The History of Jazz by Ted Gioia Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The History of Jazz
Book Review: The History of Jazz
Summary: 3 Stars
Readers looking for a history of jazz who already know the history might find this book impressive in what it covers. Readers looking for a guide to the history of jazz and jazz styles will, I think, be disappointed. At its best, it covers (not completely, of course) the personnel, songs, and albums of the jazz world from its prehistory to the 1990s, and at its worst it does the same. There is a lot here, looking at it from one viewpoint, and nowhere near enough, looking at it from another. Gioia tried to cram and arrange an encyclopedia's worth of jazz facts into a linear history, and often what he ends up offering is not much more than a list of names and titles and dates, as if the history of jazz were reducible to a collection of liner notes. It isn't quite that bad. He does offer extended discussions on some artists, three examples being Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, and Cecil Taylor. Such mini-biographies interspersed throughout the chapters save the book from full-stop tedium.
Readers already familiar (through hearing the music) with the myriad variations and changes in jazz over its history will be pleased, I suppose, to find descriptions of the music and its styles written in that strange idiom of music criticism which means almost nothing unless you already know what is being described. At one point Gioia sounds almost like H. P. Lovecraft as he describes Albert Ayler's "darting phrases, hieroglyphics of sound representing some hitherto unknown sublunar mode; tones Adolphe Sax never dreamed of, and Selmer never sanctioned." (353)
Book Review: Very Thorough
Summary: 5 Stars
This book seems to be a thorough tale through the south east of playing seemingly non-sensical patterns to the current popular view of Jazz as it is played today, in verious forms. I am excited to read more of the book and learn more about Jazz' roots.Book Review: Well-judged, elegantly written, first-rate history of jazz
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a first-rate history. Gioia writes with authority, but never distances the reader. Like an Ellingtonian suite, he structures the history of jazz in discernible movements and counter-movements that each evolve organically from their predecessors, while avoiding a mere chronology. Gioia gracefully executes the narrative in a tone that never exaggerates unnecessarily, and always judiciously considers and evaluates the place of each figure, style, instrument, movement, band, label and of course, important recordings and their influence. Gioia inevitably has his preferences, but he is far from prejudiced. This makes him a valuable commentator that should please fans and artists alike. Gioia's book is a major work which will become a standard account of the history of jazz and should be on everybody's reading list.Book Review: Well-written, if oversimplified in parts
Summary: 4 Stars
I greatly enjoyed this book. Ted Gioia gives us a readable and fairly comprehensible single-volume overview of the rich and varied history of Jazz. Given that Jazz means different things to different listeners, trying to sum up in a single (and not overly thick) volume the varied facets and manifestations is a difficult task, but for the most part, I think Gioia succeeds.
The first half of the book, which deals with Jazz through the Swing era, is by far the more informative and detailed. Listeners whose main exposure to jazz has been through the neoboppers and fusion artists of the last three decades will learn a great deal about artists everyone should be investigating and appreciating. Detailed sections on the early jazz pioneers and Dixieland virtuosos are informative and engaging.
If I were to find a fault with this book, it is with the second half, which deals with Modern Jazz, beginning with bebop. I have also read the NYT review, and I agree with that reviewer, who believes that certain important figures are given short shrift. For example, Gioia cites Joe Pass' _Virtuoso_ album as one of the six greatest Jazz guitar albums of all time - but he never lists the others, and I recall no mention at all of greats such as Herb Ellis or Barney Kessel. Additionally, the last three decades are largely (in my opinion) glossed over. While it may or may not be true that no great revolutions on the scale of Bop or Free Jazz have taken place, surely the Joe Lovanos, Woody Shaws, and David Murrays of the world deserve a better and more detailed treatment.
Book Review: Why Isn't This Book More Well-Known?
Summary: 5 Stars
Ted Gioia's The History of Jazz is a solidly competent and wonderfully engaging contribution to understanding the history of Jazz. I also found it a worthwhile look at history through the eyes of jazz. I gleaned a great deal about the history of New Orleans and Harlem, for example, winding my way through this volume. I've read some of the critiques from the critics and they all focus on minute details about jazz at the expense of missing the big picture: this book is an engaging read begging the question "Why isn't this book more well-known?" Its terrific. Brava Mr. Gioia. Or, to borrow from jazz parlance, "go, man, go."