Items related to Jazz: An Illustrated History
It is America's music - born out of a million American negotiations: between having and not having; between happy and sad, country and city; between black and white and men and women; between the Old Africa and the Old Europe - which could only have happened in an entirely New World.It is an improvisational art, making itself up as it goes along - just like the country that gave it birth. It demands individual expression but demands selfless collaboration. It is forever changing but nearly always rooted in the blues. It has a rich tradition and its own rules but it is brand-new every night. 'Jazz,' the drummer Art Blakey liked to say, 'washes away the dust of everyday life'.Above all, it swings.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review:
First off, let's get the kudos down: Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns deserve far more than simple gratitude for bringing jazz to the limelight with this lavishly illustrated volume. The book features among its 500-plus pictures many of the previously unseen shots of musicians and venues glimpsed in Burns's BBC documentary. Jazz: An Illustrated History follows the film episode by episode, and it's filled with rich historical detail in the early chapters. Like the series, however, the book trails off from chronicling jazz's history after a certain point. It gives background aplenty on early New Orleans music, the migration of jazz up the Mississippi to major urban centres and the developments of swing and bebop. After bebop, the history gets a bit perfunctory. Dozens of major figures get mere sidebar coverage. Little is said of substance on Latin or Brazilian jazz, European contributions to the music, fusion, or umpteen smaller deviations from the mainstream. There are wonderful essays that highlight elements of jazz culture, particularly Gerald Early's consideration of race and white musicians in jazz and Gary Giddins's five-page essay on avant jazz. And there are fine sidebars as well. But developments during and after the 1960s are dealt with primarily in impressionistic guest essays rather than detail-oriented historical narrative. It is, of course, difficult to capture all jazz history in any single volume. So perhaps this ought to have been called "Jazz: A Historical Appreciation", since the hundreds of images certainly create an intense sense of the music's milieu. --Andrew Bartlett
Book Description:
A real gem - the history of jazz, beautifully illustrated with more than 200 illustrations
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherTandem Library
- Publication date2002
- ISBN 10 1417719249
- ISBN 13 9781417719242
- BindingHardcover
- Rating
(No Available Copies)
Search Books: Create a WantIf you know the book but cannot find it on AbeBooks, we can automatically search for it on your behalf as new inventory is added. If it is added to AbeBooks by one of our member booksellers, we will notify you!
Create a Want