Abstract:

This article examines the nature of some of the watered-down forms of African-American musical culture that reached Australia before jazz. It explores the possibility that performance practice in some of these forms actually pre-empted the type of 'jazz improvisation' first heard in Australia. It also suggests the possible significance of blackface minstrelsy in pre-jazz Australia in relation to later attitudes towards improvisatory practice in popular music.

Author: John Whiteoak