Dreams in Double Time: On Race, Freedom, and Bebop

In Dreams in Double Time, Jonathan Leal offers a compelling examination of how the musical revolution of bebop unlocked new possibilities for racialised and minoritised communities. Moving beyond conventional Black/white narratives of jazz history, Leal blends lyrical non-fiction with transdisciplinary critique to focus on the stories and experiences of three compelling figures: James Araki, a Nisei multi-instrumentalist, soldier-translator, and scholar of literature and folklore; Raúl Salinas, a Chicano poet, jazz critic, and long-time activist who spent over a decade within the US carceral system; and Harold Wing, an Afro-Chinese American drummer, pianist, and songwriter who performed with bebop pioneers before dedicating himself to public service.

Leal foregrounds the powerful affective and intellectual role that bebop played for these men and their collaborators, demonstrating how it facilitated community building and the imagining of new social futures. Bebop's inherent complexity and radicality, Leal argues, empowered individuals like Araki, Salinas, and Wing, who faced daily state-sanctioned violence, to challenge a racially supremacist and imperial nation, all while simultaneously experiencing and creating the world anew through its sounds. This book offers a vital and nuanced understanding of bebop's cultural significance, revealing its profound impact on identity, resistance, and the forging of collective dreams.