Jazz and Death

Reception, Rituals, and Representations

Walter van de Leur

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9781138553415
• eBook ISBN: 9781351373173
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Jazz Music

Jazz and Death: Reception, Rituals, and Representations critically examines the myriad and complex interactions between jazz and death, from the New Orleans "jazz funeral" to jazz in heaven or hell, final recordings, jazz monuments, and the music's own presumed death. It looks at how fans, critics, journalists, historians, writers, the media, and musicians have narrated, mythologized, and relayed those stories. What causes the fascination of the jazz world with its deaths? What does it say about how our culture views jazz and its practitioners? Is jazz somehow a fatal culture?

The narratives surrounding jazz and death cast a light on how the music and its creators are perceived. Stories of jazz musicians typically bring up different tropes, ranging from the tragic, misunderstood genius to the notion that virtuosity somehow comes at a price. Many of these narratives tend to perpetuate the gendered and racialized stereotypes that have been part of jazz's history. In the end, the ideas that encompass jazz and death help audiences find meaning in a complex musical practice and come to grips with the passing of their revered musical heroes -- and possibly with their own mortality.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Series Foreword
• Funding
• Credits
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Jazz and Death
• 1 When I Die, You Better Second Line: The New Orleans “Jazz Funeral”
• 2 The Devil’s Music: Jazz in Hell
• 3 Louis and the Angels: Jazz in Heaven
• 4 Swan Songs: Final Concerts and Last Recordings
• 5 The Long Fall: The Death of Chet Baker
• 6 Nine Naked Muses: Memorializing Ellington
• 7 Funky Odors: Is Jazz Itself Dead?
• Index