Description
Book SynopsisIn the context of a shifting domestic and international status quo that was evolving in the decades following World War II, French audiences used jazz as a means of negotiating a wide range of issues that were pressing to them and to their fellow citizens. Despite the fact that jazz was fundamentally linked to the multicultural through its origins in the hands of African-American musicians, happenings within the French jazz public reflected much about France's postwar society. In the minds of many, jazz was connected to youth culture, but instead of challenging traditional gender expectations, the music tended to reinforce long-held stereotypes. French critics, musicians, and fans contended with the reality of American superpower strength and often strove to elevate their own country's stature in relation to the United States by finding fault with American consumer society and foreign policy aims. Jazz audiences used this music to condemn American racism and to support the American civ
Trade ReviewJazz and Postwar French Identity is an important contribution to the growing literature on jazz in France. Particularly valuable are McGregor’s studies of jazz and gender, and of the music’s place in French colonial and post-colonial experience; the author’s discussions of the local jazz scene’s framing of race, and its relationships with an imagined ‘America’, are equally concentrated and assiduous. -- Tom Perchard, Goldsmiths, London University
Jazz and Postwar French Identity underscores the remarkable historical interconnections that exist between the United States and France, the multiple ways in which cross-cultural pollination occurred, how transnational relationships were formed, and ultimately how the complex process of disentangling these networks stands to have lasting implications for contemporary conversations on culture, identity, globalization, and of course racialization. -- Dominic Thomas, Letessier Professor of French and francophone studies, UCLA, author of "Black France" and "Africa and France"
Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter One: Le Monde du jazz Chapter Two: The Gendered Jazz Public Chapter Three: The Question and Politics of Race Chapter Four: More than an American Music Chapter Five: Red, White, and Blue Notes: French Jazz Chapter Six: And What of Empire? Conclusion: Improvising the Nation
