Talk:Anthony Braxton

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Various things

(1) does this REALLY need a disambiguation from Toni Braxton? (2) When did Braxton play with Pat Metheny? ND 17:17, 26 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Just found the info on Metheny: a 1981 jam at Woodstock. -- I must confess that that this minor, off-the-cuff encounter doesn't seem to merit listing here to me, but what the hell. ND 17:20, 26 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Composer project review

I've reviewed this article as part of the Composers project review of its B-class articles. This article is more aptly termed a C-class article (not used by the project); it is missing notable biographic background: his formative years. My full review is on the comments page; questions and comments should be left here or on my talk page. Article is Start-class. Magic♪piano 00:53, 24 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

ECM artist?

He appears on three ECM records: Circle: Paris Concert, Marion Brown: Afternoon of a Georgia Faun, Dave Holland Quartet: Conference of the Birds. Is that enough for Category:ECM artists? BNutzer (talk) 23:22, 23 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Probably, yes. I only knew about the Conference of the Birds one. I'm not sure because he's only a sideman on all three of those. Don't listen to me. --Richardrj ^talk ^email 00:19, 24 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Re-added Category:ECM artists. Started a thread Talk:ECM (record label)#Category:ECM artists. BNutzer (talk) 11:33, 24 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Separate Wiki

It's my opinion, though it may not be very relevant, that Anthony needs his own wiki. There is a vast plethora of information available about him and to put it all in his Wikipedia page would be a waste. 75.187.186.52 (talk) 08:02, 8 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Why would it be a waste? This is by far the most popular wiki on the internet. Anyone wanting information on Braxton will naturally come here rather than some other place. If you have lots of information on him, this is the place to put it. --Richardrj ^talk ^email 08:31, 8 January 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Assessment comment

The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:Anthony Braxton/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following several discussions in past years, these subpages are now deprecated. The comments may be irrelevant or outdated; if so, please feel free to remove this section.

Comment(s)

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;Composers Project Assessment of Anthony Braxton: 2024-12-1

This is an assessment of article Anthony Braxton by a member of the Composers project, according to its assessment criteria. This review was done by Magicpiano.

If an article is well-cited, the reviewer is assuming that the article reflects reasonably current scholarship, and deficiencies in the historical record that are documented in a particular area will be appropriately scored. If insufficient inline citations are present, the reviewer will assume that deficiencies in that area may be cured, and that area may be scored down.

Adherence to overall Wikipedia standards (WP:MOS, WP:WIAGA, WP:WIAFA) are the reviewer's opinion, and are not a substitute for the Wikipedia's processes for awarding Good Article or Featured Article status.

Origins/family background/studies

Does the article reflect what is known about the composer's background and childhood? If s/he received musical training as a child, who from, is the experience and nature of the early teachers' influences described?

No family or childhood background

Early career

Does the article indicate when s/he started composing, discuss early style, success/failure? Are other pedagogic and personal influences from this time on his/her music discussed?

Presumably he started composing before age 23. Influences are noted; nothing about any education.

Mature career

Does the article discuss his/her adult life and composition history? Are other pedagogic and personal influences from this time on his/her music discussed?

ok

List(s) of works

Are lists of the composer's works in WP, linked from this article? If there are special catalogs (e.g. Köchel for Mozart, Hoboken for Haydn), are they used? If the composer has written more than 20-30 works, any exhaustive listing should be placed in a separate article.

Unknown. Does he record everything he composes? (Discography is assumed complete, but may not represent his entire oeuvre.)

Critical appreciation

Does the article discuss his/her style, reception by critics and the public (both during his/her life, and over time)?

Stylistic discussion. Some forms of recognition (MacArthur); critical and popular appreciation is minimal.

Illustrations and sound clips

Does the article contain images of its subject, birthplace, gravesite or other memorials, important residences, manuscript pages, museums, etc? Does it contain samples of the composer's work (as composer and/or performer, if appropriate)? (Note that since many 20th-century works are copyrighted, it may not be possible to acquire more than brief fair use samples of those works, but efforts should be made to do so.) If an article is of high enough quality, do its images and media comply with image use policy and non-free content policy? (Adherence to these is needed for Good Article or Featured Article consideration, and is apparently a common reason for nominations being quick-failed.)

Images; no sound.

References, sources and bibliography

Does the article contain a suitable number of references? Does it contain sufficient inline citations? (For an article to pass Good Article nomination, every paragraph possibly excepting those in the lead, and every direct quotation, should have at least one footnote.) If appropriate, does it include Further Reading or Bibliography beyond the cited references?

Article has a "Bibliography", a mix of sources and Braxton's works. Few inline citations.

Structure and compliance with WP:MOS

Does the article comply with Wikipedia style and layout guidelines, especially WP:MOS, WP:LEAD, WP:LAYOUT, and possibly WP:SIZE? (Article length is not generally significant, although Featured Articles Candidates may be questioned for excessive length.)

Some MOS violations; Bibliography needs to be reworked.

