Global Jazz

Catalog description

This course begins with a history of Jazz as it originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans during the early 1900s; and continues by investigating the influences that modern globalization has had on this genre, (starting with the Afro-Cuban Jazz movement of the 1950s). In addition to providing a historical context about the origins and the evolutionary trajectory of Jazz, this course also takes a cross-cultural perspective in addressing particular migratory influences that spurred the diverse branches of contemporary Global Jazz, including: Afro-Cuban Jazz, Jazz Manouche (Gypsy Jazz) and Flamenco, Brazilian Jazz, South Asian Jazz, Highlife and Afrobeat, South African Jazz, Gnawa Fusion, Gypsy Jazz, Oriental Jazz, and Khaleeji Jazz. Central questions: What is "Global Jazz"? How does global jazz manifest itself as an expression of cosmopolitanism within the context of transnational encounters? and What does the term "Global Jazz" do that "Jazz" does not? What does it make possible?