The Jazz Cadence of American Culture
Exploring Jazz's Impact on Arts, Politics, and Daily Life
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Columbia University Press
Published:12th Jan '99
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
This anthology explores the extensive influence of jazz on American culture through essays, speeches, and interviews, including insights from notable figures. The Jazz Cadence of American Culture is a vital resource.
In The Jazz Cadence of American Culture, Robert G. O'Meally compiles a rich collection of essays, speeches, and interviews that explore the profound impact of jazz on various facets of American life. This anthology delves into how jazz has influenced not just the arts, but also politics and the rhythms of everyday existence. Among the notable contributions are an essay on James Weldon Johnson as a cultural critic, an engaging interview with jazz musician Wynton Marsalis, and a thought-provoking speech discussing the heroic image in jazz. The collection also features a newspaper review of the innovative performance, 'Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk.'
The book is organized thematically, focusing on American artistic expression from 1920 to 1970, a period marked by significant political and artistic upheaval. O'Meally brings together a diverse array of voices, including Stanley Crouch, August Wilson, and Jacqui Malone, each offering unique insights into the relationship between jazz and other art forms. The opening section provides a context for jazz's place in American culture, with contributions that unpack the meaning of jazz and examine its improvisational nature.
Furthermore, the anthology takes an interdisciplinary approach, examining jazz's influence on visual arts, dance, sports, and literature. Essays range from Ann Douglas's exploration of jazz's impact on architectural design to Zora Neale Hurston's reflections on African-American dance. The Jazz Cadence of American Culture serves as an essential resource for scholars, students, and anyone interested in understanding the indelible mark that jazz has left on American culture throughout the twentieth century.
O'Meally's volume is the first to focus exclusively on the rich interdisciplinary commentary that jazz has inspired over the decades... Impressive and thoughtfully assembled. -- Mark Tucker Jazz Times An important resource for understanding how such hard-to-define aspects as 'hipness' and 'soulfulness' shape a culture and its most characteristic forms of artistic expression. -- Jerome Klinkowitz American Literary Scholarship An innovative approach to understanding jazz within a larger social context. Library Journal Both a celebration and an analysis of jazz, this massive omnibus of essays, interviews, riffs, reminiscences, lectures and meditations examines the impact of jazz on American culture from the 1920s Harlem Renaissance to the 1960s black arts revolution... Outstanding. Publishers Weekly There is much that is ducal among the 35 wide-ranging essays collected in The Jazz Cadence of American Culture. Billboard O'Meally has assembled an impressive anthology that achieves an almost synesthetic rendering of jazz...the best designed reference book on the topic to date. It should be in every library. Choice The Jazz Cadence of American Culture is a celebration of jazz that goes beyond the usual jazz history, carefully and informatively examining the impact of jazz on other arts, politics, and daily life. The Bookwatch A monument to a grand and vital intellectual tradition that we cannot afford to neglect as jazz enters its second century--and as that great interdisciplinary, interpretive synthesis of jazz scholarship finally gets written. Notes If race keeps us apart, jazz brings us together, as Ralph Ellison pointed out when he called American life 'jazz shaped.' The 35 essays in The Jazz Cadence of American Culture, edited by Robert G. O'Meally, testify that Ellison was on to something. The Washington Post Book World
ISBN: 9780231104494
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
576 pages