Book Description
"The path the slave took to 'citizenship' is what I want to look at. And I make my analogy through the slave citizen's music -- through the music that is most closely associated with him: blues and a later, but parallel development, jazz... [If] the Negro represents, or is symbolic of, something in and about the nature of American culture, this certainly should be revealed by his characteristic music."
So says Amiri Baraka in the Introduction to Blues People, his classic work on the place of jazz and blues in American social, musical, economic, and cultural history. From the music of African slaves in the United States through the music scene of the 1960's, Baraka traces the influence of what he calls "negro music" on white America -- not only in the context of music and pop culture but also in terms of the values and perspectives passed on through the music. In tracing the music, he brilliantly illuminates the influence of African Americans on American culture and history.
Customer Reviews:
An American Treasure.......2007-06-29
This is one of the most important books on America and American history, culture and citizenship. It would benefit the world if it were incorporated into public education. Someone said that nations are judged by their art and this book examines that subject superlatively. This study of the blues examines the evolving cosmology of the Africans and their journey and creation: the blues, one of the singular most powerful beauties of America. He shows how from the blues came all and embraced all other peoples and cultures. Baraka's ability to live the thoughts of the originators enables us to understand the profoundity of their sorrow and sublimity of their joy.
gone where the Southern cross the yella dog.......2007-02-22
The other day a friend rashly claimed that art and music were equally hard to describe in words. I asked him to tell me about a certain painting of Picasso's. He did, but claimed it wasn't accurate. "OK," I said, "you're right, but now tell me about Mozart's Jupiter Symphony." He opened his mouth, closed it, looked at me, and said, "Yeah, I see what you mean." Writing a book about the blues would be equally hard, it seems to me. So, LeRoi Jones did what he could, back in 1963, to tie the indescribable to the more concrete. He wrote a social history of African-Americans in the USA through the prism of music or---maybe on the principle of red and yellow tile floors (are they red with yellow designs or yellow with red designs ?)---he wrote a book on African-American music through the prism of social history. It is one of the most important books on American music (and American society) that you can find. It has stood the test of time. He begins from the Africans who came to North America as slaves bearing very different cultures, confronted by an absolutely different view of the world emanating from their new masters. Here he tries to show how African music became transformed into African-AMERICAN music and then American. He continues then up through the generations of slavery, to Emancipation, migration to the cities, World War I, the Depression, World War II and the bebop age of the Fifties. The book is pre-Civil Rights movement, pre-Martin Luther King. Jones may have looked down on the NAACP and its allies as "white liberal supported organizations", I'm not sure, but they don't appear. The times are symbolized by the use of "Negro" throughout. I agree, the tome is dated, but don't reject it, don't pooh-pooh the man. This is a very intelligent, very worthwhile book. Anyone, particularly from outside the USA, who wants to know the history of African-American music within its social environment ought still to read BLUES PEOPLE. He writes, "If Negro music can be seen to be the result of certain attitudes, certain specific ways of thinking about the world (and only ultimately about the ways in which music can be made), then the basic hypothesis of this book is understood." [p.153] Jones goes to great lengths to get to the bottom of those attitudes and thoughts.
My main criticism, apart from the fact that history dictates that we must be left a half century behind contemporary realities, is that though Jones obviously knew and loved the blues and jazz and all the various styles ( if not swing), his approach is coldly academic, highly dispassionate. He may criticize people who tried to make money, he may downplay all those who "abandoned" their roots, but my disappointment is that there is nothing of himself in the work barring a few mentions of his family. He does not share his enthusiasm. Music is beauty after all. I am sure he wanted the book to be taken as a serious essay, which it is. But in keeping himself removed from the discussion, being so analytic and professional in the style of the day, he has robbed us "readers of the future" of many insights.
