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An updated new edition of Ted Gioia's universally acclaimed history
of jazz, with a wealth of new insight on this music's past,
present, and future. Ted Gioia's The History of Jazz has been
universally hailed as the most comprehensive and accessible history
of the genre of all time. Acclaimed by jazz critics and fans alike,
this magnificent work is now available in an up-to-date third
edition that covers the latest developments in the jazz world and
revisits virtually every aspect of the music. Gioia's story of jazz
brilliantly portrays the most legendary jazz players, the
breakthrough styles, and the scenes in which they evolved. From
Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington at the Cotton Club, Miles
Davis's legendary 1955 performance at the Newport Jazz Festival,
and Ornette Coleman's experiments with atonality to current
innovators such as Kamasi Washington and Esperanza Spalding, Gioia
takes readers on a sweeping journey through the history of jazz. As
he traces the music through the swamp lands of the Mississippi
Delta, the red light district of New Orleans, the rent parties of
Harlem, the speakeasies of Chicago, and other key locales of jazz
history, Gioia also makes the social contexts in which the music
was born come alive. This new edition finally brings the often
overlooked women who shaped the genre into the spotlight and traces
the recent developments that have led to an upswing of jazz in
contemporary mainstream culture. As it chronicles jazz from its
beginnings and most iconic figures to its latest dialogues with
popular music, the developments of the digital age, and new
commercial successes, Gioia's History of Jazz reasserts its status
as the most authoritative survey of this fascinating music.
The phrase "music history" likely summons up images of long-dead
composers, smug men in wigs and waistcoats, and people dancing
without touching. In Music: A Subversive History, Gioia responds to
the false notions that undergird this tedium. Traditional histories
of music, Gioia contents, downplay those elements of music that are
considered disreputable or irrational-its deep connections to
sexuality, magic, trance and alternative mind states, healing,
social control, generational conflict, political unrest, even
violence and murder. They suppress the stories of the outsiders and
rebels who created musical revolutions and instead celebrate the
mainstream assimilators who borrowed innovations, diluted their
impact, and disguised their sources. Here, Gioia attempts to
reclaim music history for the riffraff, the insurgents, and
provocateurs-the real drivers of change and innovation. In Music,
Gioia tells the four-thousand-year history of music as a source of
power, change, upheaval, and enchantment. He shows how social
outcasts have repeatedly become the great trailblazers of musical
expression: slaves and their descendants, for instance, have
repeatedly reinvented music in America and elsewhere, from ragtime,
blues, jazz, R&B, to bossa nova, soul, and hip hop. A
revolutionary and revisionist account, Music: A Subversive History
is essential reading for anyone interested in the meaning of music.
In this "expertly researched, elegantly written, dispassionate yet
thoughtful history" (Gary Giddins), award-winning author Ted Gioia
gives us "the rare combination of a tome that is both deeply
informative and enjoyable to read" (Publishers Weekly, starred
review). From the field hollers of nineteenth-century plantations
to Muddy Waters and B.B. King, Delta Blues delves into the uneasy
mix of race and money at the point where traditional music became
commercial and bluesmen found new audiences of thousands. Combining
extensive fieldwork, archival research, interviews with living
musicians, and first-person accounts with "his own calm,
argument-closing incantations to draw a line through a century of
Delta blues" (New York Times), this engrossing narrative is
flavored with insightful and vivid musical descriptions that ensure
"an understanding of not only the musicians, but the music itself"
(Boston Sunday Globe). Rooted in the thick-as-tar Delta soil, Delta
Blues is already "a contemporary classic in its field" (Jazz
Review).
While the first healers were musicians who relied on rhythm and
song to help cure the sick, over time Western thinkers and doctors
lost touch with these traditions. In the West, for almost two
millennia, the roles of the healer and the musician have been
strictly separated. Until recently, that is. Over the past few
decades there has been a resurgence of interest in healing music.
In the midst of this nascent revival, Ted Gioia, a musician,
composer, and widely praised author, offers the first detailed
exploration of the uses of music for curative purposes from ancient
times to the present. Gioia's inquiry into the restorative powers
of sound moves effortlessly from the history of shamanism to the
role of Orpheus as a mythical figure linking Eastern and Western
ideas about therapeutic music, and from Native American healing
ceremonies to what clinical studies can reveal about the efficacy
of contemporary methods of sonic healing. Gioia considers a broad
range of therapies, providing a thoughtful, impartial guide to
their histories and claims, their successes and failures. He
examines a host of New Age practices, including toning, Cymatics,
drumming circles, and the Tomatis method. And he explores how the
medical establishment has begun to recognize and incorporate the
therapeutic power of song. Acknowledging that the drumming circle
will not-and should not-replace the emergency room, nor the shaman
the cardiologist, Gioia suggests that the most promising path is
one in which both the latest medical science and music-with its
capacity to transform attitudes and bring people together-are
brought to bear on the multifaceted healing process. In Healing
Songs, as in its companion volume Work Songs, Gioia moves beyond
studies of music centered on specific performers, time periods, or
genres to illuminate how music enters into and transforms the
experiences of everyday life.
