Though jazz and classic blues are really early twentieth ... of the American slave trade--had already taken on special significance in the history of black music-making in America. The most ...

For those of us engaged in trying to understand it, the history of jazz turns out to be much more than a study of this extraordinary American music. Jazz has offered a precise prism through which ...

Jazz blends elements from varied traditions, including African and African American, religious, brass band, and blues styles. The improvisational music that results has a syncopated rhythm ...

Its early coverage of jazz reflected both tendencies, signaling an openness to the emerging form even as it offered a rather patronizing take on the music ... of its African American roots.