Making Music Modern: New York in the 1920s [Hardcover] Review

Carol Oja's 'Making Music Modern: New York in the 1920s' is an important book for those of us who want to know more about the historical development of 'modern' music in the US. Her main thesis is that it was during the latter part of the 1910s and the whole of the 1920s, and particularly in New York, that American composers developed a modernity that was wholly theirs, not something borrowed from Europe. Of course, there were predecessors--giants like Charles Ives--but they were still largely being ignored. It wasn't until a nucleus of composers, patrons, and fledgling arts organizations began coalescing in New York that the American voice finally emerged and was being heard. Beginning with visionaries like Leo Ornstein in the 1910s, this group soon included such rugged individualists as Dane Rudhyar, Edgard Varèse, Carl Ruggles, Henry Cowell, George Antheil, Roger Sessions, Aaron Copland. And individual voices they were, but they recognized, or at least some of them did, that they needed to band together in a sort of artistic and political brotherhood to get their works performed and published. Such efforts as 'Musical Quarterly,' the League of Composers, 'Musical Review,' 'Modern Music,' the Copland-Sessions Concerts and many more came into being. Music journalists (and promoters) like Carl van Vechten and Paul Rosenfield called wider attention to this new music.
This was a heady time. Of course, not all of the excitement was in New York. But many musicians from outside New York were attracted there. For instance, Ruth Crawford, later Ruth Crawford Seeger and one of the most original voices of all, came from Chicago late in the 1920s. Artistic ferment, not only in music but in all the arts, made New York THE place to be.
The book mentions and discusses the works of many composers that are not very well remembered today--but whose music may be due some sort of revival of interest--like Marion Bauer, Louis Gruenberg, William Grant Still, Emerson Whithorne, Frederick Jacobi. And of course composers now very well-known are discussed: Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson, Roy Harris, Carlos Chávez, Walter Piston.
There is a chapter on the widening influence of jazz on American concert music and a description of the famous Aeolian Hall concert in 1924 that introduced Gershwin's 'Rhapsody in Blue,' (and Zez Confrey's 'Kitten on the Keys,' as well!).
A good deal of engaging prose is written about the wealthy and fiercely devoted women who were important, even crucial, patrons of modern music: Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, Blanche Walton, Alma Morgenthau Wertheim.
There are many illustrations--concert programs, pictures of musicians and the like. Particularly interesting are reproductions of literally dozens of pages from musical scores, as from Varèse's 'Octandre,' Antheil's 'Ballet mécanique,' Ruggles's 'Vox clamans in deserto,' Cowell's 'The Voice of Lir,' Copland's 'Piano Variations,' Crawford's 'String Quartet' and many others.
A valuable and fascinating 40-page appendix lists all the pieces played on most of the new music series in New York during the period under discussion.
Oja has obviously done her research meticulously and the book is written in a lively, engaging style. It is not aimed at the scholarly audience, although surely musicologists can find plenty to marvel at here, but would be, I suspect, fascinating for the curious general reader.
Recommended.
Review by Scott Morrison.

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Eurock: European Rock & the Second Culture [Paperback] Review

At a time when music criticism has degenerated into little more than fawning declarations of "best ever", "profound", "unique" and any other in-the-service-of-sales bromide you can stomach, it becomes even more important to take serious note of what comes from people who truly love music.

As he tells us early on, Archie Patterson was raised on records. Music is such a big part of his life that he turns out to be the right man at the right time. Because, while the U.S. might have been drowning in disco during the 1970s, Europe was the home of some of the most compelling, innovative and advanced bands to ever perform or record. Compelling and important enough to lead to the publication of Eurock, which stands far apart in the world of fanzines as an authentic journal of the people, the bands and the ideas that continue to inform and shape the many forms of alternative music today.

The 700+ pages of "Eurock, European Rock & the Second Culture" is nothing short of the definitive word on alternative, experimental and progressive European music written from the perspective of listeners and enthusiasts committed to furthering the cause of an alternative music and the culture it represents. The book's scope is encyclopedic, providing criticism, reviews and interviews with artists and groups, articles on independent labels, technology and instrumentation. The book even offers a rare article by Lester Bangs on Amon Duul.

