Jazz [Hardcover]

Gary Giddins (Author), Scott DeVeaux (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 26, 2009

The story of jazz for the general reader as it has never been told before, from the inside out: a comprehensive, eloquent, scrupulously researched page-turner.

In this vivid history of jazz, a respected critic and a leading scholar capture the excitement of America’s unique music with intellectual bite, unprecedented insight, and the passion of unabashed fans. They explain what jazz is, where it came from, and who created it and why, all within the broader context of American life and culture. Emphasizing its African American roots, Jazz traces the history of the music over the last hundred years. From ragtime and blues to the international craze for swing, from the heated protests of the avant-garde to the radical diversity of today’s artists, Jazz describes the travails and triumphs of musical innovators struggling for work, respect, and cultural acceptance set against the backdrop of American history, commerce, and politics. With vibrant photographs by legendary jazz chronicler Herman Leonard, Jazz is also an arresting visual history of a century of music. 38 photos

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The difficulties of writing cogently about jazz—of discerning musical regularities in a genre built around improvisatory jams, and a narrative thread that transcends haphazard biography—are admirably addressed in this history. Critic Giddins (Bing Crosby) and historian DeVeaux (The Birth of Bebop) have an easier task in the book's first half, which traces jazz's coalescence in New Orleans out of varied strands of black music, its shaping by Armstrong, Ellington and other giants and its efflorescence in the big band era as the soundtrack of the American century. The tune grows unavoidably less catchy as postwar bebop and successor avant-garde tendencies transform jazz into a self-conscious art music epitomized by John Coltrane's existential squawk. (The authors maintain a cordial respect for every strain of modern jazz except Kenny G: There are many things to dislike about smooth jazz—for example, everything, they sputter.) The multimedia work contains moment-by-moment exegeses of classic recordings (2:13: [Artie] Shaw's line climaxes on a dramatic high note) that readers can find on the publisher's Web site, along with study aids. The authors' fluent, engaging treatment mixes scholarly lore and sociocultural analysis with piquant character studies and rapt evocations of musical artistry; the result is a treasure-trove for fans and students alike. Photos. (Oct.)
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Review

“Giddins is without question the most persuasive literary stylist current working in jazz criticism—no writer has ever written about Louis Armstrong with such vividness, or about Cecil Taylor with such sympathy and analytical insight. DeVeaux provides academic clout and formal rigor, bringing to bear a strong foundation in musicological methodology.” (Time Out New York )

“This is without a doubt one of the best books on jazz ever written. Gary Giddins and Scott DeVeaux have achieved a monumental feat by creating a history of jazz that will appeal to academicians and aficionados alike. Thoroughly researched and carefully documented, yet written in an entertaining and enjoyable narrative style, this is truly a book for jazz lovers of all backgrounds. By telling the story of jazz in its full cultural, musical, political, social, economic, and historical context, Giddins and DeVeaux have given us one hell of a kick-ass book!” (David Baker, Distinguished Professor and Chair of the Jazz Department, Indiana University )

“Gary Giddins and Scott DeVeaux's Jazz cuts through the gibberish, racial politics, and ideology that typify so much of contemporary jazz criticism. This excellent book, which not only addresses musical theory but provides insight into the history of the art as well, will serve the general reader but can also be used to stimulate discussion groups and jazz workshops.” (Ishmael Reed, author of Mixing It Up: Taking On the Media Bullies and Other Reflections )

“Like no other history, Jazz involves the reader right from the start in an active listening role. The parsing of the selected recordings is brilliantly done, and this feature alone makes the book a must, for beginners and seasoned fans. But there's much more, all imbued with the coauthors' love for and understanding of the music, in all its many facets–and as a living, still evolving language.” (Dan Morgenstern, director of the Institute of Jazz Studies, Rutgers University, and author of Living with Jazz )

