Jazzing the Classics: The Enduring Influence of American Jazz on Classical Music

European classical composers developed a brief but passionate fascination with American jazz in the early 20th century. In a four-session course, pianist and speaker Rachel Franklin uses live demonstrations and archival film to trace jazz’s roots and its electrifying impact on Paris before and after World War I, inspiring Ravel, Milhaud, and Stravinsky. She follows jazz’s role as a symbol of freedom for Shostakovich, Krenek, and Walton, concluding in the U.S. with Copland, Gershwin, and others who were inspired by jazz while struggling to come to terms with its identity as a complex, home-grown African American artform.