New Dutch Swing [Paperback]

Kevin Whitehead (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2000

A thriving creative music scene based on jazz, classical music and absurdism, is described in-depth from the perspective of an American music critic's eyewitness accounts. The book explores one of Europe's most vital "alternative musical universes", where improvisers and composers band together to create a distinctive sound. It combines oral history with critical evaluations of key recordings and contemporary club and concert appearances, and also discusses various sociological and linguistic factors that affect Dutch jazz and its connections to American music.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The jazz scene in Amsterdam is like no other. And reading Kevin Whitehead's gripping glimpse of the country's improvisational music scene, New Dutch Swing, it's impossible not to feel caught up in the author's excitement. Dating from the dawn of European free jazz in the '60s, Amsterdam has fostered jazz filled with humor, virtuosity, and creativity. It helps when the scene's elder statesmen--the motley but venerable triumvirate of pianist Misha Mengelberg, drumming powerhouse Han Bennink, and saxophonist Willem Breuker--are loaded with personality. These three musicians have collaborated with anarchist punks, prepared skits that unravel as they improvise, and--in the extreme case of Mengelberg (the scene's godfather)--performed the occasional duet album with his daughter's parrot.

Of course, there's real music behind the novelty here, a fact that Whitehead--a jazz critic for NPR's Fresh Air and numerous music rags--never forgets. Mengelberg and Bennink performed on Yankee jazz great Eric Dolphy's seminal Last Date recording, cellist Ernst Reijseger is praised by Yo-Yo Ma, and new musical mavericks keep coming forth to play at the BIMhuis, the epicenter venue of all this madness.

Whitehead's prose is highly accessible, filled with jazz rhythms and an unmistakable beat: "Stooped potbellied buttless bald on top wearing a moth-eaten sweater and old droopy jeans, with his three props, cigarette dangling from his mouth giving him that smoker's light squint, snifter of cognac cradled in the left hand, coffee cup rattling atop saucer clutched in the right, Misha Mengelberg shambles on stage to a mostly empty BIMhuis, far too early." The book swings from musician to musician, through interviews with the numerous generations of performers, and by the time you reach the appendix of recommended recordings you'll feel you know Dutch jazz intimately, even if you had never heard of the ICP or the Clusone Trio before. Exhaustive but never exhausting, Whitehead has written a classic tome of music journalism, one that jazz lovers--make that music lovers--owe it to themselves to check out. The Dutch jazz scene has never really had its due props; now it suddenly does (and then some). --Jason Verlinde --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Kevin Whitehead, whose music articles appear in Down Beat, Musician, Coda, and other publications, is a jazz critic for National Public Radio's "Fresh Air." He now lives in Amsterdam.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Billboard Books (March 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0823083489
• ISBN-13: 978-0823083480
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,172,320 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must for jazz lovers..., April 3, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: New Dutch Swing (Paperback)

This encyclopedic work about jazz in Holland will appeal to a wider readership than the title would ever suggest. Written with a novelist's eye for fine detail, and an appreciative ear for the rich nuances of jazz, Whitehead's book is a classic that belongs in every music-lover's library. One of the striking aspects of the book is the way Whitehead allows the musicians to speak for themselves - which is illuminating, and gives the book an accessibility for anyone interested in the creative process of music. Excellent book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars New Dutch Swing by Kevin Whitehead, July 8, 2001

By 

"drdcw" (Iron Mountain, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: New Dutch Swing (Hardcover)

Kevin Whitehead's New Dutch Swing is a tour de force of jazz scene writing, readily accessible to the cognescenti and the casual alike. Having immersed himself in the Amsterdam jazz community for several years, Whitehead transports us across the pond and deposits us in smoky Dutch clubs where some of the world's most creative music swirls around our heads. His depictions of the characters are especially good, and after a page or two the performers come alive as people, not just as musicians. Drawing on his extensive knowledge as a (sometimes controversial) jazz critic, Whitehead puts the vibrant Dutch improv scene into global perspective. Excellent reading; highly recommended.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Labor of Love, November 7, 2001

By 

aaatomicbob (Catonsville, MD United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: New Dutch Swing (Paperback)

This book was clearly a labor of love for the author. "New Dutch Swing," paints a detailed picture of a "Music Scene," using history, interviews, biography, culture, and geography to enlighten and excite the reader. I began this book feeling as though I knew very little. Upon completion, I feel like an authority. How much more successful can a book be? No chiaroscuro here!