Although now sometimes called "America's classical music," jazz has not always been accorde favorable appellations. Accurate though these encomiums may be, they

A persuasive appreciation of what jazz is and of how it has permeated and enriched the culture of America

Fifty-one essays by writers such as Langston Hughes, W.E.B. Du Bois, Ralph Ellison, and Zora Neale Hurston, as well as critics and academics such as Henry Louis

With contributions by Raúl A. Fernández, Benjamin Givan, Acácio Tadeu de Camargo Piedade, Warren R. Pinckney Jr., Linda F. Williams, Christopher G. Bakriges,