Traces the evolution of jazz from Its regional manifestations to its position as the 'true American music' Arising out of the syncopated rhythms of African music, Cajun songs, and ragtime, jazz - considered to be the one true form of American music by many audiophiles - evolved in many "scenes" throughout the country. The "Young Lions" jazz movement in New Orleans spread up the Mississippi in the Northern Migration. St. Louis and Sedalia, Missouri became jazz centres, while Count Basie led a revolution in Kansas City. Chicago in the 1920s - the era of Jelly Roll Morton, King Oliver, and Louis Armstrong - became a centre of freewheeling jazz, while classic jazz and swing took root in New York City in the '30s and '40s behind Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, and Benny Goodman, the "King of Swing." And while "boogie woogie" and "hot jazz" grew out of the Big Apple, a generation of experimental musicians such as Chet Baker and Stan Kenton stood at the forefront of West Coast jazz and the Los Angeles scene. Noted jazz writer Scott Yanow carefully traces the evolution of jazz from regional manifestations to an increasingly national language at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Part of the Greenwood Guides to American Roots Music series Written by one of the leading authorities on the genre Jazz is often described as the quintessential American music, but is rarely discussed from a regional perspective