Albert Murray at Ninety Author(s): Paul Devlin Reviewed work(s): Source: The Antioch Review, Vol. 65, No.

2, The Nobel Prize for Literature (Spring, 2007), pp. 256-265 Published by: Antioch Review, Inc. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40284381 . Accessed: 16/09/2012 20:57
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Albert at Murray Ninety

BY PAUL DEVLIN

There is only the ultimateactualityof entropy. . . of the void, upon which we impose such metaphoricaldevices as AND, as in and (andoneandtwoandthreeandfourand) one, and two, and three, and so on fromwhich we also get "and it and fourand so forth " came to pass and so on it wenttimeaftertimeaftertime, as has been recordedhere,there,and elsewhere. AlbertMurray,The Magic Keys, 2005

thatalso in /JLlbertMurray turned ninety May 2006 (the month marked sixty-fifth of marriage his wife, his to Mozelle). He has year had one of themostimpressive influential careers the of and literary lastfifty famewith publicat large, the to years, he has failed find yet withmajor almostall of his thirteen booksare stillin print, though this trade his is It hasbeensaidthat work difficult. Perhaps is presses. in English durbecausehe is among most the original literary stylists of a by ingthepastfifty years, claimsupported evencasualperusal his novels travelogue-memoir toa Very Place, which South Old or quartet orarenarrated a highly in voicethat Southern unusual, distinctively chestrates idiomatic African-American down-home speechthrough the thehighmodernist masters whoformed coreofMurray's literary that influences. notfornothing he is a member theAmerican It's of achievement and of and of Academy Arts Letters, recipient a lifetime awardfrom National the Book Critics Circle. An "African-American" Mobile,Alabama,Murray from prefers thewordNegro,whichwas therespectful whenhe was growterm nature mulatto" the has ing up. Murray emphasized "incontestably of American Rourke'sclaim thatthe Constance culture, following and American is character partYankee,Negro,Backwoodsman, In-

Albert at 257 Murray Ninety

TheOmni-Americans Africanbe dian.How can themanwhowrote American? was AttheMobileCounty School,Murray a goodbaseTraining and starstudent, to Tuskegee Instiball player winning scholarships at He went to study Northwestern, University on the tute (B.S., 1939). New YorkUniversity and of Michigan, (M.A., 1948),theSorbonne, he taught and directed theater the AirUniversity. at Though English career MajorMurray, as he also had another United States Tuskegee, which retired 1962.He didnotpublish first he in AirForce,from his a collection essays and articles of he book, The Omni-Americans, in until for reawrote themidtolate1960s, 1970,atage fifty-four;this son,histurning ninety seemtohavecomeoutoftheblueanditis may He like causefor celebration. was not, hiscontemporaries all themore or Saul Bellow,Arthur Miller, Arthur Jr., Schlesinger, on thescene It the from late 1940s onward. shouldalso be notedthatMurray's with luckofgoodhealth, the that is story proof positive itis possible, and a to start careers, that over,lead twolives,have two successful need retirement notbe dull. was subtitled "Black Experience and The Omni-Americans first subtitle a lateredition thisattack of of on American Culture." The in to muchbetsocialscientific approaches raceandculture America views:"Alternatives theFolklore White to of terexplains Murray's of The and theFakelore Black Pathology." Omni-AmeriSupremacy whenit was published wide and immediate attention cans received In Post the (making coverof The Washington Book World). a review calledit"a bookaboutraceandtheUnited Walker thenovelist Percy all resists abstractions, offends orthodox fits Statesthat no ideology, attacks socialscientists Governor and Waland liberals conservatives, sees all thefaults thecountry, holds of and lace in thesamebreath, African outhopeintheend."In TheOmni-Americans, rejects Murray for Africanon ThomasMann's cultural Americans; riffing patrimony of to "Joapproach themeasurement timein theprelude, pragmatic datesAfrican-American dimension Murray sephand His Brothers," to that culture ofAmerican primarily themiddle passage.He writes to the reason trace origin U.S. Negrostyle of is no "there truly urgent . than . . 1619- ifindeed far." that back andmanner farther intime any in As a character Murray's novelTheSevenLeague Bootsremarks, me "Africa? with aboutthegreat-grandaddy ofmy Hey that's alright drums thegrandmammythemellow and of in brown mycomplexion. . . . This musicain'tgotnothing do withsending messagesto to no