“In an innovative departure from previous approaches to the history of American Jazz, this eagerly awaited new text by Gary Giddins and Scott DeVeaux offers a unique combination of cutting-edge historical scholarship and experienced journalistic perspectives. This book is destined to become an important resource, one that confronts crucially important musical and social issues in depth—and with passion.” (George E. Lewis, Case Professor of American Music, Columbia University, and author of A Power Stronger Than Itself: The AACM and American Experimental Music )

“This extraordinary book is the one we've been waiting for–an exhaustive, multi-disciplinary, judiciously crafted history of jazz and its culture. It is sure to become the industry standard, cherished by students as well as aficionados, who may dispute its judgments but will surely keep it close at hand as an essential reference.” (Krin Gabbard, author of Hotter Than That: The Trumpet, Jazz, and American Culture )

“Starred Review. There are numerous histories of jazz on the market, but renowned cirtic Giddins and scholar DeVeaux’s offering jumps immediately to the top of the list.” (Booklist )

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 704 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (October 26, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393068617
• ISBN-13: 978-0393068610
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.5 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #54,044 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars OUTSTANDING, December 20, 2009

By 

C. A. SMITH (Arizona USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Jazz (Hardcover)

Starting with the iconic photo of Dexter Gordon on the dust jacket through to the last page, this book is an outstanding presentation of the history and musicology of America's classical music, jazz. It is a book that should be useful to the die-hard jazz fan, the jazz novice and everyone in between.

The book begins with a chapter on the basic elements of music, followed by a chapter covering the basics of jazz styles and improvisation. This introduction is followed by 17 chapters covering the history of the music, from its roots in spirituals, the blues, and ragtime up to the jazz (what there is of it) of today. There is also a useful glossary and a short section on record collection and jazz films.

Many books on jazz history are available, some covering the entire century-plus of the music, and others concentrating on certain periods. There are also a few books on jazz musicology, most notably Mark C. Gridley's outstanding "Jazz Styles". But Gridley pointedly avoids any discussion of the personalities and the non-musical activities of the musicians, as though they created their music in a vacuum. This leads to such oddities as a section on Bud Powell, for example, in which Gridley notes that Powell was "only sporadically active during most of his career", without explaining that Powell was a diagnosed schizophrenic who suffered not only from the disease, but also the horrific "treatments" of the day. Not for "Jazz" authors Giddins and DeVeaux is this `hands off the personal lives' approach. They include brief biographies of the most important musicians, warts (of which there are many) and all. This is essential, in my view, to understanding the music that these men (and a very few women) created.

But this book also contains sufficient discussion of the technical aspects of the music, if not employing quite the music school language of Gridley's book, which is fine with this non-musician fan, and probably for most readers. And while the authors must have their preferences, one will not find them imposed on the reader, as is common in some books. While I appreciate and use such books as the "Penguin Guide", I find Cook's and Morton's sometimes quirky and avant-garde taste not always to my liking.

An interesting feature of the book is a bar-by-bar (almost) account of some of the most important performances in jazz history. In order for this feature to be useful one must, of course, have the recordings to listen to while reading the discussions. Like many jazz fans and collectors, I have most of the performances in my record collection, but for those who don't, the authors provide a 4-CD set that goes along with the book, though at the hefty price of $60 on Amazon. This would be essential for the serious jazz novice without access to a jazz record collection; for jazz-o-files, it would be useful and convenient, but perhaps not worth the additional cost. I'm still trying to decide if it's worthwhile searching my collection for each of the correct tracks, or paying up for the CD set.

If there is any complaint that I could about this excellent book, and it is a minor one, is its the lack of discussion of the jazz scenes today outside the USA, where jazz continues to be vital a musical culture, while it atrophies here in its home country. The UK, and to a lesser extent the rest of Europe, along with Australia and even parts of Latin America are where jazz is prospering in the 21st century.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An ear-opener for the most seasoned listener, May 22, 2010

By 

D. Searle (Gibraltar) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Jazz (Hardcover)

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...

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For the new and the advanced jazz fan and musician, January 21, 2010

By 

Elizabeth L. Colledge (Jacksonville, Florida USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Jazz (Hardcover)

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.