Visions of Jazz: The First Century (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780195132410)

Poised to become a classic of jazz literature, Visions of Jazz: The First Century offers seventy-nine chapters illuminating the lives of virtually all the major figures in jazz history. From Louis Armstrong's renegade-style trumpet playing to Sarah Vaughan's operatic crooning, and from the swinging elegance of Duke Ellington to the pioneering experiments of Ornette Coleman, jazz critic Gary Giddins continually astonishes the reader with his unparalleled insight. Writing with the grace and wit that have endeared his prose to Village Voice readers for decades, Giddins also widens the scope of jazz to include such crucial American musicians as Irving Berlin, Rosemary Clooney, and Frank Sinatra, all primarily pop performers who are often dismissed by fans and critics as mere derivatives of the true jazz idiom. And he devotes an entire quarter of this landmark volume to young, still-active jazz artists, boldly expanding the horizons of jazz--and charting and exploring the music's influences as no other book has done.

Author: Gary Giddins
ISBN-10: 0195132416
ISBN-13: 9780195132410
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Language: English
Published: 05/18/2000
Pages: 704
Format: Paperback
Weight: 2.14lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 1.41d

Review Citation(s):
New York Times 04/23/2000 pg. 24