journal of Popular Culture, I/2 (Fall, 1967), 128-37; Jung Solothurnmann, "Insights
and Views of the Art Ensemble of Chicago," Jazz Forum (May, 1969), pp. 28-33.
506 The MusicalQuarterly

It seems more likely, however, that most of the controversystemmed

from the critics'commentary.The genius of popularjournalismis to create
formulasthat are divertingand entertaining,whetheror not they accurately
representthe subject at hand. As popularwriters,many jazz critics sought
to portray Braxton's music and personalityin a way that would appeal
to their readers,an audiencemade up mostly of musiciansin their teens
and twenties.'4 By focusing on his nonverbalpicture titles,15 his interest
in contemporaryconcert music, his expositions on science and mysticism,
and his distinguishedappearance,critics built an image of Braxton as an
intellectualeccentricwho did not alwaysportraythe jazz artist.Thispicture
tended to downplay Braxton's jazz affiliations, calling attention to his
earlier avant-gardeexperiments, and exaggeratingthe radicalnessof his
recent work.'6 Thus the controversy that critics describedwas in part
somethingthey themselveshad helped to create. And it was self-perpetua-
ting, for every reference to Braxton's titles and interests reinforcedthis
journalisticformula and fueled dispute over his legitimacyas a jazz artist.
The conspicuous lack of referencesto disputes over Braxton'smusic
prior to 1974 supports the claim that popularjazz journalisminstigated
the Braxton "controversy."Indeed, if disputes over the music were the
sole cause of controversy,then it would have surfacedbetween 1967 and
1973, when Braxtonperformedandrecordedworksthat restedprecariously
on the fringeof jazz. Yet most of the reviewsof his playingand composing
during this period dealt strictly with the music, making no mention of
a developingcontroversy.However,these initial criticalreactionsdid often
take issue with Braxton's arcane experimentswith hybrids of jazz and
concert music, thus not only providingthe basis for his early reputation,
but layingthe groundworkfor the formulacriticswould latercreate.
The first articles on Braxton appearingin national magazineswere
written by John Litweiler,a Chicago-basedcritic who chronicledthe early
developmentof the AACM.In concert reviews for Down Beat and Coda,
LitweilerapplaudedBraxton'splaying, calling it "intense,""explosive. . .
fascinating."'7 He also noted that Braxton's saxophone style resembled
Coltrane's,and predictedthat in time he would learnto harnesshis intensity,
14 Down Beat's original subtitle, "The Musician's Magazine," betrays its readership. Dan Morgen-
stern, former editor of Down Beat, specified the age bracket of the magazine's primary audience.
15 Most often the
picture titles took the form of letter-number groups suggesting mathematical
formulas, or later, geometric shapes. Originally emblems with no intended signification, they became
metaphors of Braxton's spatial conception of sound and desire to create a scientific music.
16 Steve Lake claimed that "the conventional critical system of comparisons just doesn't apply"

to the music on Five Pieces 1975. "Braxton: Curiouser and Curiouser," Melody Maker (May 29,
1976), p. 30. This was the same album that Robert Palmer called "downright old-fashioned."
17 "Heard and Seen: Anthony Braxton," Coda (March, 1967), p. 28; "Caught in the Act,"
Down Beat (May 18, 1967), pp. 25-26.
 Braxton's Reputation 507

giving his solos greater balance and cohesion. In an article published in

the November, 1969, issue of Jazz Monthly (United Kingdom), which
introduced the AACM to the English-speaking European jazz audience,
Litweiler continued his praise but took exception to Braxton's first album,
Three Compositions of New Jazz (Delmark DS415), calling his playing
on it "academic and arbitrary."'8 Other reviewers criticized the album
for similar reasons. Writing in the August, 1969, issue of Coda, Brian Blevins
reported that the improvisations on side 1 were "clinical" and "fragmented,"
owing a resemblance to "Webernesque pointillisme."'9 Lawrence Kart
contrasted the performances on Three Compositions to the superlative
improvisations of Roscoe Mitchell's Art Ensemble, but vindicated Braxton
somewhat by focusing his attack on the other performers, Leroy Jenkins
and Leo Smith, and by noting that the album did not accurately demon-
strate Braxton's talent.20
Two other critics, Jack Cooke of Jazz Monthly and Jazz and Blues
(UK), and Will Smith of Jazz and Pop (USA), elaborated on the earlier
criticism, helping to form Braxton's initial reputation. In his May, 1970,
review of Three Compositions, Cooke echoed Kart's claim that Braxton's
self-conscious musical modernism was a pale imitation of the style forged
by Roscoe Mitchell:

Braxtonand his men don't have the persuasiveway with [collectiveimprovisation]

that Mitchell'sgrouphas;there'sa thinnessof textureand hesitancyin development
that has all the marks,it seemsto me, of a style imposedfromthe outside[Europe]
ratherthan,as in Mitchell'scase,growingup frominsidethe group.21

Will Smith also found the album unsuccessful, but for a more tangible
reason:

