"Among the many books on the history of jazz. . . an implicit
division of labor has solidified, whereby black artists play and
invent while white writers provide the commentary. . . . Eric
Porter's brilliant book seeks to trace the ways in which black jazz
musicians have made verbal sense of their accomplishments,
demonstrating the profound self-awareness of the artists themselves
as they engaged in discourse about their enterprise."--Susan
McClary, author of "Conventional Wisdom: The Content of Musical
Form
"With What Is This Thing Called Jazz Eric Porter has given us an
original portrait of black musicians as creators, thinkers and
politically conscious individuals. This well-written, thoroughly
researched work is a model of a new kind of scholarship about
African American musicians: one that shows them as people who are
both shaped by and actively shaping their political and social
context. One of the book's most important contributions is that it
takes seriously what the musicians themselves say about the music
and allows their voices to join that of critics and musicologists
in helping to construct a critical and philosophical framework for
analyzing the music. Professor Porter's work is rare in it's
balanced attention to the formal qualities of the music, historical
interpretation and theoretical reflection. His is a work that will
certainly shape the direction of future studies. "What Is This
Thing Called Jazz? is an extraordinary work."--Farah Jasmine
Griffin, author of "If You Can't Be Free, Be a Mystery: In Search
of Billie Holiday
"A major contribution to American Studies in music, Eric
Porter's lucidly written book is the first to thoroughly analyze
and contextualizethe critical, historical and aesthetic writings of
some of today's most innovative composer-performers. Placing the
vital concerns of artists at the center, this work provides
academic and lay readers alike with important new insights on how
African-American musicians sought to realize ambitious dreams and
concrete goals through direct action--not only in sound, but
through building alternative institutions that emphasized the
importance of community involvement."--George E. Lewis, Professor
of Music, Critical Studies/Experimental Practices Area University
of California, San Diego
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