Stride! [Hardcover]

John L. Fell (Author), Terkild Vinding (Author)

Book Description

Series: Studies in Jazz | Publication Date: January 28, 1999

Stride! traces the stride piano style from its roots in minstrel shows and ragtime, through the contributions of itinerant entertainers, to its joyful birth in Harlem, where it became known as Harlem Piano.

Stride developed over a period spanning World War I to the depression years, though younger players maintain its traditions today. It is a musical style marked by friendly rivalry and shared pleasures. Drawing on the authors' personal interviews and biographies, the book traces stride from generation to generation, from the originators Eubie Blake, Luckey Roberts, and James P. Johnson, through a succession of pianists like Willie the Lion Smith. Fell and Vinding also examine its influence on Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, Joe Sullivan, and Johnny Guarnieri, concluding with third and fourth generations that include Ralph Sutton, Dick Hyman, and Dick Wellstood. The authors describe the exceptional Donald Lambert from personal experience.

Throughout, influences are traced and documented by way of CD and LP citations. Stride! finishes the tune with appendixes that itemize the compositions of Luckey Roberts, Fats Waller and Willie the Lion Smith.

Editorial Reviews

Review

...both instructive and entertaining...absorbing, previously unpublished interviews...a fine book... (Crescendo & Jazz Music )

Stride! contains a lot of valuable and interesting information about the creation of the exhuberant piano wtyle which was given that name...this is a very important book... (Mississippi Rag )

What a delight this book is! It's not an introduction to the subject but a feast four gourmets who already have a taste for the cooking of James P., Fats, the Lion and many of the other pianists along the road from ragtime to swing...This would be a great book even without its overall cohesiveness. (Jazztimes )

The brief biographies of the book constitute its greatest strength...Especially valuable are the chapters on neglected, minor, or obscure players, several of which feature previously unpublished interviews. (Notes )

Traces the devlopment of the stride piano style from its roots in minstrel show and ragtime through the contirbutions in itinerant entertainers...personal interviews and biographies, portrays the players, the music, and the scene through the generationsssss (Reference And Research Book News )

Traces the devlopment of the stride piano style from its roots in minstrel show and ragtime through the contirbutions in itinerant entertainers...personal interviews and biographies, portrays the players, the music, and the scene through the generations (Reference And Research Book News )

About the Author

John L. Fell (Ph.D., New York University) is Professor Emeritus at San Francisco State University. His articles and reviews have appeared in Film Quarterly and the Village Voice, and he is the author of numerous books on film including Film and the Narrative Tradition (University of California Press). The lateTerkild Vinding was trained at Copenhagen University's Medical School, where he specialized in psychiatry. He was a trained pianist, music collector, jazz enthusiast, and researcher, and counted a host of jazz artists among his friends.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Scarecrow Press (January 28, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810835630
• ISBN-13: 978-0810835634
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,640,868 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Could Be Better, April 28, 2000

By 

B. D. Tutt (London, UK.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stride! (Hardcover)

Harlem stride piano is one of the most joyous of all jazz styles, and there has long been a need for a good book on the subject.

The book offers a number of historical and contextualising chapters before a series of profiles of the major players. It is the profiles that are the real problem. Firstly, Earl Hines, great as he was, was not a stride player. Second, the profiles offer very little new information or analysis. Many of them are largely given over to identifying out-of-print LPs by the artists concerned, information that would be better presented in a table. Some of the profiles make use of interesting original interview material, and some, such as the profiles of Luckey Roberts and the great Donald Lambert, usefully add to the body of knowledge about the player. Others are little more than digests of well known information.

Th book contains a number of transcriptions, including solos or choruses by James P. Johnson, Donald Lambert, Hank Duncan and Fats Waller.

This book is rather a missed opportunity. It is well worth reading for those interested in the area, but it is by no means a serious academic study of the stride style and its practitioners.This book is a useful addition to the literature, but we still await a definitive work.