Details

ISBN-10: 0199731187
ISBN-13: 9780199731183
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Publish Date: 01/03/2011
Dimensions: 8.54" L, 5.62" W, 0.72" H

Why Jazz?: A Concise Guide

Hardcover

Price: $17.95

Overview

What was the first jazz record? Are jazz solos really improvised? How did jazz lay the groundwork for rock and country music? In Why Jazz?, author and NPR jazz critic Kevin Whitehead provides lively, insightful answers to these and many other fascinating questions, offering an entertaining guide for both novice listeners and long-time fans.
Organized chronologically in a convenient question and answer format, this terrific resource makes jazz accessible to a broad audience, and especially to readers who’ve found the music bewildering or best left to the experts. Yet Why Jazz? is much more than an informative Q&A; it concisely traces the century-old history of this American and global art form, from its beginnings in New Orleans up through the current postmodern period. Whitehead provides brief profiles of the archetypal figures of jazz–from Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington to Wynton Marsalis and John Zorn–and illuminates their contributions as musicians, performers, and composers. Also highlighted are the building blocks of the jazz sound–call and response, rhythmic contrasts, personalized performance techniques and improvisation–and discussion of how visionary musicians have reinterpreted these elements to continually redefine jazz, ushering in the swing era, bebop, cool jazz, hard bop, and the avant-garde. Along the way, Why Jazz? provides helpful plain-English descriptions of musical terminology and techniques, from “blue notes” to “conducted improvising.” And unlike other histories which haphazardly cover the stylistic branches of jazz that emerged after the 1960s, Why Jazz? groups latter-day musical trends by decade, the better to place them in historical context.
Whether read in self-contained sections or as a continuous narrative, this compact reference presents a trove of essential information that belongs on the shelf of anyone who’s ever been interested in jazz.

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Reviews
"Jazz and cinema, the two definitive art forms of the 20th Century, have led an often troubled co-existence. Play the Way You Feel traces the frequent missteps and occasional triumphs of jazz in film with the deep knowledge, superior taste, and acerbic wit we have come to expect from Kevin Whitehead. ÂAn essential book for all jazz fans, and a necessary corrective for anyone whose knowledge of the music is based on what they have learned at the movies." – Bob Blumenthal, author of Jazz: An Introduction to the History and Legends Behind America's Music

"A revelation! From the bad to the beautiful, Kevin Whitehead brilliantly illuminates each frame to show us why jazz in the movies matters in all its incarnations. He masterfully guides us through this rich and complicated story, making connections that reveal deeper meanings and aha moments that change our view of jazz, film and ourselves." – Dominique Eade, Jazz Vocalist and Teacher, New England Conservatory

"Whitehead's concise responses deliver the answers that reveal his deep knowledge of the music and sharp style. Even readers who never touched a piano will be able to follow his summation of why bebop was such a radical departure. This book belongs on the syllabus of all introductory jazz courses." –Downbeat, Editors' Pick


"Whitehead is a pithy writer, stylish without getting sidetracked by his own cleverness." –ChicagoReader.com

"It used to be said that anyone who immediately appreciated new and different musical approaches in jazz "had ears." Mr. Whitehead has ears, and a catholicity of taste to accurately describe, although not necessarily subscribe to, different kinds of jazz. He possesses the critical tools to differentiate between the authentic and the bogus, and he has a clear writing style that enables him (for the most part) to write about complicated music in an understandable way....Mr. Whitehead manages to offer informed, concise and jargon-free insights into every kind of jazz and every important innovator, and does so in a reader-friendly style that should appeal to jazz fans and those who simply want to learn a bit more about the music." –The Washington Times

"Whitehead poses many substantive and important questions about the origins of the music, its substance, its major innovators, and its principal ebbs and flows. His answers are mini-essays on these topics, most of which have been carefully pared to a minimum of clear and smart words...The brevity of this book ought not be confused with a lack of substance. Whitehead's tone is conversational, engaging, and direct, and he deserves plenty of credit for an original concept...But perhaps the best thing for me about the book is the ambition of the last chapter, "Jazz After 1980," in which Whitehead sorts out the trends and innovators of the past 30 years in just 27 pages - a remarkable achievement that shows how carefully he listens and how cogently he judges." –The Arts Fuse

"A breezy read in question-and-answer format, and it's as necessary as ever these days, as distant as jazz has become to the general population." –Patrick Jarenwattananon, NPR's "A Blog Supreme"

"With remarkable precision and polish, he traces the lineaments of each genre, discerns the significance of key figures, explains the anatomy of sound, and sketches the important venues - making this a useful reference for a puzzled or curious audience." –Books and Culture

"An admirably concise primer in Q&A format that covers lots of ground without being preachy." –FinancialTimes.com

"Despite its brevity it functions as effectively, in its way, as vaster tomes by the likes of Gary Giddins or Alyn Shipton because Whitehead is a succinct, amusing summarist (part of the gig as longtime National Public Radio critic) and commands a broad appreciation and experience of the music...He's concerned with brass tacks and nails points with precision, deftly handling the jazz education debate or the crux of George Russell's Lydian chromatic concept." –DownBeat

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Details

ISBN-10: 0199731187
ISBN-13: 9780199731183
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Publish Date: 01/03/2011
Dimensions: 8.54" L, 5.62" W, 0.72" H
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