African-American experience in the USA expressed itself most particularly in the blues, only later did that musical mode become part of the general American culture, often watered down, sometimes imitated by those who didn't wish to fit in or who wished to cash in. When conditions have changed, when the black middle class has entered mainstream America, and the urban underclass is wrapped up in hip-hop, gangsta rap culture, which is relentlessly commercialized by the powerful media, talking about the blues may seem a matter for historians or ethnomusicologists. Still, BLUES PEOPLE resonates strongly if we try to understand where we have been. As for where we are going---that old line sums it up---we're goin where the Southern cross the yella dog.
Blues People.......2005-09-22
This is a really interesting look at the evolution of black culture through the lense of music. Some of the author's opinions about later music (50's-60's) may seem out of touch to today's readers, but overall it is well worth reading.
The Best Starting Point.......2005-08-24
I actually purchased the first paperback edition this book a long time ago, and I learned that it had been out of print for quite some time. It was a time when I was a casual listener of blues and jazz, and didn't think about the roots of the music I was listening to. The book was interesting enough, but it didn't have information about more contemporary stuff, as it was printed in 1963.
Recently, I found this book in the upper shelves of my library, having completely forgotten about it in spite of my infatuation with the blues for the better part of the last two decades. It was a most welcome surprise for me, as it contained a compact but comprehensive introduction to the time period from the first Africans came to America to the 1920s when their music was first recorded, and laid the groundwork to how this music evolved in a sociological context. The rural lifestyle, the reflections of the exodus from the south on the music and subsequent refined, urban sound are discussed in this framework.
Although it would not really appeal to the casual reader and listener, "Blues People" is invaluable for the serious blues and jazz fan for setting the music into the general context of social life and external effects that made this music what it is today.
Very honest&breaks all chains.......2003-01-16
this book not only puts the music into perspective but also the struggle that still goes on too this day.very upfront&honest about problems that still linger.it traces the journey&challenges it's reader too better understand the reason for the whys??one of the best Books that I have ever read from start too finish.
Book Description
Is jazz a universal idiom or is it an African-American art form? Although whites have been playing jazz almost since it first developed, the history of jazz has been forged by a series of African-American artists whose styles caught the interest of their musical generation--masters such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, and Charlie Parker. Whether or not white musicians deserve their secondary status in jazz history, one thing is clear: developments in jazz have been a result of black people's search for a meaningful identity as Americans and members of the African diaspora. Blacks are not alone in being deeply affected by these shifts in African-American racial attitudes and cultural strategies. Historically in closer contact with blacks than nearly any other group of white Americans, white jazz musicians have also felt these shifts. More importantly, their careers and musical interests have been deeply affected by them. The author, an active participant in the jazz world as composer, performer, and author of several books on jazz and Latin music, hopes that this book will encourage jazz lovers to take a rhetoric-free look at the charged issue of race as has affected the world of jazz. A work about the formulation of identity in the face of racial difference, the book considers topics such as the promotion of black Southern culture and inner-city styles like rhythm and blues and rap as a means of achieving black racial solidarity. It discusses the body of music fostered by an identification to Africa, the conversion of black jazz musicians to Islam and other Eastern religions, and the impact of a jazz community united by heroin use. White jazz musicians who identify with black culture in an unsettling form by speaking black dialect and calling themselves African-American is examined, as is the assimilation of jazz into the wider American culture.
Customer Reviews:
Good book but...............2007-07-20
Though it was a bit too focused on the political and sociological climate of the time, I thought that the book was good given the fact that the author's intention was obviously to write a contextual biography. The validity of some things written might be questionable, and there are things left out, but at least someone stepped up and made the effort to write a biography about Lee-this should have been done long ago.
who's more important here Lee Morgan or the author?.......2007-04-15
I must admit that I did learn a bit of factual information about Lee Morgan From Tom Perchard's book, but what I really came away with was the author's sociological theories about race, drugs, and growing up in the jazz music business in the 1950s & 1960s. This was fascinating and intriguing reading for a few pages but by the end of the book I really had more of an idea about the author's viewpoints than any sort of idea about what Lee Morgan was actually like. Maybe someday we'll get a biography about Morgan that's actually more about Morgan and less about the author's sociological insights.
