"A magnificent book about Afro-American music and its impact on western culture."–Race and Class
"Christopher Small has written a magnificent book about Afro-American music and its impact on western culture. He totally fulfills his aim of showing that black American music has become of far greater human significance than any superficial assessment of classically-oriented evaluation would allow."–Race and Class
"Essential for anyone interested in obtaining another perspective on the aesthetics of African-American music and hot it relates to culture."–The Black Perspective in Music
"A magnificent book about Afro-American music and its impact on western culture."–Race and Class
"A real gem: deeply committed, pesuasively argued and imbued throughout with a love and understanding of the music."–The Wire