The influence of African American music on composers in the United States has been one of the clearest ways of defining the American qualities of American music. Sometimes the influence is perceptible even when the music is not obviously jazzy. What is less often recognised is that African American references, whether direct or through commercial music forms, have also been a factor in European music. As a developing international vernacular from the 1920s onwards, they provided a route to the listener at a time when modern music was getting more and more abstract. The extent of this African American penetration into British music may be surprising. There's a strange story involving Frederick Delius whose work forms the first chapter in the influence of African American music on British composers. After Delius went completely blind in 1928, Eric Fenby helped him to compose his final works, spending some years living with the Deliuses in France until the composer died in 1934. One evening they were all listening to a radio broadcast of Delius's Brigg Fair conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham, the leading advocate of the composer's music. When it was finished Delius called out: ‘Splendid, Thomas! That's how I want my music to be played. Beecham is the only conductor who's got the hang of it! That was a beautiful performance! Now let's clear the air and play that record of The Revellers singing ‘Ole Man River.’ This British composer, indelibly affected by the music of American blacks, chose a current hit from Showboat (1927) by Jerome Kern to clear the air after his own music. ‘Ole Man River’ reminded him of his youth in Florida.

In 1884 Delius's father, Julius, sent him to Solana Grove, near Jacksonville, Florida, ostensibly to grow oranges on the plantation. When this failed, Julius gave up trying to get his son into business and allowed him to study music in Leipzig.