Review of \u3ci\u3eExperiments in a Jazz Aesthetic: Art, Activism, Academia, and the Austin Project\u3c/i\u3e edited by Omi Osun Joni L. Jones, Lisa L. Moore, and Sharon Bridgforth

Abstract

The Austin Project (tAP) is a performing arts initiative that began at the University of Texas at Austin in 2002. Consisting almost exclusively of women of color and produced by Omi Osun Joni Jones, tAP created opportunities for artists, amateur and professional, to collaborate, improvise with one another, and develop a variety of spoken word performances reflecting their subjectivity and experiences. Experiments in Jazz Aesthetic functions as both a sourcebook, containing representative fragments of writings developed by tAP between 2002 and 2006, and as an anthology of new works by prominent performance artists Sharon Bridgforth, Robbie McCauley, and Laurie Carlos, among others