Making Jazz French: Music and Modern Life in Interwar Paris(American Encounters/Global Interactions)

Between the world wars, Paris welcomed not only a number of glamorous American expatriates including Jospehine Baker and F. Scott Fitzgerald, but also a dynamic musical style emerging in the United States: jazz. Roaring through cabarets, music halls, and dance clubs, the upbeat, syncopated rhythms of jazz soon added to the allure of Paris as a center of international nightlife and cutting-edge modern culture. In Making Jazz French, Jeffrey H. Jackson examines not only how and why jazz became so widely performed in Paris in the 1920s and 1930s but also why it was so controversial. Drawing on memoirs, press accounts, and cultural criticism, Jackson uses the history of jazz in Paris to illuminate the challenges confounding French national identity during the interwar years. As he explains, many French people initially regarded jazz as alien because of its associations with America and Africa. Some reveled in its explosive energy and the exoticism of its racial connotations, while others saw it as a dangerous reversal of France's most cherished notions of "civilization."At the same time, many French musicians, though not threatened by jazz as a musical style, feared their jobs would vanish with the arrival of American performers. By the 1930s, however, a core group of French fans, critics, and musicians had incorporated jazz into the French entertainment tradition. Today it is an integral part of Parisian musical performance. In showing how jazz became French, Jackson reveals some of the ways a musical form created in the United States became an international phenomenon and acquired new meanings unique to the places where it was heard and performed.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 1 The Arrival of Jazz 13 2 The Spread of Jazz 34 3 Jazz and the City of Paris 52 4 The Meanings of Jazz: America, Negre, and Civilization 71 5 Making Jazz Familiar: Music Halls and the Avant-Garde 104 6 Making Jazz French: Parisian Musicians and Jazz Fans 123 7 New Bands and New Tensions: Jazz and the Labor Problem 143 8 The Discovery of Hot Jazz 154 9 Epilogue 191 Appendix: Histories of Jazz in Interwar France 205 Notes 211 Selected Bibliography 255 Index 261

About the Author :
Jeffrey H. Jackson is Assistant Professor of History at Rhodes College.

Review :
"This is an outstanding little book--a highly readable history of jazz in interwar Paris and a brilliant case study of French cosmopolitanism... Entertaining, informative, authoritative, and broad in scope, Jackson's study will appeal to readers of varied interests..."--Library Journal (Starred Review) "[A]n enjoyable approach to jazz on the European scene... [A] topnotch reading experience, one that is both entertaining and informative."--Lee Prosser, Jazzreview.com "[A] scholarly but still very readable look at how Jazz affected French culture, particularly in Paris, between the two World Wars."--David Dupont, Cadence "[A] welcome addition to the burgeoning field of studies of the impact of jazz in France... Based on careful archival investigation, as well as on very solid and wide-ranging knowledge of existing work, this account includes much new material and is informed by a considerable originality of approach."--Colin Nettelbeck, H-France Book Reviews "[E]rudite... Recommended."--F. Martin, CHOICE "In the first half of his book, Jackson provides a fresh analysis of the context of the introduction of jazz in Paris and, more significantly, how and why jazz symbolized modern life to the interwar French... [T]he larger importance of Jackson's study is as a corrective: interwar xenophobia and integral nationalism were not the only cultural responses to modernity and the interwar crises in France. Rather the almost mythic French cosmopolitan spirit also flourished during these troubled times, a useful reminder in light of horrors of the 1940s."--Brett Berliner, L'Esprit Createur "[M]akes an important contribution to our understanding of how and why jazz was adopted and adapted by the French, investigating the cultural context in which this integration was operated. The whole is underpinned by thorough scholarly research evident in the numerous notes."--Jacques Protat, Review of Popular Music "Jackson makes an important contribution to historical studies in complicating understandings of French cultural nationalism between two world wars... [C]ompelling."-- Jody Blake, American Historical Review "Making Jazz French is a well-written introduction to the subject."-- Jon Cowans, French Politics, Culture and Society "Making Jazz French is a valuable exploration of the cultural history of modern France, one that should especially inspire those interested in global perspectives on French history and culture."-- Tyler Stovall, The Historian "Jackson's interesting ... work traces how a new 'cabaret culture' replaced big dancehalls, examines the effect recording technology had on the spread of jazz, and shows how, by the end of the 30s, the indefatigable French had managed to incorporate jazz into a new idea of a national cultural tradition."--Steven Poole, The Guardian "Jackson's research is exemplary..."--Ron Wynn, Nashville City Paper