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But Beautiful

A Book About Jazz
By Geoff Dyer
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4.24 goodreads logo

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Check link for latest rating. ( 3,213 ratings, 371 reviews)
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
But Beautiful by Geoff Dyer explores the lives of legendary jazz musicians through a blend of fiction and biography. The book vividly captures the spirit of jazz, delving into the personal and artistic struggles of figures like Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, and Lester Young. Dyer's lyrical prose paints a portrait of both the beauty and the chaos inherent in the world of jazz.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you appreciate a combination of biography and imaginative narrative about legendary jazz musicians. With its blend of fact and fiction, it offers lyrical portraits that bring the world of jazz to life, making it a captivating read for music lovers and fans of atmospheric storytelling.

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But Beautiful

'A copy . . . ought to be on everybody's Desert Island' Independent

'A copy ... ought to be on everybody's Desert Island' Independent

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

But Beautiful brings us Lester Young fading away in a hotel room, Charles Mingus storming down the streets of New York on a too-small bicycle, and Thelonious Monk creating his own private language on the piano.

In eight poetically charged vignettes, Geoff Dyer skilfully evokes the embattled lives of the players who shaped modern jazz. He draws on photos and anecdotes, but music is the driving force of But Beautiful and Dyer brings it to life in luminescent and wildly metaphoric prose that mirrors the quirks, eccentricity, and brilliance of each musician's style.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

But Beautiful is praised for its tender and careful exploration of jazz, with a blend of biographical sketches and imaginative storytelling. It is described as a moving and original tribute to Black American music, with intricate essays showcasing both the art and struggles of jazz musicians. The book is highly recommended by aficionados, with one reviewer calling it a "little gem."

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780857864024

Publisher: Canongate Books

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 10 May 2012

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Canongate Books

Edition: Main

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 15.0mm

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 164g

Pages: 240

Collections

Arts & Culture Geoff Dyer Non-Fiction

About the Author

Geoff Dyer is the author of Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi and three previous novels, as well as nine non-fiction books. Dyer has won the Somerset Maugham Prize, the Bollinger Everyman Wodehouse Prize for Comic Fiction, a Lannan Literary Award, the International Center of Photography's 2006 Infinity Award for writing on photography and the American Academy of Arts and Letters' E.M. Forster Award. In 2009 he was named GQ's Writer of the Year. He won a National Book Critics Circle Award in 2012 and was a finalist in 1998. His books have been translated into more than twenty languages. He lives in London.

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