Black music styles as vehicles for transnational and trans-racial exchange : perceptions of blackness in the music scenes of London and Paris (1920s-1950s)

Abstract

Intellectuals, writers, artists and historians have recognised a fundamental role of black genres in the general evolution of music because their influence has been considerable worldwide. In the early twentieth century, not only did the spreading of blues and early forms of jazz represent one of the greatest musical influences of the century, but it also influenced other forms of art. In the context of the expansion of studies on culture and race, the spread of black forms of art throughout Europe has increasingly received attention from scholars in recent years. A large number of studies have explored the vogue of so-called Negro Art in the first part of the twentieth century and the spread of black music, jazz in particular, in the 1920s, the so-called “Jazz Age.” For instance, in the French context various studies have examined the interplay between white avant-garde and black cultures,1 as well as the jazz scene in Paris and the reception of that genre by French musicians.2 The evolution of jazz in Britain has also been investigated, exploring how this genre of music has been received and transformed in the British context.