Book Excerpts
As Long as They Can Blow: Interracial Jazz and Other Jive Before 1935
by S.G Provizer
The following is an excerpt from Stephen Provizer's As Long As They Can Blow. Interracial Jazz Recording And Other Jive Before 1935 (Self Published, 2023).
read moreKansas City Jazz: A Little Evil Will Do You Good
by Con Chapman
The following is an excerpt from Chapter 2 Stomp to Swing" and Chapter 3 Bennie Moten and His Competitors" from Con Chapman's Kansas City Jazz: A Little Evil Will Do You Good (Equinox, 2023). Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart once wrote that he couldn't define pornography, but he knew it when he saw it. In jazz, the same deference to the senses applies in the case of the word stomp"; musicians and critics alike throw up their ...
read moreJazz Lines: Free Verse In The Key Of Jazz
by Gloria Krolak
Duke Ellington, composer, arranger, pianist and originator of big-band jazz, wrote Sweet Jazz O'Mine" in 1930 when the genre was blooming. As a bandleader, Ellington was unsurpassed. He chose his musicians wisely and inspired some of their best work. Sweet Jazz" is a lively foxtrot celebrating this unorthodox new style that had people dancing and feeling good. What became my poem is a collection of songs about the instruments that make up the whole, the drums, the trombone, the clarinet, ...
read moreThe Rhythm of Unity: A Jazz Musician’s Lifelong Journey Beyond Black and White
by AAJ Staff
The following is an excerpt from Chapter 15 Angel Of Love," from Mike & Dorothy Longo's The Rhythm of Unity: A Jazz Musician's Lifelong Journey Beyond Black and White (Redwood Publishing, 2023). It was 1966. Word had gotten out, and it felt as though everyone was complimenting me about my gig at the Embers West. Other musicians started to consider me as one of the cats," and I started working around town with people like Hank Jones, ...
read moreSaxophone Colossus: The Life And Music Of Sonny Rollins
by Aidan Levy
The following is an excerpt from Chapter 23 The Bridge" from Aidan Levy's Saxophone Colossus: The Life And Music Of Sonny Rollins (Hachette Books, 2023). On September 7, 1960, Sonny turned thirty. The next day, he recorded his thoughts on the milestone in his journal. Birthday now past but tendencies toward disruption still exist," he wrote. It seems he violated his strict diet and succumbed to the urge for a cigarette. By the very documenting of these ...
read moreA Life In Music
by Wulf Muller
The following is an excerpt from the Chapter 1996," from Wulf Müllers illustrated chronicle A Life In Music (Amazon Direct Publishing, 2022) Dee Dee Bridgewater performed three sold out nights at the glamorous and legendary Paris venue L'Olympia, with new signing to Verve France, singer Jeffery Smith, opening for her. Dee Dee's show was spectacular and really established her as a star in France. She had young trumpet player Roy Hargrove and saxophonist David Sanchez as guests ...
read moreAin’t But a Few of Us
by AAJ Staff
The following is an excerpt from the section Magazine Freelancers" taken from Ain't But a Few of Us: Black Music Writers Tell Their Story edited by Willard Jenkins (Duke University Press, 2022). Magazine Freelancers by John Murph John Murph has successfully channeled his voracious appetite for modern music into a keenly social outlook that takes into account more than just the music or musicians themselves. As an African American music writer who also happens to proudly self-identity as gay, ...
read moreMisty: The Music of Johnny Mathis
by Jakob Baekgaard
The following is an excerpt from the chapter Songs for the Season: The Christmas Albums" from Jakob Baekgaard's Misty: The Music of Johnny Mathis (Sonicbond Publishing, 2022). Songs for the Season: The Christmas Albums Every music genre deserves to be treated with respect, but that isn't always the case. Christmas music seems to incarnate both the best and worst aspects of the music industry. At its worst, it's a tactless celebration of commercialism, and at its best, it has ...
read moreIvor Cutler: A Life Outside The Sitting Room
by Bruce Lindsay
The following is an excerpt from Chapter 6 (A Life of Whimsical Fantasies) and 9 (A Life on the Page), from Ivor Cutler: A Life Outside The Sitting Room (Equinox Publishing, 2022). Chapter 6: A Life of Whimsical Fantasies Ivor's love of jazz, formed during his teens and early-20s, remained strong and he visited jazz clubs around London. The Phoenix, a Cavendish Square pub with a Wednesday night jazz club, was one of his regular haunts and he ...
read moreUgly Beauty: Jazz in The 21st Century
by Philip Freeman
The following is an excerpt from Chapter 1, JD Allen: Just Keep Going" from Philip Freeman's Ugly Beauty: Jazz in The 21st Century (ZerO Books, 2022). Queens, New York seems purposely designed to confuse travelers. It's January 2, 2020, a brisk but sunny day, and I'm to meet saxophonist JD Allen at Samurai Hotel Recording Studio. To get there, I ride the N train from Manhattan, then walk up Broadway (a different Broadway) to 21st Street, where ...
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