Recordings: for Jazz

Recordings: for Jazz
by Scott DeVeaux, Gary Giddins

Recordings: for Jazz
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Book Summary Information

Author: Gary Giddins, Scott DeVeaux
Edition: CD-ROM
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-01-13
ISBN: 0393933792
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Book Reviews of Recordings: for Jazz

Book Review: THOUGHTFUL AND WELL NEEDED
Summary: 5 Stars

Jazz scholar Scott DeVeaux and premiere jazz critic Gary Giddins (The Village Voice) compiled this four-CD collection to accompany their advanced level jazz primer, Jazz (2009). At $60.07 from Amazon.com, it's pricey but worth it for the serious jazz listener or student of jazz. I could cavil at some of the choices they made: I would have preferred less pop jazz, for instance. (Nothing against Sinatra or Getz and Byrd's "Samba Dees Days," for instance, but there are other pieces and other musicians I'd like to hear. And while Horace Silver's hard bop quintet deserves to be spotlighted, so do Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers: what about the 1958 quintet -Lee Morgan, Benny Golson, Bobby Timmons, etc., what a group!--doing "Moanin'"?) In some cases, I would have preferred different selections by the musicians or different groups being spotlighted. From the twenties, I'd like to have heard one of violinist Joe Venuti and guitarist Eddie Lang's hot jazz groups from Chicago, or maybe Adrian Rollini. And there is a great 30s pickup group with trombonist Jack Teagarden and tenor saxophonist Ben Webster. (The same album has another group with clarinetist Peewee Russell playing with James P. Johnson on piano and Zutty Singleton on drums!) On the modern end, I missed hearing a cut by Roscoe Mitchell or the full Art Ensemble of Chicago, ditto the World Saxophone Quartet or ROVA. The jazz-fusion group Weather Report was good, but I feel that John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra blew them out of the water when they were hitting it. But this is small potatoes for a collection that is both generally representative and singularly informative.

Most of the cuts on the first CD are stunning: Ghanaian drummers, a black Baptist or Pentecostal choir, killer guitar and vocal by oldtime bluesman Mississippi Fred McDowell, a piece by ragtime's little know clarinet virtuoso Henry Sweetman, great King Oliver and Louis, and Louis on his own and with Earl Fatha Hines. The second CD, which takes the music up through the 30s, is equally good. Hell, it's all good!

Each of the selections is pegged off an analysis of the performance in DeVeaux's and Giddin's book. The analyses are not uniform in quality -some seem close to trivial--but over all, reading along in the text while listening to the musical cuts will teach the reader/listener a great deal. Hurrah for you, Scott and Gary! Something like this has been needed for a long time.

Summary of Recordings: for Jazz

This comprehensive 4-CD set features 75 works recorded from 1916 to the present. Carefully selected by Giddins and DeVeaux and produced by Sony with attention to top quality audio, these recordings of both landmark works and innovative departures from the standard canon showcase the breadth and scope of jazz.

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