Organized chronologically, from 1973 - 2002, this book provides information about virtually every important and not-so-important independent and alternative artist you could hope to read about from Europe, the U.S., Japan and points beyond. But much more than music comes through. As the title implies, the writings in this book are part of a time of profound cultural change which was in many ways inseparable from the music in question. Patterson asks us to look not only at the music, but at the social and cultural context of what helped make such music possible, and do so through the voices of the musicians and their audience. It is this aspect of "Eurock, European Rock & the Second Culture" that makes it such an important and authoritative collection of thoughts and observations of music and how music operates in the world. And what you'll find is simply that what mattered in the early 1970s continues to matter today, and will always matter to those that understand music to be more than entertainment or distraction.

So while the current crop of self-styled critics can spare us only a minute or two to tell us and sell us that something is "great" while they already have their eyes and ears on whatever the industry tells them is "next",pull out your copy of Eurock and spend your time with the people and ideas that have remained true to music, for the love of music, for more than three decades.

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Product Description:
Over the span of 30 + years Eurock was the first ever magazine to focus on the burgeoning European Rock scene. It became a renowned subterranean trade publication devoted to Euro-Rock, hence the name "EUROCK". It moved well away from mainstream music and devoted itself exclusively to the realm of "serious listening". Covering experimental, progressive rock, space rock and electronic music, bands like - Can, Amon Duul 2, Tangerine Dream, Neu, Kraftwerk, Faust, Magma, Supersister, Wigwam and Savage Rose. Many of the groups covered would go on to later influence countless hundreds of other bands down the years.
EUROCK - EUROPEAN ROCK & THE SECOND CULTURE compiles all the magazines majoarticlesis into an amazing reference guide that belongs in the collection of all serious experimental rock music buffs.
A Special Bonus introduction is the previously unpublished article on Krautrock from 1971 by the late Editor of Creem Magazine and gonzo rock journalist extraordinaire Lester Bangs - "Amon Duul: A Science Fiction Rock Spectacle".
250 Pictures ~ 2,700 Artists Indexed

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Little Labels--Big Sound: Small Record Companies and the Rise of American Music [Hardcover] Review

O how the landscape has changed!Fifty years ago there were literally hundreds of independent record labels operating in cities and towns all across the USA.Many of these companies were fly by night operations that lasted for only a short period of time. Some managed to stick around long enough to have a hit record or two before disappearing from the scene forever.But, a fair number of these independent labels were quite successful and would leave an indelible mark on American popular music.This is what "Little Labels-Big Sound" is all about.
Whether you are a fan of the blues, rock and roll, R & B, group harmony or jazz, there is little doubt that these "little labels" made asignificant contribution to the development of your kind of music.Authors Rick Kennedy and Randy McNutt have focused on 10 of these important independent labels.It is a very readable and highly entertaining book that both record collectors and history buffs are sure to enjoy.
Hoagy Carmicheal and Louis Armstrong spent their formative years in the 1920's at Gennett Records, a small indie based in Richmond, In.When a young and dynamic James Brown audtioned for King Records in the mid 1950's, label owner Syd Nathan remarked "Nobody wants to hear that noise."History would indeed prove him wrong.Most critics agree that jazz legend Charlie Parker made his finest recordings at Ross Russell's Dial records."Little Labels-Big Sound" tells the story of how Charlie Parker wound up at Dial.There are also chapters devoted to seven other notable indies including Sun, Riverside, Monument and Duke-Peacock. I enjoyed reading about them all.
Today, a few major conglomerates dominate the music business.There is little for most of us to get excited about. "Little Labels-Big Sound" fondly recalls that time in America when small record labels flourished and creativity thrived.It is worth remembering.Recommended.

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Masterworks of 20th-Century Music: The Modern Repertory of the Symphony Orchestra [Paperback] Review

"Masterworks of 20th-century music" is written nicely enough, but I had hoped for something which focused more on the music and less on biographical tidbits.If I needed to know biographical info I would read a biography.
Of course, this is the same problem with 99% of the program notes written today; nobody seems to have ears for the music.

I give a minor warning to take things in this book cum grano solis. For example, the article on Ravel's G major piano concerto twice in one paragraph declares the second movement to have a 'languid horn' solo -- but it is an English Horn, not a horn.To musicians, a "horn" is a brass instrument with or without valves, while the lanquid tenor double reed instrument is the cor anglais or English Horn.

