Jazz-Rock: A History [IMPORT] (Hardcover)

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 472 pages
• Publisher: Schirmer Books (1998)
• ISBN-10: 0028646797
• ISBN-13: 978-0028646794
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,384,195 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars For a true maniac who would know everything in here anyway, April 24, 1999

By	"mumer" (Calgary, Canada) - See all my reviews

If your interested in the "extremely broad" and compressed history of jazz-rock, this book will interest you. There was lots of stuff in this book that I had absolutely no interest in reading (Kenny G, Sting?) while the few artists I had most anticipated were given meager half page biography's (Herbie Hancock!). I guess that's the problem with a book that attempts to include so much, avoid bias, and leave the reader with nothing but facts. Unfortuanately, intense research can't solve everything, and a huge jazz-rock fan like me can't find anything else on the subject to read...

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Long overdue treatment of a little-considered genre, June 29, 1998

By	The Sanity Inspector (USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This is the first substantial book known to me that deals with jazz-rock, which later became known as fusion. In the '60's, jazz seemed to have ground to a halt. Free jazz was so structureless that there wasn't much to be done with it, once the novelty wore off. Black militancy in the form of Archie Shepp and Pharaoh Sanders was attempting to hijack the whole music for political ends (which some prominent jazz figures today still hope to do). Pioneers of the previous generations were just re-working their catalogs. And upstart rock and roll was suddenly assuming an artistic identity in its own right. The energy of rock, as well as the unexpected sophistication of some of its performers--The Beatles, Cream, Jimi Hendrix--prodded many younger jazz artists to attempt to attached the punch of rock to the fluidity of jazz. This book is about these artists and their successors. Some are familiar, like John McLaughlin and Miles Davis, who are rightly given pride of place. Some are less so, like Larry Coryell, who never could quite get the business end of his career together. And some had been almost forgotten, like Jeremy Steig and Peter Nock, whose existences the reader is glad to learn of. The book consists mostly of brief considerations of artists' careers and catalogs, along with the author's judgment of their worth and influence. There's always room to quibble with these, and it's part of the book's enjoyability. One can also always argue about the cutoff point as to who belongs in this book. For example, Steely Dan and Cream are discussed, while Traffic and Spirit are not. There are a number of great jazz anecdotes (search amazon for _Jazz Anecdotes_, btw), like one instance when the rash young Coryell tries to cut Jimi Hendrix onstage, and Hendrix blows him out of the song with a single massive wail of feedback. The index is excellent, and there's a lengthy discography. This is a treat for music-lovers!

5.0 out of 5 stars Jazz Rock a History rocks, March 12, 2009

By	Mike Ross - See all my reviews

If you want to know when why who and how this is the book that you've gotta have. There are other books that give more in depth on specifics or give a song analysis or two but no book is as comprehensive on the subject of jazz rock as this one.