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Circular Breathing: The Cultural Politics of Jazz in Britain
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Circular Breathing: The Cultural Politics of Jazz in Britain Paperback - 2005

by George McKay

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Reader reviews for Circular Breathing: The Cultural Politics of Jazz in Britain

From the publisher

In Circular Breathing, George McKay, a leading chronicler of British countercultures, uncovers the often surprising ways that jazz has accompanied social change during a period of rapid transformation in Great Britain. Examining jazz from the founding of George Webb's Dixielanders in 1943 through the burgeoning British bebop scene of the early 1950s, the Beaulieu Jazz Festivals of 1956-61, and the improvisational music making of the 1960s and 1970s, McKay reveals the connections of the music, its players, and its subcultures to black and antiracist activism, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, feminism, and the New Left. In the process, he provides the first detailed cultural history of jazz in Britain.

McKay explores the music in relation to issues of whiteness, blackness, and masculinity-all against a backdrop of shifting imperial identities, postcolonialism, and the Cold War. He considers objections to the music's spread by the "anti-jazzers" alongside the ambivalence felt by many leftist musicians about playing an "all-American" musical form. At the same time, McKay highlights the extraordinary cultural mixing that has defined British jazz since the 1950s, as musicians from Britain's former colonies-particularly from the Caribbean and South Africa-have transformed the genre. Circular Breathing is enriched by McKay's original interviews with activists, musicians, and fans and by fascinating images, including works by the renowned English jazz photographer Val Wilmer. It is an invaluable look at not only the history of jazz but also the Left and race relations in Great Britain.

From the rear cover

""Circular Breathing" is a marvelous book. I admire George McKay's knowledge of jazz, the British left, and cultural history. His ability to blend those elements is to my knowledge unique and unprecedented, and his interviews with jazz musicians enrich immeasurably the story that he is telling."--Dennis Dworkin, author of "Cultural Marxism in Postwar Britain: History, the New Left, and the Origins of Cultural Studies"

Details

  • Title Circular Breathing: The Cultural Politics of Jazz in Britain
  • Author George McKay
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition [ Edition: First
  • Pages 376
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Duke University Press, Durham / London
  • Publication date 2005-11-23
  • Illustrated Yes
  • Features Bibliography, Illustrated, Index, Table of Contents
  • ISBN 9780822335733 / 0822335735
  • Weight 1.14 lbs (0.52 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.3 x 6.02 x 0.97 in (23.62 x 15.29 x 2.46 cm)
  • Themes
    • Cultural Region: British
  • Category Music/Songbooks
  • Library of Congress subjects Improvisation (Music) - History, Jazz - Social aspects - Great Britain
  • Library of Congress Catalogue Number 2005012088
  • Dewey Decimal Code 306.484

About the author

George McKay is a professor of cultural studies at the University of Salford in England. He is the author of Glastonbury: A Very English Fair and Senseless Acts of Beauty: Cultures of Resistance since the Sixties; the editor of DiY Culture: Party & Protest in Nineties Britain; and a coeditor of Community Music: A Handbook and Social Movement Studies: Journal of Social, Cultural, and Political Protest.

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Circular Breathing: The Cultural Politics of Jazz in Britain
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Circular Breathing: The Cultural Politics of Jazz in Britain

by McKay, George

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Circular Breathing: The Cultural Politics of Jazz in Britain

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Circular Breathing: The Cultural Politics of Jazz in Britain

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Circular Breathing: The Cultural Politics of Jazz in Britain
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Circular Breathing: The Cultural Politics of Jazz in Britain

by McKay, George

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Duke University Press, 2005. Paperback. Very Good. May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.Dust jacket quality is not guaranteed.
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Circular Breathing: The Cultural Politics of Jazz in Britain
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Circular Breathing: The Cultural Politics of Jazz in Britain

by McKay, George

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Circular Breathing: The Cultural Politics of Jazz in Britain

by McKay, George

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Circular Breathing: The Cultural Politics of Jazz in Britain
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Circular Breathing: The Cultural Politics of Jazz in Britain

by McKay, George

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Circular Breathing: The Cultural Politics of Jazz in Britain

by McKay, George; George McKay (Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Salford)

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Durham, NC & London: Duke University Press, 2005. Book. Illus. by Eduardo Paolozzi, Mosaic from Tottenham Court Road Underground Station (Cover); Rebecca Giménez (Design). Very Good. Trade Paperback. © 2005 Duke University Press. 8vo or 8° (Medium Octavo): 7¾" x 9¾" tall. 357 + xiv + pp. Solidly and tightly bound copy with minimal external and overall wear and use. Copy with crisp pages, and with occasional underlining and marginalia. Smooth covers. Slightly rubbed corners..
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