Jazz Diasporas: Race, Music, and Migration in Post-World War II Paris ; Jazz Diaspora: Music and Globalisation

Two recent monographs use the concept of “jazz diaspora/s” as their focus: Rashida Braggs's Jazz Diasporas: Race, Music, and Migration in Post-World War II Paris and Bruce Johnson's more recent Jazz Diaspora: Music and Globilisation. While both writers are aware of each other's work, they use the concept in distinct and at times contradictory ways. These contradictions are evident not so much in their definitions of “jazz diaspora,” but in the kind of theoretical work that the term does, its implications for jazz scholarship, and for the place of jazz in the world. In this review, I hope to clarify the theoretical work the concept of “jazz diaspora” does for myself and others interested in the intersection of jazz, race, and national belonging. To do this, I highlight some of the overlapping issues presented in the two books and how the authors tackle them. Most crucially, I will clarify how they approach issues of power and how these contribute to their understanding of what jazz and diaspora signify. I consider these issues to be relevant both to scholars interested in jazz as an African diasporic music as well as to those studying jazz as global phenomenon.