Sweet Science, Sweet Thunder: Jazz, Pugilism, and the Fine Art of Criticism

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article proceeds from the observation that language describing the performances of jazz musicians and prizefighters with reference to one another is common to both sports writing and jazz criticism. I take this as an invitation to explore the historical context, critical significance, and musical implications of the interrelationship of these two crafts, with particular focus on Miles Davis's score to the documentary film A Tribute to Jack Johnson (1971). This begins with an unpacking of Davis's well-documented commitment to “the sweet science” in light of discourses of race and masculinity in mid-century US jazz culture. I then offer a close reading of one of the Jack Johnson session recordings as a musical analogue of the unique boxing cadence of Muhammad Ali, a contemporary athlete who embodied the Black Power-era reimagination of Jack Johnson realized in Davis's score/album.