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Product Description:
Masterworks of 20th-Century Music introduces over 100 of the greatest compositions by world composers that have entered the standard orchestral repertory.The author surveyed dozens of major American orchestras to find which pieces are commonly performed, and has focused on these works that an average audience member is most likely to hear.Among the popular pieces profiled are Aaron Copland'sAppalachian Spring; Gustav Holst's The Planets; Igor Stravinsky's Le sacre du printemps; Samuel Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915; George Gershwin's An American in Paris; Charles Ives's Three Places in New England; and many more.With each entry is given a wealth of information about: the composer, when and where the piece was first performed, in what "style" it was composed, and a basic analysis of the music. This book serves the general reader interested in 20th-century music, plus students, teachers, and scholars.

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Overtones and Undertones: Reading Film Music [Paperback] Review

This book is one of the most intellectual and in-depth books on specific films I've read.It's focus is mostly on older movies (The Sea Hawk, Double Indemnity), but also extensively explores French film, particularly, Jean-Luc Godard.The Interviews at the back of the book are with some of the greatest film composers, alive and dead, including: Miklos Rozsa, David Raksin, Bernard Herrmann, Mancini, John Barry and Howard Shore.A must for any film music fan or composer!

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Product Description:
Since the days of silent films, music has been integral to the cinematic experience, serving, variously, to allay audiences' fears of the dark and to heighten a film's emotional impact. Yet viewers are often unaware of its presence. In this bold, insightful book, film and music scholar and critic Royal S. Brown invites readers not only to "hear" the film score, but to understand it in relation to what they "see."Unlike earlier books, which offered historical, technical, and sociopolitical analyses, Overtones and Undertones draws on film, music, and narrative theory to provide the first comprehensive aesthetics of film music. Focusing on how the film/score interaction influences our response to cinematic situations, Brown traces the history of film music from its beginnings, covering both American and European cinema.At the heart of his book are close readings of several of the best film/score interactions, including Psycho, Laura, The Sea Hawk, Double Indemnity, and Pierrot le Fou. In revealing interviews with Bernard Herrmann, Mikls Rsza, Henry Mancini, and others, Brown also allows the composers to speak for themselves. A complete discography and bibliography conclude the volume.

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Classical Music in America: A History of Its Rise and Fall [Hardcover] Review

For years we have been sustained by a notion that we could, if we worked hard enough, use documents of all kinds (musical scores, diaries, images, letters, etc.) to figure out something like "what really happened" in the past.Alas, the past is a much vaster ocean than we imagine.The refreshing thing about Horowitz's brilliant Classical Music in America, is that he's not about writing a chronicle, he's about telling a particular story.In the end, it's not whether you agree or disagree that there was something like a Golden Age in the United States around the turn of the century followed by a gradual but inevitable slide, but that the reader is bathed in the very richness of the tale and the telling.Through his passion, his gifts as a writer and thinker, and actually through the very idiosyncratic thinking that can annoy, cajole, and prod, he compels attention, and stimulates deep thought about the past and the present.

Horowitz has been one of our leading cultural critics for decades, and this is a book that should be on every music lover's bookshelf.

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The House That George Built: With a Little Help from Irving, Cole, and a Crew of About Fifty [Paperback] Review

This is a book about the composers of America's most popular popular music, the music that came into being from roughly 1920 to 1950. It is not a formal treatise or scholarly study but rather a kind of fan's notes ramble, an enthusiastic exuberant high- spirited riff. English- born novelist, essayist Sheed shows great love for , and tremendous knowledge of American popular song. He writes with worshipful insight of the two greatest of the founding fathers of this particular American genre, George Gershwin and Irving Berlin. Both of these children of Russian Jewish parents found in black Blues and American jazz a fundamental inspiration. Both inspired many others and Gershwin particularly was a magnanimous helpful friend to other composers. Sheed cares for the Music above all and gives preeminence to those who create it - the lyrics are significant but secondary. Sheed writes not only about the major figures, Kern, Berlin, Gershwin, Cole Porter but also about fifty others. One special one for him is someone he knew personally , Harry Warren. Warren the composer of "I only have eyes for you' was a modest figure in the background but for Sheed a friend and great composer to whom he dedicates the book.
All the readers of this book I know of have spoken of whatgreat pleasure they had in reading it. The songs of these great composers entered Sheed's heart and his writing is his song of appreciation back to them.

