"Tropical Riffs is a dazzling transnational cultural history destined to galvanize the next generation of both jazz studies and Latin American studies. Erudite, stylish, and every bit as cosmopolitan as its subject, Jason Borge's book brilliantly conceives of Latin American jazz as a thick cultural matrix connecting the music, film, journalism, criticism, and visual art communities of Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, New York City, and Los Angeles. Few books have taught me so much." - John Gennari, author of Flavor and Soul: Italian America at Its African American Edge
"Elegantly written and insightfully argued, Jason Borge's book considers the shifting local meanings surrounding jazz for Latin American critics and intellectuals of the 1920s and beyond, often framed by larger debates surrounding racial tension, US foreign policy, modernization, and cultural nationalism." - Robin D. Moore, coauthor of Danzón: Circum-Caribbean Dialogues in Music and Dance
"A welcome and much needed extension and elaboration of jazz as an American cultural product on a hemispheric scale." - Eugene Holley, Jr., DownBeat
"A superb history of Latin American jazz's artistic and societal evolution." - Kevin Canfield, New York City Jazz Record
"Recommended." - K. R. Dietrich, Choice
“Tropical Riffs offers a wonderful introduction to jazz in Latin America in the early- to late mid-twentieth century, tracing and following jazz in Latin America, and Latin jazz in the U.S. as an evolving hybrid art of musical expressions." - Moshe Morad, EIAL
"With Tropical Riffs, Borge has provided an extremely helpful survey that unites and expands upon scholarship that was, until now, largely contained in isolated country studies. The author convincingly shows how jazz figured prominently in the driving political and cultural debates of twentieth-century Latin America." - Victoria Broadus, The Latin Americanist
"This publication should move readers . . . to be aural consumers, both first-time and return listeners, on whatever media they can access, of the North American and Latin American musical artists who have played and continue to play on this shared stage." - Charles A. Perrone, Latin American Literary Review
"The study of music in Latin America is a robust field, and this book is an instructive contribution." - Alejandra Bronfman, Journal of Popular Music Studies
"Perhaps the book’s most important contribution is the detailed look into emerging discourses of national identity and its entanglements with complex, and sometimes contradictory ideologies of racial inclusion. Throughout the entire book, Borge’s narrative brings to the fore the many connections between black musicians across the hemisphere that were made possible through jazz." - Marcelo Boccato Kuyumjian, Journal of the Society for American Music
"... This strong survey comprehensively investigates notions of jazz and its perceived potential to corrupt or diminish central genres of national expression throughout Latin America." - Eric A. Galm, The Americas
"Tropical Riffs offers a thought-provoking insight into the impact of jazz in Latin America, not only on musical styles and discussions but also on political and cultural debates throughout the region during the twentieth century. In examining how jazz music provided Latin American intellectuals with resources with which to negotiate changing attitudes toward race, sexuality, national identity, US influence, and mass con-sumption, Borge provides a well-written and informative study of a much-neglected topic." - Hazel Marsh, Bulletin of Latin American Research
“Jason Borge has managed to synthesize large and diverse bodies of literature to produce a thoughtful, well-written monograph.... It is a pleasure to enthusiastically recommend it for any collection supporting research in ethnomusicology, jazz studies, or twentieth-century Latin American culture and history.” - Carlos E. Peña, Notes
“[Tropical Riffs] provides a comprehensive account of jazz’s political implications in Latin America.... I recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about jazz, Latin music, and transhemispheric American culture in general.” - John Bimbiras, Transposition
