Jazz the American theme song - Collier, James Lincoln (Oxford University Press, 1993)
Includes bibliographical references (p. [277]-308) and index
The inevitability of jazz in America -- The rise of individualism and the jazz solo -- Going it alone -- Hot rhythm -- The embrace of show business -- Art and the academy -- Jazz and pop -- Black, white, and blue -- The critics -- Local jazz
Praised by the Washington Post as a 'tough, unblinkered critic,' James Lincoln Collier is probably the most controversial writer on jazz today. His acclaimed biographies of Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Benny Goodman continue to spark debate in jazz circles, and his iconoclastic articles on jazz over the past 30 years have attracted even more attention.; Questioning everything we think we know about jazz - its origins, its innovative geniuses, the importance of improvisation and spontaneous inspiration in a performance- - and the jazz world, these ten provocative essays on the music and its place in American culture overturn tired assumptions and will alternately enrage, enlighten, and entertain