I Walked With Giants: The Autobiography of Jimmy Heath [Hardcover] Review

Temple University Press has released one of the best, most thorough jazz histories/biographies I can recall reading. I WALKED WITH GIANTS is written by and about Jimmy Heath, with Joseph McClaren and a forward by Bill Cosby.Jimmy Heath is the middle brother of the Heath Brothers: Jimmy on tenor sax, Percy on bass and Tootie (Albert) on drums.
Jimmy Heath played with Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie in the late 1940's.Jimmy Heath was 21 when on was on stage with Coleman Hawkins, Howard McGhee, Erroll Garner and Slam Stewart before they were giants. Jimmy Heath grew up in the rich, musically fertile south, South Philly, that is.

As a composer and arranger, Jimmy Heath has made an deep, indelible groove in music.Pick a song, pick
"A Sound For Sore Ears."You will find the embodiment of Jimmy Heath within: the dexterity, wit andinvention that is tapped in so many veins throughout I WALKED WITH GIANTS.

Everything is here: the music, the friends, the good times in concerts, the hard times in prison (Jimmy
sold dope to an undercover cop and did time) and the long off and on road to recognition, and finally acclaim.

I WALKED WITH GIANTS is brilliantly organized.Jimmy tells his wild stories as only he can, and he is supported throughout the book by the voices and reminiscences of Wynton Marsalis, Slide Hampton, Benny Carter, Cedar Walton, Billy Taylor, Hank Jones and a few dozen other vital musicians.

This book is a fast moving, fascinating biography of the brilliant Mr. Heath, but it is also a very strong, serious study from the inside of American history and culture in the second half of the past century.Only geniuses could have put I WALKED WITH GIANTS together so succinctly, so vividly, and only a genius could have lived it. As soon as I finish writing this, I'm going to read it again.

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