Livre

Dr. Anthony Branker is far more than a gifted composer and educator, he is a scholar whose new book offers a vital reference point for the jazz world. Activating Voices in Jazz History: Students Broadening the Narrative is the fruit of a collaborative effort, one that brings his students to the forefront of the historical conversation.

At the heart of the book lies a bold pedagogical premise: that students, when invited to engage with archival material and conduct field interviews with a diverse range of jazz artists, can help co-author a living, breathing history of jazz. This is not jazz history as it has been conventionally told’ it is a re-imagining, enriched by a multiplicity of voices and perspectives often left on the margins.

Drawing on his deep experience teaching jazz historiography, Branker centers a culturally relevant reading of jazz as a music rooted in African American experience and diasporic identity. The book proposes an alternative methodology, one grounded in dialogue, community, and critical inquiry’ for how jazz might be studied, taught, and ultimately understood. It is an approach that questions the very frameworks through which the story of jazz has traditionally been shaped.

The students’ interviews with contemporary jazz artists delve into a wide array of essential themes: diversity and inclusion, gender equity, social justice, cultural identity, the meaning of the word “jazz” itself, primitivism, pedagogical practice, the state of jazz education today, and the search for one’s own artistic voice and creative self-expression.

Concise yet wide-ranging, this book is poised to become an invaluable resource for educators, researchers, students, and jazz lovers alike.

At a moment when jazz is beginning to resemble classical music in its long journey, from a popular art form to one embraced by elites and global cultures alike, Branker’s volume feels particularly urgent. The issues it explores go well beyond musicology; they touch on how we tell the story of an art form, who gets to tell it, and why it matters.

This is essential reading not just for universities, but for anyone seeking to deepen their understanding of jazz as both a cultural force and a mirror to the world.

Thierry De Clemensat
Member at Jazz Journalists Association
USA correspondent for Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor for All About Jazz
Editor in chief – Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News

PARIS-MOVE, April 23rd 2025

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TABLE OF CONTENTS:

PART I: Perspectives on the Narrative of Jazz

1. Jazz Historiography and Narrative Voice
2. What Do You See When You Look at Me? The Impact of Western Thought on the Perception of Black Culture During the Early 1900s
3. What Jazz Is or Is Not: Seeking Out Definitions

PART II: Perspectives on Cultural Identity, Gender, Race, Social Justice, and Other Ways of Knowing

4. On Cultural Identity and Identification
5. Thoughts on Gender, Race, and Social Justice
6. On Other Ways of Knowing

PART III: Perspectives on Learning and Developing Creative Self-Expression

7. Teaching Philosophies
8. The State of Jazz Education
9. Artistic Voice and Creative Self-Expression
10. Conclusion

Biography:

Anthony D.J. Branker is an adjunct professor of jazz studies at Rutgers University Mason Gross School of the Arts, United States. Previously, he taught at Princeton University for 27 years, where he held an endowed chair in jazz studies and was founding director of the program in jazz studies until his retirement in 2016.
He has also served as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar at the Estonian Academy of Music & Theatre in Tallinn and was a member of the faculty at the Manhattan School of Music, Hunter College-CUNY, and chair of the department of music at Ursinus College.