From Cakewalks to Concert Halls

More about the book

From Cakewalks to Concert Halls, second-prize winner of the 1992 Ralph J. Gleason Music Book Award, traces the growth of a uniquely American art form from the days of blackface minstrelsy to the big-band era.The first pictorial study of the subject, From Cakewalks to Concert Halls features rarely seen sheet-music covers in Morgan's personal collection -- vivid, sometimes shocking images from a time when racial stereotypes filled advertising and entertainment. As Barlow's thought-provoking text explains, black performers gradually overturned the minstrel tradition of racial mockery, bringing ragtime, blues, and jazz into the mainstream of American popular culture.Essays by Morgan recount the lives of pivotal figures: Bert Williams, W.C. Handy, Eubie Blake, and many more. A story of creativity and courage, From Cakewalks to Concert Halls reveals how African Americans transformed what Barlow calls the soundscape of American music.