African American Jazz and Rap: Social and Philosophical Examinations of Black Expressive Behavior - Softcover

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9780786408283: African American Jazz and Rap: Social and Philosophical Examinations of Black Expressive Behavior

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0786408286 ISBN 13: 9780786408283

Publisher: McFarland, 2001

Music is an expressive voice of a culture, often more so than literature. While jazz and rap are musical genres popular among people of numerous racial and social backgrounds, they are truly important historically for their representation of and impact upon African American culture and traditions. Essays offer interdisciplinary study of jazz and rap as they relate to black culture in America. The essays are grouped under sections. One examines an Afrocentric approach to understanding jazz and rap; another, the history, culture, performers, instruments, and political role of jazz and rap. There are sections on the expressions of jazz in dance and literature; rap music as art, social commentary, and commodity; and the future. Each essay offers insight and thoughtful discourse on these popular musical styles and their roles within the black community and in American culture as a whole. References are included for each essay.

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About the Author:

James L. Conyers, Jr., is a winner of the Cheikh Anta Diop Ankh Award for Distinguished Research in the Discipline of African American Studies. He is the director of the African American Studies Program and university professor of African American Studies at the University of Houston.

From Booklist:

For viewers of Ken Burns' recent TV documentary Jazz who came away from the program feeling--as many critics did--that the series raised more questions about jazz history, theory, and performers than it answered, these two upcoming books will provide challenging and informative accounts of the amorphous musical culture called jazz. A broad theoretical examination of African American music is at the heart of editor Conyers' collection of essays. A variety of writers contribute to Conyers' theme that jazz, like the rap music that succeeded it, is an indigenous American folk music whose innovative use of melody and rhythm places it in the echelon of great art. The essays examine jazz history, unsung performers and their instruments, jazz culture in the U.S and abroad, and, most of all, the greater political and economic significance of jazz in American history. This collection makes the argument that both jazz and rap have had to confront the conflicting demands of art and commerce and both are struggling to maintain their artistic (and political) credentials in the face of the vulgar demands of the marketplace. Ted Leventhal
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