Keep Cool

The jazz movement is rooted in the direct action of African Americans that followed the mass exodus from the rural south to the urban north of the United States during the First World War. Unshackled from the oppression and poverty of the south, jazz music became an expression of a new-found liberation.

Keep Cool is the first book to detail the political development of the jazz movement, from its roots at the turn of the nineteenth century to its 'discovery' by the white music industry in the 1920s. Focusing on pioneers at each stage of its development – such as Lester A. Walton, W.C. Handy , Paul Robeson and Clarence Williams – Ted Vincent illustrates the importance of Black activists to the evolution of jazz, and its links with the broader spectrum of Black politics. The influence of radical activists and bodies such as the Garveyites is detailed and the organisational grounding for jazz is explored.

Including interviews with early members of the jazz community, this is a fascinating and important history of the origins of American popular music.