Book Launch – Michael Gallope, The Musician as Philosopher: New York’s Vernacular Avant-Garde

Join Roulette for a panel conversation and Q&A for Michael Gallope‘s recent book, The Musician as Philosopher: New York’s Vernacular Avant-Garde (University of Chicago Press, 2024). Gallope’s book is an investigation into the way an array 1960s and 70s musicians associated with various strains of the New York avant-garde (David Tudor, Ornette Coleman, The Velvet Underground, Alice Coltrane, Patti Smith, and Richard Hell) embodied philosophical positions through their work as artists. It tackles complex and unsettling questions of race, gender, spirituality, and social dissent during the period with an enlightening framework about the enduring philosophical drive that animates their work.