Although jazz talks through the music itself, the representation of jazz largely depends on who talks about it. The main focus of this book is the representation of jazz music and its musicians, and the ways in which American (black and white) critics, novelists, and musicians interpret this music from the development of bebop to free jazz; revealing the complexities of the dialogue between white and black representations of jazz, as well as among the self-representations of African American musicians. Alper Mazman explores the discourses of jazz that are embedded within the broader cultural, political and ideological debates in this specific period, illustrating how the meaning of jazz is mediated through these conversations. The book refers to a broad range of texts and debates, from earlier African American writings on music to Harlem Renaissance, from James Baldwin to 'hip' and 'cool', from black liberation to Charles Mingus. Through these cases, Mazman unpacks the ways in which power is embedded in representations of jazz.