DenseLee.......2007-04-15
This book left me a bit disturbed. There is very little of the Lee Morgan I got to know. I appreciated Tom Perchard's research in his attempt to find out what it was in Lee's background that made him the musician he was to become. However, his time would have been better spent trying to find out what was in the water they were drinking in Philadelphia that produced all those great musicians, Clifford Brown, Trane, Tyner, Timmons, the Heath brothers, Ray Bryant, Charlie Persip and Dizzy, or he could have attributed his talent to the famous "Jess Grew".
The Lee Morgan I got to know was a fun loving young musician. When I saw him with Dizzy's big band(late 50s) at Sparrows beach in Md. That band had Quincy Jones, Wynton Kelly, Charlie Persip and Joe Gordon. When I arrived at the beach the first thing I saw was Lee and Persip running out of the water with inner tubes trying to get on the bandstand before Dizzy started to play. Several years later I was in a bar next to Birdland (60s) and Philly Joe Jones was telling Art Taylor that he had just saw Lee sitting on the curb without any shoes on so he went back in the house got his bedroom slippers and gave them to Lee. My next vivid experience with Lee(late 60s-until he died) came when as business manager for the Left Bank Jazz Society, we presented Lee in concert on Howard's campus. At that concert before a sold out auditorium Lee received a standing ovation before a single note was played. That concert was reviewed by the late Ralph Matthews in the Washington Afro-American and contains some the quotes about Lee that Perchard uses in his book. Booking Lee Morgan kept the LBJS afloat for about 3 years. His concerts always sold out thus providing us with seed money to book other artists. I once offered to increase his fee for future shows but he said, "everything is cool as is, just keep the other bands coming". As a trumpeter player Lee had a lot of fire, and was a crowd pleaser. He was also a very good band leader who took care of the business side of things, was always on time for the shows made sure he got deposits before the gig and always had first class musicians performing with him. The tragedy of his death, like so many others of his era, was that he had gained all this life experience,good and bad, and musical knowledge at a very young age, had given a lot back to the music, and still had so much to share.
Great Lee appreciated.......2007-04-02
This is a really good book; I strongly recommend it. Perchard provides an intellectually and academically robust situating of the great Lee Morgan - the man and the music - in sociocultural, and historical context. He does this in lucid and frequently exciting prose. So doing I believe he raises the bar for jazz music history. Of course not everyone will agree with everything the author says or how he divides his attentions. But this is a book for now in which we have many things gone viewed anew, plus things new to think about aplenty.
barely has anything to do with lee.......2007-03-19
Ditto to what "Hardbopper" said. This book has barely anything to do with the great Lee Morgan - there is biographical information, yes, but even the author admits himself amid one of his many political discussions that "this is not the definitive Lee Morgan biography." He goes into several tangents about racism, blacks, politics, culture, etc, which is great, but why slap the name "Lee Morgan" on the title if it barely has to do with his life or music? You could get more information on Lee by reading the liner notes to one of his albums, for instance. This is just a guy trying to make a name for himself by blathering on for hundreds of pages about social issues.
Will someone out there write a TRUE biography of one of jazz's most tragic figures?
Amazon.com
Whaddya know--turns out size does matter. In this stunning collection of album cover art from 1940 to 1960, it is instantly apparent that despite the advantages CDs may have in the technology or convenience departments, vinyl albums--even based on their sheer proportions--have always been way cooler. This is especially true for this particular era, when cover art was truly an art form, with talented designers handcrafting individualized jackets influenced by surrealism, cubism, and modern artists of the day. And as Tony Bennett says in his preface, "they were large enough to make you feel like you were taking home your very own work of art."
