"Spencer brings together many independent strands of the Harlem
Renaissance that have not been joined previously to propose a new
theory of the epoch. This book is an important contribution to the
history of African American music in the twentieth century". --
John Graziano, City University of New York
"His splendid reexamination of the Harlem Renaissance is a
critical study meriting serious consideration from all persons
concerned with American cultural history". -- Dominique-Rene de
Lerma, Lawrence University
Boldly conceived and compellingly argued, this revisionist work
offers a new interpretation of the Harlem Renaissance by focusing
on its music. Jon Michael Spencer challenges the emphasis of
earlier studies -- which tended to bypass music in favor of
literature -- as well as their general conclusion that the
Renaissance was a failure because it offered an inadequate solution
to the old problem of racism.
Spencer's discussion encompasses the music and writings of a
wide range of important figures, including William Grant Still,
James Weldon Johnson, Roland Hayes, Alain Locke, and R. Nathaniel
Dett. He argues that the singular accomplishment of the Harlem
Renaissance composers and musicians was to achieve a "two-tiered
mastery": their work drew on the "mood and spirit" of African
American folk music while mastering the forms and techniques of the
European classical tradition.
Spencer also contends that the Harlem Renaissance extended for
three decades beyond the 1920s. He thus contests assertions that
the arrival of the Great Depression effectively ended the
Renaissance, as issues of economic survival subsumed artistic
aspirations. In positing a much longer period for theRenaissance
and offering evidence for it, Spencer argues that this flowering of
African American creative endeavor constitutes a major cultural
legacy that can only be described as a resounding success.
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