FROM JIM CROW TO JAZZ
Imitation African-American Improvisatory Musical Practices in Pre-Jazz Australia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/prbt.v1i3.28656Keywords:
jazz, blackface minstrelsy, African-American musical cultureAbstract
This article examines the nature of some of the watered-down forms of African-American musical culture that reached Australia before jazz. It explores the possibility that performance practice in some of these forms actually pre-empted the type of 'jazz improvisation' first heard in Australia. It also suggests the possible significance of blackface minstrelsy in pre-jazz Australia in relation to later attitudes towards improvisatory practice in popular music.
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