The Jazz Standards, a comprehensive guide to the most important
jazz compositions, is a unique resource, a browser's companion, and
an invaluable introduction to the art form. This essential book for
music lovers tells the story of more than 250 key jazz songs, and
includes a listening guide to more than 2,000 recordings.
Many books recommend jazz CDs or discuss musicians and styles, but
this is the first to tell the story of the songs themselves. The
fan who wants to know more about a jazz song heard at the club or
on the radio will find this book indispensable. Musicians who play
these songs night after night now have a handy guide, outlining
their history and significance and telling how they have been
performed by different generations of jazz artists. Students
learning about jazz standards now have a complete reference work
for all of these cornerstones of the repertoire.
Author Ted Gioia, whose body of work includes the award-winning The
History of Jazz and Delta Blues, is the perfect guide to lead
readers through the classicsof the genre. As a jazz pianist and
recording artist, he has performed these songs for decades. As a
music historian and critic, he has gained a reputation as a leading
expert on jazz. Here he draws on his deep experience with this
music in creating the ultimate work on the subject.
An introduction for new fans, a useful handbook for jazz
enthusiasts and performers, and an important reference for students
and educators, The Jazz Standards belongs on the shelf of every
serious jazz lover or musician.
In How to Listen to Jazz, award-winning music scholar Ted Gioia
presents a lively, accessible introduction to the art of listening
to jazz. Covering everything from the music's structure and history
to the basic building blocks of improvisation, Gioia shows exactly
what to listen for in a jazz performance. How does a casual
listener learn to understand and appreciate the nuances between the
unapologetic and innovative sounds of Louis Armstrong, the
complexity of Coleman Hawkin's saxophone, and the exotic and
alluring compositions of Duke Ellington? How does Thelonius Monk
fit in alongside Benny Goodman and John Coltrane? He shares
listening strategies that will help readers understand and
appreciate the great American art form for the rest of their lives,
and provides a history of the major movements in jazz right up to
the present day. He concludes with a guide to 150 elite musicians
who are setting the tone for 21st century jazz. Both an
appreciation and an introduction to jazz by a foremost expert, How
to Listen to Jazz is a must-read for anyone who's ever wanted to
understand America's greatest contribution to the world of music.
An extraordinary collection of revealing, personal interviews with
fourteen jazz music legends During his nearly forty years as a
music journalist, Ralph J. Gleason recorded many in-depth
interviews with some of the greatest jazz musicians of all time.
These informal sessions, conducted mostly in Gleason's Berkeley,
California, home, have never been transcribed and published in full
until now. This remarkable volume, a must-read for any jazz fan,
serious musician, or musicologist, reveals fascinating,
little-known details about these gifted artists, their lives, their
personas, and, of course, their music. Bill Evans discusses his
battle with severe depression, while John Coltrane talks about
McCoy Tyner's integral role in shaping the sound of the Coltrane
quartet, praising the pianist enthusiastically. Included also are
interviews with Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Quincy Jones, Jon
Hendricks, and the immortal Duke Ellington, plus seven more of the
most notable names in twentieth-century jazz.
An updated new edition of Ted Gioia's acclaimed compendium of jazz
standards, featuring 15 additional selections, hundreds of
additional recommended tracks, and enhancements and additions on
almost every page. Since the first edition of The Jazz Standards
was published in 2012, author Ted Gioia has received almost
non-stop feedback and suggestions from the passionate global
community of jazz enthusiasts and performers requesting crucial
additions and corrections to the book. In this second edition,
Gioia expands the scope of the book to include more songs, and
features new recordings by rising contemporary artists. The Jazz
Standards is an essential comprehensive guide to some of the most
important jazz compositions, telling the story of more than 250 key
jazz songs and providing a listening guide to more than 2,000
recordings. The fan who wants to know more about a tune heard at
the club or on the radio will find this book indispensable.
Musicians who play these songs night after night will find it to be
a handy guide, as it outlines the standards' history and
significance and tells how they have been performed by different
generations of jazz artists. Students learning about jazz standards
will find it to be a go-to reference work for these cornerstones of
the repertoire. This book is a unique resource, a browser's
companion, and an invaluable introduction to the art form.
