William Howland Kenney is a jazz clarinetist and Associate Professor of History and American Studies at Kent State University. He is the coeditor with Scott Deveaux of The Music of James Scott.
"Kenney, both a jazz musician and an associate professor at Kent
State University, employs all his diverse expertise in creating
this highly detailed study of a crucial chapter in the story of
America's homegrown music. Kenney's short book is a serious and
valuable work of scholarship, drawing heavily upon source material
to describe and explain social and historical aspects of this
period."--Los Angeles Daily News
"Concise and informative...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."--Publishers Weekly
"Kenney's scholarship should increase his cultural history's appeal
for readers who aren't professional historians as well as for those
who aren't amateur jazz scholars....Always
authentic."--Booklist
"An entertaining and well-documented account of Chicago jazz in the
Roaring 20s....Kenney's talent for vivid description makes the era
come alive."--Library Journal
"Kenney's meticulously researched and carefully thought through
book is a paradigm of what jazz scholarship ought to be. Jazz fans
and scholars alike will find here a whole new view of this
formative early period."--James Lincoln Collier, author of Benny
Goodman and the Swing Era, Duke Ellington, and Louis Armstrong
"William Howland Kenney's detailed, superbly written investigation
of the 1920s Chicago jazz scene is a model historical study of a
community bound together by a cultural practice....The musicians
are presented here with a new clarity, and Kenney's meticulous
research shows how the Chicago jazz heyday was molded, and soon
swept away, by larger historical trends. This finely-tuned critical
exploration is a valuable contribution to the cultural history of
jazz
and the 1920s."--Burton W. Peretti, author of The Creation of Jazz:
Music, Race, and Culture in Urban America
"A concise and persuasive interpretation of the intersections of
race, demographic shifts, urban culture and music that made
Chicago, during the 1920s, a carefully-selected anthology of
well-known and fugitive pieces, offers multiple perspectives on an
elusive, sardonic and mocking genius who transcended the
constraints of white racism and paternalism. Mark Tucker, an
authority on Ellington's early life, provides succinct
introductions to this and another
hundred 'Selections' in a compilation which is both a joy to read
and an indispensable addition to American Studies, Ellingtonia, and
jazz criticism."--John White, University of Hull
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)
"Kenney, both a jazz musician and an associate professor at Kent State University, employs all his diverse expertise in creating this highly detailed study of a crucial chapter in the story of America's homegrown music. Kenney's short book is a serious and valuable work of scholarship, drawing heavily upon source material to describe and explain social and historical aspects of this period."--Los Angeles Daily News "Concise and informative...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."--Publishers Weekly "Kenney's scholarship should increase his cultural history's appeal for readers who aren't professional historians as well as for those who aren't amateur jazz scholars....Always authentic."--Booklist "An entertaining and well-documented account of Chicago jazz in the Roaring 20s....Kenney's talent for vivid description makes the era come alive."--Library Journal "Kenney's meticulously researched and carefully thought through book is a paradigm of what jazz scholarship ought to be. Jazz fans and scholars alike will find here a whole new view of this formative early period."--James Lincoln Collier, author of Benny Goodman and the Swing Era, Duke Ellington, and Louis Armstrong "William Howland Kenney's detailed, superbly written investigation of the 1920s Chicago jazz scene is a model historical study of a community bound together by a cultural practice....The musicians are presented here with a new clarity, and Kenney's meticulous research shows how the Chicago jazz heyday was molded, and soon swept away, by larger historical trends. This finely-tuned critical exploration is a valuable contribution to the cultural history of jazz and the 1920s."--Burton W. Peretti, author of The Creation of Jazz: Music, Race, and Culture in Urban America "A concise and persuasive interpretation of the intersections of race, demographic shifts, urban culture and music that made Chicago, during the 1920s, a carefully-selected anthology of well-known and fugitive pieces, offers multiple perspectives on an elusive, sardonic and mocking genius who transcended the constraints of white racism and paternalism. Mark Tucker, an authority on Ellington's early life, provides succinct introductions to this and another hundred 'Selections' in a compilation which is both a joy to read and an indispensable addition to American Studies, Ellingtonia, and jazz criticism."--John White, University of Hull
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