American Musicians II: Seventy-Two Portraits in Jazz (Paperback)

by Whitney Balliett (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
An earlier version of American Musicians appeared in 1986. Now the author has added 17 essays to the collection, and the result is a highly personal encyclopedia of jazz history, written with Whitney Balliett's trademark lyricism. Few critics can describe a piece of music with this kind of delicacy and precision. And the comments that Balliett elicits from his subjects are themselves worth the price of admission. Here, for example, pianist John Lewis goes right to the heart of jazz improvisation, and gives us a hint of what lays behind it: "When I take a solo, I try not to look at my fingers. It distracts me from music-making . . . I think about other things, even other music. If you break through those mere rules, destroy them, that's good, and it can become quite a marvelous experience. It's not just sadness or joy, it's something beyond that, perhaps exhilaration, but that's rare." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Few people can write as well about anything as Balliett writes about jazz."--The Los Angeles Times Book Review
"[Balliett] allows his subjects...to be intelligent and percptive in plainspoken language that expresses no less than their best solos."--The New Yorker
"Mr. Balliett is perhaps the most gifted journalist ever to write about jazz, and these superlative essays are the cream of his crop."--The Wall Street Journal


See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (June 4, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195121163
• ISBN-13: 978-0195121162
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #689,540 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Whitney Balliett's elegant solos., February 14, 2001

By	Jonathan Rickard "mocoholic" (Connecticut River Valley, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: American Musicians II: Seventy-one Portraits in Jazz (Hardcover)

If Whitnet Balliett were a musician, he'd probably be someone like Teddy Wilson, whose sometimes spare but dancing lines were always distinct, no matter the context. Balliett's musings on the more important jazz musicians, published originally in The New Yorker, are models of criticism that never betray his love and admiration for the music. It is unlikely that anyone will ever write as well as he has about America's most important contribution to the arts.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars He Always Writes in Perfect Tune, March 22, 2007

By	Ron F. Levin (Liberty, SC) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: American Musicians II: Seventy-one Portraits in Jazz (Paperback)

I have been a musician and writer for over 50 years, and glory of glories, in Whitney Balliett's book, American Musicians II, he achieves perfect pitch in his prose when capturing the heart and soul of what music is, and the men and women who make it happen. His stories pulse with an energy that is seemingly boundless. Here is a man who has somehow gotten inside these legendary figures, some of whom I knew and many of whom I've heard in person. Balliett lets you listen through his own ears, giving you a guided tour not only of the notes on the page, and then as they take flight in the air, but also of the fascinating daily lives of these gifted individuals. I can't play like Art Tatum, but Balliett lets me sit beside him as he lays down his "perfect storm" of notes, at the end of which is this huge rainbow whose image we carry in our mind forever. If you love good music and good writing, you've come to the perfect book. Balliet is no longer with us, but he has left us a legacy that should be treasured for 32 bars unto infinity. Ron Levin, [e-mail]