A Century of Jazz: From Blues to Bop, Swing to Hiphop - A Hundred Years of Music, Musicians, Singers and Styles

Rating:
Summary: A jazzy Book of Jazz
Review: The medium is the message! Start with the heft of the volume. And there you have a sense of jazz's musical and historical weight on America and the world (at least Europe, and a tiny tiny sprinkling of the Latin American and Carribean...But where is the rest of the world, Carr? Say, Japan. Or isnt that jazz?).
The splahing color and gloss and newsy trivia spread all over the book can only highlight the fact that improvisation makes more beautiful and glorious not only the melody and tempo but also a historical (or book) account of jazz. Really, a century of jazz does not have to deal with the dry history, or a scholarly exposition, or even a musical theory of such an enchanting thing like jazz...About jazz? It is enough to hear its throbbing colors, see its haunting sax and mid-night whispers...and smell that ubiquitous cigarette smoke (I dont like that part really but soemtimes you cant have a choice of your uncles and aunts). Get this book for the necessary info and history, for the thrill and romance of jazz.