Fifties Jazz Talk


Book Description

More than 25 muscians who first came to prominence during the 1950s are the subject of this collection of interviews. The author's purpose has been to help preserve the oral history of a great American artform, and this book reveals that jazz musicians who can 'tell a story' with their horn when improvising can be just as articulate in conversation.




Talking Jazz


Book Description

A suite of interviews held between 1985 to 1990 of 40 jazz musicians who shaped the current state of art of American jazz including: - Miles Davis, Gil Evans, Dizzy Gillespie, Jay McShann, Red Rodney, Frank Morgan, John Hendricks, Max Roach, Willie Ruff, Art Blakey, Betty Carter, Jackie McLean, Horace Silver, Abdullah Ibrahim, Sonny Rollins, Phil Woods, Johnny Griffin, Pepper Adams, Michel Petrucciani, McCoy Tyner, Max Gordon, Archie Shepp, Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams, Keith Jarrett, Branford Marsalis, Rudy Van Gelder, George Benson, Wynton Marsalis, Charles Brown, Joe Sample, Jack DeJohnette, Denny Zeitland, Don Cherry, Carla Bley, Steve Gadd, Donald Fagan, Bobby McFerrin, Dave Grusin, Bob James.




Sittin' In


Book Description

A visual history of America’s jazz nightclubs of the 1940s and 1950s, featuring exclusive interviews and over 200 souvenir photos. In the two decades before the Civil Rights movement, jazz nightclubs were among the first places that opened their doors to both Black and white performers and club goers in Jim Crow America. In this extraordinary collection, Grammy Award-winning record executive and music historian Jeff Gold looks back at this explosive moment in the history of Jazz and American culture, and the spaces at the center of artistic and social change. Sittin’ In is a visual history of jazz clubs during these crucial decades when some of the greatest names in in the genre—Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, Oscar Peterson, and many others—were headlining acts across the country. In many of the clubs, Black and white musicians played together and more significantly, people of all races gathered together to enjoy an evening’s entertainment. House photographers roamed the floor and for a dollar, took picture of patrons that were developed on site and could be taken home in a keepsake folder with the club’s name and logo. Sittin’ In tells the story of the most popular club in these cities through striking images, first-hand anecdotes, true tales about the musicians who performed their unforgettable shows, notes on important music recorded live there, and more. All of this is supplemented by colorful club memorabilia, including posters, handbills, menus, branded matchbooks, and more. Inside you’ll also find exclusive, in-depth interviews conducted specifically for this book with the legendary Quincy Jones; jazz great tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins; Pulitzer Prize-winning fashion critic Robin Givhan; jazz musician and creative director of the Kennedy Center, Jason Moran; and jazz critic Dan Morgenstern. Gold surveys America’s jazz scene and its intersection with racism during segregation, focusing on three crucial regions: the East Coast (New York, Atlantic City, Boston, Washington, D.C.); the Midwest (Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, St. Louis, Kansas City); and the West Coast (Los Angeles, San Francisco). This collection of ephemeral snapshots tells the story of an era that helped transform American life, beginning the move from traditional Dixieland jazz to bebop, from conservatism to the push for personal freedom.




At the Jazz Band Ball


Book Description

Nat Hentoff, renowned jazz critic, civil liberties activist, and fearless contrarian—"I’m a Jewish atheist civil-libertarian pro-lifer"—has lived through much of jazz’s history and has known many of jazz’s most important figures, often as friend and confidant. Hentoff has been a tireless advocate for the neglected parts of jazz history, including forgotten sidemen and -women. This volume includes his best recent work—short essays, long interviews, and personal recollections. From Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong to Ornette Coleman and Quincy Jones, Hentoff brings the jazz greats to life and traces their art to gospel, blues, and many other forms of American music. At the Jazz Band Ball also includes Hentoff’s keen, cosmopolitan observations on a wide range of issues. The book shows how jazz and education are a vital partnership, how free expression is the essence of liberty, and how social justice issues like health care and strong civil rights and liberties keep all the arts—and all members of society—strong.




The Real Book - Volume II (Songbook)


Book Description

(Fake Book). The Real Books are the best-selling jazz books of all time. Since the 1970s, musicians have trusted these volumes to get them through every gig, night after night. The problem is that the books were illegally produced and distributed without any copyrights or royalties paid to the master composers who created these musical canons. Hal Leonard is very proud to present the first legitimate and legal editions of these books ever produced. You won't even notice the difference...the covers look the same, the engravings look the same, the songlist is nearly identical, and the price remains fair even on a musician's salary! But every conscientious musician will appreciate that these books are now produced legally and ethically, benefitting the songwriters that we owe for some of the greatest music ever written! 400 songs, including: Air Mail Special * Birdland * Bye Bye Blackbird * Caravan * Doxy * Fly Me to the Moon (In Other Words) * Georgia * Girl Talk * In Walked Bud * I Remember You * I Thought About You * The Jody Grind * Just the Way You Are * Killer Joe * Little Sunflower * Mercy, Mercy, Mercy * Moanin' * The Nearness of You * Now's the Time * Old Devil Moon * Phase Dance * St. Thomas * Speak Low * Stardust * Tangerine * Tenor Madness * Watch What Happens * Whisper Not * Willow Weep for Me * Yardbird Suite * and more.




