Please join us on Wednesday, November 20, 2013 for a roundtable presentation entitled: Jean-Michel Basquiat’s History of Jazz Lesson: King Zulu by Francesco Martinelli.
“King Zulu” is a huge and a typical 1986 painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat. Clearly attached to the imagery of jazz musicians, and usually mentioned as a generic tribute to Louis Armstrong or Miles Davis, it has not been analyzed in depth yet. The presentation will identify all the iconographical sources of the images included in the painting, exploring their relationship with the music. Seeing side by side the original images and listening to the music implied by the painting will further the understanding of the work as a comment about the roots and development of jazz, allowing a proper reconsideration of Basquiat’s oeuvre within the complex fabric of African-American culture and creativity in the Americas.
Francesco Martinelli teaches History of Jazz at Siena Jazz University and Pietro Mascagni Conservatory in Leighorn (Italy). He is active as essayist, translator and festival consultant.
It runs from 7-9 PM in the Dana Room, John Cotton Dana Library, 4th floor, Rutgers-Newark Campus.
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
For directions: http://www.newark.rutgers.edu/maps/
Vincent Pelote
Interim Director
Institute of Jazz Studies
Rutgers University
Dana Library
185 University Avenue
Newark, NJ 07102
phone: 973-353-5595
email: pelote@rulmail.rutgers.edu
