Until then the label jazz (or jass) was used both as a positive and negative stereotype to mark a rhythmic revolution and as a shorthand for the larger threat of modernization or westernization through Americanization. But what triggered this excess of hostility or appreciation at these two crucial times and who were the agents and agencies in this story? And what explains the wide range of its impact which extended from vernacular dance to avant garde agendas?
Read this piece from Berndt Ostendorf of the Amerika Institut, Munich
