Jazz Perspectives.(NEW PERIODICALS)(Book review)

Jazz Perspectives. Edited by John Howland and Lewis Porter. Routledge Journals. Semiannual. Vol. 1, no. 1 (April 2007). ISSN 1749-4060 (print); ISSN 1749-4079 (online). Print and online (PDF and HTML) format. Access: http://www.informaworld.com/rjaz. Subscription or inquiries originating from North America: Taylor and Francis Group Journals, 325 Chestnut Street, Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. For other countries see: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/contact.asp. E-mail: jennifer.roberts@tandf.co.uk. $49 individual; $198 institutions (print and online), $188 (online only).

Recognizing both the extent of Jazz journal scholarship and the dearth of international, interdisciplinary dialogue, the new journal Jazz Perspectives hopes to broaden the discussion concerning this seminal music and help "bridge the jazz-as-music and jazz-as-culture divide."(Lewis Porter and John Howland, "From Perspectives in Jazz to Jazz Perspectives," Jazz Perspectives 1, no. 1 [May 2007]: 2) Editors Lewis Porter and John Howland have assembled a first-rate Editorial Board made up of many of the leading" scholars in Jazz studies, with an even balance between the culturalists and the musicians. The result is an interesting and challenging journal that will surely satisfy a wide variety of persons interested in jazz and its larger social and musical meaning.

This being the inaugural issue, the editors made every attempt to display this breath they hope the journal will examine. Jeffrey Magee's article concerning Miles Davis' commitment to the blues in his performance and its connection to 'Afro-Modernism' integrates the "cultural and musical perspectives" of Davis' jazz that by extension illuminates "a key theme in postwar American life."(p. 27) By examining seven key recordings, Magee shows how the blues, as both a musical root and a social construct of Afro-Modernism, provided the foundation for Davis' understanding of jazz and its place in American society. David Ake examines the influence of rural themes in jazz, especially related to Keith Jarrett and Pat Metheny, in order to emphasize the influence geography has had on the creation of jazz. Certainly many jazz musicians came from rural areas and as a musical product have been linked to urban themes, and Ake does well to remind the reader of this rural connection. Unfortunately, his sweeping generalizations--the discussion ...