The latest words on jazz, evaluated by critics who understand the power of jazz writing.
Playboy impresario Hugh Hefner, an important advocate for jazz through his magazine, festival, nightclubs, TV show, compilations and books, died on Sept. 27 at his … Read More “Playboy Swings: How Hugh Hefner and Playboy Changed the Face of Music, by Patty Farmer”
It is surprising that Victor Svorinich’s Listen to This: Miles Davis and Bitches Brew is the first full-length book devoted to examining the 1970 double-album … Read More “Listen to This: Miles Davis and Bitches Brew by Victor Svorinch”
Everybody loves a love song. Countless have been written, and billions of words have been expended on them: why a beautifully sung romantic ballad makes … Read More “Love Songs: The Hidden History by Ted Gioia”
A new collection of essays is indispensable
Read More “The Cambridge Companion to Duke Ellington by Edited by Edward Green”
New photo book spotlights past, present and future jazz stars
Read More “Ken Franckling Publishes Jazz in the Key of Light“
Art Pepper’s Straight Life is one of the seminal jazz autobiographies, essential for its portrait of the postwar West Coast scene and its pitiless portrayal … Read More “ART: Why I Stuck With a Junkie Jazzman by Laurie Pepper”
In his introduction to Learning to Listen, master vibraphonist Gary Burton offers readers the choice of absorbing his story as either that of “a gay … Read More “Learning to Listen: The Jazz Journey of Gary Burton by Gary Burton”
Stanley Crouch’s much-anticipated biography of Charlie Parker is finally here. Or rather, the first of two scheduled volumes has arrived, this installment bringing Bird from … Read More “Kansas City Lightning: The Rise and Times of Charlie Parker by Stanley Crouch”
In 2011, David Kastin released the award-winning Nica’s Dream, a jazz journalist’s take on the life of Pannonica de Koenigswarter, the European baroness who gave … Read More “The Baroness: The Search for Nica, the Rebellious Rothschild by Hannah Rothschild”
