- Hardcover: 212 pages
- Publisher: University of California Press; illustrated edition edition (22 Aug 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0520225376
- ISBN-13: 978-0520225374
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16.5 x 2.2 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 130,905 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
Harlem in Montmartre
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"A short but powerful book that makes a valuable contribution to the publisher's 'Music of the African Diaspora' series."--"Library Journal
Product Description
During the years between the world wars, a small but dynamic community of African American jazz musicians left the United States and settled in Paris, creating a vibrant expatriate musical scene and introducing jazz to the French. While the Harlem Renaissance was taking off across the Atlantic, entertainers in Montmartre, the epicenter of the Parisian scene, contributed enthusiastically to a culture that thrived for two decades, until the occupation of the city by German troops on June 18, 1940. In "Harlem in Montmartre", William Shack takes a fascinating look at this extraordinary cultural moment, one in which African American musicians could flee the racism of the United States to pursue their lives and art in the relatively free context of bohemian Europe.His book is the first comprehensive treatment of the rise and decline of the African American music community in Paris; in it, he considers the international dimensions of black experience in the modern era and explores the similarities and differences of Harlem-style jazz and culture in Europe and America. Shack focuses on some of the principal actors who played critical roles in shaping the jazz scene in Montmartre - Josephine Baker, Sidney Bechet, and Bricktop - but he also discusses others who opened clubs, underwrote loans, and contributed their musical talents to this unparalleled experiment.As an anthropologist, Shack pays particular attention to the club culture. He describes the musicians' experiences, the settings in which they performed, and the response of French audiences. Shack's meticulous research and encyclopedic knowledge of Montmartre's jazz culture, including the people and places involved, make this a riveting, authoritative work. Seamlessly fusing biographical, sociological, and historical details, he brings this unique era to life and demonstrates how the Paris jazz scene played a crucial role in legitimizing jazz - both in Europe and the United States.
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First Sentence
In Harlem, a narrow stretch of land less than two miles north of New York City's Central Park that James Johnson calls "Black Man" lived more than "two hundred thousand Negroes" in 1910. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
In Harlem, a narrow stretch of land less than two miles north of New York City's Central Park that James Johnson calls "Black Man" lived more than "two hundred thousand Negroes" in 1910. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
A Brilliant story!
10 Oct 2001
Format:Hardcover
William Shack, late professor of anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, has done a terrific job in bringing to life the Parisian jazz scene between the Great Wars. At the end of the First World War black Americans in the US Expeditionary Force, most notably James Reese Europe's Hellfighters Band, essentially introduced jazz to France and, by staying in Paris or returning thereto after demobilization, they formed the condensing nucleus of the black American jazz community that flourished in Montmartre between the Wars. Contemporary to the Harlem Renaissance in New York, the "Harlem in Montmartre" community provided black jazz musicians, entertainers, and entrepeneurs, an exciting environment, largely free from the racial bigotry and Jim Crow policies common in the US. This book goes a long way to become the standard work on the matter, describing the principal individuals, the clubs, the shows, the music, all interwoven in a lively and fluent style that helps to revive these exciting and by now long gone decades. Wonderful!
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