The latest words on jazz, evaluated by critics who understand the power of jazz writing.
Composer Alec Wilder called Irving Berlin “the best all-around, over-all song writer America has ever had.” Berlin was certainly prolific and successful, dedicating himself ferociously … Read More “Irving Berlin Songs from the Melting Pot: The Formative Years, 1907-14 by Charles Hamm”
Mike Lankford might be dubbed a thinking man’s drummer. As a graduate of the Iowa Writer’s Workshop his prose is a cut above the usual … Read More “Life in Double Time: Confessions of an American Drummer by Mike Lankford”
Although Teddy Wilson’s book was written between 1976 and 1978, its publication was unfortunately delayed by circumstances described in Alyn Shipton’s prefatory note. But better … Read More “Teddy Wilson Talks Jazz by Teddy Wilson with Arie Lithgart & Humphrey van Loo”
The search for a truly versatile text for jazz history and style classes can be time consuming and frustrating for those instructors desiring a course … Read More “Jazz Styles: History And Analysis by Mark C. Gridley”
By now Whitney Balliett’s tenure as jazz critic at The New Yorker has lasted nearly 40 years, and in all that time he has hardly … Read More “American Musicians II: Seventy-One Portraits in Jazz by Whitney Balliett”
Though these three books center on players whose lives and music are interconnected in various ways, they are dramatically different in focus and style. The … Read More “John Coltrane: A Discography and Musical Biography by Yasuhiro Fujioka, with Lewis Porter and Yoh-ichi Hamada”