The love song is timeless. From its beginnings, it has been shaped
by bohemians and renegades, slaves and oppressed minorities,
prostitutes, immigrants and other excluded groups. But what do we
really know about the origins of these intimate expressions of the
heart? And how have our changing perceptions about topics such as
sexuality and gender roles changed our attitudes towards these
songs? In Love Songs: The Hidden History, Ted Gioia uncovers the
unexplored story of the love song for the first time. Drawing on
two decades of research, Gioia presents the full range of love
songs, from the fertility rites of ancient cultures to the
sexualized YouTube videos of the present day. The book traces the
battles over each new insurgency in the music of love-whether
spurred by wandering scholars of medieval days or by four lads from
Liverpool in more recent times. In these pages, Gioia reveals that
the tenderest music has, in different eras, driven many of the most
heated cultural conflicts, and how the humble love song has played
a key role in expanding the sphere of individualism and personal
autonomy in societies around the world. Gioia forefronts the
conflicts, controversies, and the battles over censorship and
suppression spurred by such music, revealing the outsiders and
marginalized groups that have played a decisive role in shaping our
songs of romance and courtship, and the ways their innovations have
led to reprisals and strife. And he describes the surprising paths
by which the love song has triumphed over these obstacles, and
emerged as the dominant form of musical expression in modern
society.
From the Preface by Ted Gioia:All of these musicians fought their
way back over the next decade, and their success in re-establishing
themselves as important artists was perhaps the first signal,
initially unrecognized as such, that a re-evaluation of the earlier
West Coast scene was under way. Less fortunate than these few were
West Coasters such as Sonny Criss, Harold Land, Curtis Counce, Carl
Perkins, Lennie Niehaus, Roy Porter, Teddy Edwards, Gerald Wilson,
and those others whose careers languished without achieving either
a later revival or even an early brief taste of fame. Certainly
some West Coast jazz players have been awarded a central place in
jazz history, but invariably they have been those who, like Charles
Mingus or Eric Dolphy, left California for Manhattan. Those who
stayed behind were, for the most part, left behind. The time has
come for a critical re-evaluation of this body of work. With more
than forty years of perspective--since modern jazz came to
California-we can perhaps now begin to make sense of the rich array
of music presented there during those glory years. But to do so, we
need to start almost from scratch. We need to throw away the
stereotypes of West Coast jazz, reject the simplifications,
catchphrases, and pigeonholings that have only confused the issue.
So many discussions of the music have begun by asking, "What was
West Coast jazz?"--as if some simple definition would answer all
our questions. And when no simple answer emerged--how could it when
the same critics asking the question could hardly agree on a
definition of jazz itself?--this failure was brandished as grounds
for dismissing the whole subject. My approach is different. I start
with the music itself, the musicians themselves, the geography and
social situation, the clubs and the culture. I tried to learn what
they have to tell us, rather than regurgitate the dubious critical
consensus of the last generation. Was West Coast jazz the last
regional style or merely a marketing fad? Was there really ever any
such thing as West Coast jazz? If so, was it better or worse than
East Coast jazz? Such questions are not without merit, but they
provide a poor start for a serious historical inquiry. I ask
readers hoping for quick and easy answers to approach this work
with an open mind and a modicum of patience. Generalizations will
emerge; broader considerations will become increasingly clear; but
only as we approach the close of this complex story, after we have
let the music emerge in all its richness and diversity. By starting
with some theory of West Coast jazz, we run the risk of seeing only
what fits into our theory. Too many accounts of the music have
fallen into just this trap. Instead, we need to see things with
fresh eyes, hear the music again with fresh ears.
This perceptive study takes a fresh look at jazz in relation to other art forms and places it in the context of contemporary culture. This original approach relates the work of Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, and Ormette Coleman to such subjects as primitivism, neoclassicism, improvisation, aesthetics, and good taste.
The love song is timeless. From its beginnings, it has been shaped
by bohemians and renegades, slaves and oppressed minorities,
prostitutes, immigrants and other excluded groups. But what do we
really know about the origins of these intimate expressions of the
heart? And how have our changing perceptions about topics such as
sexuality and gender roles changed our attitudes towards these
songs?
In Love Songs: The Hidden History, Ted Gioia uncovers the
unexplored story of the love song for the first time. Drawing on
two decades of research, Gioia presents the full range of love
songs, from the fertility rites of ancient cultures to the
sexualized YouTube videos of the present day. The book traces the
battles over each new insurgency in the music of love--whether
spurred by wandering scholars of medieval days or by four lads from
Liverpool in more recent times. In these pages, Gioia reveals that
the tenderest music has, in different eras, driven many of the most
heated cultural conflicts, and how the humble love song has played
a key role in expanding the sphere of individualism and personal
autonomy in societies around the world.
Gioia forefronts the conflicts, controversies, and the battles over
censorship and suppression spurred by such music, revealing the
outsiders and marginalized groups that have played a decisive role
in shaping our songs of romance and courtship, and the ways their
innovations have led to reprisals and strife. And he describes the
surprising paths by which the love song has triumphed over these
obstacles, and emerged as the dominant form of musical expression
in modern society.
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