Smith Tom Smith

Royal Hipsters of Jazz: Romania's Surprising Jazz Origins, its Cultural Influences and Analysis of its Written Histories Smith Tom Smith

SECOND EDITION: Jazz was burned into Romania's psyche around 1918, after a great war unified its kingdoms amid totemic change. But through negotiation of multi-veiled alliances, a nation of Romantics gave birth to a jazz subclass directly linked with its classical music. From its juxtaposition with an American hybrid, Romanian jazz revealed a cosmopolitanism different, but equal to what had been found in its literature, architecture and visual arts, eventually aligning with a school of avant-garde fused with patronage. More than a standard accounting, this short tome examines how and why jazz histories are written, influences of race, ethnicity, globalization and revision, and why reporting jazz is so difficult.