The failureof Braxton'sown albumis that it lacksa rhythmsectionandthushas little

impetus.The musicis ratherlike the wanderings of contemporary"serious"composers
-cold, detached,andsomewhatstatic.2
18 "Threeto
Europe,"Jazz Monthly (November,1969), pp. 20-22. ValerieWilmer,a champion
of Braxtonand the rest of the jazz avant-garde,criticizedLitweilerfor his comment without noting
his praise in the same article.As SeriousAs YourLife (Westport,Conn., 1977; rev. 1980), p. 124.
Braxton agrees that the title may have been suggestedby Schoenberg'sThreePiecesfor Piano (Op.
11), the work that inspiredhis interestin avant-gardeconcertmusic (interviewwith AnthonyBraxton,
New Haven,Conn.,Sept. 15, 1983).
19
"AnthonyBraxton,"Coda(August,1969), pp. 18-19.
20
"Anthony Braxton: Three Compositionsof New Jazz," Down Beat (November14, 1968),
p. 20.
21 Jack Cooke, "Anthony Braxton: Three
Compositionsof New Jazz," Jazz Monthly (May,
1970), p. 18.
22
WillSmith, "Chicago:Windsof Change,"Jazzand Pop (April, 1970), p. 20.
508 The Musical Quarterly

Braxton's subsequent releases fared better. Smith called the second

trio album, B-X NO1 4 7A (Actuel 15) on the French BYG label, a "musically
fertile offering . . . a far more dynamic and convincing expression than
the earlier record," while reporting that it still suffered from a lack of
rhythmic verve and dynamism.23 Smith also remarked on Braxton's improve-
ment:
Already a dramaticvoice on the first album, [Braxton] has shed his influences for the
most part here. A supremely lyrical player, he performs with a great, free beauty on
all his instruments.
Jack Cooke believed that the compositions of Braxton's third album,
This Time (BYG Actuel 47), demonstrated a successful balance of experi-
ment and convention. In the earlier works, Cooke reported, Braxton "never
seemed entirely at ease with [Jenkins and Smith] and seemed often to
be trying to work toward a more conventional themes-solos-themes basis."
On the new release, a collective unity had been established, "giving his
music a confidence and sureness it never had before."24
A five-star "excellent" rating of Braxton's first solo album, For Alto
(Delmark, D420/21) in Down Beat, brought his playing to the attention
of the American jazz readership.25 Joe H. Klee called the album a "re-
volutionary" jazz achievement, citing Bach's Six Sonatas for unaccompanied
Violin, and Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello as its nearest precedents.26
Yet Klee said little to help those who did not understand or appreciate
Braxton's music. He argued that any faults in the performance must be
overlooked "because they are expressions of personal experiences and
feelings which only Braxton himself can judge properly."27 Such a comment
seemed intended to obscure Klee's inability to describe what he liked about
the album.
French critics seemed equally puzzled by Braxton's music and sometimes
candidly admitted being so. A few writers, like Laurent Goddet, praised
Braxton but offered few stylistic observations and little critical insight.28
23 "Record Reviews:
Anthony Braxton, B-X?/N-0-1 47A," Jazz and Pop (September, 1970),
p. 54.
24
"Anthony Braxton: This Time," Jazz and Blues (March, 1972), p. 25.
25 Joe H. Klee, "Record Reviews: Anthony Braxton, For Alto," Down Beat (June 24, 1971),
p. 18.
26 A more recent solo sonata would have made the
comparison more convincing. Since there
are dozens to chose from, one must wonder about Klee's knowledge of the Classical repertory. Fur-
thermore, he was apparently unfamiliar with unaccompanied solo efforts that predate Braxton's,
including Coleman Hawkins, Picasso (Clef MGC 674) from 1948 and Sonny Rollins, Body and Soul
(MGM C776) from 1958. Roscoe Mitchell recorded "tkhke" for his album Congliptious (Nessa N-2)
on March 4, 1968, a few months before Braxton recorded his solo album. Mitchell's album also
included unaccompanied solos by trumpeter Lester Bowie and bassist Malachi Favors.
27 "For
Alto," Down Beat, p. 18.
28
"Anthony Braxton: Saxophone Series F," Jazz Hot (September, 1972), p. 26.
 Braxton's Reputation 509

Others, like Denis Constant, objected to Braxton's musical references to

concert styles, and, in a review of a solo saxophone concert, criticized
him for ignoring his obligation to the music of his black heritage:

One must not conceal that there is a negative side to this outward appearance [of
Braxton's vanguardposture]: given his musical and social status, given his race, can
Anthony Braxtonclaim simply to be "a musician"?29

Writing in Jazz Hot in November, 1969, Daniel Caux described an incident

that occurred between him and a group of critics. During a lively exchange,
Caux offhandedly called Braxton's group "subversive," and criticized its
desire "to turn its back on the audience." This statement met with a swift
backlash, and Caux devoted an entire article to an explanation of his remark.
In "A Propos du Groupe d'Anthony Braxton," he confided: "This music
still creates problems for me, however I am never able to detach myself
from it," and admitted being "perplexed [by] the rhythmic conception
of the ensemble." But Caux was also one of the few early writers who
believed that Braxton's music had a place in the jazz tradition:

I sense that it is not only a question of these musiciansarrangingtheir jazz to the likes
of Cage and Tudor .... That is to say that the undeniablyWesternreferencesonly serve,
in my opinion, as a springboardfor "anotherthing."30

