This chapter mainly focuses on the life and work of Blue Lu Barker, wife of Danny Barker, who was a major blues and jazz singer in the 1930s and 1940s, who continued her career in New Orleans into the 1970s. Starting out as a singer and dancer, she came to New York as a teenager, chaperoned by the legendary clarinettist Lorenzo Tio Jr. She cut her first discs for Decca, including an all-star cast with such musicians as Benny Carter and Henry Allen. The Texan pianist Sammy Price also played on her records. She gives an insider's view of living with 'Show people' in New York, including the drummer Paul Barbarin, who later worked on her records after she signed to Capitol. She discusses making records in New York, Los Angeles and New Orleans. Her career is compared to that of the contemporary singer Topsy Chapman, who started out singing gospel but starred in the show One Mo Time. Chapman discusses the imprtance of festivals in a singer's career.

This chapter provides an overview of the role of jazz during the period, noting the genre’s beginnings in African music patterns and its migration to unexpected areas such as Chicago and California. The chapter also briefly profiles major musicians and singers associated with jazz during the mid-twentieth century.