An essay on the politics of music and race and a forecast of what Edward O. Bland called "the death of jazz."

Jazz is born in New Orleans at the turn of the century emerging from several forms of music including ragtime, marching bands, work songs, spirituals, creole music, funeral parade music and above all, the blues. Musicians profiled here who advanced early jazz are Buddy Bolden, Jelly Roll Morton, Sidney Bechet, Freddie Keppard, and musicians of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band.

"From reggae to rumba, jazz to juju, Gospel is now expressed in as many ways as there are music genres. The only consistent thread is that it carries a Christian "good news" message and remains defined by the influence of Christian expression in black music. America's Music Legacy showcases the musical legends performing the songs that continue to attract and entice the whole world, because they truly are the best of all that is America"--Container....

In the mid 1930s, as the Great Depression refuses to lift, Benny Goodman finds himself hailed as the "King of Swing" and becomes the first white bandleader to hire black musicians. He has a host or rivals among them, Chick Webb, Tommy Dorsey, Jimmie Lunceford, Glen Miller and Artie Shaw. Louis Armstrong heads a big band of his own, while Duke Ellington continues his independent course, but great black artists still can't eat or sleep in many of the...

For over thirty-five years, Soul train was a national institution, the premier U.S. television show for showcasing the latest names in the world of black music--Container.

An illustrated collection of African American spiritual songs.

A critical overview of the highly explosive and widely discussed musical artform popularly called gangsta rap. Bakari Kitwana examines the ways Black culture, male-female relationships, sexism, white supremacy (racism) and gun violence converge in the controversial rap music. Despite their attempts to forge Black unity, current heated debates about gangsta rap--across genders and generations--seem to create a greater divide. This handbook provides...