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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Voices In Jazz Guitar [Perfect Paperback] Review

As a guitarist I have found insight and inspiration on nearly every page and whether from known artists or obscure teachers/performers there is something worthwhile in every interview. The proof-reading and editing of this book, however, are terrible, there are spelling and grammatical errors on every single page and after a while it becomes a distraction.

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Joe Barth has offered us what is arguably the most thoroughly researched book on jazz guitar ever published. Barth s methodical approach to interviewing jazz guitar icons is highly impressive and his ability to maintain the easy rapport with each artist is masterful. The roster of musicians gathered in this volume reflects Barth s rare insight regarding how the jazz artist, instrument, and industry are inextricably linked. Undoubtedly, this book is a great addition to jazz guitar canon and is easily a must-have for every aspiring jazz musician who is serious about out great American art form.

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The Great Jazz Pianists: Speaking Of Their Lives And Music (Da Capo Paperback) [Paperback] Review

For jazz pianists this is a valuable resource. Lyons, a classically-trained pianist, asks somewhat consistent questions to each of the pianists presented but is also a skilled interviewer and knows how to go off on a tangent when appropriate. He also manages, for the most part, to avoid the (to me anyways) boring questions about the artists' current touring schedules, newest records, etc.
I wouldn't classify all of the pianists in this book as being representative of the "greats"; Billy Taylor and Marion McPartland, while certainly brilliant and important in their own ways, would probably not make the short list of great pianists for most pianists and jazz fans. Also, since this book's publication, many great pianists have emerged on the jazz landscape that are arguably equally deserving of the title "great". However, most of the list is truly stellar, including Herbie, Chick, Keith, McCoy, Bill, Oscar, Horace Silver, Teddy Wilson, and many other extremely influential pianists.
The interviews with Mary Lou Williams and Cecil Taylor are particularly entertaining to read because they are extremely opinionated. In fact, many of the great pianists, you will notice, are very opinionated, and perhaps this is part of what makes them great.

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This comprehensive survey of jazz piano, beginning with a brief history of the instrument within the jazz tradition and concluding with interviews that present twenty-seven pianists in their own words, is both wonderfully anecdotal and a serious piece of jazz history. Lyons has assembled a giant concert of piano voices-Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, Teddy Wilson, Oscar Peterson, Keith Jarrett, Randy Weston, Cecil Taylor, Horace Silver, Dave Brubeck, Sun Ra, McCoy Tyner, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Chick Corea, and many others. The pianists are candid, intense, and always opinionated. Yet their responses are infused with a keen appreciation for fellow musicians, their contemporaries, and those who came before-Walter, Tatum, Ellington. For pianists everywhere, whatever their individual style, this book will speak to and for you as it expresses the thoughts of its many great artists.

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