Freedom Music: Wales, Emancipation and Jazz 1850–1950

by Jen Wilson

Freedom Music traces the history of how early African American and jazz music came to Wales. From Abolitionist collaborations, minstrelsy, ragtime, blues, hot music, and swing, Jen Wilson shows us an innovative side of Wales previously hidden from history. This music appealed to Wales’ vibrant youth and those not part of the mainstream culture of chapels, choirs, and male voice choirs. Wilson unfolds this musical history by examining women’s emancipation, gender politics, social history, and Welsh culture. She looks at cultural innovations by women entrepreneurs during and from the First World War. Wilson also focuses on the history of African American music in Wales and highlights the widespread misogyny and discrimination within jazz music in Wales. The stories within Freedom Music will attract not only social and political historians, but also feminists, jazz fans, and general readers fascinated by the cast of characters who played and danced to the music.

336 pages, Paperback

Published September 15, 2019

Reviews

[Richard E. Rock · Rating 5 out of 5]

You don't have to be a jazz fan to appreciate this book. It's about so much more than music. This is social history explored through the prism of musical evolution, starting with the Fisk Jubilee Singers (all emancipated slaves) performing in Welsh music halls and concluding with wild and crazy teenagers dancing their socks off in nightclubs.
Along the way we collide with the jaw-droppingly racist and misogynistic attitudes of the time; fiery preachers warning of the dangers of "negro" music while others contend that it's "Jewish" music that is the most corrupting. We also discover a great many fascinating and surprising facts. Did you know that the legendary trumpet player Louis Armstrong once did a week's residency in a Swansea cafe? No, me neither.
This is not a book for academics alone. No, Freedom Music is accessible, informative and thoroughly entertaining, I highly recommend it.

[Peter Black · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly researched, informative and insightful history of women in jazz and its links to the slave trade, with some surprising nuggets of information about Swansea and its role in this narrative