Criticism to the Critical: An Analysis of the Works of Jazz Historians

When researching the history of a specific topic, the viewpoints of historians can widely differ. My findings have concluded that each critic or historian has his own way of arguing who or what made jazz a beloved genre within American pop culture. Some even contend the location of its early origins. Throughout the text, several other sources remain indifferent in summarizing jazz. Paying no regard to any of the authors’ stance, the sources mentioned within my writing have provided beneficial information that will be used within my research assignment.

Shining Trumpets author Rudi Blesh presented the reader with an interesting argument. A true enthusiast himself, Blesh provided that because there are newer variations of jazz, the genre’s roots are losing transparency, and as a result, the music cannot truly be appreciated or understood. To give insight to the reader, he started the text with the earliest beginnings of jazz within the first three chapters and later on, its influence on other forms of music, such as the Blues as well as its spread outward from New Orleans. His focus was less of an attempt to give support to his claim that true jazz is dying and more of an attempt to enlighten the reader on what jazz is, in its purest form. As a cornerstone, he cited some primary sources such as old records and periodicals written during the height of genre. Interestingly enough, he used African music such as Ballanta and compared it with the tempo heard in the earlier jazz recordings. Other historians have taken a different approach to understanding it, however.

In The Jazz Tradition, Martin Williams seems to use the opposite approach. His level of argument is that the elements of jazz did not necessarily originate from ...

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...t deeper into the genre by telling of his losses following Katrina and his experience with musicians that are not so well known to the outsiders of the jazz community. Additionally, his aim was to make known that a façade exists about what many consider New Orleans jazz. He credits a “commercial culture” that has led to an “ignorance” about what the music represents (826). White also touched on what he considers to be a new jazz era in the aftermath of the hurricane.

Considering the different sources I have provided, many have covered locational factors, origins, and the individuals responsible for creating such a successful genre. While the authors have some subjectivity in writing about their topic as well as a shared affection for it, their sources have provided me with a substantial amount of credible information that will be crucial to my research paper.