Jazz with a Beat

The neglected small group swing sound of the 1940s–60s takes its place in the pantheon of jazz literature. Finalist for the 2024 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Award in the Performing Arts & Music category Jazz with a Beat is the first book on the often overlooked but vitally important genre of small group swing jazz. Coming into being in the early 1940s, small group swing answered the need in the Black community for a form of jazz that was more accessible (and more danceable) than the new