Jazz: An American Journey

by Brian Harker

Jazz in the Twentieth Century places jazz music within its rich historical and cultural context. The book explains how and why jazz evolved as it did, as it emphasizes chronology, historical cause and effect, and the interactions between music and American history and culture. Presented from the point of view of the original participants (musicians, critics and audiences), the book focuses on the music with thirty-five recorded examples that are accompanied by a listening chart, commentary and analysis all to provides a more vivid setting for jazz, that grounds it in the time, place and worldview of its creators. The author examines the development of jazz including its origins (ca. 1900-1914), early jazz (ca. 1914-1929), swing (ca. 1929-1945), bop (ca. 1945-1960), free jazz to fusion (ca. 1960-1975), and postmodern jazz (ca. 1975-2000). For those interested in a vivid introduction to Jazz.

Genres: Jazz

368 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2004

Reviews

[Steph · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to purchase this book for one of my music classes way back when in college. It breaks down the history of jazz in a way that isn’t overwhelming, which is great because music history can be very difficult to learn at times. It shows how jazz developed through several different regions, and also illustrates how each demographic contributed to this musical style.