Author Eric Kohler, a graphic designer and album cover artist himself, selected these 250 gorgeous covers from his own collection of over 3,000. He offers a captivating history of the early record industry, addressing the invention of the phonograph in 1877, the near demise of the industry due to competition with radio, and the rejuvenating introduction of the jukebox in 1935. Prior to Columbia Records' release of the 33 rpm vinyl LP in 1948, music fans were restricted to 78s--easily breakable, shellac-based records that could only hold four minutes' worth of music on each side. Victor Records made a competitive strike with the 45 (hence turntables with 33, 45, and 78 options), but its success was limited. Until the 1980s, the LP ruled the land with its roomy cardboard cover--a perfect canvas for artists.
Kohler's focus is on the graphic artists themselves--revolutionaries of the industry. Previously, albums had plain covers that advertised phonograph and record companies rather than performers. But when designer Alex Steinweiss entered the scene in 1939 (at the tender age of 23) he changed the business of cover art forever. Kohler illustrates the styles of eight such prominent cover artists--Steinweiss's trademark curly-scrawl script, Jim Flora's cartoonish images recalling Joan Miró and Paul Klee--with such accuracy that readers are able to immediately recognize and differentiate their work. Although the sun shone on these artists for only a brief time (the advent of photographic covers in the late 1950s all but obliterated their influence), these 20 years paint a fascinating portrait of popular music, modern art, and even business development. Best of all, Kohler serves up page after glorious, glossy page of big, beautiful album covers. --Brangien Davis
Book Description
What the much-admired Blue Note: The Album Cover Art and Blue Note 2 did for jazz, In the Groove does for the sounds of the '40s and '50s, when swing and bebop took off. Selected for their noteworthy design and wonderful illustrations, these visual stunners range from jazz to popular tunes to classical and Latin styles. But it's the lounge vibe that truly runs wild as we tour more than 300 sensational album covers, including seldom-seen issues from Decca, Blue Note, and other labels. A brief text explains what design was like before the photograph took over and how the invention of the LP changed the record business forever. Author Eric Kohler also introduces the stand-out designers and key labels of the period. Cole Porter, Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra, Desi Arnaz, Carmen Miranda their best album covers are all here, and they're all sizzlin' in the heyday of hip. Easy on the eyes, In the Groove is the real thing: the great covers created by the great designers for the musical greats of yesteryear.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent book, poor binding.......2005-10-04
This is a fantastic book for album cover designs. But as I was warned, the glue on the binding really does gives out after the first reading. But the content is so incredible, it's worth purchasing this book...just be sure to handle it carefully so you don't loose your pages.
Sound pictures........2002-12-14
Mr Kohler presents two hundred and fifty covers (from his large collection) which he rightly thinks show the best of album design in the early years of the LP. He features eight artist/designers who created some of the most distinctive work in cover art. Two of them are my favorites, David Stone Martin who gave Norman Granz's Clef label some beautiful cover illustrations (twenty are shown) and Reid Miles who created the east coast look to Blue Note Records. Unfortunately only four of his covers are shown but you can see dozens more in the two books by Graham Marsh: The Cover Art of Blue Note Records and The Cover Art of Blue Note Records, Vol.2. The other six designers range from the unique illustrations of RCA's Jim Flora to the work of Swiss born designer Erik Nitsche and his semi abstract work for Decca. Record companies are also featured and you can see the beginnings of the Capitol Records house style, I think they were the only major company to produce consistently well designed covers with excellent photography and typography.
Though all these covers are interesting to look at I don't think too many work as complete design units, that is image and text complement each other, mostly they are images with text added later. One cover that I like is on page eighty-one, it shows a file-card box and the albums title, 'Guide to Jazz' is typed on a card which is resting against the box, the tabs of the other cards have musical instruments on them, a simple creative idea that works. Strangely the designer is unknown.
I doubt you will see as good a coverage of the early years of the LP as this (well produced) book but have a look at this title that concentrates on jazz covers from the fifties and sixties, Jazz West Coast: Artwork of Pacific Jazz Records. It has dozens of examples of creativity on paper twelve inches square, somehow CD covers just can't compete with that.
