This course examines the history of one of America’s great contributions to world culture: the music known as "jazz."
Beginning with the music and dance of the antebellum plantation, this music born from a slave culture would eventually spawn a musical industry that African-American musicians would dominate for decades to come.
These lectures follow the story of Jazz in its many shapes, including:
- ragtime
- the blues
- the swing music of the big band era
- boogie-woogie
- big band blues
- the rise of modern jazz forms including bebop, cool, modal, free, and fusion jazz.
These lectures on jazz’s music and most important artists show how jazz continues to defy definition, category, and stagnation.