Book Review
Daily articles carefully curated by the All About Jazz staff. Read our popular and future articles.
Universal Tonality: The Life and Music of William Parker
Universal Tonality: The Life And Music Of William Parker Cisco Bradley 384 Pages ISBN: # 978147801014 Duke University Press 2021 Who is William Parker? He is a jazz bassist, yes. But he is also a band leader, composer, writer & poet, community organizer, peace activist, and cultural anthropologist. Cisco Bradley endeavors to pull the diverse parts of the artist's life together in this first ever biography of Parker. It is a monumental task, ...
read moreThis Is Bop: Jon Hendricks And The Art Of Vocal Jazz
This Is Bop: Jon Hendricks And The Art Of Vocal Jazz Peter Jones 263 Pages ISBN: 978 1 78179 874 4 Equinox Publishing 2020 Few are the jazz singers accorded the fanfare usually reserved for the music's great instrumentalists. Jon Hendricks was one, taking scat and vocalese to unprecedented heights. As author Peter Jones recounts--in what is the first biography of Hendricks--the singer's life was the stuff of movies. Born in poverty in ...
read moreThe Sound I Saw
This article was co-written with Joshua Bleeker. The Sound I Saw Roy DeCarava 208 pages ISBN: # 13: 978-1644230107 David Zwirner Books 2019 When two or more art forms combine, they may serve and harmonize and support each other or they may clash. The sound I saw combines felicitously three art forms: jazz, photography, and poetry. It is a large (10.25 x 1.2 x 13.25 ...
read moreJohn Densmore: The Seekers: Meetings With Remarkable Musicians (And Other Artists)
The Seekers: Meetings With Remarkable Musicians (and Other Artists) John Densmore 240 pages ISBN: #978-0306846236 Hachette Books2020 John Densmore's third book, The Seekers, carries the unusual distinction of featuring a blurb on its back cover that actually speaks accurately to the contents inside. John Doe, co-founder of seminal punk band X, likens The Doors drummer's style of composition to his work at the kit. And it's true because, unlike the relatively consistent, to-the-point ...
read moreChasin' the Bird: Charlie Parker in California
Chasin' the Bird: Charlie Parker in California David Chisholm: writing drawing and lettering; Peter Markowski: colors 144 Pages ISBN: 978-1940878386 (13) Z2 Comics 2020 History remembers (and misremembers) the greats of human achievement. They are celebrated, critiqued, deemed over-rated, deemed under-rated, interpreted, and reinterpreted through myriad forms of expression, such as books, articles, films, poems, and plays. Charlie Parker (aka Bird), the alto saxophonist and composer, is one such great as a pioneer ...
read moreHear My Train A Comin': The Songs Of Jimi Hendrix
Hear My Train A Comin':The Songs Of Jimi Hendrix Kevin Le Gendre 240 Pages ISBN: 97818000500143 Equinox 2020 Few artists have burned as briefly and brightly as Jimi Hendrix, the Afro-American guitarist and singer who set the late 1960s alight with his virtuosity and showmanship. Fifty years after he died in 1970, aged just twenty-seven, Hendrix continues to influence myriad musicians, and inspire biographers, film-makers and artists alike. For author Kevin ...
read moreKeith Jarrett: A Biography
Keith Jarrett: A Biography Wolfgang Sandner 215 Pages ISBN: 9781800500112 Equinox Publishing 2020 Given his impact on jazz and solo improvisation this past half century, relatively few are the books on Keith Jarrett. This is surprising, considering all the critical acclaim, the phenomenal influence he has had on countless musicians, his colossal commercial success and the headline-grabbing outbursts. Perhaps so few biographers have attempted to tackle Jarrett out of fear of failure to ...
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