ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the themes of the margins/peripheries of jazz via a detailed study of a rather narrow historical moment: 1965–1967. Through an analysis of jazz criticism, mass media discourse, and recordings, jazz is examined in relation to the populist form of African American music, R&B. Such a comparison enables an understanding of the role of cultural prestige and racial politics in the largely negative reaction of critics to the sub-genre, “soul jazz,” which my analysis positions as on the borderline between jazz and R&B.
