| Many factors, including government sponsorship, institutional patronage, and influential documentary films have contributed to the creation of an official jazz canon. However, jazz performers create living, dynamic canons using techniques of intertextual reference. This dissertation presents several case studies on the representation of a jazz canon by individual artists, documentary filmmakers, and cultural institutions. Chapter one discusses how jazz canons are invoked and criticized in two Pulitzer Prize-winning works: Wynton Marsalis's Blood on the Fields and Ornette Coleman's Sound Grammar. Chapter two presents contrasting views of the relationship between tradition and living culture as portrayed in two influential documentary films: Ken Burns's Jazz and Spike Lee's When the Levees Broke . Chapter three examines American jazz diplomacy in the post-Cold War era focusing on the US State Department's partnership with Jazz at Lincoln Center and the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz. In conclusion, I contend that jazz performers create dynamic canons that supplement, and sometimes subvert official canons. |
