Komeda: A Private Life in Jazz – Magdalena Grzebałkowska (Equinox, 466pp. Book review by Chris Parker) The life of Polish pianist/composer Krzysztof Komeda is marked, above all else, by paradoxes. He is […]
Alyn Shipton – “The Art of Jazz: A Visual History”
Alyn Shipton – The Art of Jazz: A Visual History (Imagine! Publishing. 256 pp. Book review by Leonard Weinreich) In this sumptuous book, jazz historian, broadcaster and double-bassist Alyn Shipton celebrates the […]
Will Friedwald – “Straighten Up and Fly Right: The Life and Music of Nat King Cole”
Will Friedwald – Straighten Up and Fly Right: The Life and Music of Nat King Cole (Oxford University Press Hbk 633pp. Book review by Andy Hamilton) This very authoritative title is the […]
Tish Oney – “Peggy Lee: A Century of Song”
Tish Oney – Peggy Lee: A Century of Song (Rowman & Littlefield. 250pp. Book review by Peter Jones) This is not intended to be a biography of Peggy Lee – we have three of […]
Petter Frost Fadnes – “Jazz on the Line. Improvisation in Practice”
Petter Frost Fadnes – Jazz on the Line: Improvisation in Practice (Routledge. 254 pp. Book Review by Tony Dudley-Evans) Jazz research is becoming increasingly vibrant in Europe, and from here in Birmingham […]
Harald Kisiedu: “European Echoes: Jazz Experimentalism in Germany 1950-1975”
Harald Kisiedu: European Echoes: Jazz Experimentalism in Germany 1950 – 1975. (Wolke Verlag, 256 pp., paperback, € 29. Book review by Tony Dudley-Evans) The discourse of jazz history favours the notion of […]
Bruce Lindsay – “Shellac and Swing! A Social History of the Gramophone in Britain”
Bruce Lindsay – Shellac and Swing! A Social History of the Gramophone in Britain (Fonthill, £25, 191pp. Review by Chris Parker) In Shellac and Swing!’s Introduction, music journalist Bruce Lindsay lays out […]
Con Chapman: “Rabbit’s Blues- The Life and Music of Johnny Hodges”
Con Chapman – Rabbit’s Blues – The Life and Music of Johnny Hodges (Oxford University Press. Book review by Frank Griffith) Con Chapman’s biography of alto saxophonist Johnny Hodges catapults him into […]
Philip Clark – “Dave Brubeck: A Life in Time”
Philip Clark – Dave Brubeck: A Life in Time (Headline, 464pp., £25. Review by Chris Parker) “You can’t understand America without understanding jazz, and you can’t understand jazz without understanding Dave Brubeck” […]
Ted Gioia – Music: A Subversive History
Ted Gioia – Music: A Subversive History (Basic Books, 2019. 528 Pages. Book review by Peter Jones) Ted Gioia is the author of many books about jazz, including West Coast Jazz (1992) and […]
“Jazz From Detroit” by Mark Stryker
Jazz From Detroit by Mark Stryker (Michigan University Press Hardback, 342 pp. Book Review by Andy Hamilton) Jazz from Detroit explores the city’s role in shaping modern and contemporary jazz. The book […]
Eric Lewis – Intents and Purposes: Philosophy and the Aesthetics of Improvisation
Eric Lewis – Intents and Purposes: Philosophy and the Aesthetics of Improvisation (Michigan University Press Hbk 265pp. Book review by Andy Hamilton) Intents and Purposes is named after a 1966 album by […]
Struan Douglas – The Story Of South African Jazz: Volume One
Struan Douglas – The Story Of South African Jazz: Volume One (Afribeat.com Pbk 344pp Book review by Andy Hamilton) Struan Douglas is a jazz journalist and trumpeter, born in Durban. This second […]
BOOK REVIEW – DC Jazz – Stories of Jazz Music in Washington, DC
DC Jazz – Stories of Jazz Music in Washington, DC, Edited by Maurice Jackson & Blair A. Ruble (Georgetown University Press, £20.50. Book review by Peter Vacher) It was the noted African-American […]
BOOK / CD Review: The Gospel According To Malaco: Celebrating 75 Years of Gospel Music
Robert Marovitch: The Gospel According To Malaco: Celebrating 75 Years of Gospel Music (Malaco Records. Book and 8-CD set. Review by Miko Giedroyc)Contemporary Gospel has been the soundtrack of my life, spiritually and musically, […]