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Title: What Jazz Is: An Insider's Guide to Understanding and Listening to Jazz by Jonny King ISBN: 0-8027-7519-5 Publisher: Walker & Co Pub. Date: June, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (11 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Brings jazz alive
Comment: I have read and own many books about jazz history as well as "how-to" books on jazz. This book is the best overall that I have read. Mr. King makes you feel as if you are in a club listening to the music. He communicates the overall feeling of the music as he gives you the details into how the music comes together. At the end he gives analyses of 10 different songs that can be read as the songs are played. Overall, a terrific book.
Rating: 5
Summary: Tremendous introduction to jazz
Comment: What an absolute pleasure to sit down on a rainy afternoon with Jonny King's book open to the chapter on "Ballads," reading his affectionate deconstruction of Hank Mobley's "Remember", playing Mobley's CD at the same time and listening along ... then listening again, and again, hearing new things every time. King's enthusiastic and accessible analyses open doors for those of us who have always liked jazz, but never fully appreciated its structure and nuances because we don't play an instrument and haven't known precisely what to listen for. I fervently hope the author is working on Volume Two.
Rating: 3
Summary: Good book marred by Lack of CD
Comment: As an adult learner of the saxophone, keen to deepen my understanding of jazz this book seemed ideal. I raced through the first half but was pulled up sharply after 90 pages with more than 60 more to go, because the remainder of the book required me to listen to ten tracks from ten separate Blue Note CDs to fully appreciate the accompanying commentary. Realistically that means buying them.
The only track in my collection was Herbie Hancock's "Maiden Voyage" which is on a widely available Blue Note sampler. It is not just that I would need to buy another 9 CDs to extract the maximum value from the remaining 40% of the book, I couldn't buy at least one of them if I wanted to. Live Messengers by Art Blakey seems to be virtually unobtainable on- or off-line. Incidentally the LP is listed in the book as having been released in 1954, but the Allmusic Guide says it its from 1962. Where the error lies I'm not sure. I have bought two others as mid-priced CDs but most are full price.
To devote so much of the book to a recording guide was ill-conceived at best. Did a deal with Blue Note fall through will the book was being prepared? Don't underestimate how much this will impair your enjoyment of the book. The book is quite slim and relatively pricey. Three stars is being generous. I would give it two-and-a-half if allowed. An accompanying CD is essential or an existing compilation should be used as a template.
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Title: Jazz 101 : A Complete Guide to Learning and Loving Jazz by John Szwed ISBN: 0786884967 Publisher: Hyperion Pub. Date: 23 August, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: What to Listen for in Jazz by Barry Kernfeld ISBN: 0300072597 Publisher: Yale Univ Pr Pub. Date: December, 1997 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The History of Jazz by Ted Gioia ISBN: 019512653X Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: December, 1998 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title:Soul Station ASIN: B00000I8UI Publisher: Blue Note Records Pub. Date: 23 March, 1999 List Price(USD): $11.98 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $10.99 |
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Title: Jazz : A History of America's Music by Ken Burns, Geoffrey C. Ward ISBN: 067944551X Publisher: Knopf Pub. Date: 07 November, 2000 List Price(USD): $65.00 |
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