African American Jazz and Rap

The late James L. Conyers, Jr., winner of the Cheikh Anta Diop Ankh Award for Distinguished Research in the Discipline of African American Studies, was the director of the African American Studies Program and university professor of African American Studies at the University of Houston.

Table of Contents



Introduction (by James B. Stewart)     



I. Toward an Afrocentric Approach to the Study of Jazz and Rap Music

1. Metatheory and Methodology: Appraising the Black Experience

James L. Conyers, Jr.     

2. The Role of Criticism in Black Popular Culture

Warren C. Swindell     



II. “All That Jazz”: History, Culture, Performers, Instruments, and Political Functionality

3. “And All That Jazz” Has African Roots!

Learthen Dorsey     

4. Jazz Antecedents

Eddie S. Meadows     

5. The Life and Jazz Style of Blue Mitchell

Charles I. Miller     

6. Jazz Guitar: Ain’t No Jazz

George Walker and Mondo Eyen we Langa     

7. The Social Roots of African American Music: 1950-1970

Thomas J. Porter     

8. Jazz Musicians in Postwar Europe and Japan

Larry Ross     



III. Jazz Expressions in Dance and Literature

9. African American Dance and Music

Samuel A. Floyd, Jr.     

10. Lady Sings the Blues: Toni Morrison and the Jazz/Blues Aesthetic

Gloria T. Randle     

11. Al Young: Jazz Griot

Michael Carroll     



IV. Rap Music as Art Form, Social-Political Commentary, and Economic Commodity

12. The Rhythm of Rhyme: A Look at Rap Music as an Art Form from a Jazz Perspective

Reginald Thomas     

13. At the Vanguard: African American Life as Seen Through the Music of Selected Rap and Jazz Artists

Andrew P. Smallwood     

14. Africana Cosmology, Ethos, and Rap: A Social Study of Black Popular Culture

James L. Conyers, Jr.     



V. Toward the Future: Educating Future Generations and Preserving Cultural Traditions

15. Can You Sing Jazz? Perception and Appreciation of Jazz Music Among African American Young Adults

Nancy J. Dawson     

16. Hip-Hop and the Rap Music Industry

Tshombe Walker     

17. Ethnomusicology and the African American Tradition

George L. Starks, Jr.     

18. Reflections on Sterling Stuckey’s Slave Culture: Understanding Pan Afrikan Nationalism as a Cultural Force

Ahati N. N. Touré     



About the Contributors     

Index