The Evolution of Jazz in Britain, 1880–1935

Jazz was brought from America into a very different environment in Britain and resulted in the establishment of parallel worlds of jazz by the end of the 1920s: within the realms of institutionalized culture and within the subversive underworld. Tackley (née Parsonage) demonstrates the importance of image and racial stereotyping in shaping perceptions of jazz, and leads to the significant conclusion that the evolution of jazz in Britain was so much more than merely an extension or reflection of that in America. She sheds entirely new light on the development of jazz in Britain, and provides a deep social and cultural understanding of the early history of the genre.