The Jazz Revolution: Twenties America & the Meaning of Jazz

In this illuminating work, Kathy Ogren places jazz - a controversial form at its inception - in the social and cultural context of 1920s America and sheds new light on its impact on the nation. She traces its dissemination from the honky-tonks of New Orleans, New York, and Chicago, to the clubs and cabarets of such places as Kansas City and Los Angeles, and further to the airwaves. Ogren argues that certain characteristics of jazz, notably the participatory nature of the music, its unusual rhythms and emphasis, gave it a special resonance for a society undergoing rapid change. Those who resisted the changes criticized the new music; those who accepted them - for example, the Harlem Renaissance participants - celebrated its possibilities. Ogren also descibes the many other factors that contributed to the growth of jazz as a popular music during the 1920s, such as the migration of African-Americans north to urban areas; prohibition, which sent people out in droves to gang-controlled speakeasies, many of which provided jazz entertainment; and the 1920s economic book, which made music readily available through radio and the phonography record.