Bangkok after dark : Maurice Rocco, transnational nightlife, and the making of cold war intimacies / Benjamin Tausig.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Tausig, Ben, author. .

Series:

e-Duke books scholarly collection

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Rocco, Maurice.

Pianists--Biography.

Pianists.

African American jazz musicians--Biography.

African American jazz musicians.

Jazz musicians--United States--Biography.

Jazz musicians.

Expatriate musicians--Thailand.

Expatriate musicians.

Musicians--United States.

Musicians.

African American gay people--Thailand--Bangkok.

African American gay people.

Nightlife--Thailand--Bangkok--History--20th century.

Nightlife.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (250 pages) : illustrations.

Place of Publication:

Durham : Duke University Press, 2025.

Summary:

"Bangkok After Dark is a history of transnational nightlife encounters between Thais and Americans during the long Vietnam War. These encounters, which included musical collaboration, romantic and sexual relationships, and new contexts of labor and identity, remade Thailand in crucial and enduring ways. The central character in this study is a queer, Black American jazz pianist named Maurice Rocco, who became an ex-patriate in Bangkok in 1964, living and working there until his murder in 1976. Rocco had been a star in American nightlife scenes, and in Hollywood, in the 1930s-1950s. But as he aged out of the popular music scene, and rock & roll surpassed jazz as America's most popular music, he looked abroad for new opportunities. Bangkok in the era of the war in Vietnam offered protection as well as profit, and it was the city where Rocco ultimately decided to settle in 1964. He would remain there, thriving and living a relatively privileged life, until his murder by two young male sex workers in 1976. A close study of Rocco's musical life in Thailand, as well as his Blackness and queerness, help illuminate the transnational context of a time period that Thais now call "the GI era." Rocco is at the center of a historical study of Thailand's profound Cold War transformations. His story, among others, helps to illuminate a fascinating and intimate transnational moment that came about during the global Cold War"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Rocco blues

Heart of nightlife, artery of war

"What ever happened to Maurice Rocco?"

Neocolonial nightlife

Rice outside the field.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Print version: Tausig, Ben. Bangkok after dark.

ISBN:

9781478060680

1478060689

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.