They have an obligation to tell truth to power and provide views of alternative realities. These essays explore many dimensions of the jazz life and its perspectives on cultural realities.

Here is a new interpretation of Chicago jazz that reveals the role of race, culture, and politics in the development of this daring musical style.

It tells of the early segregation in bands, of the gradual breaking down of the color barriers first by the musicians themselves and then by the public, and of the problems still to be resolved.To this illuminating guide, Leonard Feather ...

Readers will learn that music based on jazz beats can be heard all over the world but the roots of the style are distinctly American.

A panoramic history of the genre brings to life the diverse places in which jazz evolved, traces the origins of its various styles, and offers commentary on the music itself.

The most highly-acclaimed jazz theory book ever published!

. . His critiques augment and enhance our understanding and appreciation of great artistry, but they do much more. This is new, imaginative, original, and generative work.

This exceptional, comprehensive work clearly illustrates Braggs’s innovative and valuable conceptualization of 'jazz diasporas' as spaces that trouble national, racial, and artistic boundaries."—Omi Osun Joni L. Jones, University of ...

Special Features NEW TO THIS EDITION is a chapter entitled "NOW" which considers recent developments in contemporary jazz and discusses such players as: John Zorn, Kenny G, Dave Sanborn, Joe Henderson, and Wayne Shorter.

In a series of vividly drawn portraits and in-depth interviews with musicians, composers, and others in the genre, this book takes an exciting look at the contemporary jazz scene and provides an invaluable road map to the music of tomorrow.