A different kind of coverage sought to call attention to Braxton's music

more as an example of spectacle or ideology than for its significance on
purely artistic grounds. Controversial statements seemed to be what Leonard
Feather was after when he asked bop saxophonists Phil Woods and Harold
Land to respond to Braxton's For Alto during interviews published in
his Down Beat column, "The Blind-Fold Test." Woods reacted the way
Feather probably hoped he would, calling the album "terrible," "dull," the
work of someone on "an ego trip [who] hasn't studied the saxophone."31
Moreover, in an article on the AACM from January, 1969, Barry Gifford
portrayed Braxton and his colleagues as the artistic saviors of Chicago's
South Side, comparing their "struggle" to produce art to the elimination
difficulties of a person with a bloated, diseased bladder.32 Braxton's
29
"Jazz en Direct," Jazz Magazine [France] (February, 1972), p. 41 (my translation).
30 "A Propos du Groupe d'Anthony Braxton," Jazz Hot (November, 1969), pp. 8-9 (my trans-
lation). Caux might have been referring to the "new thing," another common epithet for "free jazz,"
or, as he tentatively suggests later in the article, a new kind of jazz: "Peut-etre s'agit-il d'une impasse.
Peut-etre s'agit-il du jazz a venir (au debut, le bop et plus pres de nous Cecil Taylor paraissaient
bien intellectuels en regard du jazz qui le precedait)."
31 Leonard Feather, "Blind-Fold Test," Down Beat (October
14, 1971). Land said he was
impressed with Braxton's technique and control. Feather, Down Beat (June 24, 1971), p. 26.
32 "Chicago: The 'New' Music," Jazz and Pop (January, 1969), pp. 40-41.
510 The Musical Quarterly

counterculture rhetoric, which appeared in Gifford's article and in other

publications, notably on the jacket cover of B-X/ N-0-1-47A, no doubt
reinforced his image as a black nationalist and angered those jazz enthu-
siasts who disliked radical politics as well as the music's associations with
it.33
In Braxton's first major interview, which appeared in the October, 1970,
issue of Jazz and Pop, he continued to broadcast ideas that must have
seemed strange and exotic to much of his audience. After Robert Levin
introduced him as an "extraordinarily bright and articulate young man,"
Braxton proceeded to describe his love for avant-garde concert music,
highlighting the discussion with a detailed comparison of Cage and Stock-
hausen. He also explained that his compositions stemmed from "a math-
ematical perspective" and were based on "mathematical systems." Then
he briefly described one of his compositional methods, conceptual grafting.
Braxton's musical rationalism was balanced, moreover, with mystical
theories and with Dadaesque declarations reminiscent of the writings of
Cocteau.34 Toward the end of the interview, Braxton castigated the critical
community in a tone and spirit that recalled the rhetoric of the black nation-
alists and the jazz avant-garde'smain spokesman, Archie Shepp:

There'sbeen a conscious,plotted attemptto suppressand wipe out creativemusicin

this country.I think you realizethe significanceof art in a cultureandwhatthe new
art representsand who it threatensif peopleare able to hearit. It becomesa threat
to existingvaluesbecauseit can expandthingsandcausepeopleto changethe existing
state of things.Thisis dangerousto peoplefor whomchangeis not an advantage....
Whenour firstrecordcameout on Delmark,it wasput downimmediately. Immediately.
Andwhatwas strange,the jazz cats saidit wasn'tjazzandthe classicalcatssaidit wasn't
classicalmusic .... They'd put it down, they'd use comparisonso as to try and destroy
the morale within the group .... Certain individuals-they know who they are-con-
sciouslyexploitedwhatwe didandusedit for somethingelse.35

Braxton's rhetoric echoed the charges of avant-gardeartists throughout

the twentieth century who have commonly held that societal opinion
is merely an obstacle blocking one's artistic pursuits. He spoke as if his
33
In a statementon the albumcover, Braxtoncalled language"one of the most sophisticated
weaponsthat white people have come up with," whichis "usedto evaluateand distorta multi-dimen-
sional music." Swing and ragtime,he contended, were what whites "have been able to suck from
[the blacktradition],"in orderto create"the diversionof the hour."
34 Braxton said: "I want to make music that is socially usable. ... I wish somebody could
put tea or coffee in my music, or put their feet in it." Cocteauhas written: "Not music one swims
in, nor music one dances on; MUSICON WHICHONE WALKS."See "Cock and the Harlequin"
in CallTo Order,trans.Rollo Myers(New York, 1974), p. 18.
35 Robert Levin, "The Third World:Anthony Braxton and the Third Generation,"Jazz and
Pop (October,1970), pp. 12-14.
 Braxton'sReputation 511

music were a gift from God and blamedits limitedappealon fascisticsocial

forces. Furthermore,Braxtonarguedthat the lack of unconditionalcritical
support was another sign of conspiracyagainsthis art. His desire for such
supportbetrayedhis careeristambitions.
Yet a literalinterpretationof Braxton'sstatementmissesits realmeaning
as a form of theatricalprose. Like the black militant theaterof the 1960s,
his statements were meant to captivateas much as they were to criticize
and inform readers.By speakingin the exaggeratedlanguageof BlackPower
leaders he admired, Braxton sought to surpriseand impress his readers
in order to call attention to his music and himself. Less than a reasoned
political argument, Braxton's discourse was an emotional, dramatic
expression meant to help his own professionalends-the manner of its
presentationwasmore importantthan its substance.
Braxton's polemic againstcritics also reinforcedhis ties with the jazz
avant-garde,which had been associated with black radicalismsince the
mid-1960s. His claims matched those of musicianslike Shepp and Cecil
Taylor and fit the journalisticformulaof the free-jazzmusicianas an angry
black activist. By advertisinghis political beliefs and his membershipin
the AACM,Braxton perpetuatedthe image of the radicaljazzman,and re-
duced his music to revolutionary(and thus nonsensical)soundsof the black
rebellion. The esotericmusic on ThreeCompositionsof New Jazz, his best
known recordingto that date, must have been perceivedas an emblemof
Black Power by some of his listeners, and his subsequent Europeanre-
cordingsand solo albumon Delmark,For Alto, reinforcedthat view.
Braxton's Paris years (1971-74) were a time ripe for controversy.36
He had establisheda reputationwith ChickCorea'sgroup,Circle,in 1970-71
and had recordedtwenty-onealbums,mostly on Frenchlabels.Whilemany
of these albumsrevealedthat Braxtonhad begun to turn towardjazz once
again,they also showed that he had not givenup his taste for concertmusic,
and many fans and criticswho preferredmainstreampracticessurelydisliked
his curiousmusicalhybrids.At the sametime, Braxton'smusic was enjoying
increased appeal, mostly among Europeans,as well as among American
critics and fans who sought out his obscurerecordings.Criticsvoiced their
approvalin 1972 and 1973, voting Braxton first in the category "Talent
DeservingWider Recognition" in Down Beat's InternationalCritics'Polls
for both years.
A few critics even relinquishedtheirjournalisticdetachmentand wrote
avant-gardecriticism in Braxton'shonor. Much of this criticismappeared
36 From 1969 to 1970 Braxton visited Paris
frequently, in between tours and recording sessions
with Gunter Hampel, the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Archie Shepp, and his trio. He settled there
permanently in 1971, near the Hbtel de Ville. The signing of a contract with Arista Records in 1974
precipitated his return to the United States:
512 The Musical Quarterly

