Jazz Cultures

Rating:
Summary: An informative and engaging history
Review: In Jazz Cultures, David Ake (Assistant Professor of Music, University of Nevada, Reno) presents an informative and engaging history of the only authentically American contribution to world music -- Jazz. Professor Ake draws upon his expertise as a professional pianist and composer to present an impressively "reader friendly" historical survey of how jazz musicians and their audiences evolved an understanding and appreciation for this unique music which reflected the roots of the Black American subculture, went on to cross over into the dominant white popular culture, and go on to eventually achieve a world wide acclaim. Of special interest are Ake's commentaries on the concept of a "jazz standard" in the decade of the 1990s and how jazz history has never been a linear evolvement of musical styles, but a potpourri of disparate (and sometimes conflicting) creations, compositions, attitudes, performers and performances. Also available in hardcover...Jazz Cultures is strongly recommended reading for both students of American Music History and the non-specialist general reader with an interest in the development of this complex and original American musical tradition with its sometimes subtle, sometimes profound influences on 20th Century American popular culture.