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1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die (1,000 Before You Die) [Paperback] Review

What most readers/reviewers fail to recognize is that this book is not about the BEST 1000 recordings it is about recordings you should HEAR. Those who complain that some really great music is missing are missing the point. Buy this book for education and enjoyment not to see how close Moon comes to your top 1000 music recordings ratings of all time.

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Product Description:
The musical adventure of a lifetime. The most exciting book on music in years. A book of treasure, a book of discovery, a book to open your ears to new worlds of pleasure. Doing for music what Patricia Schultz-author of the phenomenal 1,000 Places to See Before You Die-does for travel, Tom Moon recommends 1,000 recordings guaranteed to give listeners the joy, the mystery, the revelation, the sheer fun of great music.

This is a book both broad and deep, drawing from the diverse worlds of classical, jazz, rock, pop, blues, country, folk, musicals, hip-hop, world, opera, soundtracks, and more. It's arranged alphabetically by artist to create the kind of unexpected juxtapositions that break down genre bias and broaden listeners' horizons- it makes every listener a seeker, actively pursuing new artists and new sounds, and reconfirming the greatness of the classics. Flanking J. S. Bach and his six entries, for example, are the little-known R&B singer Baby Huey and the '80s Rastafarian hard-core punk band Bad Brains. Farther down the list: The Band, Samuel Barber, Cecelia Bartoli, Count Basie, and Afropop star Waldemer Bastos.

Each entry is passionately written, with expert listening notes, fascinating anecdotes, and the occasional perfect quote-"Your collection could be filled with nothing but music from Ray Charles," said Tom Waits, "and you'd have a completely balanced diet." Every entry identifies key tracks, additional works by the artist, and where to go next. And in the back, indexes and playlists for different moods and occasions.

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The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century [Paperback] Review

This magisterial book will, for many years, remain the definitive account of classical music (or art music, if you prefer) in the twentieth century, from the time of Richard Strauss and Gustav Mahler to the age of Steve Reich and John Adams. Ross situates his history of an art form within the swirl of contemporary developments in culture and politics. The many individual stories of composers and their chief works are unified through the use of literary themes, the philosophical musings of Theodor Adorno and a close analysis of Thomas Mann's novel Doctor Faust. Along the way, Ross gives us an absolutely riveting account of the musical scene in the Third Reich, covering the composers who stayed and were complicit with the regime, as well as those artists who either fled or perished. He covers music in the concentration camps and the life of composers under Soviet dictatorship. He makes links between modern performance practice and the rise of jazz, bebop and adventurous rockers like the Beatles and Radiohead. His knowledge is encyclopedic and his research prodigous. Here and there his enthusiasms betray him. The heavy emphasis on German music as the spine of musical development turns Wagner into the main 19th century ancestor to modern music, a leit motive throughout the book; he scants the incipient modernisms of Tchaikovsky and the Russian School, the contributions of Liszt, Berlioz and other French composers. The chapter on Sibelius is so long it feels like a Bruckner symphony, ditto the scene by scene analysis of Britten's opera Peter Grimes; these sections are among the few longeurs encountered in a historical text that generally reads like a mystery novel. This book is highly recommended for anyone who is afraid of modern music but be warned, it will make you go out and compulsively expand your library of discs!

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Bill Evans: How My Heart Sings [Paperback] Review

