From Library Journal
The term jazz is a catchall descriptor, murkily qualifying everything from Barrelhouse to John Zorn. It seems fitting, then, that these two books about such a varying form should come along at the same time, because while they have similar goals, they are vastly different. In Jazz Veterans, Deffaa takes a loving look at a few of the people responsible for the evolution of jazz from craft to art. The text is built around photographs of around 100 jazz pioneers at work and at play. Though this is not an encyclopedic work by any means, its scope is surprisingly deep. Each vignette is developed well, providing more than just career highlights. All That Jazz is the antithesis of Veterans. Where one is narrow and deep in focus, the other is broad and shallow. The book begins quite well, the sections on jazz history are especially effective, and the photographs dramatically offset the text. The primary part of the book, however, an "A-Z Jazz Players," is too far ranging to be of much value. It is laudable that the editors included many European and Asian artists otherwise unknown to the American public, but the biographies are so brief as to be all but unusable; for example, at no point in their respective citations do we find that Woody Herman was a clarinetist or Billy Higgins a drummer. The photography is great and probably worth the price of the book, but if you can afford only one, you'll be better served by Jazz Veterans.?David Moran, Carrollton Libs., Tex.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