Review 258 TheAntioch

somechiefacrosstheriver This musicwe somewhere overyonder. in andgetting sometime theUnited on playis about goingsomewhere States America." of of and was What followed an impressive ambitious parade books, he a of his asidefrom novelsandmemoir, group what which includes, full a warehouse ofdissertations, worth about called"literary notes," the which rethink farce, blues,andthehero-image Heroand the {The the of and Blues,1973),a poetics anthropologyjazz {Stomping Blues, ofCountBasie {GoodMorning an as-told-to Blues, 1976), biography {The 1986),twoessaycollections BlueDevilsofNada,1996andFrom bookofpoetry the {ConFile, Murrayan Briarpatch 2001),a uniquely and a andReiterations, 2001),nottomention lively learned jugations with letter Twelves, 2000). RalphEllison{Trading exchange affair." "is wrote "Endless RalphWaldoEmerson, a flat negation," "can "Who,"he askedin a lecture slavery, longcontinue condemning or wife in or to feelan interest condemning homicide, counterfeiting, than will sleep longer whofeelsthey For anyone Rip Van beating?" a offers sort hearthewordcritique, Winklenexttimethey Murray whilewearing humor withbarbershop delivered of cosmicstoicism who in of a tuxedo, standing front a big band.For Murray, grewup and even somewho had beenpersonex-slaves in Mobile knowing in Africa thelast slave shipto arrive the on overfrom allybrought does notinclude affirmation U.S. (theClotilde), acceptance certainly an toward but of injustice rather orientation dealingwithit. In The in obstacles terms advocates Hero and theBlues,Murray regarding than of and rather in terms social scienceor of "adventure romance" whatwe wouldtodaycall critical derived). (theMarx-Freud theory stuff cannot A better workof art.The other It makesa better story. As life To swing. affirm is to aimforelegancein spiteofentropy. he toward in wrote TheBlueDevilsofNada,"theaffirmative disposition of ... existence is characteristic the theharsh actualities human of the For blues orchestrated statement." Murray worldis a briarfully BrerRabbitor Duke Elwhether patchand theheroliketherabbit, fur a maintain dapper coat.The man who "Cottontail," must lington's for of ASCAP award music the whowrote Blues,winner the Stomping the to "stomp" meant criticism 1977, in euphemistically: "stomping" dance themaway,notto smashthemintothe blues is to elegantly this illustrated on CSPAN in 2002. The bluesthrive (Murray ground. In a withstand snapon theafterbeat.) fist on theclenched butcannot "the calledMurray unsquarest who thewords Duke Ellington, of per-

