After the liberation of The Netherlands in 1945 jazz went through a new start because it had been banned from the public sphere and forced to go and stay underground for most of the five years of German occupation. As a consequence of this the young generation was at a loss what to make of popular American music of various styles. That situation explains the rather substantional number of articles on jazz written by journalists and representatives of cultural organizations. But these publications did not always clarify matters. Especially big band swing and bebop proved a source of confusion and created a good deal of controversy. The authorities on the subject largely agreed that both big band swing and bebop could not be called jazz. Jazz was thought to be African-American music with strong roots in folk traditions, played by rather primitive musicians who improvised their spontaneous musical pieces. Like many serious jazz fans reviewers of jazz concerts showed a conservative musical stance. Moreover they showed an aversion to what they regarded as commercialized forms of jazz and to what they saw as the unstrained pursuit of effects. It is self-evident that radio broadcasts and gramophone records play a role of vital importance in the dissemination of jazz. But because of the compartmentalization of the Dutch broadcasting scene only the socialist VARA and the unaffiliated AVRO regularly broadcast jazz and jazz-related programs. For religious reasons the other three licensed broadcasting organizations did not want to have anything to do with jazz. The Dutch recording industry had great difficulty to resume its activities because of currency restrictions. Still Hollandsche Decca Distributie managed to release a substantial number of jazz and swing records during the reconstruction period. According to former members jazz societies, founded to supply information and to promote personal contacts, were especially frequented by well-educated middle class males in their twenties, which finds support in sociological ...