CENTRAL AVENUE SOUNDS: JAZZ IN LOS ANGELES

Bryant, Clora; Edited by and et. al.

ISBN 10: 0520211898 / ISBN 13: 9780520211896

Published by University of California Press, Berkeley, California, 1998

About this Item

[xxviii], 442p. 2nd printing. Signed by Clora Bryant on dedication page. Oral histories of Marshal Royal, Lee Young, Fletcher Smith, Coney Woodman, William Woodman, Britt Woodman, Buddy Collette, David Bryant, Cecil "Big Jay" McNeely, Jack Kelson, William Douglass, Melba Liston, Art Farmer, Horace Tapscott, Gerald Wiggins, Gerald Wilson, Clora Bryant, William Green, and Marl Young discussing the music scene on Central Avenue during the 1920s through 1950s in Los Angeles. Includes bibliography. Jacket design by Nola Burger. 12 leaves of b&w photo plates. (9-1/4"x6-1/4"). Seller Inventory # H10220

Bibliographic Details

Title: CENTRAL AVENUE SOUNDS: JAZZ IN LOS ANGELES

Publisher: University of California Press, Berkeley, California

Publication Date: 1998

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Very Good

Dust Jacket Condition: very good

Signed: Signed by Author(s)

About this title

Synopsis:

The musical and social history of Los Angeles's black community from the 1920s through the early 1950s is examined in this oral history collection. Through the voices of musicians who performed on L.A.'s Central Avenue during those years, a picture of the Avenue's place in American musical history emerges. By day, Central Avenue was the economic and social centre for black Angelenos. By night, it was a magnet for Southern Californians, black and white, who wanted to hear the very latest in jazz. The oral histories in this book provide firsthand reminiscences by and about some of the great jazz legends: Art Farmer recalls the first time Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie played bebop on the West Coast; Britt Woodman tells of a teenaged Charles Mingus switching from cello to bass; and Clora Bryant recalls hard times on the road with Billie Holiday. Here too are recollections of Hollywood's effects on local culture, the precedent-setting merger of the black and white musicians' unions, and the repercussions from the racism in the Los Angeles Police Department in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

Review:

"A vital mosaic of Jazz in Los Angeles." --"Washington Post Book World