Albert at 259 Murray Ninety

"it if sonI know," don'tmeana thing itain'tgotthat swing" a phrase In that longbeenMurray's has mantra. Murray's in words, expressed with a 1996 interview TheNew York "thequestion is ... Observer, whether is worth life Areyougoingto wakeup one morning living. andcutyour or at throat go stomping theSavoy?You knowwhat I'm goin'do!" was bornin Nokomis, Alabama,in 1916 and raisedby Murray in MagazinePointon theoutskirts Mobile;even of adoptive parents thesmalltown hisinauspicious, of birth illegitimate recallsgreatness in American literature. Remember Longfellow: theshining "by big In sea water stoodthewigwam Nokomis." thecosmopolitan / of seaof AlabamaatTuskegee of Instiport Mobileandsegregation central in mind of a formed those tute, Murray's years theDepression unique and which outlook American on history culture, mayserveas a guide all of and life for theworld, regardless time place.Murray's has taken himthroughout deep South, Paris,Morocco, the to Los Angeles, and castletown" New York, to of where has left he finally the"beanstalk hismark someofthecity's most cultural on institutions. august achievement less recognized is As a novelist, thanit Murray's of shouldbe, butnotless thananynovelist thelastfifty years.In a Train Whistle of Guitar novels, (1974), quartet semi-autobiographical TheSpyglassTree(1991), TheSevenLeague Boots(1996), and The chronicles adventures Scooter, the of a Magic Keys(2005), Murray GasolinePoint, Alabama.The cheerful promising youngmanfrom withtimeand memory, who could have narrator, is alwaysplaying thesebooksto Stendhal's few."Representation dedicated of "happy of victimization theeffects racismand oppression theyoung or on to as heroarenowhere be found, of though do appear aspects the they in Tree.Scooter mostespecially TheSpyglass succeeds world, larger a a or or notbymaking lotofmoney advancing political program tellthewhite manthat feelssomething amiss,butbybecoming he is ing with comfortable his own consciousness. They are like novelsthat the it are "after novel"as a historicized genre, "before" as well, yet in tale with roots theepic andfairy (notethespecialobjectsas titles) in of the and possibly someproseworks theclassicalworld, gospels the in particular. Thereare morethana fewanalogiesbetween four which novelsandthefour do notread mayexplain gospels, whythey at all like typical novels.(Like Guillermo Cabrera-Infante, Murray is particularly in interested plot.)For instance, tonesand emphases from comeandgo andrepeat change slightly booktobook.Characters

260 TheAntioch Review

each to with as different narrators purported difference, iffour slight thesenovels narrate different a section Scooter'sstory. of Ultimately, form is no marks) (inwhich character's something speech inquotation in that adventure owes little like a novelized tale,a picaresque fairy novelsorevenmuch to or structure thegreat nineteenth-century style so influenced that modernist works to theimportant Murray strongly and of the Mann,Proust, Malrauxare there (though influence Joyce, thecountless under surface, the Uncle,or "Unka,"Realongside just not Thesenovelsarehighly muses Murray's of original just boyhood). thattheyare but fortheir lyrical choreography, in thesense lilting has As structured along thelines of jazz compositions. Murray reuse in he from ThomasMann'sliterary of marked interviews, learned that art suchas leitmotifs, of someof theelements European music, as vamps, art of he coulduse elements American music(jazz), such a novel. and to breaks, riffs, tags, structure of has In TrainWhistle Scooter a wide array adventures Guitar, a valuablelessonsfrom host around outskirts Mobile,learning the of WarI vetWorld an of charismatic characters, including outspoken of eran,a starpiano playerwhomScooterwatches defytheorders a freight-train-hopping a whitesheriff, his greatest and hero, guitar encourhim to whocatches attemptingrun him, awayandstops player American takeon sports, history, aginghimtogo to school.Scooter's comand variouschildhood around town, rings topics personalities off schoolat a colto true. TheSpyglass In Scooter Tree, goes pletely is for The title a metaphor collegeandthus to lege similar Tuskegee. one's which regard to a from foreducation itself: highvantage point intheclassroom, Scooter notreally is shown ownexperience. learning from ithis butrather around from mysterious roommate; polymath sucinthelibrary; from and a localbluessinger, Hortense Hightower; in cessful African American businessmen town- as thebookflashes situation. Scooter's backandforth from earlier his tohiscurrent days in heroism a racialconflict an to perform act of selfless willingness a for leadsto Hortense 's Hightower arranging himto obtain bass fidthe which Los Angeles dle.Bythenext book,TheSevenLeagueBoots, Scooter Times called a "richand moving spirit," songof thehuman band a is playing thebandof theBossman, Duke Ellingtonesque in the leader. spends He timein New YorkandLos Angeleswith band, in and of datesa moviestar, visits Europe, does all sorts hipthings a of sleekversion thelate 1930s.The style TheSevenLeague Boots of as Guitar'sstyle as evokesitsposh settings perfectly TrainWhistle

