At a time when many white Europeans and Americans dismissed the artistry of African-American music, Dutch art professor Hans Rookmaaker wrote in praise of its merits. This musical history explores the development of jazz, blues, spirituals, and gospel music from its earliest days until the 1950s—describing, as Dr. Rookmaaker understood them, the origins, rationale, and interplay of diverse new genres.

This new edition features a preface by William Edgar, an accomplished jazz pianist and a professor at Westminster Seminary.