As Serious As Your Life: The Story of the New Jazz (Five Star) [Paperback]

Valerie Wilmer (Author)

Book Description

Series: Five Star | Publication Date: January 1, 2000

Reissue of a jazz classic with photos by the author who is a well known photographer.

Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: Serpent's Tail (January 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1852427302
• ISBN-13: 978-1852427306
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,172,947 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the avant garde strikes back, June 16, 2000

By 

Fred Birkhimer (florence, italy) - See all my reviews

This review is from: As Serious As Your Life: The Story of the New Jazz (Five Star) (Paperback)

Wilmer's As Serious as Your Life stands, along with her own earlier Jazz People and books by Amiri Baraka (Blues People) and Ben Sidran (Black Talk) as one of the most important books on the controversial avant-garde jazz of the 1960's and early 1970's. Originally published in 1977, it is a fascinating and highly informed study that benefits from the race and gender politics in the air at the time without ever laboring to use this theoretical baggage in the service of the author's ideological purposes-the music and, more importantly, the musicians are always carefully kept in the spotlight. Starting with individual chapters on important and influential figures such as John Coltrane, Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman, Sun Ra, and Albert Ayler, and including many other names both famous and unknown, the author draws on her first-hand knowledge of the musicians to construct insightful portraits of a people literally under siege by hostile critics and even by other less "political" musicians. She further develops her ideas in the thematic units which follow, including a section dedicated to percussionists like Sonny Murray and Ed Blackwell whose contributions to the music often went unacknowledged, and one dedicated to the women of the movement (most famously John Coltrane's wife Alice), both as sources of emotional support and, thankfully, as musicians in their own right. The result is a book which not only sheds light on the music but also illuminates its sociopolitical background. In the final unit, "The Conspiracy and Some Solutions," the author deals more directly with these problematic political issues, which are perhaps even more relevant today than when this book was first published: the place of jazz in the world of academia, the role of the media in the promotion of jazz, etc. Personal but professional, and humanized by a section of the author's photographs of the musicians, this book is an enjoyable "must" for the music of this period, and one of the rare books of jazz criticism that encourage the reader both to listen more and to read more. Although for this new edition a brief chapter bringing the book up to date would have been appreciated (or at least an updated bibliography), the list of musicians in the acknowledgements who have passed away since the last edition is a sad and sobering reminder of the of the lack of esteem afforded this generation of jazz even today.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Missing The Point, July 8, 2005

By 

Jeffrey Ruggles (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: As Serious As Your Life: The Story of the New Jazz (Five Star) (Paperback)

I think that the previous reviewers have really missed the point of Wilmer's book. The fact that Wilmer is criticized by the reviewers for heralding free jazz above all other types of jazz seems ludicrous to me. After all, she did write an entire book on the subject because of her love for the music. She's not writing a book on ALL jazz, just one particular type. One should not expect her to be completely objective to the subject. To say that other music journalists write/wrote objectively about the music that they love is a completely silly notion. Did Lester Bangs write objectively about rock n' roll? NO! And there is really no reason that he should have. However, that being said, there is plenty of criticism of the music that Wilmer points out in "As Serious As Your Life." Criticism such as the weakness of later Albert Ayler recordings or the derivative style of Frank Lowe's tenor playing, etc. is pointed out throughout the book. Every writer has a slant and Wilmer definitely has one when it comes to "the great Black music." But this should not be held against her.
I think that what these other reviewers also have failed to understand, is that "As Serious As Your Life," is not just about the music, about free jazz...it is about the politics behind the music, hence the focus on black musicians playing "The Great Black Music." The focus here really is on the black musicians that played free jazz in the mid-60's through the late 70's. In Wilmer's eyes, this music corresponded directly with the Civil Rights movement of the time and was born out of black musician's search for "freedom" even if it was only through music. Wilmer paints a vivid picture of most of the major musician's ideals and philosophies and her words will have you wanting to run to the record store to hear the musical manifestations of these thoughts and feelings. Really, no stone is left unturned when dealing with The Great Black Music and that is one reason why this book is indispensable for fans of the avant-garde as it pertains to jazz music.
Finally, the reader must understand that this is NOT a definitive history of jazz, or even free jazz, for that matter. It is but one person's interpretation of the music. There are plenty of other sources on the subject and in order to fully understand the music these should also be consulted. But all in all "As Serious As Your Life" is a great read and very much worth your time. Just remember, it's not the ONLY thing out there.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Jazz Avant-garde Gets Respect, May 6, 2000

By 

Fred Birkhimer (florence, italy) - See all my reviews

This review is from: As Serious As Your Life: The Story of the New Jazz (Five Star) (Paperback)

Wilmer's "As Serious as Your Life" stands, along with her own earlier Jazz People and books by Amiri Baraka ("Blues People") and Ben Sidran ("Black Talk") as one of the most important books on the controversial avant-garde jazz of the 1960's and early 1970's. Originally published in 1977, it is a fascinating and highly informed study that benefits from the race and gender politics in the air at the time without ever laboring to use this theoretical baggage in the service of the author's ideological purposes-the music and, more importantly, the musicians are always carefully kept in the spotlight. Starting with individual chapters on important and influential figures such as John Coltrane, Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman, Sun Ra, and Albert Ayler, and including many other names both famous and unknown, the author draws on her first-hand knowledge of the musicians to construct insightful portraits of a people literally under siege by hostile critics and even by other less "political" musicians. She further develops her ideas in the thematic units which follow, including a section dedicated to percussionists like Sonny Murray and Ed Blackwell whose contributions to the music often went unacknowledged, and one dedicated to the women of the movement (most famously John Coltrane's wife Alice), both as sources of emotional support and, thankfully, as musicians in their own right. The result is a book which not only sheds light on the music but also illuminates its sociopolitical background. In the final unit, "The Conspiracy and Some Solutions," the author deals more directly with these problematic political issues, which are perhaps even more relevant today than when this book was first published: the place of jazz in the world of academia, the role of the media in the promotion of jazz, etc. Personal but professional, and humanized by a section of the author's photographs of the musicians, this book is an enjoyable "must" for the music of this period, and one of the rare books of jazz criticism that encourage the reader both to listen more and to read more. Although for this new edition a brief chapter bringing the book up to date would have been appreciated (or at least an updated bibliography), the list of musicians in the acknowledgements who have passed away since the last edition is a sad and sobering reminder of the of the lack of esteem afforded this generation of jazz even today.