Hailed by corporate, philanthropic, and governmental organizations as a metaphor for democratic interaction and business dynamics, contemporary jazz culture has a story to tell about the relationship between political economy and social practice in the era of neoliberal capitalism. The Jazz Bubble approaches the emergence of the neoclassical jazz aesthetic since the 1980s as a powerful, if unexpected, point of departure for a wide-ranging investigation of important social trends during this period, extending from the effects of financialization in the music industry to the structural upheaval created by urban redevelopment in major American cities. Dale Chapman draws from political and critical theory, oral history, and the public and trade press, making this a persuasive and compelling work for scholars across music, industry, and cultural studies.
The Jazz Bubble Neoclassical Jazz in Neoliberal Culture
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“Capitalism today commodifies and monetizes all aspects of our lives. Dale Chapman shows how, in the name of honoring art, capitalist institutions remade this music as both sound and symbol of neoliberalism. This brilliant work is a new standard, indispensable for anyone who cares about jazz or American culture today.”—Charles F. McGovern, author of Sold American: Consumption and Citizenship, 1890–1945“At every giant step of this riveting study, Chapman charts the interlocking histories of jazz, financialization, and cultural geography. From the risk and speculation behind Miles Davis’s great quintets to Dexter Gordon’s ‘homecoming’ amid bankrupt 1970s New York to the political economy of Verve Records to the ‘right to the city’ expressed in California jazz venues, this book ventures boldly original, prodigiously learned, and terrifically acute analyses of postwar U.S. musical culture.”—Eric Lott, author of Black Mirror: The Cultural Contradictions of American Racism
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