James Reese Europe and American Music

Catalog description

This course will examine the impact of James Reese Europe (1880-1919) on the development of American music in the early twentieth century. An innovative musician and conductor, Europe organized and conducted the first jazz concerts at Carnegie Hall (1912-1914), founded an African American music school, and served as a collaborator with Irene and Vernon Castle, who made social dancing a world-wide rage. During World War I, James Reese Europe led the all-black “Hellfighters” 15th Infantry Band, which performed throughout France and offered Europeans their first exposure to ‘le jazz hot.’ Readings may include A Life in Ragtime: A Biography of James Reese Europe by Reid Badger; excerpts from Music and War in the United States, edited by Sarah Mahler Kraaz; From Harlem to the Rhine by Arthur W. Little; Black Manhattan by James Weldon Johnson; and Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry 1890-1919 by Tim Brooks. Sound and film recordings will also be utilized.