ABSTRACT
This chapter evolves around the imaginations of jazz in heaven, precisely the subject of the 1943 comedy short Heavenly Music. So far, this gem has received scant attention in jazz literature. The film works from various oppositions—swing versus classical music, young versus old, America versus Europe—to craft a story that argues for the acceptance of jazz. An unexpected final scene pulls race into the equation. The trope of jazz and heaven provides a route to paint jazz musicians as superhumans or demigods. Such qualities can be made visible through their life stories and become tangible in their deaths. This chapter also looks into portrayals of Louis Armstrong as heaven-sent and angelic and John Coltrane as a vessel through whom the ancestors speak.
