If you had to recommend just one book on jazz history to a neophyte, which would it be? Ted Gioia's The History of Jazz (Oxford University Press, 1997) is rightly regarded as a definitive account, but at nearly 600 pages it may deter readers looking for a lighter introduction.
The old saying "wherever you go, there you are" is one of those deceptively simple adages that never lets you down. And yet, the longer I've lived with it, the more I've come to believe that there are certain times and places when a person is just a little more where they are.
Nowadays, every move we make is recorded in some way, and wherever a person goes, whatever they do or say is often captured. Of course, this has not always been the case, and in fact, many details concerning historical events frequently rely on...
It's not simply that pianist Vince Guaraldi slipped jazz past the unsuspecting in composing A Charlie Brown Christmas, the evergreen "Peanuts" animation and soundtrack that has become inescapably part of the holiday.
In my music history classes, particularly in November and December, students have
often asked me about the relationship between jazz and Christmas: "Why are so many
popular Christmas songs so jazzy?" It is a good question—indeed, many of the most
popular secular Christmas music does have a jazz flavor, while a few are actually jazz.
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