“We Don’t Want to Be Jazz-Jazz”: Afro-Modernism, Jazz, and Brass Band Music in Benin

SARAH POLITZ is a visiting assistant professor of ethnomusicology at Williams College. Her work focuses on popular music in Africa and the diaspora, including brass band music, jazz, and traditional religious practices in Benin. She completed her PhD at Harvard University in ethnomusicology, master’s degree in ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University, and bachelor’s degrees in jazz studies and English from Oberlin College. She is preparing a book project tentatively titled Gangbe: Resonance and Cultural Economy in Benin’s Jazz and Brass Bands. She performs actively on trombone in and around Boston.