Things that may be necessary to pass a Good Article review

Biography, early life, needs to be filled out
Article requires more inline citations (WP:CITE)
Article footer material needs organization (WP:LAYOUT, Bibliography)

Summary

This article reads somewhat like a fan appreciation, and less like a biography of a composer and musician. It is completely devoid of the subject's early life, with the first paragraph beginning when the subject is 23 years old. No proper biography begins at this late date without clear evidence that information from earlier is not available for some reason. There is also relatively little critical and popular commentary; while we know what Wynton Marsalis thinks of his music, we don't even know whether or not Marsalis likes it. We have no idea how well is music sells, or what other critical commentators think.

There are minor MoS violations; the most significant one is that the "Bibliography" section is not (per WP:LAYOUT) a listing of works by the subject. References works consulted for the article should be in "Sources" or "References".

Article is Start-class; there are significant gaps in background and commentary. Magic♪piano 00:51, 24 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Last edited at 00:51, 24 March 2009 (UTC). Substituted at 07:58, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

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Overhaul, deletions

I'm starting an overhaul on this article (refs, organization, content, etc) & want to clear that source template ASAP. In the process of getting refs & reorganizing, I may briefly remove material that will later be re-inserted where relevant / with references. When cuts are made, I'll make a note in the edit summary & include the copy in this section of my sandbox.

Also welcoming help with the Anthony Braxton discography; I've only looked at the page for For Alto, but I think it has the release date (of 1971) off by 2 years, so I'm not feeling optimistic...

// Knifegames (talk) 10:23, 28 February 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Areas to expand

I've slowed down quite a bit on this, so giving an update on progress / to-do in case anyone else wants to pick up the pace!

I've pretty significantly overhauled / restructured the article & added sections for his early life (w/ family, schooling, interests) + education and military service, though eventually there should be more coverage of musical relationships developed at the Chicago School of Music, Wilson Jr College, the Fifth Army Band in Illinois, & the Eighth Army Band in South Korea. Organization is somewhat improved, but the career section badly needs subheadings for significant works & developments (most notably, I think, his signing to Arista Records); more broadly, the overview of his projects & recordings is mostly just lists of personnel rather than a big-picture overview of how his work, reception, & collaborations changed over time.

Areas to expand:

Early life // siblings; cousin who introduced him to the AACM, CORE, etc.
Education and military service // Wilson Jr College (meeting Roscoe Mitchell, Jack DeJohnette, et al.); Fifth Army Band (discovered Arnold Schoenberg, played clarinet & alto, cont'd lessons w/ Gell); Eighth Army Band, incl. recordings off-base in Seoul
Early career (1965–1973) // 1965 return to Chicago + intro to the AACM seems like a defining year; also incl. 1967 origins of Creative Construction Company, 1968 debut, 1969 recording of For Alto & time in Paris with CCC, post-Paris crashing w/ Ornette Coleman + chess hustling, 1970 joining Circle, 1971 *release* of For Alto (there seems to be a lot of confusion about this release date…)
Career, Arista Records (1974–1982); a few sources:

Allen, Clifford (19 January 2009). "Anthony Braxton: Anthony Braxton: The Complete Arista Recordings". All About Jazz. Retrieved 30 July 2021.

Shanley, Mike (1 January 2009). "Complete Anthony Braxton Arista Recordings". JazzTimes. Retrieved 30 July 2021.

Margasak, Peter (27 November 2008). "Braxton and the Beast". The Chicago Reader. Retrieved 30 July 2021.

Mike Heffley's "liner notes" (extensive historical essay) to The Complete Arista Recordings

Career as educator (1985–2013) // likely not its own section, but had a big impact on his work, esp. given difference in financial means/stability, resources, etc.––incl. 1985 Mills College, 1990 Wesleyan, retiring on 2013 Doris Duke Performing Artist Award
MacArthur + Tri-Centric Foundation (1994)
Influence / reception // incl. relationship with designation as solely jazz artist & genre shifts over time? Might also incl. notable students such as Tyshawn Sorey, Mary Halvorson, Taylor Ho Bynum, & André Vida; source:

Ratliff, Ben (18 February 2016). "Anthony Braxton's Tempo Emphasizes the Upbeat". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 February 2021.

Musicianship // incl. instruments played on significant recordings
Personal life // marriage to Nickie Singer (1975); children Terri Braxton (?), Tyondai Braxton (1978), Keayr Braxton (~1981), Donari Braxton (1982)

I'm going roughly by the Wikiproject Musicians article guidelines, which note that "usually significant works are dealt with as a sub-section of the Career/History section, so they remain in chronological order"; this is currently a bit muddled, but I do think the compositional systems should probably stay in a separate section (though it needs work).

// Knifegames (talk) 23:12, 30 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

"Graphic scores" section

Alternative notations (generally handwaved as "graphic scores") are a critical part of Braxton's oeuvre so I'm all for beefing up this section. At the moment it only references a single work (Comp. no. 76) and is basically cribbed verbatim from Steinbeck's paper on the piece (including typographical errors caused by copy-pasting from a .pdf).

I hope to get to some substantive revisions to this section in the coming days, but I highly encourage anyone else who feels like helping out to drop some knowledge here. Kommunikationsmittel (talk) 00:00, 30 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]