Music in a New Found Land

<p>The subject of this book is accurately defined by its subtitle. <em>Music in a New Found Land</em> does not pretend to be a comprehensive history of American music. Nor does Mellers strive to catalog what he considers to be authentic American music. Instead he deals in some detail with comparatively few composers most of whom have wellestablished reputations.</p><p>It has always been difficult to separate American music from its immediate relevance to the twentieth century. Mellers' theme involves the relationship between art music jazz and pop music; he sees the segregation of these genres as both illogical and artifi cial. If the pop music of Tin Pan Alley may be anti-art it has also produced Gershwin Ellington and composing improvisers such as Louis Armstrong Charlie Parker and Miles Davis.</p><p>The study of American music is as relevant into any inquiry into a national culture as the study of American literature and painting. This book contains a large number of quotations from American writers because Mellers thought American sensibility should parallel reinforce and comment on American music. In sum this is the closest available one-volume history of American music and a window into American culture.</p>