Jazz: The American Theme Song

Rating:
Summary: A must read for anyone interested in Jazz
Review: In what he calls a number of assays but what reads as a complete book Collier debunks a number of popular myths and shines a new light into some dark corners. Among the myths are the fact that timing in Jazz is rigid (it ain't), blacks are the originators (a case is made that the black creoles were much more important) of Jazz and critics know what they are talking about (it seems they frequently don't). The final chapter is typical of the whole book. In it Collier describes the importance of the local amateur and semi-pro players to Jazz and argues that Jazz wouldn't be abe to exsist without these dedicated people, a fact which is frequently overlooked by almost everybody. This book definately isn't the be all and end all of Jazz studies, it is on the whole to superficial and fails to deal with any of the music except in passing, but it definately makes one think about some long held beliefs and popular 'myths' in Jazz.