Jazz: A History of America's Music

As a jazz fan and a professional music retailer, I can recommend this book as a wonderful place to begin one's discovery of jazz or gain more knowledge of the cultural legacy of the music. In conjunction with the excellent video series and a box of cds by the titans written about by Ward, ie. Armstrong, Ellington, Davis, Parker, Holiday, etc., one can have a wonderful adventure either discovering the music for the first time or revisiting and expanding old passions. Those who quibble with its incompleteness run the risk of branding themselves cynics after the fashion of Wilde's definition: "A man who knows the price of everything but the value of nothing."

Ken Burns has done another excellent job of bringing to light the unsung heroes of America's musical tradition. Jazz has not recieved much attention the last couple decades or so with the possible exception of Winston Marsalis and a couple others and while the main focus of the book deals with the roots and founders of Jazz (as well it should) it does skimp on present day Jazz. But the flavor of the book captures the smooth essence of what Jazz is and the pictures within the book make it worth the price alone. The book is well written and well illustrated and sure to please even those who are not familiar with Jazz. I highly recommend this book to any music fan, especially Jazz, but it is sure to please anyone and it makes a great conversation starter. Finally glad to see Jazz get some good mainstream publicity with this one.

I loved this book; it's well-balanced and has plenty of cultural perspective. There were lots of anecdotes and photos that I have never seen before (the pictures of blacks dancing at an outdoor big band show at Randalls Island in 1938 are almost worth the price of the book alone). The main criticism about this book (and the Ken Burns Jazz series in general) is that it gives short shrift to jazz since the 1960s. First off, as Ken Burns has said himself, he's an historian, so this project will obviously focus more on the origins and development of the music rather than present-day musicians. And as much as today's jazz musicians and fans like to tell you otherwise, there haven't been too many groundbreaking developments in the music since the free jazz movement of late Coltrane and early Ornette Coleman, or the funk/rock excursions by Miles Davis. Furthermore, and more importantly, jazz is simply no longer a big part of the present-day American landscape. Although jazz records rarely sold as well as more pop-oriented music (a jazz record that sold 20,000 copies was considered a big hit), the music was always written about in mainstream publications and talked about by just about anyone. Heck, guys like Miles, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk and Coltrane were occasionally featured on prime-time television. Today, the biggest (and perhaps only) jazz star is Wynton Marsalis, a bland neo-traditionalist who hasn't forged any new ground himself. For myself, I'd rather read about Satchmo, Bird, Billie Holiday and Monk.

This is a wonderful book. First of all, it is well-written. Ward draws the reader into the life of jazz greats by making judicious use of first person accounts. He weaves their lives and stories into a broader sociohistorical context, showing, for example, how racism and economic poverty shape, and are shaped by, the music. The beautiful pictures and overall format help provide a compelling sense of the time and drama presented in the narrative. There is a lot of new information in the text even for seasoned jazz veterans. Yet the writing, and stories, are accessible to newcomers to the music. Ignore the petty sniping by some of the reviewers complaining about the abbreviated treatment that jazz from the last 40 years receives. This is a book which aims to provide a panorama of jazz AND society. So the focus, understandably, is on those musicians who have had the greatest impact on American culture (e.g., Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Miles Davis). Just hearing those names immediately evokes a certain place and time in American history. Sadly, many jazz musicians of the past 40 years have chosen to marginalize the music: the names "Lester Bowie" and "Pharoah Sanders" don't resonate for the public-at-large because, and this may be hard to take for some, the influence and popularity of the so-called avant-garde outside of the jazz intelligensia is minimal.The purpose of this book is to present a history of America's music. It overwhelmingly succeeds. I don't think the music has ever received a finer treatment in print.

I thought this was a terrific overview that captures the spirit and beauty of the music. It gave wondeful insight and depth to the people behind the music...innovators such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and others. I think some people will be disappointed in the book simply because it does not adhere to their particular viewpoint (there is very little coverage of fusion....no great loss in my book). But for people who want to get the background of the music and peer into the origins of it, who want to understand the passion that lies within it, this is a must read.