Blues People By LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka)

Seminal work from playwright, poet, critic and activist LeRoi Jones, later known as Amiri Baraka, in which the author traces the influence of jazz and blues on white America, not only in the context of music and pop culture but also in terms of the values and perspectives passed on through the music. He also aims to illuminate the influence of African Americans on American culture and history.

The following is an excerpt from the book's introduction: "As I began to get into the history of the music, I found that this was impossible without, at the same time, getting deeper into the history of the people...The music was the score, the actually expressed creative orchestration, reflection, of Afro-American life...An orchestrated, vocalized, hummed, chanted, blown, beaten, scatted, corollary confirmation of the history...Explaining the history as the history was explaining the music. And that both were expressions of and reflections of the people."

(orig has different cover)