Epistrophies: Jazz and the Literary Imagination by Brent Hayes Edwards (review)

The figure at the heart of Epistrophies is the musician-writer. Brent Edwards' innovative study of jazz literature redefines the term as not only literary production influenced by music but also as writings by jazz musicians. This broader definition in turn expands the range of texts that may be considered in the genre of jazz literature: poems, song titles, liner notes, and record reviews form part of the textual landscape of writings that complement, nuance, and theorize different jazz forms. Edwards draws on an impressive range of figures working in the interconnected spaces of literature and music. Works by Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, James Weldon Johnson, and others reveal the rich interplay between genres and shed light on core elements of jazz.