in Coda, a small Canadian magazine specializing in free jazz. From 1973

its writers showered Braxton with praise, rarely making mention of the
controversy that surrounded him. For Coda's writers, Braxton was "a
musical Renaissance man," and they seemed to feel it their duty to speak
out on his behalf. Bill Smith, for example, pronounced Braxton jazz artist
of the decade in his first article on him.

He is here, playing, just waiting for you to listen. He knows already what he is, and
presents these opportunities for you to discover who you are. It does not matter if
your likes are Johnny Hodges, Lester Young, Bird, Ornette or Trane, for Anthony
Braxton is the present account of that lineage. His is THE one. So take it now-don't
wait like you did with all the others, for ten years to pass, his music is pure and acces-
sible, it's real and if it does not reach your ears/head/heartthen it is you who will be
the poorer.37

Coda formally launched its Braxton campaign in April, 1974, when

it published reviews of three Braxton albums and a Braxton discography.
In the same issue it also published Braxton's interview with Bill Smith;
its 8,000 words, exceeded the length of most articles published in jazz
journals. During the first part of the interview, Braxton discussed performers
of free jazz as well as his interest in the music of Schoenberg, Stockhausen,
and LaMonte Young. He also discussed his compositional procedures such
as the Kelvin series and chess-game methods, in addition to his studies
of electronic music at a Paris studio. Braxton's references to "contemporary
classical music," his descriptions of himself as "a composer," and his
criticism of record companies and jazz clubs seemed intended to disassociate
himself from the jazz tradition. For example:

I'm involved in contemporaryclassicalmusic and to some degreewith improvisedmusic.

So what I do is a logical extension of my interest in both areas, which is one of the
reasonswhy I say I'm not a jazz musician.38

Yet if Braxton's statements and musical iconoclasm spawned a contro-

versy in critics' and musicians' circles, it remained behind the scenes, for
such news never reached the jazz-listening public. As an American artist
living in Paris, Braxton remained on the outskirts of the jazz scene in the
United States, and while most American critics knew of him, and some
undoubtedly liked his music, editors seemed to feel his recordings on
37 "Record Reviews: Braxton and Bailey," Coda (January-February, 1976), pp. 23-24. Coda
began covering Braxton in March, 1967, when John Litweiler reviewed his concert at the Phamous
Lounge in Chicago. Brian Blevins was the last Coda writer to criticize Braxton in print. Barry Tepper-
man was the first to champion him. See "Heard and Seen: Anthony Braxton," Coda (September-
October, 1973), pp. 43-44.
38 Bill Smith, "The Anthony Braxton Interview," Coda (April, 1974), p. 2.
 Braxton's Reputation 513

European labels warranted only occsasional coverage. Furthermore, critics

who disliked Braxton's work appear hardly to have considered it a threat
to the tradition, since he remained a fairly obscure artist who could muster
only a small band of followers. Clearly, any dispute over Braxton that
might have existed interested only a few. But the accolade of Coda's writers
and the grumbles of a few critics with more traditional tastes revealed
the controversy that Braxton could arouse. Such potential also might explain
why Steve Backer, Executive Producer of Arista Records, chose Braxton
to head his new jazz lineup in summer, 1974.
Founded in 1974 by Clive Davis, former president of Columbia Records,
Arista proclaimed itself to be a new kind of recording company, one that
reflected the pluralism of music in American life.39 In an effort to improve
the industry's image as a stifler of creative growth, Davis hired Steve Backer,
former General Manager of ABC/Impulse, to help create a diverse roster
of performers. Since Arista profited from the success of its popular artists
and groups like Barry Manilow, Melissa Manchester, and the Bay City
Rollers, it could afford to expand its coverage into more esoteric realms.
By signing Braxton and by rereleasing free jazz previously issued on Alan
Bates's Black Lion/Freedom label, Arista sought to cultivate a highbrow
image in hopes of attracting a wide following. Furthermore, producing
free jazz was hardly riskier than recording mainstream styles. By the 1970s,
jazz-rock or "fusion" had cornered the market, and avant-gardeand main-
stream jazz styles were both on unstable commercial footings. From a
record company's point of view, a virtuosic free-jazz player with a reputation
for eccentricity might sell more records than a traditional stylist.40 Such
reasoning may have prompted the hiring of Braxton to introduce Arista's
"The Art Form of Contemporary Jazz" series.
Recognizing the inaccessibility of Braxton's early recordings, Steve
Backer devised a plan to help ease his way into the commerical market.
He advised Braxton to prepare short, accessible works for his first albums,
highlighting his jazz quartet. He also stipulated conditions that would
encourage radio stations to play the recordings on the air. In an interview
with Michael Ullman, Backer described Arista's formula for widening
Braxton's audience:

There are things that not every artist [or listener] is aware of. For instance, when you
record for a major label and play one twenty-minutepiece on each side, there is nothing
that will be played on the radio. If you start with more difficult material,the guy who

39 "BackerPacts with Davis,"Down Beat (November21, 1974), p. 8. See also "SteveBacker"

in MichaelUllman,Jazz Lives(Washington,D.C., 1980; reprinted,1982), p. 220.
40 For
example, John Coltrane'salbums sometimes sold over 200,000 copies. Keith Jarrett's
two-recordCologneconcertalbumsold over 250,000 by 1977.
514 The Musical Quarterly

listensto the albumsat a stationwill neverlistento the wholealbumto find the more
accessiblecut, [Thuswe asked Braxtonto] deal with time and meter [on the first
albums].Then we were able to make more people in the jazz communityembrace
his music.And then we went to the big-bandalbumthat dealtwithtimealso.... From
there Braxton went into various stretched-out,open-endedfree improvisational
approaches.41
An examination of Braxton's albums on Arista shows that Backer's
production guidelines were followed precisely. On its first Braxton release,
New York, Fall 1974, Arista carefully arranged six seven-minute com-
positions-a duration suited for airplay-to highlight his most accessible
compositions. For example, on side 1 Arista positioned two pieces for
jazz quartet that demonstrate Braxton's skills as an improviser in the hard-
bop styles of Rollins and Coltrane. These cuts frame the second compo-
sition, in which a simple yet colorful orchestration and a tuneful melody
make up for the lack of propulsive rhythms. On side 2, the album's pro-
ducer, Michael Cuscuna, placed works that require greater effort for the
listener to comprehend: a duet for clarinet and synthesizer with Richard
Teitelbaum, and a collective improvisation for five musicians. Both works,
however, are attractive and mysterious, full of vivid timbres. Furthermore,
the works are short, only five or six minutes long, and would hardly upset
those who might still find the music repellent. The most accessible work
on this side, a saxophone quartet, is also the longest, lasting eight minutes,
eighteen seconds. The album is packaged in an attractive, artfully designed
jacket, decorated with a handsome picture of a professorial Braxton smoking
a pipe.
Later albums display similar promotional care. Side 1 of Five Pieces
1975, Braxton's second Arista album, is stylistically similar to side 1 of
his first, while the pieces on side 2 introduce Braxton's unconventional
forms for jazz quartet. On Duets 1976 (Arista 4101) with Muhal Richard
Abrams, a few of Braxton's free compositions appear, but these too are
either framed by mainstream jazz works or positioned on the second side.
Arista's style controls and production skills worked. By gearing the
albums for radio42 and by eliminating works that listeners might consider
eccentric, the company increased Braxton's appeal and fostered his rise
to the top of the jazz world. Soon his music caught the attention of
American critics and they began to write about it. From 1975 to 1978,
41
Jazz Lives, p. 220.
42The monthly "NationalAirplay"ratingsin Radio Free Jazz from 1975 to 1977 show that
Braxton'srecordedmusic ranked in the top-ten categoryfive times (May, 1975; January,July, and
August, 1976; August, 1977). Aristaappealedto radio stations for more air time, runninga half-page
advertisementof Braxton'sNew York, Fall 1974 in the April, 1975, issue. It appearedwith the
caption,"Braxton.A new namehalf the worldalreadyknows."
 Braxton'sReputation 515

the years of Braxton'sgreatest popularity,at least fifty-six articles about

him appearedin North Americanmagazines.(The articles from 1967 to
1973 had totaled eleven.)43As critics showeredhim with praise,Braxton's
record sales reached 20,000-a high figure for a free-jazzartist.44 Only
then did Arista release CreativeOrchestraMusic 1976, a seriesof big-band
arrangementsmixing free jazz, march, and swing styles that won Down
Beat's critics' award for the best album. In 1977 AristareleasedThe Com-
plete Braxton 1971 and produced The Montreux/BerlinConcerts,albums
highlighting improvised music, often for jazz quartet. Each recording
contained one of Braxton's concert works, but these were relegated to
the thirdor fourthsidesof the double albums.
The wider coverage of Braxton'smusic was accompaniedby a closer
look into his personality and opinions. The aesthetic and musical tastes
that he had nurturedbehind the protective walls of an avant-gardeelite
now appearedin full view, to be scrutinizedby the jazz public. Before
his contractwith Arista,Braxton'sstatementspublishedin small magazines
and European journals drew little attention; after Braxton signed the
contract, his beliefs became the centerpieceof many articles about him.
Braxton first won prominencein a major magazinewhen Down Beat
publishedRay Townley's two-pageinterviewwith him in February,1974.
The brief profile served to introduce Braxton's music and ideas to the
jazz public, making him a familiar personality when his first Arista
recordings appeared in 1975. In a preface to the interview, Townley
described Braxton's stage appearancein a way that might have befitted
a concert artist. Braxton was a pipe-smoking"absent-mindedprofessor"
who worked in "thoughtful contemplation."Later on he called him an
"intellectual"who spoke with "precision,"whose

worldrevolvesaroundthreeverysystematicandcalculating
realms:mathematics, music,
and chess.Whennot computingor conceptualizinghis music,he's sittingalone,across
a chessboard,
ponderinghis nextmove.

