Rhetorical Lessons from Jazz Music

• In Event: Narratives and Cultural Performance

Abstract

In 1987, Congress passed a joint resolution recognizing jazz as an “American music and art form” that is “an outstanding artistic model of individual expression and democratic cooperation, thus fulfilling the highest ideals and aspirations of our republic” (House Concurrent Resolution 57). What might that artistic model for civic life have to teach us about rhetorical action? This paper will explore what jazz music can suggest about the shape of a particularly American rhetorical practice.

Author

• Gregory Clark, Brigham Young Univ