AM 236: Jazz: A Multicultural Expression

WF, 12:20-1:40; FI 207; Lewis Rosengarten

Jazz music, often referred to as the only truly American art form, has a rich and unique history of interaction among many diverse cultures, classes, ethnicities and geographically distant peoples. The emergence of Jazz in the first decade of the twentieth century, as a separate, unique and profound musical expression is a direct result of the combination of African, African-American, European, Latin-American and American sacred influences. These combinations continued to feed Jazz through each period that followed. This course will explore the most vivid demonstrations of these multicultural interactions as they contributed to the development of what is now considered to be "American Classsical Music" (Salzman, Twentieth Century Music, 1988).