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Ted Gioia

The History of Jazz Paperback – December 17, 1998

by Ted Gioia (Author)

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Jazz is the most colorful and varied art form in the world and it was born in one of the most colorful and varied cities, New Orleans. From the seed first planted by slave dances held in Congo Square and nurtured by early ensembles led by Buddy Belden and Joe "King" Oliver, jazz began its long
winding odyssey across America and around the world, giving flower to a thousand different forms--swing, bebop, cool jazz, jazz-rock fusion--and a thousand great musicians. Now, in The History of Jazz, Ted Gioia tells the story of this music as it has never been told before, in a book that
brilliantly portrays the legendary jazz players, the breakthrough styles, and the world in which it evolved.
Here are the giants of jazz and the great moments of jazz history--Jelly Roll Morton ("the world's greatest hot tune writer"), Louis Armstrong (whose O-keh recordings of the mid-1920s still stand as the most significant body of work that jazz has produced), Duke Ellington at the Cotton Club,
cool jazz greats such as Gerry Mulligan, Stan Getz, and Lester Young, Charlie Parker's surgical precision of attack, Miles Davis's 1955 performance at the Newport Jazz Festival, Ornette Coleman's experiments with atonality, Pat Metheny's visionary extension of jazz-rock fusion, the contemporary
sounds of Wynton Marsalis, and the post-modernists of the Knitting Factory. Gioia provides the reader with lively portraits of these and many other great musicians, intertwined with vibrant commentary on the music they created. Gioia also evokes the many worlds of jazz, taking the reader to the
swamp lands of the Mississippi Delta, the bawdy houses of New Orleans, the rent parties of Harlem, the speakeasies of Chicago during the Jazz Age, the after hours spots of corrupt Kansas city, the Cotton Club, the Savoy, and the other locales where the history of jazz was made. And as he traces the
spread of this protean form, Gioia provides much insight into the social context in which the music was born. He shows for instance how the development of technology helped promote the growth of jazz--how ragtime blossomed hand-in-hand with the spread of parlor and player pianos, and how jazz rode
the growing popularity of the record industry in the 1920s. We also discover how bebop grew out of the racial unrest of the 1940s and '50s, when black players, no longer content with being "entertainers," wanted to be recognized as practitioners of a serious musical form. Jazz is a chameleon
art, delighting us with the ease and rapidity with which it changes colors. Now, in Ted Gioia's The History of Jazz, we have at last a book that captures all these colors on one glorious palate. Knowledgeable, vibrant, and comprehensive, it is among the small group of books that can truly be called
classics of jazz literature.

Print length

480 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Oxford University Press
Publication date

December 17, 1998
Dimensions

9.1 x 1.5 x 6.1 inches
ISBN-10

019512653X
ISBN-13

978-0195126532
Lexile measure

1440L
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"The best book of its kind."--Gary Giddins, author of Visions of Jazz: The First Century (forthcoming from OUP in 1998)

"A remarkable piece of work... encyclopedic, discriminating, provocative, perceptive and eminently readable. ...If you are looking for an introduction to jazz, this is it. If you know and love jazz well, this is your vade mecum. Me, I expect to be reading around in it for the rest of my
life."--Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post

"Ted Gioia's herculean The History of Jazz...navigates this wild country with immense sophistication, scholarship, and wit. In fact, Gioia's History stands a good chance of becoming the standard guide for general readers and academics."--Village Voice

"An authoritative work of research that doesn't spare the poetic power of words."--James Sullivan, San Francisco Chronicle

"Anyone looking for a balanced, well-written popular history of jazz will certainly find [The History of Jazz] both readable and reliable."--The Wall Street Journal

About the Author

Ted Gioia is a critic, historian, pianist, composer, and record producer living in Palo Alto, California. He is the author of The Imperfect Art, winner of the ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award, and West Coast Jazz.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; 6th ptg. edition (December 17, 1998)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 480 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 019512653X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0195126532
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1440L
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.5 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.1 x 1.5 x 6.1 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,402,655 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,727 in Jazz Music (Books)
- #4,366 in Music History & Criticism (Books)
- #7,936 in African American Demographic Studies (Books)

Customer Reviews:
69 ratings

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Kenny of LA

Excellent Survey of a Very Broad Subject

Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2011

Verified Purchase

The "History of Jazz" is a very well written survey of a very extensive subject. I consider myself pretty knowledgeable on the subject of jazz (or at least, certain periods and styles), and even with my reasonably good background, I learned a tremendous amount about the art form that I love. I particularly appreciated the sociological and historical implications that the author provided for various movements, trends and changes.

I would caution any potential readers that this book is pretty dense--chock full of names and dates--and at times, reads like an encyclopedia. So it may be hard to expect to just read it through, start to finish. That is what I did, but it required liberal breaks in between, and took me much longer to get through than it would typically take for a 400 page book.

In the future, I plan on focusing my jazz reading on periods and schools that particularly interest me--like bebop and cool jazz. I am confident that the backdrop this book has provided will prove invaluable for those future forays.

9 people found this helpful

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nadav haber

fills in many gaps

Reviewed in the United States on May 10, 2009

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I have read practically every jazz history book that was published in the past 50 years. Some, such as the seminal "Blues People", do a great job of exposing the socio - political aspects of the music and its makers. Others did a thorough job of detailing the events that were connected to the music. Gioia is the first that I know of to give as much attention to the social aspects as well as the musical and chronological aspects. I teach a Jazz and Politics course in the university (PoliSci dept) and Gioia's book helped me in some of the issues I needed to raise. It is still not the ultimate book - this has to written, but it is a big step forward in Jazz writing and a must for every student of the music.

