Modernity and the Color Line: From Symphonic Jazz to European Jazz

In this episode, we pick up the conversation on theories of modernity with a focus on the "color line" as music from the global African Diaspora makes its way into the European art concert hall. We will confront early European perceptions of jazz and consider the theories of Dubois and Stoddard, and listen to the first "jazz-like" compositions of established European art-composers like Debussy, Stravinsky and Shostakovich. We also meditate on the original aims of Ragtime pioneer Scott Joplin and the legacies of George Gershwin revisiting the debate about cultural appropriation and kitsch.