Braxton's own comments augmented this intellectual image and at

the same time contradictedthe musicalstyles he would recordon his first
Aristaalbums.He seemed bent on portrayinghimselfas a concertcomposer
and tended to shy away from jazz topics. Townley bolstered this image
by beginningthe main body of the articlewith one of Braxton'sreferences
to musicalcomposition:

43 Eight of these articles appearedin Melody Maker, a British magazinewidely distributed

in the United States. In 1974, seven articles appearedon Braxton, six of which were publishedin
Coda.MelodyMakerpublishedtwo reviewsthat year.
44
Ullman,JazzLives, p. 219.
516 The Musical Quarterly

I considermyselfa composerfirstandaninstrumentalist second.Composerfirstbecause

composers define realities.
On the first work I ever recorded [ThreeCompositions]
I did awaywith the bassanddrums,andappliedmathematics as a meansof structuring
sounds.

In later statements, Braxton reinforced his association with mathematics,

science, and the concert avant-garde. He spoke of "language systems,"
Buckminster Fuller, Schoenberg's piano music, his piece for one hundred
tubas, and his formula titles, which he claimed were inspired by the musical
thought of Webern, Earle Brown, and Morton Feldman. Braxton's
explanation of his compositional approach reflected a desire to join the
intellectual elite of the concert avant-garde. At the same time, it caused
public questioning45 of his legitimacy as a jazz artist:

Like a scientistI removemyself from the musicand plot conceptuallywhat I want

to do. Usually,if the conceptionis substantial,it will lead into otherthings.In '66,
I starteddealingwith repetition,so I did three or four series;one systemwas called
Kelvin,anotherColbolt[sic]. TheColboltsystemdealtwithmonophonicsoundblocks.

Arista contributed to the cultivation of Braxton's "intellectual" image

by decorating its record package with his picture titles. On New York,
Fall 1974 and Five Pieces 1975, for example, Braxton's titles are
conspicuously placed inside the jacket as well as on the back cover, so
that a potential buyer browsing at a record store would be able to see
them (see Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. A title appearingon the back cover of New York,Fall 1974 (Composition 37).

30
_I__ _ EGM
KBM
V ,'
78

In his album notes for Five Pieces, moreover, Robert Palmer called the
readers' attention to Braxton's titles when he offered an explanation of
their meaning. Palmer also publicized Braxton's views on musical com-
position, his taste in avant-garde concert music, and his image as a chess
player during a discussion meant to show that such images and views had
little to do with his "not at all difficult" music.46

45 For example, in its March 28, 1974, issue, Down Beat published a letter from a reader who
felt Braxton did not deserve any attention ("Braxton Brabble," p. 8).
46
Notes to Five Pieces 1975.
 Braxton's Reputation 517

Variations on the initial portrayals of Braxton after he signed with

Arista appeared in many articles as his popularity grew. He became known
as the jazzman with a "calculating mind" who constructed "thoroughly
intellectually stimulating" music that "befits a chess champion."47 Critics
with an ear for a lively turn of phrase adopted Braxton's language in order
to create vivid prose rich in metaphor and hyperbole. Whitney Balliett spoke
of Braxton's "arithmetical way of phrasing,"48while Gary Giddins referred
to Braxton's "scientific detachment," calling him a musician who "fre-
quently plays jazz as though he were a chemist studying it through a micro-
scope."49 Chip Stern criticized Braxton for his "logarithmic loquaciousness"
and dubbed him "the Buckminster Fuller of jazz."50 Another critic topped
Stern's epithet with one from the comic books. For Kevin Lynch, Braxton
was the mad scientist of jazz.5'
Braxton's own references to avant-garde concert music were incor-
porated into the critics' formula and used to describe his music and the
playing of his associates. Barry McRae, for example, suggested that Braxton's
album For Trio (Arista AL 4181) reflects the influence of "John Cage's
theory of chance,"52 while Barry Tepperman called Braxton's duet partner,
guitarist Derek Bailey, a "post-Webern improviser."53 Eugene Chadbourne
and Richard Baker described Braxton's drummer, Barry Altschul, as a
musical "miniaturist who arranges [his drum attacks] in detailed rows
but still allows each to have its own personality." The authors concluded
the description with the remark "a little pointillism never hurts."54
The controversy inspired by references unrelated to Braxton's music
eventually became part of the critics' formula itself. Robert Palmer, a
critic who recognized that Braxton's image had made his music seem for-
bidding, set the tone for describing the controversy. He began his liner
notes to Five Pieces 1975 with this statement:

