| Contents |
The African roots -- The American transplantation -- Out of the hybrid, the blues -- Scott Joplin and the ragtime craze -- The first notes sound -- The diaspora from New Orleans -- The great Mr. Jelly Lord -- Bessie Smith and the new blues -- The white influx -- The first genius : Louis Armstrong -- Bix : the tragic temperament -- Henderson, Goldkette, and the making of the big band -- Fats, Fatha, and the stride piano -- Hawk and the Pres : the saxophonists take over -- Duke Ellington : master painter -- Truckin' on down : the swing band boom -- The Dixieland revival -- Roy, Billie, and the Swing Street stars -- The Atlantic crossing -- The bop rebellion -- Charlie Parker : an erratic bird in flight -- Tatum and Powell redesign jazz piano -- Songs of Bird and Diz : Clifford, Fats, Sonny -- The old-world cool of Tristano, Brubeck, and Mulligan -- Miles and the M.J.Q. -- That funky sound : better git it in your soul -- Cecil, Ornette, and the revolutionaries -- John Coltrane : a jazz messiah -- The future : some afterthoughts. |
| Abstract |
This is the definitive history of America's most enduring native music. Beginning with the African tribal music transported here by black slaves, the author traces the roots of jazz through the blues, the New Orleans style, ragtime, swing, bebop, the cool school, free jazz, and the recent fusion of jazz and rock. He offers insightful analyses of the musical figures and colorations that distinguish individual artists' styles and compositions, with separate chapters devoted to the giants: Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Jelly Roll Morton, Bessie Smith, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, and John Coltrane. A profusion of rare photographs and a selected discography of the all-time great jazz albums round out this book as a listener's bible. |
| Bibliography note | Discography: pages 499-510. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 511-515) and index. |
| LCCN | 77025030 |
| ISBN | 0395262860 : |
