Paris blues

France has long been credited with welcoming African Americans and their music: into its venues, into its compositions, into its writing. Yet the reception of jazz is much more complicated than that narrative suggests, embedded in ongoing debates about race, nation and culture. 'Paris Blues' provides an alternative history, one that looks beyond a few familiar personalities and well-rehearsed stories. It does not dismiss these images, from Josephine Baker in her banana skirt to Django Reinhardt in his caravan. But it asks how they came to be so iconic, and what they hide as well as what they preserve.