TRANSCRIPT:
I’m Mark Rapp, and this is Rapp on Jazz.
Colson Whitehead’s fiction often pulses with the spirit of jazz, shaping both rhythm and structure in his narratives.
Like a jazz musician riffing on a theme, Whitehead’s prose flows with spontaneity, tension, and release, keeping readers engaged and off-balance in the most compelling way.
In novels such as The Noble Hustle and The Underground Railroad, the influence of jazz is evident not just in content but in cadence—the phrasing of sentences and the pacing of scenes.
Jazz also informs Whitehead’s themes: resilience, identity, and creativity in the face of adversity. As jazz musicians innovate within structure, his characters navigate complex social and personal landscapes, improvising solutions, adapting, and surviving.
Through Whitehead, jazz becomes a lens for understanding life, narrative, and the American experience.
This has been Rapp on Jazz, a co-production of ColaJazz and South Carolina Public Radio, made possible by the ETV Endowment of South Carolina.