As a jazz pianist who has studied Evans' music for nearly 40 years, it always struck me how Bill Evans could start out his career with such musical curiosity, adventure and brilliance, only to settle into a longperiod of simply going through the motions. And while Bill Evans goingthrough the motions is still a beautiful thing, now I know why. We all knewBill Evans was a junkie, but somehow dealing with it on an everyday basisin this book puts it all into perspective. Bill Evans started out straight,so straight that he didn't turn to drugs until he was already in thespotlight in Miles Davis' group (in contrast to someone like Stan Getz whowas into it from his earliest gigs). But unlike Davis and Getz, who hadlonger periods of sobriety to clean up their act and renew their approachto their craft, Bill Evans did not.
The result is a flash of light thatglows into the mid sixties, but then dies out in a sea of repetition,hemming in his style into a smaller and smaller box as he went along. Wesee the mind of an intelligent, educated man, drawing on his classicalinfluences to create a unique voice; we see perhaps his initial exposure todrugs producing a shimmering impressionistic sound that is foreverrecognizable, and then we see it all wear off into a self imposed lifesentence, cutting off his imagination, if not all of his feelings. BillEvans did not take care of himself, and for that we are all worse off. Thathe could die partially of malnutrition just underscores the very sadpoint.
One does see a curiously ascetic individual-drug abusenotwithstanding-who simply doesn't seem to care about much other than hisart (as he states in his video, The Universal Mind of Bill Evans). Someonealmost religiously wedded to this calling, who cares only about hisrelationship with his craft, and let the chips fall where they may. Thisdedication in jazz musicians, often with scant financial reward, is alwaysfascinating, and gives us all an understanding of what their commitmentmeans.
Pettinger does us all a great favor by chronicling his life, andhis knowledge of classical music is of great assistance as he traces Evans'influences among European composers. But his lack of knowledge of jazzalmost cancels that out, as he seems unable to interpret Evans' jazztechnique at all. The fact that he never states that Evans key innovationwas to introduce the interval of the second (major and minor) into the jazzharmonic repertory-devising a new system of voicing with a unique sound-isa major omission. He refers to this throughout as the "scrunch"sound. The "scrunch" is a minor second, folks.
To really tellthe story of Bill Evans, you need to understand the influence of drugs onthe artist's work; but here Pettinger has no clue. For instance, one can"hear" the heroin affecting his sound in the classic Sundayafternoon recordings: soft touch, liquid sound, fluid legato approach, evenup tempo numbers have a delicate swing. Toward the end of his life, we"hear" cocaine-hard driving, more rhythmic, more aggressive. Forsomeone like Evans, who it seems hardly ate at all, drugs had an importantphysical impact on his life, and certainly affected the direction of hisart. But this is a blind spot for the classically oriented Pettinger.
Healso seems unable to distinguish between truly important and pedestrianperformances; he's a bit too star struck for my taste. He also totallymisreads the Gary Peacock trio (Trio `64) which, while very different fromhis others, is his best after the classic trio with Scott LaFaro. I canattest to this from two tables away from the piano at the Village Vanguardback in 1964. Peacock, with his prodigious imagination, technique andsound, was giving Evans exactly the creative impetus he needed as Evansreeled from depression after Scott LaFaro's tragic death. Peacock, had henot gone for a "diet and meditation trip" could have pushed thepianist into a new creative mode. But that was not to be, and Evans settledinto comfortable repertory. Pettinger doesn't grasp thesignificance.
Other works that don't get their due: The Bill Evans andSymphony Orchestra album, easily the best I've ever heard of the genre. Butit's great not because Ogerman and Evans "do" the classics;rather it's great because they capture the feeling of these classics,something that serious musicians seldom do. And Evans is improvising on thechanges, the way the great masters once did, in a truly inspired fashion.In this book, it's just another album. Similarly, the Symbiosis album isglossed over. Another Ogerman work, this time covering challengingmodernistic terrain while still maintaining a high level of feeling,balancing Appolonian and Dionysian extremes brilliantly. The extended reedstatement in the second movement, with complex, long lines that flirt inand out of tonality; the following improvisation using the most complexseries of chords I've ever heard in a jazz piece, many with roots a minorsecond above or below the fundamental chord. It's breakthrough stuff, butonly gets a quick take from Pettinger.
We could have used some straighttalk about the trios. Evans almost lost it after LaFaro's death, and hisnext trio was an effort at survival. But you have to admit that ChuckIsraels left a lot to be desired in the early going, all the morenoticeable in contrast to LaFaro. On How My Heart Sings, he just doesn'tmake the changes. He grew considerably over the years, and got to be asolid compliment to Evans. But we do see after LaFaro and Peacock aconscious shift toward a more dependable type of music, and a moredependable bass player. Eddie Gomez, viewed against LaFaro or Peacock issimply dependable. Talented? Yes. But dependable¾not inspired.
So Evans,hobbled by drugs, chooses to work his craft, dependably, for the rest ofhis career. And indeed, he produces many great moments. But we can't helpbut wonder whether he spent the rest of his life mourning that first,wonderful trio. And who could blame him? But we wish he could have gottenover it, that he could have had the courage to take some risks. Perhaps hewould have found something that place again. We'll never know. But I'd liketo have known a bit more about what Evans' choice of partners, andrepertory meant.
I'm also not a great fan of books that attempt tocharacterize endless discography in layman's terms. After a while, we needto know more than the fact that a solo was "shimmering" or"beautiful". Trudging through the discography, however, we seeclumps of albums that Evans did just to support his habit, and the unevenresults become more clear, as does the sometimes endless repetition ofmaterial. He did find new ways to do all those tunes; but he did stretchhis repertory quite thin; and now we understand why.
For all hisproblems with drugs, we see relatively little of the first hand impact ofhis dependence. This is very unlike "Stan Getz: A Life in Jazz"which chronicles Getz' frequent personal and emotional problems. Theseproblems do illuminate the artist's approach to his craft, andunfortunately they are mostly missing here.
In the end, Bill Evans is theguiding light of modern jazz piano, whose legacy extends to practicallyeveryone who has played from 1960 on. But his output and life were quiteuneven; a more realistic appraisal would have been helpful withoutdetracting a bit from his legendary contributions.
But with itsshortcomings, the book is still an essential read for anyone interested inEvans, jazz piano, or modern jazz history. There ain't nothin' else on thesubject as of yet, but hopefully with this, there will eventually bemore.
Finally, books like this bring us to the influence of drugs onjazz-the music and musicians. We'd like to say now that jazz is free of thetyranny of drugs, but where does that leave us? We have a major star thatis a Harvard MBA, we have commercial success at Lincoln Center, but whereis the inspiration? Where is the innovation? Certainly an acceptableinterval has passed since Miles, Bill Evans and John Coltrane were on thescene, but the torch has not been passed. Jazz, if free from the tyranny ofdrugs, needs to move to the next level-innovation and inspiration withoutdrugs. Having mastered career and made inroads in the market, maybe now wecan step back and focus on the music again,. the way masters like BillEvans, Miles and Coltrane did. When we get there, we'll look back at thesefallen idols and thank them for their inspiration, and for the bitterlessons that they taught us.