***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer image' under the cover.
"Groove"y Covers.......2002-06-05
Being a music lover, I've never been partial to one type of music only--I have a passion for everything from rock to classical, pop to country, even from jazz to techno. Something in all of these styles intrigues me. And how intriguing is this incredible book by Eric Kohler. I never thought I'd "get into" a book dedicated solely to album covers from 1940-1960, but I was wrong. The music lover in me kicked in, and I found myself fascinated with the glorious color photos, the revealing and well-researched text, and with the artists themselves. This album cover artistry really has diminished with the advent of the much-smaller compact disc (which is a truly disappointing fact), but Mr. Kohler's book rapturously captures the vividness of the times, the artists, the moods, and the music of those two decades. It took me back to the time when I myself used to stare at the covers of my records for hours while playing them over and over again - this classic book uncovers that wonderful feeling inside you once more. And to top it all off, Mr. Tony Bennett himself writes an introduction that's both classy and sentimental. This is a great book for any music lover with a coffee table -- and an open mind towards how art has influenced music (and vice versa) in so many ways.
Long, lost days of style........2001-08-01
As a graphic designer, I get so flustered when I see the same old CD covers now: a photo of the artist or band, and their name scribbled on top, or a really un-inspired text treatment, most likely using some wretched Photoshop tool like, alien skin or eye candy- blech! Perhaps modern day CD's skimp on the design work of the covers because they are so much smaller now. But back in the days of LP's and 45's art was generously splashed on covers. Full-colored, stylized and oh, so hip! Each one fit to be framed and displayed. "In the Groove: Vintage Record Graphics, 1940-1960" effectively chronicles the history of this long, lost art-form in a picture-book style. I say picture-book, because of the lack of background information on many of the pieces, in fact there are quite a few pieces that are listed as "unknown designer", how unfortunate! Some poor old designer dedicated his or her life to creating some stunning art to attract music lovers' eyes to this or that particular record, and now they're the "unknown designer". Eric Kohler did his best grouping together styles of record graphics, so seeing the evolution of style was very nicely mapped-out. Nice quality paper, nice printing... would've been nicer in hardback. Still, this is one of my favorite books!
Cool Collection of overlooked medium.......2001-02-21
I liked this book so much that I bought a copy for my record-collecting boyfriend and a DJ friend with a varied and ecclectic vinyl collection.
When I thought of record cover art, I thought of those fantasy-styled "YES" covers, or the metal band covers of the 80's. I had no idea about how many cool vintage record covers were out there.
The book focuses on covers from 1940-1960. You'll find many jazz, swing and vocalists represented here. The reproductions are excellent and the variety is impressive. While most covers are reproduced in 3x3inches, quite a few are refresented as full pages which is about a 9-inch square. It is organized by artist and record company, showing you how the artist's style influenced the cover.
I highly recommend it for record collectors, vintage enthusiasts, graphic designers/illustrators and those who love old things. It made me miss the 12-inch vinyl covers all the more and has inspired me to track specific albums down. CDs can never match the emotional connection that vinyl did.
Book Description
Smaller in trim size, greatly expanded in content, this compendium of Chronicle’s classic Blue Note books (50,000 copies sold) is now an appealingly chunky paperback. Blue Note remains one of the most influential jazz labels of all time, and its cover art is a virtual time-capsule of cool. Now comprehensive, Blue Note: Album Cover Art gathers nearly 400 of the legendary covers, spanning the ’40s to the ’70s, and features the greatest work of legendary Blue Note art director Reid Miles. Simple and sophisticated, moody and alluring, these covers continue to influence designers and excite jazz aficionados today. "One glance," as Esquire said of the original edition, "and you’ll know where the essence of cool remains."
Customer Reviews:
Classic.......2004-06-21
Blue Note Records not only released Classic Albums but also had Classic Album Covers that covered so much more.the Book displays the many images&stylings.if you get a chance watch the special on Blue Note Records which goes into full depth about the Music,Artists,Owners of the Label&those Classic album covers. enjoy.
excellent book; makes a great guide to blue note records.......2003-11-07
This compact book gives examples of some of the greatest album covers, to some of the finest albums, and now cds, issued by the label. It also makes a great guide for albums to check out, to see if they are still in print; which many of them are. Even for the out of print ones, it provides a nice collection for information purposes, and is reasonably priced. I look forward to finding and buying volume 2.
