Jazz à la Creole examines how French Creole music contributed to the emergence of jazz in New Orleans.

Drawing on primary sources and previously unpublished interviews, Caroline Vézina traces the musical practices of Creoles of Color from the colonial period through jazz’s formative years. She examines sacred songs, Congo Square dances, and the improvisation of Creole lyrics and melodies to show how African, European, and Caribbean traditions met in Louisiana.

• Caroline Vézina, Author
• Published in 2022
• Paperback
• Published by University Press of Mississippi

"Jazz à la Creole is an excellent scholarly synthesis of the various attributions to Afro-French Creole culture regarding the formation and early development of New Orleans jazz. The study ties together issues related to race, ethnic identity, gender, class, religious and secular education, transcultural exchange, and canon formation. The depth and breadth of sources used and integrated on this topic surpasses previous efforts. This work is indispensable."

- Bruce Boyd Raeburn, curator emeritus, Hogan Archive of New Orleans Music and New Orleans Jazz at Tulane University, and author of New Orleans Style and the Writing of American Jazz History

"With a rich variety of musical notations, lyrics, and historical quotations, Jazz à la Creole demonstrates how the constantly evolving process of creolization was foundational to the development of New Orleans's unique musical traditions. Vézina distills a topic as intricate and boundless as jazz itself with purpose and precision."

- Eric Seiferth, curator and historian at The Historic New Orleans Collection