{"product_id":"the-jazz-revolution-twenties-america-and-the-meaning-of-jazz-9780195051537","title":"The Jazz Revolution: Twenties America and the Meaning of Jazz","description":"\u003cp\u003eBorn of African rhythms  the spiritual \"call and response \" and other American musical traditions  jazz was by the 1920s the dominant influence on this countrys popular music. Writers of the Harlem Renaissance (Langston Hughes  Claude McKay  Zora Neale Hurston) and the \"Lost Generation\" (Malcolm Cowley  F. Scott Fitzgerald  and Gertrude Stein)  along with many other Americans celebrated it--both as an expression of black culture and as a symbol of rebellion against American society. But an equal number railed against it. Whites were shocked by its raw emotion and sexuality  and blacks considered it \"devils music\" and criticized it for casting a negative light on the black community. In this illuminating work  Kathy Ogren places this controversy in the social and cultural context of 1920s America and sheds new light on jazzs impact on the nation as she traces its dissemination from the honky-tonks of New Orleans  New York  and Chicago  to the clubs and cabarets of such places as Kansas City and Los Angeles  and further to the airwaves. Ogren argues that certain characteristics of jazz  notably the participatory nature of the music  its unusual rhythms and emphasis  gave it a special resonance for a society undergoing rapid change. Those who resisted the changes criticized the new music; those who accepted them embraced jazz. In the words of conductor Leopold Stowkowski  \"Jazz had come to stay because it was an expression of the times  of the breathless  energetic  superactive times in which we were living  it was useless to fight against it.\" Numerous other factors contributed to the growth of jazz as a popular music during the 1920s. The closing of the Storyville section of New Orleans in 1917 was a signal to many jazz greats to move north and west in search of new homes for their music. Ogren follows them to such places as Chicago  New York  and San Francisco  and  using the musicians own words as often as possible  tells of their experiences in the clubs and cabarets. Prohibition  ushered in by the Volstead Act of 1919  sent people out in droves to gang-controlled speak-easies  many of which provided jazz entertainment. And the 1920s economic boom  which made music readily available through radio and the phonograph record  created an even larger audience for the new music. But Ogren maintains that jazz itself  through its syncopated beat  improvisation  and blue tonalities  spoke to millions. Based on print media  secondary sources  biographies and autobiographies  and making extensive use of oral histories  The Jazz Revolution offers provocative insights into both early jazz and American culture.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45652948451381,"sku":"ByrdShop_019505153X","price":51.65,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780195051537.jpg?v=1781854359","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-jazz-revolution-twenties-america-and-the-meaning-of-jazz-9780195051537","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}