Jazz and American Culture
$97.31
- Hardcover
400 pages
- Release Date
31 January 2024
Summary
Almost immediately after jazz became popular nationally in the United States in the early 20th century, American writers responded to what this exciting art form signified for listeners. This book takes an expansive view of the relationship between this uniquely American music and other aspects of American life, including books, films, language, and politics.
Observing how jazz has become a cultural institution, widely celebrated as ‘America’s classical music,’ the book also never los…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781009420198 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 1009420194 |
| Author: | Michael Borshuk |
| Publisher: | Cambridge University Press |
| Imprint: | Cambridge University Press |
| Format: | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages: | 400 |
| Release Date: | 31 January 2024 |
| Weight: | 730g |
| Dimensions: | 236mm x 158mm x 27mm |
| Series: | Cambridge Themes in American Literature and Culture |
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What They're Saying
Critics Review
‘In this elegant, bold, ambitious, and much-needed intervention in the standard histories of Jazz, Borshuk brings together an all-star cast of leading scholars on a comprehensive set of topics that together enable us all to make a great leap forward in understanding the music’s essential relation to American culture. The book begins with several insightful discussions of the specific aesthetic features that define jazz in the context of improvisation, race, literature, and performance, then situates the music historically in terms of Harlem, Modernism, and the watershed upheaval that peaked in 1968; from there, it connects jazz to American vernacular, the personal style of “cool,” and the music’s eventual and always fraught relations with institutions of various kinds, its representation in poetry, autobiography, liner notes, and in the visual realm from cinema to TV to photography. An invaluable resource, a stunning achievement.’ T. R. Johnson, Tulane University, Author of New Orleans: A Writer’s City
‘Borshuk’s collection of 22 uniformly excellent essays is evidence of how vibrant, multifaceted, and productive the field of ‘new jazz studies’ has been. Each chapter is concise and tightly argued; several exemplify the inspiration and creativity of the music itself. Impressively, the volume holds together thematically while addressing a wide variety of topics … Highly recommended.’ E. T. Atkins, CHOICE
‘… displays a liberal reading of the history and impact of jazz, further locating it as a cultural touchstone in the twenty-first century.’ John Clark, Notes: the Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association
About The Author
Michael Borshuk
Michael Borshuk is the author of Swinging the Vernacular: Jazz and African American Modernist Literature (2006), which won the Texas Tech University President’s Book Award for Outstanding Faculty Publication. He has written widely on African American literature, American modernism, and music. For ten years, he wrote on jazz for Coda magazine.
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