To Be or Not to Bop

Rating:
Summary: To be or not to Bop
Review: What a magnificent book. Dizzy lived the history of Jazz. In this book you learn all about Jazz, it's roots, changes and future. You learn about all the great musicians, their styles and influences. You also discover some lessor named musicians who were instrumental in the development of the "modern music" or "bop". For you musicians, Dizzy spends some time discussing the melody and harmonic changes which created bop. WHile this was over my head it did not bore me. Extremely well writen and edited there are wonderful comments from all the great jazz musicians themselves interspaced throughout Dizzy's own words. It inspired me to go out and find many records from the recording dates he described. To now appreciate the men, events and background of these sessions makes the records even more enjoyable. Thank goodness most libraries have preserved this book. Enjoy.