Introduction

The title of this book, Rhythm Changes, is taken from a term employed by jazz musicians to refer to the chord changes of the song “I Got Rhythm,” which was written by the songwriting team of George and Ira Gershwin, and which first appeared in the Broadway musical Girl Crazy in 1930. The tune, and especially its harmonic framework, became enormously popular with jazz musicians, and the term “rhythm changes” therefore offers an appropriately dynamic and multifaceted title for a collection of essays on jazz, encompassing the Broadway tradition, the bebop era, and more recent contemporary developments. The Introduction also clarifies the thinking behind the subtitle of the book, Jazz, Culture, Discourse, noting some of the theoretical and methodological protocols derived from the work of Raymond Williams, Janet Wolff, and Umberto Eco, and identifying a number of discursive themes and debates in the history and development of jazz, which are discussed throughout the text, and all of which invoke particular notions of “authenticity”: race and nationalism; musical form and style; technology; and art and commerce. The Introduction concludes by highlighting the eclectic range of issues, case studies, and critiques addressed in the book, summarizing each chapter, and highlighting the online music playlists which accompany the text.