Toward a Linguistic Approach to the Study of Jazz: The Southwestern Tradition as a Case in Point

Abstract

One of the continuing ironies of American Studies is that jazz, among America's most important contributions to the arts, has received little scholarly attention. The new music required recognition from Europe before we could stop looking at it with disdain or condescension and it continues to arouse frowns from many who still regard it as a form of cheap popular music or simply another form of folk music, interesting for sociological purposes but of little lasting aesthetic significance. For these and other reasons jazz scholarship has developed slowly in the United States. But despite the complex problems raised in placing and illuminating a new art form, we have come a long way from the evangelical journalism of early writing on jazz and now have a number of sensitive and intelligent critics of considerable attainment, accomplished jazz-oriented musicologists, sociologists, and historians who have contributed greatly to our understanding of jazz musicians and the forces that have shaped their careers.