The Gerry Mulligan 1950s Quartets


Book Description

The Gerry Mulligan Quartet, founded in Los Angeles in 1952, was widely acclaimed as the first small ensemble in jazz that did not include a chordal instrument such as a piano or guitar. Using original scores and detailed transcriptions of Mulligan's early work, The Gerry Mulligan 1950s Quartets offers an intimate look at Mulligan's musical development from his teenage years to adulthood, analyzing the ways in which his compositions and arrangements evolved through collaborations with Elliot Lawrence, Gene Krupa, and Claude Thornhill, culminating with Miles Davis's Birth of the Cool nonet. Featuring original interviews with Mulligan's associates, author Alyn Shipton presents a fresh take on Mulligan's harmonic creativity, in the process tracing the ups and downs of Mulligan's personal life, heroin addiction, imprisonment, and eventual sobriety.




Jeru's Journey


Book Description

(Book). In a career that spanned more than 50 years, Gerry Mulligan was revered and recognized as a groundbreaking composer, arranger, bandleader, and baritone saxophonist. His legacy comes to life in this biography, which chronicles his immense contributions to American music, far beyond the world of jazz. Mulligan's own observations are drawn from his oral autobiography, recorded in 1995. These are intermingled with comments and recollections from those who knew him, played with him, or were influenced by him, as well as from the author, who interviewed him in 1981. Jeru's Journey The Life & Music of Gerry Mulligan vividly recounts all the major milestones and complications in Mulligan's extraordinary life and career, ranging from his early days of arranging for big bands in the 1940s to his chance 1974 meeting with Countess Franca Rota, who would have a major impact on the last two decades of his life. In between were his battles with drugs; his significant contributions to the historic 1949 Birth of the Cool recording; the introduction of an enormously popular piano-less quartet in the early 1950s; the creation of his innovative concert jazz band in the early '60s; his collaboration personal and professional with actress Judy Holliday; his breakthrough into classical music; and his love of and respect for the American Songbook.




The Music and Life of Theodore "Fats" Navarro


Book Description

The Music and Life of Theodore 'Fats' Navarro: Infatuation is the first comprehensive study of the jazz trumpeter Theodore 'Fats' Navarro. It provides biographical and discographical information on this talented musician, whose premature death from tuberculosis at 26 robbed the jazz world of his brilliance. Through an analysis of his recorded legacy, this book offers new perspectives on Navarro's role in the history and emergence of Bebop. Through years of study and collecting ephemera, some of which is reprinted here, Leif Bo Petersen and Theo Rehak depict an inclusive history of Navarro and his music. Their information is based on interviews with musicians and people in the music business, contemporary newspaper and magazine articles, and the music itself, which has not been commonly known or described until now. The book features images, musical examples, and depictions of Navarro's recordings, and it provides several appendixes, including explanations of contemporary recording techniques and discographical terms, lists of Navarro's recordings and compositions, and a chronological overview of Navarro's performances, recording sessions, and engagements. Complete with a comprehensive list of sources and a full index, this volume presents a host of new and useful information for anyone interested in jazz and its history.




What It Is


Book Description

Dave Liebman is one of the leading forces in contemporary jazz. Prominently known for performing with Miles Davis and Elvin Jones, he has exerted considerable influence as a saxophonist, bandleader, composer, author, and educator. In addition to his recent recognition as a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master, he has received the Order of Arts and Letters from France and holds an honorary doctorate from the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland. He has mentored many of today's most notable young jazz musicians worldwide and is a prolific writer on jazz. In What It Is: The Life of a Jazz Artist, friend, pianist, and noted jazz scholar Lewis Porter conducts a series of in-depth interviews with Liebman, who discusses his professional, personal, and musical relationships with Davis and Jones, as well as such notable musicians as Chick Corea, Richie Beirach, Michael and Randy Brecker, and many others. Through the interviews, Liebman discusses such personal matters as contracting polio as a child and the difficulties it caused as an adult during his rise as a jazz musician. He offers insights into the life of jazz performers of his generation, particularly the tumultuous period of the 1960s and 1970s. The book also features rare photos from Liebman's personal collection. A fascinating and witty storyteller, Liebman's stories in What It Is will appeal to jazz fans and scholars by providing a firsthand look into the creative life of one of America's leading jazz musicians.




Rhythm Is My Beat


Book Description

In Rhythm Is My Beat: Jazz Guitar Great Freddie Green and the Count Basie Sound, Alfred Green tells the story of his father, rhythm guitarist Freddie Green, whose guitar work served as the pulse of the Count Basie Band. A quiet but key figure in big band jazz, Freddie Green took a distinct pride in his role as Basie’s rhythm guitarist, redefining the outer limits of acoustic rhythm guitar and morphing it into an art form. So distinct was Green’s style that it would eventually give birth to notations on guitar charts that read: “Play in the style of Freddie Green.” This American jazz icon, much like his inimitable sound, achieved stardom as a sideman, both in and out of Basie’s band. Green’s signature sound provided lift to soloists like Lester Young and vocalist Lil’ Jimmy Rushing, a reflection of Green’s sophisticated technique, that produced, in Green’s words, his “rhythm wave.” Billie Holiday, Ruby Braff, Benny Goodman, Gerry Mulligan, Teddy Wilson, Ray Charles, Judy Carmichael, Joe Williams and other recording artists all benefited from the relentless fours of the man who came to be known as Mr. Rhythm. The mystique surrounding Freddie Green’s technique is illuminated through generous commentary by insightful interviews with other musicians, guitar professionals and scholars, all of whom offer their ideas on Freddie Green’s sound. Alfred Green throughout demystifies the man behind the legend. This work will interest jazz fans, students, and scholars; guitar enthusiasts and professionals; music historians and anyone interested not only in the history of jazz but of the African American experience in jazz.