Albert at 261 Murray Ninety

and outskirts Mobile circa 1920. In The of evokesthegritty folksy has abandoned setScooter (temporarily?) music, MagicKeys, having and his to tleddownwith collegesweetheart, is going graduate school with Edison(Ralph and getting reacquainted an old collegepal,Taft as drawsto a close,Scooter is Mostimportantly,thequartet Ellison). the The ("The Dancingof an Attitude: gearing to write biography up of FootNotesoftheOne andOnlyRoyalHighness") oneofhismany as as a known RoyalHighness, known mentors, tapdancer formerly Kid RoyalKingoftheStompthe and Kid Stomp RoyalHighStepper ers.("WhosaysI ain't?") His 1971travelogue-memoir, to a Very Place, was inSouth Old in in cludedin theModernLibrary 1995. The book starts midtown whereMurray notesthatfirst mustgo North go one to Manhattan, of and to South, proceeds give an unforgettable portrait Harlem(his to homesince 1962).Nexthe headsa bitfurther north, New Haven, thejourney "downtheway"to North then Carolina, Atlanta, begins and Mobile,New Orleans, Memphis, visiting, talking, sigTuskegee, has or andspeculating howtheSouth changed notchanged on nifying, As movement. Murray remarks a jourto inthewakeofthecivilrights in "I'm notdownhereto runanystatistics nalist overdinner Atlanta, on radar my ... but justto see howitfeels.I'm operating myliterary He of finderhow aboutthat?" talksto blacksand whites metaphor of his talkswithRobert and no reputation. Reports largereputation and PennWarren, VannWoodward, Walker C. Percyexistalongside an from old maninMobile,during "after-supan suchas this, analysis sessionin thefig-tree-fresh, backporch damp-clayrocking-chair per scented twilight":
from downthrough old bushwhackers right itsgoing takeoneofthese Confederate to white folkswhenthey mad.My dadtheseold southern in hereto go up against get on Johnson in there a got dy used to say it overand overagain.So whenLyndon the humble-andboythat's onliest wayhe couldamadeitin there-I was watching madehimmadhe was and crossed. . . [H]e was one ofthem ifthey . with fingers my cracker backatthem, someofthat and to cussing right rowdy subject do someofthat me commence telling abouthowmeanhe is, to to old cowboystuff boot.Whenthey on I saythat's whatwe need,somemeanold crackers oursidefora change. exactly I credit. Becauseall he hadtodo was Johnson . . . That'swhy gotto giveold Lyndon 've knowhe was goingtoholdthelineon theblackmanandhe could stayed letthem I to That'swhy gottogivehim credit don'tcarewho there longas hewanted as up he don't.BecauseI knowwhat couldadoneandI remember hedidfor fact. what a He in of and to gotup there front everybody said we shallovercome. Boy that's enough scarewhite folks worsethan Indians, the boy.

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Another substantial ofnonfictionTheBlueDevilsofNada: is work A Contemporary This American Statement. Approachto Aesthetic in collection essays,written of mainly the1980sand 1990s,contains Romare on Louis Armstrong, indispensable insights Duke Ellington, in thebook and CountBasie, buttheshining Bearden, masterpiece is theeighty-page impasessay (whichreadsmorelike a rollicking, Ernest "The Storyteller Blues Singer: as sionedsermon), Hemingway HereMurray the argues persuaNothing." Swinging BluesandTaking and the in inclusion thebluestradition makes for sively Hemingway's and case that philosophy theblues,as he sees it,was intuited the of in written Hemingway, stories. by especially theshort a in Not slowingdownfora moment, 2001 Murray published and and Reiterations, book of poetry, Conjugations highly original ProceFile: On Context, Fromthe another bookofessays, Briarpatch In his poetry, and American dure, byW. H. Auden, Identity. inspired no or T. S. Eliot, and Marianne Moore, WallaceStevens more lessthan an unexpected theblues,Murray quiltof styles patchwork presents trains bluesstanzas andtopics, from twelve-bar abouthopping freight to of rumination Faulkner, a celebration on to a long,Faulknerian the From Briand mock LouisArmstrong anArmstrongesque sermon. someofMurray's File is a miscellaney notonlyincludes that arpatch but of mostabstract on essays thoughts thenature art, also important and on DukeEllington LouisArmstrong twoofhismost and in-depth interviews. andunguarded culture the Without the of Albert (and AfMurray, story American of last rican-American on influence itinparticular) the fifty might years comesnot onculture the different. be,for worse, Murray's impact very Pound belle-lettres notunlike from contributionsworld his to but, just and his (on Pound'sbetter days),from generosity behind-the-scenes someof his close friends, and Who knowswhere curating coaching. would suchas Romare Marsalis, Bearden, RalphEllison,or Wynton shared and learning, have been without voice of humor Murray's them to and downhome-modernist aesthetic, shared experience steady Basie of intheir as-told-to endeavors? autobiography Count Murray's not is one of themosthighly regarded memoirs, justforitshisjazz of Basie's voice and authentic torical valuebutforMurray's capture served in manner. Murray-Bearden The collaboration, which Murray themes as all-around adviser(naming suggesting paintings, literary andseries, essays),helped catalog ghost-writing pieces,writing prose whenMurray movedto New Bearden(who was already successful

