Jazz

Many followers of this music have two lists--the "responsible" one of received wisdom concerning the evolution and essence of this challenging but ceaselessly rewarding art form and, second, a private "hall of fame" reserved for personal favorites. Giddins adheres to the first list, the party line, which is what makes the book suitable as a textbook on the subject for the reader, whether a student in a college class, a curious novitiate, or a veteran musician who has never taken the time to get the "big picture." Many musicians in this latter group were offended by the Ken Burns' jazz series on PBS, even directing their displeasure toward Wynton Marsalis for brainwashing the ambitious, talented filmmaker (whose film, above all, demonstrated that this music actually CAN be learned, understood, appreciated by a non-musician like its "A" student director). But Wynton was taking his cues from the likes of Giddins along with a legacy of jazz historians and writers too numerous to mention--Stearns, Ulanov, Hentoff, Williams, Berendt, Hodeir, Gridley (to name a few). This same cadre of musician-dissenters will find litle consolation in the present volume, which consigns Stan Kenton to 2-3 mentions (his low profile in these jazz histories--more than any other musician's--seems to irritate the non-canonical musician-"experts").But at a time in human history when the sense of the past is being digitalized, disseminated, dispersed, atomized, and disintegrated as at no other time, what is needed, above all else, is some sense of coherence, continuity, and responsible prioritizing. Editing for a jazz webzine, not to mention observing the present-day participants in this music, will soon reveal that what was once taken for granted--namely, that jazz is an African-American art form--is now either considered irrelevant or, worse, politically incorrect. But without a past, without a progenitor, without a lineage there is no art form--simply a miscellaneous collection of undeniably talented, creative artists producing original music that, since it fits in no tradition or cultural timestream, will expend its energies coincidentally with the lives of the assorted performers.That's why writers and volumes such as Giddins' do us all, not to mention the music, a favor. It well may be that jazz today has its greatest acceptance among whites in Norway, Finland, Canada, Russia, Israel as well as listeners in Asia, but that latter-day universality cannot alter the origins of the music, anymore than Kurosawa's version of "King Lear" can replace Shakespeare's. It boggles the mind that musicians are so ignorant of the importance of a "canon" to the academization and study of literature or of French "auteur theory" to the relatively recent (since the 1970s) academic courses offered in film history, aesthetics, appreciation. Without an organizing principle, without a widely accepted tradition, without emphasis not merely on the performance of the music but on receptionist aesthetics, jazz is a music that's thrown to the winds, outside the bunkers of institutional protectionism, subject to the whims of the marketplace. It has had its time as the individualist's counter-cultural expression; now that position can be occupied by the rappers; jazz and its most representative geniuses may instead occupy a more central position in the realm of the arts that, providing they are understood (I only wish there were as many individuals capable of reading poetry as there are poets!), comprise the examined life that enriches the experience of human beings in general and of Americans in particular.As for that personal list, after a lifetime of listening to this music some of us find ourselves spending more time with Hank Mobley and Sonny Stitt than with Bird and Trane, with late Bill Evans than the early trio with Scott LaFaro, with the 1970s Jazz Messenger recordings than those Blakey made in the '60s and '80s. And along the way we have little epiphanies about the enormous importance of Norman Granz, who preserved the language of Diz and Bird, Ella and Pops, as opposed to other labels that perennially went for the hook, the hit, and the buck. And we remain grateful as never before that "Kind of Blue" came out on Columbia, assuring the sonic depth and resonance that, 50 years later, would still accommodate an ever-expanding throng of listeners, or we thank the muses that Helen Keane would see to it that the musician with the most extraordinary touch perhaps in recorded jazz piano history (the equivalent of classical music's Michaelangeli) would not be homogenized to the point of being indistinguishable from Horace Silver. All of these stories need to be told, along with the lives of the musicians whose personal "voices" many of us respond to more than the mechanical structures analyzed by this otherwise fine and accessible study. But first a curiosity has to be planted. Then the other audience will come to go over the crop, hand selecting its most prized fruits. (Were it not for French theory, it's entirely possible that "Citizen Kane" would be a forgotten, even non-existent film (more Hollywood films have perished than have been preserved.) Books like "Jazz" ensure that the life of Louis' "West End Blues" or "Hawk's "Body and Soul" or Bird's "Embraceable You" endure for longer than any single individual's lifetime.

I bought this book on the strength of Scott Deveaux's Birth of Bebop, which for a history book, was a close to an electrifying page-turner as I have ever read. The Birth of Bebop was an in-depth history that delved into the events, personalities and details associated with the bebop revolution."Jazz", on the other hand, is structured more like a textbook. Granted, covering 120+ years of jazz history in 600 pages is a daunting task requiring judicious editing and selective topical choices, but I was disappointed with the lack of detail in this volume. This book might be a good starting place for someone with no previous knowledge of jazz. As I previously suggested, it might work well as a textbook in a Jazz 101 class. The formal analysis of each of the musical samples does provide valuable insight into how jazz musicians think, as well as the changes in jazz structure over time. However, if you are someone with an interest in the real historical details, I would suggest you look elsewhere.My disappointment with this book is less related to the structure or contents of the book itself and more a function of my mistaken expectations, though, and I think it still deserves five stars for what it is.

The book arrived looking a little too much like homework. But by the second chapter - its worth getting the collection of CDs that baby sit this book even if you have a lot of the recordings separately, especially useful on MP3 - it was soon obvious that the authors must have been at pains to keep this to one volume. And by the third chapter I wished there were several more volumes and much more extensive analysis of the musicians included and those not mentioned.Perhaps the greatest delight is hearing coherent and structured synopses of many things you pick up incoherently over years of listening. There's not much of the subjective in this tome which, since the Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz, serves as a serious but friendly overview of this great but undervalued pillar of American and world culture. More like this please...

Amazing book tbh

I gave this book to my son, who is a professional jazz guitarist, for Christmas. He really appreciated it, not only for the quality of the illustrations and the thoroughness of the text, but the fact that it included bar charts and additional information that he, as a musician, really valued. I, a non-musician, thoroughly enjoyed learning more about the subject and now am listening to musicians and forms of jazz I did not understand before. It has enhanced both my enjoyment and my appreciation of jazz.

I purchased this book for my son who is a graduate student in jazz at a top university and it was the perfect gift. This book is essential history for a jazz student. My second son, who also studies jazz, demanded his own copy and has talked about the book at great length; he was even able to update his professor on some facts! He feels like it is bringing lightness to his musical darkness.

This was a gift to my grandson, who is a music major, & he loves Jazz. When I saw this book, I thought he would like it. After speaking to him, he told me he loved the book & found it very interesting. He would certainly recommend to any one who is interested in the history of Jazz & loves Jazz.

Has helpful highlighting. I wish it had the cd's with it, but I didn't really expect them. Youtube has them.

Do you wanna be cool or not? Get this book or remain square, man!!!

very interesting book for a jazzer

Fabulous quality

- A brilliant book of jazz, for both studying purpose as well as for those who just want to read an interesting book. Highly recogmendable.

Informative, laid out perfectly. Gary Giddins and Scott DeVeaux have made learning about the history of Jazz easy!