African-American Musicians

African Americans-famous and anonymous alike-have helped shape popular musical genres ranging from jazz and blues to rock 'n' roll and rap. This book provides a vivid account of that process, beginning with the work songs and spirituals of slaves and continuing up to the present.

African-American Musicians tells the stories of figures such as bluesman Robert Johnson, whose guitar playing was so extraordinary that people said he must have made a deal with the devil; jazz great Duke Ellin…