Jazz Greats (20th Century Composers) [Paperback]

David Perry (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 30, 1996 | Series: 20th Century Composers

This text is a sequence of biographical portraits of key jazz figures (whose innovatory work as improvisers ranks them with major composers), surveying important developments in the genre. Jazz was dubbed by Bernstein as "the only original American art form". Its fascination lies both in its musical innovations and in the rich social history to which it bears witness. That history is recounted here from its beginnings, through the lives of nine great jazz-men, each of them offering an individual contribution to jazz. All these musicians were great 20th century composers, but since jazz is essentially an improvised musical language - themes and choruses being merely a starting point for the solos which follow - it is in this sense that their composing should be understood. In the context of popular culture, jazz is also inextricably linked with the history of American blacks, from slavery to civil rights. This text is part of the 20th-century composers series, examining composers in a biographical context, and offering a comprehensive study of key figures in the creation of 20th-century music. None of the books in the series presume a knowledge of specialized terms or musical notation. Each book in the series features a list of works, a bibliography, and a discography.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Do "jazz greats" belong with the likes of Bartók and Puccini? The editors of Phaidon's 20th-Century Composers series think so. This readable volume surveys the careers of a dozen influential figures in the development of jazz, from Buddy Bolden and Sidney Bechet to Wynton Marsalis and Keith Jarrett. Author David Perry avoids an overly analytical approach to a largely improvisational art, while still marking the ebb and flow of jazz style over the decades. When it comes to the lives of his "greats," he is steadfastly honest in recounting their failings (personal and musical) without judgment. The only quibble one might have with Perry's approach to his subject is that he seems to have discounted the undisputed importance of a number of non-black contributors to the growth and development of this music.

From Publishers Weekly

The latest entry in Phaidon's 20th-Century Composers series sketches the complicated history of this wholly American art form by examining the complicated lives of a few of its finest, and most well-known, practitioners. Unfortunately, Perry's short chapters find him glossing too much. While he doesn't glamorize the various drug habits and unruly lifestyles that were part and parcel of the jazz scene of previous decades, Perry's quick, friendly style does reduce such giants as Charlie Parker and John Coltrane to a few "significant" recording sessions and their already self-perpetuating legends. The question of whether Buddy Bolden's turn-of-the-century band was the first to play jazz will forever go unanswered, in spite of Perry's rehashing of an old tale. For all of his painstaking care with the facts, Perry doesn't deliver anything not already published elsewhere about Louis Armstrong, Charles Mingus or Duke Ellington. Jazz Greats isn't apt to enlighten the fan whose record collection goes deeper than Miles Davis's classic sides with Parker or a couple of Sidney Bechet albums, but novices brought into the fold by the Marsalis brothers and their neo-traditional peers might be enlightened by dipping into Perry's selective discography at the book's end.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Phaidon Press (May 30, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0714832049
• ISBN-13: 978-0714832043
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,501,087 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Right on Mark, December 16, 2000

By 

William A. Bate (Reston, Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jazz Greats (20th Century Composers) (Paperback)

Perry does an excellent job of telling a disinterested life of each of the musicians he proflies, from Sachmo to Miles. The plates are great. Anyone looking for a biography on the great jazz musicians should definately buy this one.