The Product of Our Souls : Ragtime, Race, and the Birth of the Manhattan Musical Marketplace

In 1912 James Reese Europe made history by conducting his 125-member Clef Club Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. The first concert by an African American ensemble at the esteemed venue was more than just a concert--it was a political act of desegregation, a defiant challenge to the status quo in American music. In this book, David Gilbert explores how Europe and other African American performers, at the height of Jim Crow, transformed their racial difference into the mass-market commodity known as "black music." Gilbert shows how Europe and others used the rhythmic sounds of ragtime, blues, and jazz to construct new representations of black identity, challenging many of the nation's preconceived ideas about race, culture, and modernity and setting off a musical craze in the process. Gilbert sheds new light on the little-known era of African American music and culture between the heyday of minstrelsy and the Harlem Renaissance. He demonstrates how black performers played a pioneering role in establishing New York City as the center of American popular music, from Tin Pan Alley to Broadway, and shows how African Americans shaped American mass culture in their own image [Publisher description] Introduction. A kind of symphony music that... lends itself to the playing of the peculiar compositions of our race A new musical rhythm was given to the people : rhythm and representation in black Manhattan Do all we could to get what we felt belonged to us by the laws of nature : selling real Negro melodies and marketing authentic black rhythms Appreciate the noble and the beautiful within us : ragging uplift with rhythmic transgressions The piano man was it! The man in charge : black nightclubs and ragtime identities in New York's Tenderloin To promote greater efficiency among its members : ragtime in Times Square and the Clef Club Inc. Rhythm is something that is born in the Negro : black musical value and the consolidation of "Negro music" A new type of Negro musician : social dance and black musical value in prewar America Epilogue. From ragtime identies to the new Negro. In 1912 James Reese Europe made history by conducting his 125-member Clef Club Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. The first concert by an African American ensemble at the esteemed venue was more than just a concert—it was a political act of desegregation, a defiant challenge to the status quo in American music. This book explores how Europe and other African American performers, at the height of Jim Crow, transformed their racial difference into the mass-market commodity known as “black music.” The book shows how Europe and others used the rhythmic sounds of ragtime, blues, and jazz to construct new representations of black identity, challenging many of the nation's preconceived ideas about race, culture, and modernity and setting off a musical craze in the process. This work explores how African American performers, at the height of Jim Crow, transformed their racial difference into the mass-market commodity known as 'black music'. David Gilbert shows how they used the rhythmic sounds of ragtime, blues, and jazz to construct new representations of black identity, challenging preconceived ideas about race, culture, and modernity