The History of Jazz
by Ted Gioia
List Price:
Our Price: $10.00
You Save: $9.95 (50%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $5.00 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Ted GioiaEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1998-12-17
ISBN: 019512653X
Number of pages: 480
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Book Reviews of The History of Jazz
Book Review: fills in many gaps
Summary: 5 Stars
I have read practically every jazz history book that was published in the past 50 years. Some, such as the seminal "Blues People", do a great job of exposing the socio - political aspects of the music and its makers. Others did a thorough job of detailing the events that were connected to the music. Gioia is the first that I know of to give as much attention to the social aspects as well as the musical and chronological aspects. I teach a Jazz and Politics course in the university (PoliSci dept) and Gioia's book helped me in some of the issues I needed to raise. It is still not the ultimate book - this has to written, but it is a big step forward in Jazz writing and a must for every student of the music.
Summary of The History of Jazz
Jazz is the most colorful and varied art form in the world and it was born in one of the most colorful and varied cities, New Orleans. From the seed first planted by slave dances held in Congo Square and nurtured by early ensembles led by Buddy Belden and Joe "King" Oliver, jazz began its long winding odyssey across America and around the world, giving flower to a thousand different forms--swing, bebop, cool jazz, jazz-rock fusion--and a thousand great musicians. Now, in The History of Jazz, Ted Gioia tells the story of this music as it has never been told before, in a book that brilliantly portrays the legendary jazz players, the breakthrough styles, and the world in which it evolved. Here are the giants of jazz and the great moments of jazz history--Jelly Roll Morton ("the world's greatest hot tune writer"), Louis Armstrong (whose O-keh recordings of the mid-1920s still stand as the most significant body of work that jazz has produced), Duke Ellington at the Cotton Club, cool jazz greats such as Gerry Mulligan, Stan Getz, and Lester Young, Charlie Parker's surgical precision of attack, Miles Davis's 1955 performance at the Newport Jazz Festival, Ornette Coleman's experiments with atonality, Pat Metheny's visionary extension of jazz-rock fusion, the contemporary sounds of Wynton Marsalis, and the post-modernists of the Knitting Factory. Gioia provides the reader with lively portraits of these and many other great musicians, intertwined with vibrant commentary on the music they created. Gioia also evokes the many worlds of jazz, taking the reader to the swamp lands of the Mississippi Delta, the bawdy houses of New Orleans, the rent parties of Harlem, the speakeasies of Chicago during the Jazz Age, the after hours spots of corrupt Kansas city, the Cotton Club, the Savoy, and the other locales where the history of jazz was made. And as he traces the spread of this protean form, Gioia provides much insight into the social context in which the music was born. He shows for instance how the development of technology helped promote the growth of jazz--how ragtime blossomed hand-in-hand with the spread of parlor and player pianos, and how jazz rode the growing popularity of the record industry in the 1920s. We also discover how bebop grew out of the racial unrest of the 1940s and '50s, when black players, no longer content with being "entertainers," wanted to be recognized as practitioners of a serious musical form.Jazz is a chameleon art, delighting us with the ease and rapidity with which it changes colors. Now, in Ted Gioia's The History of Jazz, we have at last a book that captures all these colors on one glorious palate. Knowledgeable, vibrant, and comprehensive, it is among the small group of books that can truly be called classics of jazz literature.
History & Criticism Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Evolution of Jazz
The Guide to Classic Recorded Jazzby Tom Piazza
University Of Iowa Press; Published: 1995-03-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.84
Price in other shops:
Blue: The Murder Of Jazzby Eric Nisenson
Da Capo Press; Published: 2000-01-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.90
Price in other shops:
Introduction to Jazz History (6th Edition)by Donald D. Megill, Richard S. Demory
Prentice Hall; Published: 2003-07-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $51.99
Price in other shops:
The dance band era;: The dancing decades from ragtime to swing: 1910-1950by Albert J McCarthy
Chilton Book Co; Published: 1971; Unknown Binding; Book
Jazz: Myth and Religionby Neil Leonard
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1987-04-09; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $46.34
Cats of Any Color: Jazz, Black and Whiteby Gene Lees
Da Capo Press; Published: 2001-01-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.75
Price in other shops:
What to Listen For in Jazzby Barry Kernfeld
Yale University Press; Published: 1997-10-20; Paperback; Book
Best price: $17.00
Price in other shops:
The New Grove Dictionary of JazzSt. Martin's Press; Published: 1994-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $70.66
Jazz, Its Evolution and Essenceby Andre Hodeir
Grove Pr; Published: 1980-05; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops:
Jazz: New Perspectives On The History Of Jazz By Twelve Of The World's Foremost Jazz Critics And Scholars (Da Capo Paperback)by Nat Hentoff, Albert J. Mccarthy
Da Capo Press; Published: 1975-01-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.83
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
The Oxford Companion to Jazz (Oxford Companions)Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2005-07-14; Paperback; Book
Best price: $16.99
Price in other shops:
Early Jazz: Its Roots and Musical Development (History of Jazz)by Gunther Schuller
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 1986-06-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.83
Price in other shops:
New History of Jazzby Alyn Shipton
Continuum; Published: 2008-05-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $19.55
Price in other shops:
Jazz: A History of America's Musicby Geoffrey C. Ward, Ken Burns
Knopf; Published: 2002-10-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $21.00
Price in other shops:
Ken Burns's Jazz: The Story of American MusicRelease date: 2000-11-14; Music CD
Best price: $29.83
Price in other shops:
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings: Ninth Editionby Richard Cook, Brian Morton
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 2008-12-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $20.90
Price in other shops:
Jazz 101: A Complete Guide to Learning and Loving Jazzby John Szwed
Hyperion; Published: 2000-08-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.98
Price in other shops:
Delta Blues: The Life and Times of the Mississippi Masters Who Revolutionized American Musicby Ted Gioia
W.W. Norton & Co.; Published: 2008-10-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $17.24
Price in other shops:
Keeping Time: Readings in Jazz HistoryOxford University Press, USA; Published: 1998-11-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $19.81
Price in other shops:
Hear Me Talkin' to Ya: The Story of Jazz As Told by the Men Who Made Itby Nat Shapiro, Nat Hentoff
Dover Publications; Published: 1966-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.59
Price in other shops: