MUSC 223 History of Jazz

This course surveys the history of jazz from its origins in the early twentieth century to the approximate present. We will study the various stylistic milestones of jazz such as big band jazz, bebop, cool jazz, etc., as well as the cultural, social, and political circumstances that gave rise to these developments. Among the issues we will discuss are: the roots of jazz in blues music and other African-American music of the early twentieth century; the spread of jazz to white American culture in the 1920s; the birth of bebop against the backdrop of the Civil Rights Era; the use of jazz as Cold War propaganda; and the various “cross-over” jazz movements in the later twentieth century.

Credits

3.0

Core

Developing Informed Viewpoints

Offered

Spring semester, odd years