Peter Townsend
Edinburgh University Press, 2000
Paperback. 204pp. b&w illustrations
£12.99

Jazz in American Culture offers an informed and entertaining introduction to jazz - one of the great musical cultures of the world.

The book looks at jazz both as a music and as a culture within the wider American context, and aims to open up the subject to the non-specialist. It examines the social and institutional structures that have underpinned the music at particular stages in its history, from the 1930s through to the present, and considers its place as a component of the entertainment industry. Among the musicians introduced are Charlie Parker, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday and Lester Young.

Peter Townsend's distinctive approach to his subject includes a consideration of representations, of jazz in other art forms, including films and literary texts, such as the fiction of Ralph Ellison, Jack Kerouac and Toni Morrison, and the poetry of Langston Hughes. He also introduces the work of jazz-influenced painters such as Stuart Davis and Jackson Pollock, and discusses the significance of photography in jazz.

This book is published in association with the British Association for American Studies.

PETER TOWNSEND is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Music and Humanities of the University of Huddersfield.

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