Perspectives on Jazz Patronage

Perspectives on Jazz Patronage addresses the beneficial practices that encompass patrons for this art form. Utilizing biographies, periodicals, oral histories, scholarly articles, archives, interviews, and recordings, the book characterizes patronage practices explicitly as a part of the critical network and customs that have propelled jazz music forward for over a century.

This volume also discusses how jazz patronage is indivisible from current cross-disciplinary inquiry into race and gender. Specifically with regards to sexuality, the hypermasculinity of jazz culture resulted in a silent and invisible economy of beneficial actions by the wives of the performers and, at the same time, tended to marginalize female jazz musicians and their contributions, musical and otherwise. Moreover, the decisive struggles against racial intolerance by a coterie of white record producers, writers, and impresarios who fostered greater artistic opportunities for African-American jazz artists is one of the major themes of patronage.

Introducing the idea of jazz patronage as its own art form, Perspectives on Jazz Patronage is intended for a wide range of readers, including undergraduate and graduate students in jazz studies programs. It will also be of interest in courses that deal with equity, diversity, and inclusion.