6 people found this helpful

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Ian Muldoon

Among my top five of Jazz Books

Reviewed in the United States on April 24, 2000

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I have a reasonable library of jazz books (including The Horn by JC Holmes, American Musicians by Whitney Balliett, Reading Jazz by Gottlieb, etc, etc) but my top five are HEAR ME TALKIN' TO YA by Hentoff and Shapiro; FOUR LIVES IN THE BEBOP BUSINESS by A.B. Spellman; STRAIGHT LIFE by Art and Laurie Pepper; THE STORY OF JAZZ by Marshall Stearns; and AS SERIOUS AS YOUR LIFE by Val Wilmer. What do I want in a jazz book? I want information, authenticity, entertainment; and decent writing. Now I have to move Mr Stearns over to make way for Mr Gioia and his HISTORY OF JAZZ for I believe it deserves to be in that exalted company.

50 people found this helpful

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miss teri parson

Fantastic Survey of Jazz

Reviewed in the United States on December 8, 1999

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Is there any other book that is as true as this book, when recalling the intricate history of jazz? If there is, it has escaped my eyes and i invite the opurtunity to read it. Ted Gioia is not only articulate in his representation of jazz history, but his facts are documented well above reproach. He even includes a suggested listening section at the back of the book. Incredible book! I am using it as an aid in teaching my highschool class the history of jazz. This book is a necessary investment for any jazz afficianado.

17 people found this helpful

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Roberto González Santos

Great

Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2018

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great

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Karina

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2018

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Great shape no damages

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Hope Florence

jazz history

Reviewed in the United States on October 19, 2007

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This book relates the history of jazz, and gives you a background that will help you listen more carefully and with heightened appreciation of this unique American music. Good stories, well detailed, and well worth the time to read it. The only thing better of course is watching jazz musicians play!

2 people found this helpful

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R. Sherrock

Great survey of the history of jazz!

Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2008

Verified Purchase

Gioia's "The History of Jazz" is the best one volume history of jazz I've read. It gives plenty of detail while moving along from era to era. I'd greatly recommend it to anyone wishing to survey the major developments, composers and performers or America's original musical art form.

One person found this helpful

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Udeen

Nice one, Ted

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 2, 2011

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When I mention to acquaintances that I'm interested in jazz music, I often get a reaction that suggests I might as well have said "I enjoy treading in dog-mess". To an extent, I can understand this. There was a time when I was convinced that even the most user-friendly of jazz musicians was just doing it to be awkward. Were these same acquaintances to ask me now how they might find a way in to this strange musical world, I would advise them to start with Ted Gioia's book.

I'm near the end of my second reading of 'The History Of Jazz'. The first time, I was unfamiliar with most of the names. Consequently, some effort was required to get to the end, and the last chapter, 'Freedom And Beyond', didn't interest me at all. Prior to the second reading, I have come to see jazz as a vast patchwork in which all parts are connected, indirectly at least. For an example of what I mean by this, try Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original . Reading about the life of Monk, I was introduced to an enormous array of other players and how they fitted into the picture.

Now that I am at least familiar with most of the names and have heard quite a lot of the sounds, a second reading has been pure pleasure. Surely it is impossible to describe the development of a whole musical genre in less than 400 pages? Well, as far as I'm concerned, Gioia has succeeded. Somehow, he has been able to do this without the book seeming like a tired list of names and dates. If he does have pet preferences (and surely he must), I cannot detect them. He describes each branching of the path of the music with the same infectious passion.

Gioia's approach would seem to have a wide appeal. He describes the music in vivid terms. On the subject of the work of pianist Cecil Taylor, he writes:

"... even when this music achieved paroxysms of release, an overriding austerity lingered just below the surface."

At the same time, there's plenty to engage readers who have a depth of musical understanding. This is Gioia's description of Duke Ellington's 'Black Beauty':

"... it opens with an introductory sequence of rich chords, which linger ambiguously over an uncertain harmonic center before finally settling into a wistful melody in the key of B flat, while the jazzier second theme emerges after an uncharacteristic modulation into A flat."

As these passages indicate, Gioia does not attempt to popularise the subject. At the same time, this is not a dry, academic study; it teems with life.

Having read 'The History Of Jazz', I am struck by the high proportion of leading jazz musicians who seemed to live fast and die young. I am tempted to look for convenient explanations of this phenomenon, and this leads me on to another thing I like about this book: Gioia tends to steer clear of such explorations. His writing comes across as substantial and authoritative precisely because he avoids putting too much of himself into his descriptions of the people and the music.

I'm uncomfortable with the use of the definite article. Surely this is a history, not the history. Isn't Mr Gioia being a bit presumptuous? In the sense that I don't think one needs look any further for a general introduction to jazz history, perhaps this is the history.

12 people found this helpful

Jon M

Essential - whatever your likes

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 2, 2011

Verified Purchase

Simply - this is an essential book for all music - and I mean music - fans.
If you like jazz - even if you are an afficianado - Ted Gioia's expert history will enlighten you to the rich history of the art form.
If you don't like jazz the rich tapestry of its characters, development and influence still makes for a riveting story.
Expertly written but retaining a crisp, clear style, this is one of the best books about music ever written.
Highly recommended.

4 people found this helpful

P. B. Roberts

Good book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 1, 2018

Verified Purchase

A comprehensive history of jazz with a good analysis of the subject .

Very detailed

Amazon Customer

interesting run through the history of the greatest musical form of the twentieth century then your search ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 27, 2017

Verified Purchase

If you are looking for a well written, well researched, interesting run through the history of the greatest musical form of the twentieth century then your search is over.

Jen

a good insight to the beginning of such a lovely form ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 15, 2014

Verified Purchase

I am really enjoying reading this book. Very informative, a good insight to the beginning of such a lovely form of music. Jazz

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