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FOUR LIVES IN THE BEBOP BUSINESS [Paperback] Review

Spellman, a lucid analyst of the avant garde jazz movement in the '60s (see his liner notes, for example, on the original release of Coltrane's "Ascension"), has contributed with this book four compellingportraits of musicians who gave and have given their lives tojazz.
"Four Lives in the Bebop Business" profiles two altoists,Jackie McLean and Ornette Coleman; and two pianists, Cecil Taylor andHerbie Nichols. Spellman skillfully crafts the narratives, while wiselyallowing his subjects to tell large chunks of their stories in their ownwords.
It becomes clear as one reads the book that it took a lot of gutsto be a jazz musician during the '50s and '60s (and still does). All fourof the musicians faced major obstacles in pursuing their art.
McLean,who enjoyed the greatest amount of commercial success of the four,especially early on, battled drug addiction. Taylor and Coleman faced openhostility because of their challenging, groundbreaking approaches toplaying their instruments. Nichols (the only one of the four who is notstill alive) was just plain ignored, despite his brilliantly originalplaying (check out the two-disk Blue Note compilation of his music), andspent much of his all-too-brief career playing in Greenwich Villagedives.
In spite of bad accommodations, poor pay, public indifference,critical hostility and difficulty finding gigs, these artists, the bookmakes clear, would never play anything other than jazz. In this sense, thebook has an underlying inspirational message. Still, it remains for Americato fully embrace its only true indigenous art form, something which to thisday has not occurred.
The book also offers insights from the musicians onthe creative process and about the historic changes in jazz that occurredduring the '60s, from the perspective of men who were on the front lines ofthe battles between critics, musicians, and the listening public.
Required reading for the serious jazz listener.

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This book offers biographical sketches and quotations from four black musicians: Herbie Nichols, Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman, and Jackie McLean. Photographs.

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Pittsburgh Jazz (PA) (Images of America) [Paperback] Review

Pittsburgh has long been recognised as one of the birth places of modern jazz and thus, I looked forward to the publication of Mr. Brewer's book.

As I hoped, there were many pictures of Pittsburgh musicians and club scenes, but no attempt to differentiate between those photos and stock photos of jazz stars unrelated to Pittsburgh.

The book was poorly written with many mispelled words and thoughts that were just not accurate. (Monk was not a bop musician!He was one of the originators of the genre!)

The text omitted one of Pitteburgh's Hall of Fame players, Dodo Marmarosa and didn't include others like Danny Conn, Johnny Costa, Joe Pass, Reid Jaynes, Danny Mastri, Sammy Sestico, et. all.Frankly, as I type these names, it seems very few anglo musicians were even mentioned.

