ABSTRACT
Over its approximately eighty years of existence, jazz has achieved a presence in the culture of many lands far from its African American birthplace. The global stage on which jazz is created and performed has implications for identity and aesthetic issues that have recently been contested within the jazz community. By examining some of the activities central to the creation and mediation of the music, one can gain a clear sense of the multinational, transnational scope of jazz. For decades, jazz has been recognized as an important form of cultural production; historically it has had particular significance within the African American society that gave birth to it. The rapid emergence of jazz as a locus of African American cultural identification can be attributed in part to the emergence of modern media culture, with which it coincided. Jazz has, throughout its history, held appeal for people from many different societies and from different places within society, including at its margins.
