The author should be commended on the depth and scope of the work. . . . In summary, Phillips sheds considerable light on the formation of jazz, its dissemination, its institutions, musicians and geography, and does so with a variety of analysis tools and unique historical data.
The entire book rewards the reading, both for what it tells us substantively about a major art form and what it tells us theoretically about processes of legitimation, diffusion, and canonization.---Gabriel Rossman, American Journal of Sociology
"Shaping Jazz provides a rigorous and engaging look at the instrumental roles played by organizations, musicians, and regions in the evolution of jazz. It weaves historical sources with expertly executed analysis, and does an excellent job of addressing potential alternatives for the observed patterns of music popularity."—Olav Sorenson, Yale University
"Reading the history of jazz recording through perspectives from organizational science and economic theory, Damon Phillips investigates the complex interweaving of market forces, choice, genre, geography, and cultural production. This book combines rigorous and innovative methodologies with an engaging style that welcomes anyone who wants to know more about where great music comes from."—George E. Lewis, Columbia University
"Offering a different approach to jazz history, Damon Phillips uses statistical data to ask questions, and ultimately find answers, about the music. Many of his arguments about the disconnectedness of jazz scenes, about marketing strategies, and about the highbrow and lowbrow perceptions of jazz intertwine and lead to even more questions. His book's approach can teach a lot about the use of empirical data for any period in jazz history."—Wolfram Knauer, director of the Jazzinstitut Darmstadt
One of the most enjoyable things about this book is that it demonstrates the importance and historically contingent nature of social categories. . . . Other people who study product and organizational categories would do well to emulate his concern for concrete phenomena. . . . His sensitivity to time and place are critical to the insights he draws from his research, insights that have wide applicability outside the early jazz recording industry.---Heather A. Haveman, Administrative Science Quarterly
"While there is abundant research on the innovation advantages of networks that bridge disconnections in organizations and markets, this book finally explains how the disconnections themselves are significant for innovation to take hold and emerge in the form it does. Phillips shows that network disconnections were key to the congruence between the product and market responsible for the evolution of jazz. The book is productive in theory and engaging—even magical—in substance."—Ronald S. Burt, University of Chicago
Finalist for the 2014 George R. Terry Book Award, Academy of Management
"Shaping Jazz is a tour de force and invites the reader to explore how jazz might have diffused and cohered as music. This ambitious and historically informed consideration of the development of jazz offers answers to questions that readers of all types will find satisfying. A fine book indeed."—Timothy J. Dowd, Emory University
The thesis of this multilayered, impressive scholarly study is that jazz is shaped by the processing of the recorded product from its geographical region, its reception and active participant audience, social structure, and its marketing and diffusion. . . . The multiple graphs and charts serve as important sources for understanding the global aspects and diffusion of this innovative musical form.
"Shaping Jazz combines a deep love for the music, a comprehensive historical understanding of what happened across two continents as it developed, and an inventive use of sociological ideas and tools, to shape a wonderful contribution to the story of jazz."—Howard S. Becker, author of Art Worlds
