Deep River Music and Memory in Harlem Renaissance Thought

"Paul Anderson's Deep River is the best, most convincing, and most richly textured work on black socio-musical criticism in print. In examining the views of twelve commentators on black music, ranging from W. E. B. DuBois and his 'sorrow songs' theory to Wynton Marsalis and his jazz neoclassicism, Anderson builds his interpretations and critiques on that of previous and current critics to develop a sophisticated examination and treatment of important ideas about social and cultural positioning of black music in America. I recommend this book to anyone interested in black music as a field of study or inquiry."-Samuel A. Floyd, Jr., Columbia College "While many scholars have attempted histories of the early years of jazz-and even more have examined Du Bois's appeals to the musical in his social and cultural criticism-few have attempted the kind of sustained examination of the critical debates about black music that Anderson does. Deep River places these long-standing debates in a crucial new context."-Aldon L. Nielsen, author of Black Chant: Languages of African American Postmodernism