47 Ray Townley, "Jarman/Braxton: TogetherAlone,"Down Beat (January16, 1975), pp. 22,

24; Lee Underwood,"Aroundthe World: Los Angeles," Coda (May, 1976), p. 27; Barry McRae,
"Braxton, Bailey and Company-the Art of the ad hoc ad lib," Jazz JournalInternational(July,
1977), pp. 22-23.
48 TheNew Yorker(November3, 1975).
49 "Riffs: Anthony Braxton Marchesas to
Jazz," Village Voice (August 30, 1976), p. 67.
so "Kelvin*7666* =
Blip-Bleep,"VillageVoice (June 11, 1979).
51 Lynch writes: "If a mad scientistever dranka potion he had concocted to formulatea 'jazz
musician,' he would undoubtedly tranform into Anthony Braxton." "Record Reviews: Anthony
Braxton,Solo Liveat MoersFestival,"Coda(February,1978), p. 18.
52 "Anthony Braxton: For Trio," Jazz JournalInternational
(September, 1978). In fact the
piece is a highlyregulatedgroupimprovisation.
S3 "Record Reviews: Anthony Braxton and Derek Bailey," Coda (January-February, 1976),
pp. 23-24. Braxton frequently employs the term "Post-Webern" to describethe serialistcomposers
of the 1950s.
54 "Record Reviews: Five Pieces 1975 and CreativeOrchestraMusic
1976," Coda (January-
February,1977), pp. 12-14. Braxtonpopularizedthe term "pointillism"in jazz circles.
518 The MusicalQuarterly

There are those who insist that Braxton is the new Bird, Coltrane, and Ornette, the
three-in-onewho is singlehandedlytaking the next step in jazz. There are others who
remainunconvinced.

Chip Stern wrote engagingly about the controversy four years later:
The reedman-composer'ssupportershave taken him to be the greatest thing since the
invention of the pitless prune, while his detractorsconsider him to be an overbearing
solipsistor a musicalcharlatan.55
Other writers made note of controversy in passing. Neil Tesser called
Braxton "the startling, still controversial reedman-composer" in 1977.56 A
few spoke of controversy after reviewing one of Braxton's many accessible
albums, which they hoped would "convince the skeptics."57 Peter Rothbart
evoked the image of the romantic artist when, referring to the controversy,
he stated: "Braxton continues to struggle . . . despite the economic diffi-
culties and critical rebuffs he has learned to expect."58
If the critics' formula did not always accurately represent Braxton's
music and musical life, it functioned as a form of entertainment for the
jazz readership. The objective of many popular critics, particularly those
who write features for best-selling jazz magazines like Down Beat and
Musician, is to intrigue and amuse the readers, and the best of them know
how to present the facts and information readers desire in a simple yet
captivating way. Furthermore, journalists writing for publications such as
The New Times and Newsweek tried to reach a general audience by focusing
on the most colorful aspects of Braxton's personality: his titles, his concert-
music commentary, and his reputation as an iconoclast. Newsweek's evoca-
tion of a wild-eyed, antediluvian noisemaker became the formula for its
presentation of Braxton:
Braxton is a virtuoso on the saxophone, and the instrument has never been subject
to such assault. He squeezes out bizarre sounds and clashing, hitherto unheard tonal
colors. He plays like a man possessed, in a paroxysm of animalisticgrunts,honks, rasps,
and hollers. He rends the fabric of conventionalmusicallanguageas he reachesinto him-
self-and back into prehistory-for some primordialmeans of communication.59
Elements of intrigue also took a conspicuous place in some of the
titles of features on Braxton. Recognizing the importance of the headline
55 "Kelvin*7666*," VillageVoice.
56 "Montreux/Berlin," Down Beat (October20, 1977), pp. 22-23.
57 The quotation appearedin Robert Palmer,"CreativeOrchestraMusic 1976," Rolling Stone
(August12, 1976), p. 59.
58 "Playor Die, AnthonyBraxtonInterview,"Down Beat (February,1982), pp. 20-23.
59 H. Saal, "Two Free Spirits,"Newsweek, pp. 52-53. Ironcially,it was Braxtonwho helped
initiate the jazz avant-garde'sturn toward mainstreampractices,beginningwith his album,In the
Tradition,Vol. I (InnerCity IC 2015) from 1974.
 Braxton's Reputation 519

critics and editors selected titles that called attention to specific aspects of
the Braxton formula.60 The second Down Beat feature on Braxton, for
example, carried the headline "Braxton Explains Himself," which reinforced
his image as a controversial figure.61 Subsequent Down Beat feature titles,
"Alternative Creativity in This Time Zone," and "Play or Die," caught the
reader's eye at the same time that they portrayed Braxton as a fanatical
mystic, a popular version of the titanic nineteenth-century composer.62
Eventually, the same means that fostered Braxton's rise to the top
of the jazz world initiated his decline soon after Arista started producing
recordings of his concert music. In 1978 the company released two albums:
For Trio, a piece indebted to the nontonal musical language of Karlheinz
Stockhausen, and For Four Orchestras (Arista A3L 8900), a 117-minute
work in which Braxton recalls the orchestral styles of Wagner, Ives and
Schoenberg. Braxton accompanied the recordings with three-dimensional
color titles and lengthy album notes discussing the musical basis of his
personal theosophical beliefs. By revealing his other musical tradition
Braxton drew criticism, sometimes from people who had first admired
him. Critics like Chip Stern and Rafi Zabor rejected Braxton's renewed
vanguardism, calling his music and writings self-conscious and pretentious.63
His record sales plummeted, and Arista started producing fewer Braxton
recordings, releasing only two albums from 1979 to 1982. These releases
received sparse press coverage in Down Beat and other journals that affect
an artist's reputation. Braxton exacerbated his decline, moreover, by shifting
his jazz work from Arista to European labels. Since foreign record companies
distrubute to a smaller network of American radio stations and record stores,
Braxton's jazz-album sales probably dropped further than they would have
had he continued to record with Arista. His decision to work more closely
with European record companies might explain why Arista canceled his
contract in 1982.
60 David Ogilvy explains the importance of headlines in "How to Write Potent Copy," in his
book, Confessions of an Advertising Man (New York, 1963).
61 Peter Occhiogrosso, "Anthony Braxton Explains Himself," Down Beat
(August 12, 1976),
pp. 15-16, 49.
62 Bob Henschen, "Alternative Creativity in This Time Zone," Down Beat
(February 22, 1979),
pp. 18-20; Peter Rothbart, "Play or Die," Down Beat. Often the Down Beat articles are accompanied
by photographs meant to reinforce Braxton's image as an eccentric. In Henschen's article, for example,
the art director positioned one of Braxton's picture titles (Composition 76) above the headline.
Rothbart's article included a photograph of Braxton surrounded by gleaming baritone saxophones
which were superimposed on the original.
63 In his article, "Kelvin
*7666*," Village Voice, Chip Stern dismissed For Trio; Bob Blumen-
thal criticized Composition 95 in "Beyond Theory: Anthony Braxton's New Accessibility," Boston
Phoenix, Sect. 3 (August 3, 1982), pp. 5, 14. If the works had been written by a composer associated
with concert music, both critics would have ignored them. Clearly, they felt an obligation to review
the recordings because of Braxton's affiliation with jazz. While the commentary was on the whole
judicious, it sometimes revealed a lack of familiarity with trends in contemporary concert music.
520 The Musical Quarterly

