From Louis Armstrong's renegade-style trumpet playing to Sarah Vaughan's operatic crooning, and from theswinging elegance of Duke Ellington to the pioneering experiments of Ornette Coleman, jazz critic Gary Giddins continually astonishes the reader with his unparalleled insight. Writing with the grace and wit that have endeared his prose to Village Voice readers for decades, Giddins also widens thescope of jazz to include such crucial American musicians as Irving Berlin, Rosemary Clooney, and Frank Sinatra, all primarily pop performers who are often dismissed by fans and critics as mere derivatives of the true jazz idiom. And he devotes an entire quarter of this landmark volume to young, still-active jazz artists, boldly expanding the horizons of jazz--and charting and exploring the music's influences as no other book has done.

    This new biography, the first by a professional jazz scholar and performer, presents a huge amount of never-before-published material, including interviews with Coltrane, photos, genealogical documents, and innovative musical analysis that offers a fresh view of Coltrane's genius.Compiled from scratch with the assistance of dozens of Coltrane's colleagues, friends, and family, John Coltrane: His Life and Music corrects numerous errors from previous biographies. The significant people in Coltrane's life were reinterviewed, yielding new insights; some were interviewed for the first time ever.The musical analysis, which is accessible to the nonspecialist, makes its own revelations--for example, that some of Coltrane's well-known pieces are based on previously unrecognized sources. The Appendix is the most detailed chronology of Coltrane's performing career ever compiled, listing scores of previously unknown performances from the 1940s and early 1950s.Coltrane has become a musical inspiration for thousands of fans and musicians and a personal inspiration to as many more. For all of these, Porter's book will become the definitive resource--a reliable guide to the events of Coltrane's life and an insightful look into his musical practices.". . . well researched, musically knowledgeable, and enormously interesting to read. Porter is a jazz scholar with deep knowledge of the tradition he is studying, both conceptually and technically." --Richard Crawford, University of Michigan"Lewis Porter is a meticulous person with love and respect for Afro-American classical music. I applaud this definitive study of my friend John Coltrane's life adn achievements." --Jimmy Heath, jazz saxophonist, composer, educatorLewis Porter is Associate Professor of Music, Rutgers University in Newark. A leading jazz scholar, he is the author of Jazz Readings from a Century of Change and coauthor of Jazz: From Its Origins to the Present. He was a project consultant on The Complete Atlantic Recordings of John Coltrane, which was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Historical Reissue, and an editor and assisting author of the definitive Coltrane discography by Y. Fujioka.

    More than 18,000 sizzling recordings by over 1,700 artists are now identified in this definitive guide. You get the inside into on New Orleans traditional jazz, swing, fusion, bebop, new age, big band and much more, direct from noted jazz critics and journalists who write for publications such as Cadence, Down Beat, Jazz Times, and Coda.

    Peter Pettinger, himself a concert pianist, describes Evans’s life (the personal tragedies and commercial successes), his musicmaking (technique, compositional methods, and approach to group playing), and his legacy. The book also includes a full discography and dozens of photographs.

    Now this classic volume is available in an expanded edition that retains a number of famous pieces from the original volume, including his marvelous essay on lyric writing, his piece on the art of Edith Piaf, and his admiring look at the genius of songwriter Johnny Mercer. In addition, this edition offers seven new essays that are no less accomplished. Here readers will find a wonderful tribute to the sweetest voice in the world, Ella Fitzgerald; a moving interview with Jackie and Roy Kral; Lees's account of his involvement with Bossa Nova music and his collaboration with Antonio Carlos Jobim. We also read about Julius La Rosa, the lyrics of Yip Harburg, Harry Warren's unforgettable compositions, and the elegant Arthur Schwartz, writer of Dancing in the Dark and many other memorable songs.

    This book/CD pack for teaching jazz rhythm guitar in swing & big band styles includes: sample songs, patterns, progressions and exercises; essential chord voicings, inversions and substitutions; info on time and groove, reading charts, chord reduction and

    The book looks closely at how jazz has influenced -- and been influenced by -- other musical and artistic forms. Each chronologically arranged section contains special features on topics ranging from the individual qualities of the bass clarinet and the jazz scene in Paris to personality sketches and seminal gigs. Cross references throughout point to related motifs, people, and music, and a complete reference section at the back contains an extensive discography, a glossary, biographies, a bibliography, and an index.Modeled on the improvisation, interaction, and rhythm of jazz itself, this book features hundreds of rare images of all kinds, from record covers to pictures of live performances, and is accompanied by an accessible and wide-ranging text that turns music into words and history into living images. The Chronicle of Jazz is a celebration of the 20th century's most imaginative and enduring music, and an essential work of reference for all lovers of music.

    When the pounding of the big drum signals the start of the jazz parade, a brother and sister run to follow the band through the neighborhood streets. Soon the children join their neighbors in "second line" dancing -- shimmying, shaking, and swaying in joyful movements that have been passed down for generations. Fatima Shaik's lyrical text shows how this quintessentially American musical form weaves stories through its rhythms and sounds. With E. B. Lewis's vibrant, expressive watercolor paintings, The Jazz of Our Street rings as sweetly as a trumpet's note.

    It covers such figures as W.C. Handy, Scott Joplin, Jelly Roll Morton and Eubie Blake.

    In this collection of more than a hundred curiously timeless black-and-white photographs of jazz funerals, selected from many taken between 1968 and 1970, Leo Touchet captures the unique spirit of these fabulous send-offs, showing them to be a vibrant tribute to life and to death itself.