Compact size - great content.......2003-01-15
I have the two other editions of the Blue Note album covers (the ones that are the size of an album) and I love to look at them. The only problem is that they are a little too big to sit and flip through. The size of this book- "Blue Note: Album Cover Art" is perfect for flipping through. It looks small but packs a wonderful punch. I couldn't believe how many album covers were in this book. This book fits nicely on a coffee table or end table. If you are like me, you'll find yourself looking at it daily - in amazement of the style and class that embodies the Blue Note image.
Average customer rating:
- An amazingly comprehensive study
- Fun, but uncriticizing worship
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The Song of the Hawk: The Life and Recordings of Coleman Hawkins (The Michigan American Music Series)
John Chilton
Manufacturer: University of Michigan Press
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Book Description
The first full-length biography of Coleman Hawkins
Customer Reviews:
An amazingly comprehensive study.......2004-06-16
John Chilton IS a professional jazz musician as well as a Coleman Hawkins fan (who could not be). Another reviewer has criticized the criticism for not being critical; I wish to criticize him! First off as a pioneer, Hawkins had NO contemporaries at the start of his career. Few reviews are gushing with praise, there are plenty of recordings that are (dare I use the word) criticized. What makes this book so great is the thoroughness: nearly every detail in a HUGE catalog of recordings is discussed. Many of the recordings are obscure and often out of print, yet I could only find a few he missed. I've had a great time reading his thoughts on a track and then going back and listening for the points mentioned. I've read many jazz musicians' biographies, this is my favorite. While it adequately covers the personal details, the focus is on the music. If I had any criticism at all, it would be that it's maybe a little too unemotionally scholastic.
Fun, but uncriticizing worship.......2002-02-18
This is a very entertaining book about this groundbreaking saxophone stylist. However, the analyses of his recordings are kind of nonsense. The author himself isn't a musician instead of a devoted fan? The author does not compare the Hawk with other players of the era very critically, ie. based on musical facts. Still, a very readable book.
Amazon.com
Columbia University professor Robert G. O'Meally--one of the most comprehensive essayists and cultural critics on the scene--has brought together diverse viewpoints on jazz's continuing influence over the culture of the United States. This superb collection takes its cue from the legendary Ralph Ellison's observation that American life is "jazz-based." As O'Meally writes, "The book is thus a teaching tool designed to open the way for a variety of new avenues in jazz studies as a growing interdisciplinary field of exploration."
Ann Douglas muses on the relationship between skyscrapers and the music of the swing era, while Alan P. Merriam and Fradley H. Garner trace the jumbled etymology of the very word jazz. Astute critic Albert Murray offers a brief but masterful and illuminating treatise, "Improvisation and the Creative Process," while James A. Snead explores the uses of riffs in "Repetition as a Figure of Black Culture." The book's scope is grand enough to include Stanley Crouch's affirmative "Blues to Be Constitutional," Amiri Baraka's scorching indictment "Jazz and the White Critic," and Michael Eric Dyson's take on basketball's jazz/dance-like Afro-American reinvention, "Be Like Mike: Michael Jordan and the Pedagogy of Desire." Interviews with saxophonist Benny Golson and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis round out an incredible work that reveals all of the multicolored hues and grooves that make the United States glow. --Eugene Holley Jr.
Book Description
Taking to heart Ralph Ellison's remark that much in American life is "jazz-shaped," The Jazz Cadence of American Culture offers a wide range of eloquent statements about the influence of this art form. Robert G. O'Meally has gathered a comprehensive collection of important essays, speeches, and interviews on the impact of jazz on other arts, on politics, and on the rhythm of everyday life. Focusing mainly on American artistic expression from 1920 to 1970, O'Meally confronts a long era of political and artistic turbulence and change in which American art forms influenced one another in unexpected ways.
