From its beginning, jazz has presented a contradictory social world: jazz musicians have worked dilligently to tear down old boundaries, but they have just as resolutely constructed new ones. David Ake's vibrant and original book considers the diverse musics and related identities that jazz communities shaped over the course of the twentieth century, exploring the many ways in which jazz musicians and audiences experience and understand themselves, their music, their communities, and their world at large. Revealing the persuasiveness of romantic narratives with jazz criticism, education and commerce, Jazz Cultures provides wonderful new readings of specific pieces of music and invites readers to question the catergories to which these works and their composers have been assigned.

Writing as a professional pianist and composer, the author blends careful historical research with intelligent textual criticism. He looks at evolving meanings, values and ideals - as well as the sounds-that musicians, audiences, and critics carry to and from the various activities they call jazz. Among the compelling topics he discusses is the "visuality" of music: the relationship between performance demeanor and musical meaning.

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