1. About Ted (home)
2. About The History of Jazz
3. Amazon Book Reviews
4. Chapter One: The Prehistory of Jazz
5. Ted's thoughts on Jazz

Have a Question for Ted? Submit it here.

While a student at Stanford University in the late 1970s, Gioia continued his study of jazz, practicing the piano several hours per day, in addition to pursuing a full course of studies. At age twenty, while still an undergraduate, Gioia began teaching accredited courses on jazz for Stanford students. He also edited Stanford's literary magazine, and appeared on televsion as a member of the team which defeated Yale to win the national College Bowl tournament.

After receiving his degree at Stanford, Gioia earned a scholarship to study philosophy at Oxford University in England, where he graduated with first class honors in 1981. Gioia also later completed the MBA program at Stanford's Graduate School of Business. In the mid-1980s, Gioia worked with Stanford's Department of Music to establish a formal jazz studies program, and served on the faculty, alongside artist-in-residence Stan Getz, for several years.

Around this time, Gioia's first book was published by Oxford University Press, The Imperfect Art, which was awarded the ASCAP-Deems Taylor award. Gioia also released his first recording as a jazz pianist, The End of the Open Road, a trio recording with Eddie Moore and Larry Grenadier, and produced a series of recordings featuring other West Coast jazz musicians.

Gioia's second book, West Coast Jazz, resulted from his interest in probing the jazz tradition of his native region. Meticulously researched, West Coast Jazz helped spur a critical re-evaluation of this body of music and led the way for other later efforts to preserve California's jazz heritage. West Coast Jazz was re-issued in an expanded edition by University of California Press last year.

Gioia's most recent book, The History of Jazz, was selected as one of the twenty best books of the year by Jonathan Yardley in the Washington Post, and has earned praise for its expansive and balanced survey of the entire jazz tradition from Buddy Bolden to Wynton Marsalis.

Gioia's current interests cover a wide range of musical areas. He is composing a series of solo piano pieces that draw both from jazz and classical music traditions. He is exploring the myriad ways in which music is embedded in social institutions and practices, with particular emphasis on work songs and the use of music in healing and ritual. He is deeply interested in Latin American musical traditions, especially those of Brazil and Argentina. Finally, he is researching the area of creative process - with the hope of learning whether the techniques used by improvising jazz musicians can be used by others to enhance their creativity.