About this Event
Julian Winkley will draw from his recent research plotting the commercialization of jazz in interwar France to dispel some of the commonly held notions that jazz came ashore with American troops in 1918 as something new and completely unanticipated. He will take us into the minority setting of the thé-dansant, the bal musette and the bal-nègre. The jazz developed and commercialised in these settings offers a distinct contrast to the music in mass entertainments and were highly influential in the way jazz formed an arena for the identity politics of the Third Republic, putting the jazz repertoire at the heart of the cultural crossroads between France and the US.
This event is part of Being Human Festival, the UK’s national festival of the humanities, taking place 5-14 November 2026. Led by the School of Advanced Study, University of London, in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the British Academy. For further information please see beinghumanfestival.org
Event venue & nearby stays
University of London Institute in Paris, 9_11 Reu de Constantine, Paris, France
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups — all the happenings, one place.