Not much of a history of Pittsburgh jazz in this effort...a few pictures of interest and filler stock shots.One can only hope future efforts will someday describe the great Pittsburgh jazz history.

Jim Linduff

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Pittsburgh Jazz documents the almost forgotten magic created in the city of Pittsburgh by a host of artists, uptown inner city streets, and jazz joints that served patrons from a menu packed full of delightful music. The magical improvised songs, compositions, and unique styles of hundreds of those who were born, raised, or influenced by what occurred in the smoke filled clubs, bars, restaurants, and theaters is difficult to comprehend. And yet, every jazz artist in the world was attracted here to “stand the test” waiting in the Steel City. This book is committed to connecting Pittsburghstyle jazz as the synthesis that resulted in the art form called bebop. This photographic presentation was captured by Pittsburgh Courier photographers between the 1930s and 1980s.

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The Essential Klezmer: A Music Lover's Guide to Jewish Roots and Soul Music, from the Old World to the Jazz Age to the Downtown Avant Garde [Paperback] Review

I'm not entirely unbiased -- Seth has generously praised my most recent book -- but as someone who writes on Jewish music regularly for several papers, I can honestly say that this is the book on klezmer to start with. Seth's ecumenical, eclectic taste and balanced view of the current scenemake him a superb tour guide for either a first-time visitor or an oldklezmer hand. As a working music journalist, he has interviewed all the keyfigures in this music -- even the notoriously reclusive John Zorn -- andclearly he has asked the right questions, because his chapters on recentmusic are insightful and zesty. And the book's lengthy critical discographymakes it an indispensable guide for the listener and record buyer.

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Collected Works: A Journal of Jazz 1954-2001 [Paperback] Review

OK, Whitney Balliett never got into Miles Davis's electric stuff. So he's a Moldy Fig. To quote Miles, "So What?" For my money, he's still the greatest observer of the modern jazz scene. What makes him great is the accuracy of his observation: No other jazz critic ("Notes and Tones" was written by Art Taylor, a drummer) has been as generous as Balliett at letting the musicians speak for themselves. Reading his reviews, you often forget he's there. That never happens with Stanley Crouch, now does it? I don't like to think about how old Balliett is, nor do I like to think about what jazz criticism will be like without him. By the way: Balliett is not an exclusionary writer. You do not need a Hip Merit Badge to read and enjoy his work. He's a national treasure. Recognize his greatness while he's still here to enjoy it!

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Visions of Jazz: The First Century [Paperback] Review

Gary Giddins has performed a remarkable feat. He has covered one hundred years of jazz history in one volume. At 700 pages it is big for sure but it is well researched and very readable. At first glance it appears thatGiddins has structured and organized the book in the worst possible way byhaving one chapter on each of the seminal figures of jazz history, and insemi chronological order.
The pitfall here is that it lends itself to abook that looks like lots of note cards strung together. This structure canalso obscure the larger picture; jazz is not just the history of a bunch ofindividuals. Giddins very skillfully avoids both of these traps. Eachchapter is well researched, filled with anecdotes about the musician orgroup, and through the chapters flows the larger background of the historicmovements and issues in the development of jazz.
Giddins also approachesjazz with a refreshing "inclusiveness" and wastes precious little energy indefining what jazz is or in dismissing various movements as"unpure" or other such nonsense. In fact he makes the point rightup front that jazz owes as much to popular music for its genesis as it doesto spirituals or black folk music. In the chapter on Irving Berlin hepoints out that Tin Pan Alley was a mixture of black, Jewish and otherethnic blends of music, and in fact, Berlin was even accused of having anunderground railroad of black song writers in his back room that he wasghosting for. And this, at the time, was not meant as a compliment..
Ofcourse, jazz cannot be discussed in a vacuum and race plays an importantpart in its history. Giddins adds two bits of trivia, which I find speakvolumes in themselves about where we are and where we have come from. Onewas that Al Jolson lobbied Gershwin for the part of Porgy. He, thankfully,did not get it. Second was that Ellington's all black orchestra played inan Amos and Andy movie in the 30's and the producer had the lighter skinnedmembers of the orchestra blacked up with makeup for the scenes. I supposethis was to dispel any idea in the minds of the movie audience that theband might be integrated.
The book lacks a recommended discography, whichwould have been valuable. Giddins does comment on the recordings of hissubjects in their respective chapters so that is a big help. There is a 2CD companion set with the same title which is a nice-to-have but it islargely an afterthought and the only connecting material is the 4 inchsquare flimsy comment sheets that come with the CD which does not reallyrelate back to the book itself.
This is a essential book for any jazzlovers library.

