Chicago Jazz: A Cultural History, 1904-1930

In this concise and informative academic study, historian Kenney traces the social and economic emergence of jazz in Chicago from its inception through the Depression, with particular emphasis on the 1920s, when Chicago became a major jazz center. The author, who teaches American studies at Kent State University, recounts African American migration into the city, and shows how nightclubs and cabarets helped to cultivate the evolving musical form. Out of South-side Chicago came such legendary black musicians as King Oliver, Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines. But Kenney maintains that white Chicago jazz musicians, such as Jimmy McPartland, Art Hodes and Frank Teschemacher, deserve more credit than is normally given. All Chicago jazz, he concludes, responded not only to tensions between the races, but also to the rise in prominence of the city. Photos not seen by PW. (May)