“It Ain't Who You Are”

This chapter examines the strongly held views of jazz composer and writer Graham Collier on authenticity in jazz. He argued that authenticity did not require conformity to stereotypes in gender, sexuality, race, and nationality. Instead, authenticity is “in the playing” and “happens in real time, once.” His views developed against a background of personal experience of prejudice in “not being a (straight) man,” as well as not being African American, and, by the time he wrote The Jazz Composer, he was also noting the effects of age discrimination. His identity as a gay man, and the relationship between his sexuality and his music are considered alongside those of other musicians and composers who have declared that they are gay, particularly Gary Burton and Fred Hersch.