Jazz Modernism From Ellington and Armstrong to Matisse and Joyce Alfred Appel

How does the jazz of Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, Billie Holiday and Charlie Parker fit into the great tradition of the modern arts between 1920 and 1950? In this text, cultural historian Alfred Appel provides the answer.

Alfred Appel, Jr., is also the author of The Annotated Lolita.

"Jazz Modernism uses definitive examples of early to mid-twentieth-century literary art to establish the place of classic jazz in the great modernist tradition of the arts... Brilliant licks of artistic syncopation, insight, and delightful humour." Bernadette Murphy, Los Angeles Times; "A piquant, playful book that scrambles and quickens the senses by showing the parallels between key jazz influences and their literary contemporaries." Christian Science Monitor; "Appel has a great good time sharing his stories and his joy is contagious." William P. Kelly, New York Times; "Rarely if ever has a nonmusician written about jazz so intelligently as does Appel in Jazz Modernism, and rarely has any musically trained critic brought to the study of jazz so wide a frame of cultural reference... He has certainly made a compelling case for treating what one might call 'Armstrong-era' jazz as a species of modern music." Terry Teachout, Commentary"