The graphs in Figure 2 demonstrate Braxton's rapid decline after the

shift in his stylistic emphasis, according to results from Down Beat's critics'
and readers' polls. The alto-saxophone category is most revealing since
Braxton was best known as an instrumentalist. Both graphs show that
from 1972 to 1974, Braxton's popularity advanced quickly. With the critics
he reached a peak of acceptance in 1977, remaining reasonably stable
afterwards, reinforced by his secure position as a composer. With the readers,
Braxton enjoyed immense popularity from 1974 to 1977. This is suggested
not only by his high marks in the alto-saxophone category, but by his re-
spectable record in the highly competitive ranking "Jazz Man of the Year."
But after 1977, Braxton's popularity declined steadily, and by 1981 he was
no longer rated notably in the polls.64 The ratings in the readers' category
illustrate the swiftness of Braxton's decline, since they best reflect the
overall community opinion and affect the record companies' opinion about
the commercial value of an artist.
When Braxton performed his most accessible jazz, he was touted as
a controversial figure; when he started recording concert music, and jazz
enthusiasts had reason to question his jazz legitimacy, the references
to controversy about him abated. Such irony points to the principal reason
for the exaggerated attention Braxton received, namely his intellectual
manner, his references to concert music, and the critics portrayal of his
manner and references. Braxton's decline, moreover, demonstrates how the
disruption of a journalistic formula can hinder a musician's career. By
moving toward concert music, Braxton lessened his appeal and undercut the
foundation upon which his reputation rested. As critical attention declined,
the popular formula weakened, and fewer fans bought his albums, even
though he continued to record the jazz-styled music that had helped to
make him famous.
Braxton's position between the two musical traditions of jazz and
concert music also raises questions about the accuracy of categories that
define and differentiate musicians in an urban milieu. His concert works,
his self-consciously intellectual behavior, and his theories of art are almost
unprecedented in jazz and force the ambiguities of previous definitions
of jazz and the jazz musician out into the open. The inadequacy of past
definitions appears most severe after recognizing that Braxton's words
about music were the principal source of controversy about him. Indeed, this
fact is of signal importance when evaluating a musician whose forebears in
jazz expressed little interest in and some contempt for verbalizing musical
64 Braxton has not
appeared in the alto-saxophone category since 1981, although he consistently
ranks first under "clarinet." Traditionally, the "composer" recognition has not been a sign of status
in jazz, the highest marks being given to premier soloists. Braxton's position in the composer category
is therefore deceiving.
 Braxton's Reputation 521

Fig. 2. Braxton'sRatingsin Down Beat's AnnualPopularityPolls for Musicians,1971-82.

Critics'Polls
1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982

1st ---- o
2nd
3rd
4th ..
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
10th
11th
12th
13th
14th
15th
16th
17th
18th
19th
20th

Readers'Polls
1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982

1st
2nd
3rd
4th . *
5th '"
6th * '-
7th
8th /
9th /
10th /
11th
12th
13th
14th
15th
16th
17th
18th
19th
20th

Alto Saxophone(EstablishedTalent) o Composer(TalentDeservingRecognition)

00 Alto Saxophone(TalentDeservingRecognition) * Album of the Year
0 Composer(EstablishedTalent) * Jazz Manof the Year
522 The MusicalQuarterly

experience. Furthermore,Braxton'sdual status reflects the impact of the

urbanizationof black culture and the extent to which it has affected the
jazz community. It also reflects more broadly the increasingpluralism
of the contemporaryurbanenvironment,which has fosteredthe interaction
of musiciansin rock, pop, concert music, "new music,"and jazz, and has
encouragedpractitionersoutside the realm of "art music" to adopt the
postureof the artist.
Yet Braxton's reputation also shows that the categoriesof jazz and
concert music (and of other genresas well) are not figmentsof the critic's
and historian'simagination-they do exist. Indeed, they are very separate
worlds, each with its own values and institutions that support them. As
part of the jazz support system, critics molded an image of Braxtonthat
would work best to foster the careerof someone they felt deservedgreater
attention. Now the image, and to some extent, the institutions that per-
petuate it, remain with him, even though he performsjazz less and less.
In fact Braxton'sreputationcould affect the careerin concert music that
he is currentlypursuing.Regardlessof his success or failure,he will have
to live for a long time with the repercussionsof his position between two
musicalworlds.