Jazzology: A Study of the Tradition in which Jazz Musicians Improvise (Afro-American)

The general objective of this dissertation is to gain deeper insight into the nature and values of the jazz community and thereby ultimately to discover more about the meaning of jazz. Because of the number and diversity of individuals within the worldwide jazz community, this study spotlights the group involved most closely with the creation of jazz, the improvisers themselves. By creating a representative biography from among their memoirs, the study asks what elements are most typical, common and persistent in the process through which different jazzmen and women have learned to improvise musically, and what values are inherent in the tradition this process represents.