It’s impossible to overstate the importance of African and African American music to the United States’ musical traditions. Steven Lewis, a Curator of Music and Performing Arts at the Smithsonian, notes that “African American influences are so fundamental to American music there would be no American music without them.”

Jon Beebe, a Jazz pianist, professional musician, and an interpretive ranger at the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park, leads us on an exploration of how and why African rhythms and beats came to play important roles in the musical history and musical evolution of the Untied States.

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Complementary Episodes

• Episode 167: Eberhard Faber, The Early History of New Orleans
• Episode 295: Ibrahima Seck, Whitney Plantation Museum
• Episode 308: Jessica Marie Johnson, Slavery & Freedom in French New Orleans
• Episode 342: Elizabeth Ellis, The Great Power of Small Native Nations
• Episode 343: Chad Hamill, Music & Song in Native North America
• Episode 344: Music in British North America
• Episode 345: Amateur Musicians in the Early United States
• Episode 346: Music & Politics in the Early United States

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