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Jazz

By Scott DeVeaux and Gary Giddins
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4.19 goodreads logo

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Check link for latest rating. ( 295 ratings, 31 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
Jazz presents a vivid history of America’s unique music, blending the passion of fans with intellectual insight. Respected critic Gary Giddins and leading scholar Scott DeVeaux explore jazz’s origins, its African American roots, and its evolution over the last century. The narrative covers everything from ragtime and blues to swing, avant-garde protests, and modern diversity, framed within the context of American society, commerce, and politics. Accompanied by striking photographs from jazz chronicler Herman Leonard, the book offers both a compelling textual and visual journey through jazz history.
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Format: Hardback
$9499
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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?

This book is ideal for jazz enthusiasts, music scholars, and readers interested in African American cultural history and American arts. Its combination of academic depth and accessible narrative makes it suitable for both serious students of music and passionate fans.

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The story of jazz for the general reader as it has never been told before, from the inside out: a comprehensive, eloquent, scrupulously researched page-turner.

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

In this vivid history of Jazz, a respected critic and a leading scholar capture the excitement of America's unique music with intellectual bite, unprecedented insight, and the passion of unabashed fans. They explain what jazz is, where it came from, and who created it and why, all within the broader context of American life and culture.

Emphasizing its African American roots, Jazz traces the history of the music over the last hundred years. From ragtime and blues to the international craze for swing, from the heated protests of the avant-garde to the radical diversity of today's artists, Jazz describes the travails and triumphs of musical innovators struggling for work, respect, and cultural acceptance set against the backdrop of American history, commerce, and politics.

With vibrant photographs by legendary jazz chronicler Herman Leonard, Jazz is also an arresting visual history of a century of music.

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?

Critics praise Jazz as a top-tier history of the genre. Booklist calls it "a standout among numerous jazz histories," while Time Out New York highlights Giddins's vivid and sympathetic writing and DeVeaux’s scholarly rigour. Esteemed academic George E. Lewis commends the book for its innovative blend of scholarship and journalistic perspective, declaring it an essential resource that passionately addresses musical and social issues.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780393068610

Publisher: WW Norton & Co

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 26 October 2009

Country: United States

Imprint: WW Norton & Co

Illustration: 38 photos

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 48.0mm

Width: 165.0mm

Height: 244.0mm

Weight: 1152g

Pages: 720

Collections

Arts & Culture Gary Giddins Music & Musicians Non-Fiction Scott DeVeaux

About the Author

Gary Giddins is the Executive Director of the Leon Levy Center for Biography at the City University of New York. He was the Village Voice jazz columnist for over 30 years and remains a preeminent jazz critic who received the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Ralph J. Gleason Music Book Award, and the Bell Atlantic Award for Visions of Jazz: The First Century in 1998. His other books include Bing Crosby: A Pocketful of Dreams: The Early Years, 1903–1940, which won the Ralph J. Gleason Music Book Award and the ARSC Award for Excellence in Historical Sound Research; Weatherbird: Jazz at the Dawn of Its Second Century; Faces in the Crowd; Natural Selection; Warning Shadows; and biographies of Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker. He has won an unparalleled six ASCAP–Deems Taylor Awards, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Peabody Award in Broadcasting. Scott DeVeaux is a nationally recognized jazz scholar whose 1997 book The Birth of Bebop: A Social and Musical History won the American Book Award, an ASCAP–Deems Taylor Award, the Otto Kinkeldey Award from the American Musicological Society, and the ARSC Award for Excellence in Historical Sound Research. He has taught jazz history at the University of Virginia for more than 25 years.

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