Subversive sounds

"Hurricane Katrina threatened to wash away the history of an incomparable, culturally vibrant American city, while the aftermath exposed New Orleans' ugly, deeply rooted racial divisions. Subversive Sounds, Charles Hersch's study of the role of race in the origins of jazz, probes both sides of the city's heritage, uncovering a web of racial interconnections and animosities that was instrumental to the creation of a vital art form." "Drawing on oral histories, police reports, newspaper accounts, and vintage recordings, Hersch brings to vivid life the neighborhoods and nightspots where jazz was…