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Jazz 101: A Complete Guide to Learning and Loving Jazz [Paperback] Review

Those who really want an excellent book on the history of jazz should eschew Ken Burns' incomplete doorstop of a picture book and turn to John F. Szwed's compact and comprehensive volume. In only a little over 300 pages, Szwed succinctly and skilfully covers the entire spectrum of jazz, offering the reader everything and looking askance at nothing. Though opinionated at times (and who could not be, writing a book of this sort), Szwed is never judgmental, and his knowledge of the field and its many aspects is broad and sweeping without seeming superficial. And please note that this isn't just a book for jazz newbies -- I've been a jazz fan for many years, with a huge collection of records, CDs and books, and I still learned a lot. Szwed's illuminative sidebars on individual songs and albums had me pulling out some old favorites and hearing them with fresh ears. This volume belongs on the shelf of every jazz buff.

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Product Description:
Anyone interested in learning about a distinct musicjazzwill welcome this newest addition to the popular 101 reference series. Noted anthropologist, critic, and musical scholar John F. Szwed takes readers on a tour of the musics tangled history and explores how it developed from an ethnic music to become North Americas most popular music and then part of the avant garde in less than fifty years. Jazz 101 presents the key figures, history, theory, and controversies that shaped its development, along with a discussion of some of its most important recordings.

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Jazz [Hardcover] Review

Starting with the iconic photo of Dexter Gordon on the dust jacket through to the last page, this book is an outstanding presentation of the history and musicology of America's classical music, jazz. It is a book that should be useful to the die-hard jazz fan, the jazz novice and everyone in between.

The book begins with a chapter on the basic elements of music, followed by a chapter covering the basics of jazz styles and improvisation. This introduction is followed by 17 chapters covering the history of the music, from its roots in spirituals, the blues, and ragtime up to the jazz (what there is of it) of today. There is also a useful glossary and a short section on record collection and jazz films.

Many books on jazz history are available, some covering the entire century-plus of the music, and others concentrating on certain periods. There are also a few books on jazz musicology, most notably Mark C. Gridley's outstanding "Jazz Styles". But Gridley pointedly avoids any discussion of the personalities and the non-musical activities of the musicians, as though they created their music in a vacuum. This leads to such oddities as a section on Bud Powell, for example, in which Gridley notes that Powell was "only sporadically active during most of his career", without explaining that Powell was a diagnosed schizophrenic who suffered not only from the disease, but also the horrific "treatments" of the day. Not for "Jazz" authors Giddins and DeVeaux is this `hands off the personal lives' approach. They include brief biographies of the most important musicians, warts (of which there are many) and all. This is essential, in my view, to understanding the music that these men (and a very few women) created.

But this book also contains sufficient discussion of the technical aspects of the music, if not employing quite the music school language of Gridley's book, which is fine with this non-musician fan, and probably for most readers. And while the authors must have their preferences, one will not find them imposed on the reader, as is common in some books. While I appreciate and use such books as the "Penguin Guide", I find Cook's and Morton's sometimes quirky and avant-garde taste not always to my liking.

An interesting feature of the book is a bar-by-bar (almost) account of some of the most important performances in jazz history. In order for this feature to be useful one must, of course, have the recordings to listen to while reading the discussions. Like many jazz fans and collectors, I have most of the performances in my record collection, but for those who don't, the authors provide a 4-CD set that goes along with the book, though at the hefty price of $60 on Amazon. This would be essential for the serious jazz novice without access to a jazz record collection; for jazz-o-files, it would be useful and convenient, but perhaps not worth the additional cost. I'm still trying to decide if it's worthwhile searching my collection for each of the correct tracks, or paying up for the CD set.

If there is any complaint that I could about this excellent book, and it is a minor one, is its the lack of discussion of the jazz scenes today outside the USA, where jazz continues to be vital a musical culture, while it atrophies here in its home country. The UK, and to a lesser extent the rest of Europe, along with Australia and even parts of Latin America are where jazz is prospering in the 21st century.

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