Race Music: Black Cultures from Bebop to Hip-Hop

This powerful book covers the vast and various terrain of African American music, from bebop to hip—hop. Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr., begins with an absorbing account of his own musical experiences with family and friends on the South Side of Chicago, evoking Sunday—morning worship services, family gatherings with food and dancing, and jam sessions at local nightclubs. This lays the foundation for a brilliant discussion of how musical meaning emerges in the private and communal realms of lived e...