Organized thematically, these provocative pieces include an essay considering poet and novelist James Weldon Johnson as a cultural critic, an interview with Wynton Marsalis, a speech on the heroic image in jazz, and a newspaper review of a recent melding of jazz music and dance, Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk. From Stanley Crouch to August Wilson to Jacqui Malone, the plurality of voices gathered here reflects the variety of expression within jazz.
The book's opening section sketches the overall place of jazz in America. Alan P. Merriam and Fradley H. Garner unpack the word jazz and its register, Albert Murray considers improvisation in music and life, Amiri Baraka argues that white critics misunderstand jazz, and Stanley Crouch cogently dissects the intersections of jazz and mainstream American democratic institutions. After this, the book takes an interdisciplinary approach, exploring jazz and the visual arts, dance, sports, history, memory, and literature. Ann Douglas writes on jazz's influence on the design and construction of skyscrapers in the 1920s and '30s, Zora Neale Hurston considers the significance of African-American dance, Michael Eric Dyson looks at the jazz of Michael Jordan's basketball game, and Hazel Carby takes on the sexual politics of Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith's blues.
The Jazz Cadence offers a wealth of insight and information for scholars, students, jazz aficionados, and any reader wishing to know more about this music form that has put its stamp on American culture more profoundly than any other in the twentieth century.
Customer Reviews:
intelligent and invigorating.......2000-05-23
The collection of essays gathered in this volume are exceptional--smart, insightful, and inspiring. Together they explore jazz as a cultural phenomenon, not only a musical genre. They are organized intelligently in a manner which makes the book both educational and very enjoyable.
Average customer rating:
- Essential
- A really dreadful guide to compact discs...
- the tourist point of view
- Great guide for jazz beginners
- I concur: it's the best
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The Guide to Classic Recorded Jazz
Tom Piazza
Manufacturer: University Of Iowa Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Amazon.com
Arguments about what qualifies as jazz (let alone classic jazz) will rage well into the next millennium. Tom Piazza has floated his own definition--which is partly chronological and partly based on a few stylistic litmus tests--and then used it to shape this intelligent and individual guide. Considering both ensembles and soloists, he covers about 800 recordings, most of them made between 1920 and 1970. Although the heft of his book qualifies it as a reference work, Piazza never pretends to encyclopedic neutrality. On the contrary, he's a fiery advocate of the recordings he loves, and a chiding critic of those he doesn't.
Customer Reviews:
Essential.......2003-11-30
N.B. I've known Tom for several years, and consider him a friend. That said, I got his book shortly after I met him, and consider essential for anyone who either loves jazz, or wishes to learn about jazz.
I used it to construct a fantastic collection over the years. I literally built my pillars of Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Charlie Parker around his well-chosen recomendations, and have added a number of lesser well known favorites to my roster (Charles McPherson! Brew Moore!) My copy is dog-earred. I keep it next to my computer, and use it to decide which discs I'll next purchase from Amazon or my online music service. (This book is a dynamite companion to emusic.com, which has a huge amount of the Prestige/Riverside/OJC catalogue on line)> The first part of the Guide orients you with a brief history of how the music progressed from New Orleans joys forward. Throughout the whole book, there are citations to readily available records of what he discusses. Anything he cites that sounds particularly tantalizing will, believe me, get purchased. Tom's love and enthusiasm for the music shine through and he is a most persuasive salesman. (The RIAA should give him an award)!
There follows a detailed review of the role of various instruments in the ensembles.
Trust me-these recent posts have some sort of hidden agenda. But from the point of view of simply teaching you about the large topic of jazz-this is the book.
A really dreadful guide to compact discs..........2003-11-28
This book is enthusiastic and full of cliches. It's an extremely odd view of jazz history, largely discounting white musicians and modern jazz in general. The standard guide is still published by Penguin, which is much more knowledgable and open-minded.
the tourist point of view.......2003-11-07
In any books such as these, there will always be disagreements on ommissions and inclusions. I will not debate this.
