Jazz Transatlantic, Volume II

Book excerpt: A CHOICE 2018 Outstanding Academic Title In Jazz Transatlantic, Volume II, renowned scholar Gerhard Kubik extends and expands the epic exploration he began in Jazz Transatlantic, Volume I. This second volume amplifies how musicians influenced by swing, bebop, and post-bop in Africa from the end of World War II into the 1970s were interacting with each other and re-creating jazz. Much like the first volume, Kubik examines musicians who adopted a wide variety of jazz genres, from the jive and swing of the 1940s to modern jazz. Drawing on personal encounters with the artists, as well as his extensive field diaries and engagement with colleagues, Kubik looks at the individual histories of musicians and composers within jazz in Africa. He pays tribute to their lives and work in a wider social context. The influences of European music are also included in both volumes as it is the constant mixing of sources and traditions that Kubik seeks to describe. Each of these groundbreaking volumes explores the international cultural exchange that shaped and continues to shape jazz. Together, these volumes culminate an integral recasting of international jazz history.