Albert at 263 Murray Ninety

the and made into the York renewed friendship inParisin 1950)shoot in Who knowswhatmusicaldistratosphere the 1960s and beyond. havetaken, ifMarsalis's Marsalismight or rection friend his Wynton as wouldstand it does todayas thedefender Jazz@ LincolnCenter of worked andconservatoryclassicjazz? In the1970s, Murray closely the This with Williams develop Smithsonian programs. to Jazz Martin and reclamation heroicact of cultural eventually preservation grew of Jazz intowhatbecamein 1996 a fullconstituent LincolnCenter, has sinceits where @ LincolnCenter, Murray beencloselyinvolved in on series 1987andcontinues theboard as today. inception a conceit thetraditional "blackness" Jazz@ of It should noted, be considering has an that Lincoln Center, Murray beenaccusedofpromoting ethnic But the of essentialism regards performancejazz music. that as notion ofMurray's claimthat forthe has grown of a lazyinterpretation out American inflections mal structure themusiccontains of specifically and African-American and variations it helpsto havebeen,as many in to musicians (andalwayshavebeen),raised church havea more are a not ofthewholevocabulary, tomention tendency to grasp complete for can intothemusic.By no means, Murray, theproper feeling put was not white musicians measure but, especially yearsago,there up; between assessments theformal the of a sometimesbitofa disconnect and musicians. white) white (many appreciators and shared concerns similar outlooks Amerion Becauseoftheir twoyears andalso becauseMurray, can culture, younger, though only he lookedat as synon emerged thescenetwodecadeslater, is often withand/or protg his friend a of RalphEllison.Though onymous a work also with HaroldCruse)their (and comprises formitogether dable attack Pan-Africanism by extension on (any pan-anythingism: are EllisonandMurray quitedifor Germanism, whatever), Slavism, their1950-1960 letter ferent. Twelves, Trading exchange, Reading andreveals influenced two notions Ellison'shaving of Murray dispels and of and mature thinkers artists riffing jokingon all sorts subjects. is in on Also, forinstance, their writings jazz, Murray muchmore thanEllison. and anthropological dimensions focusedon theritual different listthanEllisonand was had a somewhat reading Murray reader ThomasMann,notto of and a muchmoreserious substantive is In Broch. their to mention Hermann novels, Murray a sunny Tolstoy Ellison'sdark summer sunshine Doestoevsky. Murray's "shimmering blueness" which meant time time. Andalso "whistling and rambling baseballtime," joyousfeeling permeates novels(evenwhen a that his

