Stowe traces the evolution of sacred music from colonial times to the present, from the Puritans to Sun Ra, and shows how these cultural encounters have produced a rich harvest of song and faith.

How to create exotic, unforgettable pizzazz in your landscape

"Among the many books on the history of jazz. . . an implicit division of labor has solidified, whereby black artists play and invent while white writers provide the commentary. . . . Eric Porter's brilliant book seeks to trace the ways in which black jazz musicians have made verbal sense of their accomplishments, demonstrating the profound self-awareness of the artists themselves as they engaged in discourse about their enterprise."—Susan McClary, author of Conventional Wisdom: The Content of Musical Form "With What Is This Thing Called Jazz Eric Porter has given us an original portrait of black musicians as creators, thinkers and politically conscious individuals. This well-written, thoroughly researched work is a model of a new kind of scholarship about African American musicians: one that shows them as people who are both shaped by and actively shaping their political and social context. One of the book's most important contributions is that it takes seriously what the musicians themselves say about the music and allows their voices to join that of critics and musicologists in helping to construct a critical and philosophical framework for analyzing the music. Professor Porter's work is rare in it's balanced attention to the formal qualities of the music, historical interpretation and theoretical reflection. His is a work that will certainly shape the direction of future studies. What Is This Thing Called Jazz? is an extraordinary work."—Farah Jasmine Griffin, author of If You Can't Be Free, Be a Mystery: In Search of Billie Holiday "A major contribution to American Studies in music, Eric Porter's lucidly written book is the first to thoroughly analyze and contextualize the critical, historical and aesthetic writings of some of today's most innovative composer-performers. Placing the vital concerns of artists at the center, this work provides academic and lay readers alike with important new insights on how African-American musicians sought to realize ambitious dreams and concrete goals through direct action--not only in sound, but through building alternative institutions that emphasized the importance of community involvement."—George E. Lewis, Professor of Music, Critical Studies/Experimental Practices Area University of California, San Diego

Finalist, 2019 Lambda Literary Award in LGBTQ Studies A profound intellectual engagement with Afrofuturism and the philosophical questions of space and time Queer Times, Black Futures considers the promises and pitfalls of imagination, technology, futurity, and liberation as they have persisted in and through racial capitalism. Kara Keeling explores how the speculative fictions of cinema, music, and literature that center black existence provide scenarios wherein we might imagine alternative worlds, queer and otherwise. In doing so, Keeling offers a sustained meditation on contemporary investments in futurity, speculation, and technology, paying particular attention to their significance to queer and black freedom. Keeling reads selected works, such as Sun Ra’s 1972 film Space is the Place and the 2005 film The Aggressives, to juxtapose the Afrofuturist tradition of speculative imagination with the similar “speculations” of corporate and financial institutions. In connecting a queer, cinematic reordering of time with the new possibilities technology offers, Keeling thinks with and through a vibrant conception of the imagination as a gateway to queer times and black futures, and the previously unimagined spaces that they can conjure.

In Spirits Rejoice! Jason Bivins explores the relationship between American religion and American music, and the places where religion and jazz have overlapped. Much writing about jazz tends toward glorified discographies or impressionistic descriptions of the actual sounds. Rather than providing a history, or series of biographical entries, Spirits Rejoice! takes to heart a central characteristic of jazz itself and improvises, generating a collection of themes, pursuits, reoccurring foci, and interpretations. Bivins riffs on interviews, liner notes, journals, audience reception, and critical commentary, producing a work that argues for the centrality of religious experiences to any legitimate understanding of jazz, while also suggesting that jazz opens up new interpretations of American religious history. Bivins examines themes such as musical creativity as related to specific religious traditions, jazz as a form of ritual and healing, and jazz cosmologies and metaphysics. Spirits Rejoice! connects Religious Studies to Jazz Studies through thematic portraits, and a vast number of interviews to propose a new, improvisationally fluid archive for thinking about religion, race, and sound in the United States. Bivins's conclusions explore how the sound of spirits rejoicing challenges not only prevailing understandings of race and music, but also the way we think about religion. Spirits Rejoice! is an essential volume for any student of jazz, American religion, or American culture.

The most exciting Star Wars cookbook yet has arrived! Discover more than 80 recipes inspired by all corners of the Star Wars galaxy including the Skywalker Saga, novels, comics, and beyond. Following his culinary journeys in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge: The Official Black Spire Outpost Cookbook and Star Wars: The Life Day Cookbook, the galaxy’s most adventurous chef Strono “Cookie” Tuggs returns with his latest and greatest collection of delicious recipes to date, drawn from across the galaxy! Featuring over 80 recipes from nearly every corner of the Star Wars galaxy, this cookbook includes dishes inspired by films, television shows, theme park attractions, novels, comics, video games, and beyond. Great for chefs of any skill level, these recipes offer an immersive experience for Star Wars fans who want to bring galactic adventures into their kitchen, making this book a true must-have. OWN THE NEWEST STAR WARS COOKBOOK EVER: Inspired by Star Wars storytelling from the films to the comics to everything in between, this cookbook includes dishes inspired by the films, television shows, theme park attractions, novels, comics, video games, and beyond. 80+ RECIPES: Cookie’s latest transmission is also his most mouthwatering, with more than 80 recipes, including appetizers, main courses, desserts, and drinks. PERFECT FOR SKILLED CHEFS AND BEGINNERS ALIKE: Great for chefs of any skill level, these recipes offer an immersive experience for Star Wars fans who want to bring galactic adventures into their kitchen, making this book a true must-have. EXPAND YOUR COLLECTION: This cookbook joins Insight Editions’ line of fan-favorite Star Wars cookbooks, including Star Wars: The Padawan Cookbook, Star Wars: The Life Day Cookbook, Star Wars: Galactic Baking, and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge: The Official Black Spire Outpost Cookbook.

An analysis of the portrayal of African American life, history, and possibility in the work of three important jazz composers.