Jazz, Blues

A contemporary of blues greats Blind Blake, Tampa Red, and Papa Charlie Jackson, Chicago blues artist William ‘Big Bill’ Broonzy influenced an array of postwar musicians, including Muddy Waters, Memp …

At the close of the Second World War, waves of African American musicians migrated to Paris, eager to thrive in its reinvigorated jazz scene. Jazz Diasporas challenges the notion that Paris was a col …

Hailed by corporate, philanthropic, and governmental organizations as a metaphor for democratic interaction and business dynamics, contemporary jazz culture has a story to tell about the relationship …

Throughout his life, Louis Armstrong tried to explain how singing with a barbershop quartet on the streets of New Orleans was foundational to his musicianship. Until now, there has been no in-depth i …

Winner of the 2023 ASCAP Foundation Deems Taylor/Virgil Thomson Book Award Recipient of a 2023 Certificate of Merit for Best Historical Research in Recorded Jazz from the Association for Recorded Sou …

Holy Ghost is the first extended study of free jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler, who is seen today as one of the most important innovators in the history of jazz.  Ayler synthesized children’s song …

Association of Recorded Sound Collections Awards for Excellence Best Research in Recorded Jazz Music–Certificate of Merit (2013) The coal fields of West Virginia would seem an unlikely market for big …

A compelling biography of virtuoso, baritone saxophonist Pepper Adams and how his life intersected with some of the greatest poets, writers, painters, and musicians of his time. Pepper Adams is more …

George Lewis, one of the great traditional jazz clarinetists, was born in 1900 at about the same time that jazz itself first appeared in New Orleans. And by the time he died, on the last day of 1968, …

The New York loft jazz scene of the 1970s was a pivotal period for uncompromising, artist-produced work. Faced with a flagging jazz economy, a group of young avant-garde improvisers chose to eschew t …