New Orleans: Jazz Before the Record
Long before jazz became something you could buy on a disc, it was something people made together.
28 stories in this chapter
City Soundtracks
The histories, neighborhoods, and ideas that give a city its musical character.
Nashville: A Music City Before Country Radio
The Fisk Jubilee Singers offer a different starting point for Nashville's musical story.
Memphis: The Record Shop at the Heart of Soul
At Stax, a former movie theater and its small record shop helped make a musical institution.
Detroit: Hearing the Work Behind Hitsville
Detroit's Motown story begins with an address, a family loan, and the work of building a record company.
Chicago: How the Blues Grew Louder
Migration, amplification, and working musicians helped reshape the blues in Chicago.
New York: The Break Becomes the Main Event
A Bronx party is a landmark in hip-hop history, and the surrounding community is part of the story.
Austin: The Many Traditions Behind a Slogan
Austin's live-music identity contains more traditions than its most familiar slogan can hold.
Seattle: Before Grunge Became a Postcard
Seattle's grunge history is easier to hear when it is allowed to be history rather than a permanent costume.
London: Dub as a Map of Community
Sound systems, shops, and radio reveal a London music history built through networks.
Liverpool: The Cavern Was a Working Stage
Before it became a destination for Beatles visitors, the Cavern was a place where bands did the work of playing.
Manchester: A Record Label You Could See
Factory's visual identity makes Manchester a useful place to think about how music looks.
Bristol: The City on the Other Frequency
Bristol's radio and club histories reward listening beyond a single exportable genre.
Dublin: Four Centuries in the Liberties
The Liberties links choral history, a famous premiere, and musicians whose lives belong to the neighborhood.
Glasgow: A City Built for More Than One Audience
Glasgow's musical character makes room for ensembles, festivals, and listeners with different starting points.
Lisbon: Fado Is More Than a Mood
Fado's familiar association with longing is only one entrance into a living practice of music and poetry.
Seville: Learning to Hear Flamenco Together
Voice, dance, guitar, and rhythm belong to the same conversation in flamenco.
Paris: Hearing Beyond the Jazz-Age Poster
Paris's jazz history includes working artists and particular stages behind the glamorous imagery.
Vienna: Mozart as a Working Musician
Following Mozart through Vienna means hearing a career as well as a canon.
Berlin: Techno as a Culture of Gathering
Berlin's techno history connects international musical influences with places where people gathered.
Reykjavik: Beyond the Landscape Metaphor
Reykjavik's musicians deserve to be heard beyond the easy comparison with Iceland's landscape.
Havana: Rumba as a Conversation
Rumba brings voice, percussion, gesture, and dance into an exchange that a postcard cannot summarize.
Kingston: Reggae's Social Voice
Reggae's rhythms carry social, spiritual, and emotional purposes as well as a recognizable groove.
Rio de Janeiro: Samba and the Memory of Little Africa
Pedra do Sal connects Rio's samba story with Afro-Brazilian community memory and the port area.
Buenos Aires: Tango Across the River
Tango belongs to a shared Río de la Plata history, with Buenos Aires and Montevideo both in the frame.
Accra: Highlife in the Archive and the Everyday
Accra's highlife story includes changing styles and the careful work of preserving musical memory.
Dakar: Mbalax and the Sound of Recombination
Mbalax reveals how Senegalese musicians recombined local rhythmic practices and international band sounds.
Istanbul: A Festival Makes a Musical Meeting Place
Istanbul's festival history shows how a city can build institutions for musical encounter.
Tokyo: Making Time to Listen
Tokyo's listening cafés offer a reason to treat recorded music as the main event.