That being said, it is quite clear that Piazza has a weak grasp of the fundamentals of the music. He is a tourist, not a scholar. So what if you want to see the other sights?
Piazza also practices an odious brand of Political Correctness. In his world, if you listen to the avant garde, that means you want African Americans to be noble savages.
Great guide for jazz beginners.......2003-06-24
I bought this book three years ago, and I still go back to it regularly. When I first read it, I owned half a dozen, or fewer, jazz albums. My collection has swelled since then, and most of the LPs and CDs I've picked up were recommendations from this book. I have not been disappointed yet.
Piazza's knowledge of jazz recordings, together with his clear, direct, and enthusiastic writing style, make this a joy to flip through. I can say I've truly discovered some outstanding music thanks to him and his book.
I concur: it's the best.......2003-01-28
Tom Piazza is both a jazz pianist and a writer, giving him a rare combination of insight and ability to express it. Musicians know that many renowned critics don't really know what they're talking about--if you don't play, you (usually) don't know. Piazza knows.
His book is divided into halves. The first half covers the recordings of the great jazz ensembles from dixieland through the 1960s avant-garde. (There's no coverage of 1970s jazz-fusion, the 1980s young lions, or later, which are too recent to be "classic.") The second half covers the recordings of the most important jazz soloists on each instrument over the same period. An advantage of this structure is that it gives an overall sense of history in a way that books like the All-Music Guide, organized alphabetically by artist, can't.
Piazza does have an ideological leaning. He is part of the current Wynton Marsalis/Stanley Crouch camp, which feels that much recent jazz should not be called jazz at all, because it is not based on the blues. The free jazz of the 1960s and the jazz-fusion of the 1970s are without merit to this camp, and this is probably why Piazza does not reach into the 1970s. (He does say, of 1960s free jazz, that "people who like this sort of thing like the following albums.") It's a mark of Piazza's excellence that while I do not belong to this camp, I still think his guide is the best for the period it covers. Fans of free jazz and jazz-fusion will want other books to supplement Piazza's guide, but Piazza's book should be the first purchase for your jazz library.
Book Description
Enka, a sentimental ballad genre, epitomizes for many the nihonjin no kokoro (heart/soul of Japanese). To older members of the Japanese public, who constitute enka's primary audience, this music--of parted lovers, long unseen rural hometowns, and self-sacrificing mothers--evokes a direct connection to the traditional roots of "Japaneseness." Overlooked in this emotional invocation of the past, however, are the powerful commercial forces that, since the 1970s, have shaped the consumption of enka and its version of national identity. Informed by theories of nostalgia, collective memory, cultural nationalism, and gender, this book draws on the author's extensive fieldwork in probing the practice of identity-making and the processes at work when Japan becomes "Japan."
Customer Reviews:
Tears of Longing: Nostalgia and the Nation in Japanese Popular Song.......2007-06-27
This book contained everything that I needed to do my research for the genre of Japanese enka. I would recommend this book for anyone who wants to get to the whys and how the genre is different for others. It is a very detailed book.
ENKA!.......2007-02-04
This may be the only English-language book on the Enka genre, about which it is difficult to find any guides or other information unless you are fluent in the Japanese language. Dr. Yano's approach to this (sadly underappreciated) genre is more from a scholarly approach than as a "fan" of the music, by her own admission, but this book provides a wealth of information about the history, lyrics and visual style of Enka music and its performers. Personally I would have liked to have learned about the "stars" of this genre, particular Hibari Misora, undoubtedly its most famous performer. Also, Enka does exist in the US, though through mostly Japanese-American fans and performers, but this may be another subject of study. Enka may be a declining musical art form, but there are some notable younger performers, like Kitayama Takeshi and Komura Miki. I'm very grateful to Dr. Yano for the information provided by her book!
Average customer rating:
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The Jazz People of New Orleans
Lee Friedlander
Manufacturer: Pantheon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Release Date: 1992-10-27 |
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