My knowledge of jazz is pretty poor, other than dipping into some of the more obvious players like Louis Armstrong’s Hot Fives and Sevens, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Coltrane.
A book that doesn’t need prior knowledge would be helpful to me. It doesn’t need to be a beginner’s guide - after all, I’d never heard of most of the post-war composers in The Rest Is Noise, and I enjoyed Ross’ writing a lot.
@mfadio, I like the Klosterman idea… (Also, I like Wim Wenders but Raising Arizona is nothing to sneeze at… we’ve never stopped saying “self-contained and fairly explanatory” around here.)
@PaisleyUnderground, I wonder if Gary Giddins’ Visions of Jazz would be a candidate. A big tome but he’s a very good writer.
Ted Gioia’s books are also possibilities: Amazon.com: Ted Gioia: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle
OR we could zero in with something like Ben Ratliff’s Coltrane if we felt like doing one great artist in depth. It’s a book of modest length, self-contained and… well, you know.
As long as it’s not boring for you, I’d love to read either the Giddins or Gioia histories of jazz. It would help give me some context. Right now, when I dip into jazz, I randomly pick someone who’s name I might have heard of and then randomly pick an album. I have no concept of what was going on in that decade, how their playing may have changed over time, and how the artist may have collaborated with other artists on their recordings.
Yup, I’d be up for any of the books mentioned so far.
I’m reading a little of the Gary Giddens to see if it’s the ticket… more tomorrow.
I suggest we go with Gary Giddins’ Visions of Jazz (I misspelled his name yesterday). Not strictly a history, but short essays about a lot of artists, from the WC Handy years on up. His choices are a little idiosyncratic but we’re used to that, and he’s an excellent writer and critic.
Far from being bored, I expect to learn a lot, especially about pre-bop. The book came out in 1998, so those who want to could segue from there into Nate Chinen’s Playing Changes about jazz in the 21st Century.
Giddins is frank about the artists’ better and lesser work – a good listening guide. I notice that, in 1998, he laments how hard it is to listen to the early years due to the recording tech then. But a lot has happened with digital reconstruction in recent years… I put on King Oliver in New York last night and it sounds great. (Maybe not 100% accurate, but great.)
Anyway! That’s my recommendation, and I think we’ll have fun with it.
Fantastic, I’m really looking forward to learning more about jazz, and trying out different styles to see what I like or dislike.
I like it! Are we ready to start a new topic to see if any one else his interested in this one?
(@TylersEclectic @ProfFalkin here’s the book club I was telling you about)
Sounds good to me. I don’t know how one starts one, but if you could do it that would be great! Thanks.