264 TheAntioch Review

theaction takesplace at night), with humor contrasts sharply thedark and nightmarish surrealism Ellison'sInvisible Man and partsof of Mark Juneteenth. critic Wyck The Van oncehada theory about Brooks is Twain:that laughed hardhe cried. he Twain'slaughter closerto so scenetokeepfrom wholaughed the at American Ellison's, exploding. the all laughed laughofthesatiriand Swift, Voltaire, Twain, Ellison cal reformer. is Rabelais, Murray's laughter closerto theuproarious whoalso hada thing twoto sayaboutfarce. or Todaytheideas Murray espoused(alongwithRalphEllison,to culture havebecome be fair)aboutthe"mulatto" nature American of and/ African American Prominent babyboomwriters commonplace. the Cornel orprofessors as Henry such LouisGates, West, lateAugust Robert CharlesJohnson, James Alan McPherson, Wilson, O'Meally, of and Stanley who wereall aroundin themaelstrom the Crouch, their from to voicesofwriters 1960s,listened thesteady parents' genor less) to eration they basically and all endedup subscribing (more that Thisis thevision theMurray-Ellison culture. visionofAmerican won out (partially, accessibility perhaps, through Murray's personal on andfriendly and whyyousee someofthesegentlemen guidance) instead PBS and widely culture, dispersed throughout contemporary AmiriBaraka, of, say,Ron Karenga,EkwuemeMichaelThelwell, line LeonardJeffries, their or ThoughtheMurray-Ellison disciples. havelookedconofinclusion, identity, may hybrid mixed-up tangled it vision servative wackyin 1970,today looksliketheappropriate or in for globalized our world- a vision, case,that particularlyMurray's tastes.Indeed, withcosmopolitan nicelybalanceslocal particulars whatsomeone said of HenriBergson mayapplyto Murray recently America: latein lifeBergson as regards "incontestably his mulatto" because stunning ideas he esno longerseemedespecially original the saturated timesconcepyearsearlier"thoroughly poused forty tions." on aside,Stomping Meanwhile, perspectives raceandidentity of theBlues,with emphasis thecentrality swingand theblues its on has injazz, inaddition someofhisother on to writings music, largely of to shapedthebroadvisionof Jazz@ LincolnCenter, say nothing even if their other institutions. novelswill find audience, Murray's it I must waitas longas John Donne'spoetry, though suspect will they nottakequitethat critical prose,TheHero and long.His nonfiction theBlues,and his essays,monuments fearlessly of literary original one aboutthemost fundamental -such as Howshould thinking topics mean? Whatis therelationobstacles?Whatdoes America regard

Albert at 265 Murray Ninety

ship of art to /(/e?-will enthrall anyonewho would tryto go beyond cynicismon such topics.Art,forMurray, contemporary followingSuacazanne K. Langer, is the life of human feeling.In contemporary demic discourse,feelingis oftenderided as having led to the twenbut Murraycomes froma group on tiethcentury'sworstatrocities, who had to preservefeeling,and most whomatrocities were inflicted, humor,alongside which high-handed importantly, complex political ideologies can hardlycompete, which is also perhaps why Murray and dull rage of thefigures and Ellison won out over thepseudo-piety mentioned above. his Murray'sfiercecommon sense, his rigorouspragmatism, recof the farcical shadow play behind all action and the iron ognition to law of entropy, Malrauvian commitment artin spite of it, is a yet The answersMurraygives are froma man worldviewforany century. and a who first publishedat fifty-four now is ninety, man who grew in slaves and withoutelectricity Mobile, Alabama, knew former up blues freight-train-hopping players,went to college on scholarships, became an read theWestern canon and morebackwardsand forwards, for on themusic he lived in terms servedhis country twenty of, expert and traversed globe, slowly formulating the ideas and working years, out a style,untilsettlingin Harlem to writeit all down- and thank solo goodness he did, because his work,no less than an Armstrong or Bearden collage, is one of the best antidotesto the blues thereis. This is usefulbecause, as the epilogue to Stompingthe Blues states, . "Nor has anybodyever been able to get rid of the blues forever. . . You can only drivethemaway and keep themat bay forthe timebeing. Because theyare always there,waitingand watching.So retirementis out of thequestion... all you have to do to keep themin their properplace, whichis deep in thedozens, is to pat yourfeetand snap aren'torchestrated that for And darnedifhis paragraphs yourfingers." effect!