Jazz in Black and White: Race, Culture, and Identity in the Jazz Community [Paperback]

Charley Gerard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 30, 2001

Is jazz a universal idiom or is it an African-American art form? Although whites have been playing jazz almost since it first developed, the history of jazz has been forged by a series of African-American artists whose styles caught the interest of their musical generation--masters such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, and Charlie Parker. Whether or not white musicians deserve their secondary status in jazz history, one thing is clear: developments in jazz have been a result of black people's search for a meaningful identity as Americans and members of the African diaspora. Blacks are not alone in being deeply affected by these shifts in African-American racial attitudes and cultural strategies. Historically in closer contact with blacks than nearly any other group of white Americans, white jazz musicians have also felt these shifts. More importantly, their careers and musical interests have been deeply affected by them. The author, an active participant in the jazz world as composer, performer, and author of several books on jazz and Latin music, hopes that this book will encourage jazz lovers to take a rhetoric-free look at the charged issue of race as is it has affected the world of jazz. A work about the formulation of identity in the face of racial difference, the book considers topics such as the promotion of black Southern culture and inner-city styles like rhythm and blues and rap as a means of achieving black racial solidarity. It discusses the body of music fostered by an identification to Africa, the conversion of black jazz musicians to Islam and other Eastern religions, and the impact of a jazz community united by heroin use. White jazz musicians who identify with black culture in an unsettling form by speaking black dialect and calling themselves African-American is examined, as is the assimilation of jazz into the wider American culture.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Is enjoying jazz music a purely aesthetic experience, with pleasure derived from the arrangement of notes and tones? Or does its enjoyment tap something more fundamental, such as a shared ethnic identity or cultural experience? In other words, do only those that lived the blues have the right to play the blues? This question lies at the heart of the black-white division in the jazz community, according to the author, a white jazz saxophonist. Gerard decided to write his book after observing years of racial animosity between fellow jazz musicians. This excellent study of the question surveys previous literature dealing with race and music, including Nat Hentoff's early essay, "Race Prejudice in Jazz," and LeRoi Jones' Blues People. Other sections reprint interviews with black and white musicians. The book draws no firm conclusions, but Gerard rejects extreme arguments from both whites and blacks. To highlight the complex role of race in jazz, Gerard closes with a chapter on Don Byron, a black clarinetist influenced by klezmer--Jewish folk music--who finds himself outside of both the white and the black communities. Ted Leventhal --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Kirkus Reviews

Gerard, a white musician whose previous books have been about how to play jazz, turns to a consideration of who is doing the playing. Is jazz a specifically African-American music? If so, what does that mean? Can white musicians play the music with any authenticity? These questions have been debated since jazz was first recognized as a musical genre, and recent histories of the music and arguments over its origins and evolution have been fraught with the tensions that racial issues in America always bring. In that respect, this volume is a refreshing change from recent polemics. It is written by a jazz musician who is openly ambivalent and by his own admission ``unable to decide whether jazz belongs to anyone who has the talent to play it'' or whether it is a black institution. Gerard's ambivalence manifests itself fruitfully in his unwillingness to accept cant and sloppy reasoning from either side of the argument. He is capable of deflating the pretensions and inaccuracies of such critics as James Lincoln Collier and Stanley Crouch with an admirable evenhandedness. The book consists of eight interlocking essays (although sometimes the connections are a bit hard to perceive) in which he considers such issues as the degree of African influence in jazz and the ways in which the jazz community constitutes itself. Although the thread of his argument is occasionally obscured by the book's structure, this is an intelligent discussion of a loaded issue. Not surprisingly, Gerard comes down in the middle of this debate, but he does so with integrity and thoughtfulness, making the middle look like the only logical place to be. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Praeger Paperback (July 30, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0275974391
• ISBN-13: 978-0275974398
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,042,717 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.