Jazz Books To Avoid (and some to seek out)

[Big Beat Steve]

Yes in a way you seem to be right. Those book threads I have now found in a Google search related to specific subcategories of jazz or authors, and the only generic "book recommendation" thread I was able to find is one on blues books.

Surprising ...

So a more general recommendation thread seems to be overdue indeed. Though it would probably run the course of many "favorite xxx instrument musician" recommendation threads: Pretty soon most every book would be mentioned by someone somewhere at least once as being a recommended read

[king ubu]

many of the books I see from U presses have some value - but they are really journal articles blown up to the point of un-readabilty.

A grand ol' anglo-saxon academic tradition, that ... and one that could indeed be stopped with little loss (except for U presses earning the sh*t ouf ot those books that every library all over the world has to buy).

[king ubu]

Here's an old topic with recommendations on jazz books that could be bumped:

But I guess most of the interesting discussions emerged in other threads ...

[paul secor]

Here's an earlier discussion of recommended books:

jazz books

Edited February 17, 2015 by paul secor

[clifford_thornton]

many of the books I see from U presses have some value - but they are really journal articles blown up to the point of un-readabilty.

A grand ol' anglo-saxon academic tradition, that ... and one that could indeed be stopped with little loss (except for U presses earning the sh*t ouf ot those books that every library all over the world has to buy).

News flash: not everything is perfect!

I take issue with some parts of almost every book on jazz/improvised music I've ever read, but that's not to say that many aren't extremely valuable.

Piazza's Guide to Classic Recorded Jazz pissed me off though. Lots of really dumb statements in it, which seemed to just play up to Wynton-defined hard bop as the primary valid expression of creative music.

[Larry Kart]

many of the books I see from U presses have some value - but they are really journal articles blown up to the point of un-readabilty.

A grand ol' anglo-saxon academic tradition, that ... and one that could indeed be stopped with little loss (except for U presses earning the sh*t ouf ot those books that every library all over the world has to buy).

That doesn't include my book. Every year Yale U. Press tells me that I'm still in the hole to them for my modest advance against royalties. No problem, though -- I never expected to make a penny from it in the first place, just wanted to get the stuff out there.

[JSngry]

You are the Jackie McLean of jazzbooks!

[Larry Kart]

You are the Jackie McLean of jazzbooks!

[ghost of miles]

Hope they didn't charge you for the sandwiches, Larry!

[king ubu]

many of the books I see from U presses have some value - but they are really journal articles blown up to the point of un-readabilty.

A grand ol' anglo-saxon academic tradition, that ... and one that could indeed be stopped with little loss (except for U presses earning the sh*t ouf ot those books that every library all over the world has to buy).

That doesn't include my book. Every year Yale U. Press tells me that I'm still in the hole to them for my modest advance against royalties. No problem, though -- I never expected to make a penny from it in the first place, just wanted to get the stuff out there.

Ha, surely didn't mean to include you! Was more thinking of the likes of Huntington and Fukuyama and their articles that got blown up into books not adding much to the initial 30 page essays ... I'm indeed not aware of the same syndrome being as bad over here. But then we don't have these high-end upresses anyways, different system.

Seems your book is on low stock though ... guess I gotta pull a carpe diem on it rather sooner than later!

[clifford_thornton]

I didn't like Heffley's Northern Sun, Southern Moon.

[John L]

Piazza's Guide to Classic Recorded Jazz pissed me off though. Lots of really dumb statements in it, which seemed to just play up to Wynton-defined hard bop as the primary valid expression of creative music.

I actually enjoyed that book when I read it, although I certainly didn't take the parts on avant garde and more recent jazz very seriously.

[BeBop]

Jake Hanna: The Rhythm and Wit of a Swinging Jazz Drummer by Maria Judge.

I can't say I went into this with high hopes. I saw it in a bookstore when I was about to board a flight without reading material. I think his niece wrote it. The perspective is about 0.2 inches deep. Lots of family anecdotes that were lost on me.

The New Face of Jazz : An Intimate Look at Todays Living Legends and the Artists of Tomorrow

I got the impression that author Cicily Janus accidentally stumbled into a "jazz" club one night, had a good time and decided to write a book. There's a claim that she interviewed 400 people. I can't imagine what she asked them. I can't believe that more than a few of them were what we would consider legitimate jazz artists. I don't have many recent "overview" books on jazz. The 2010 publication date was fresh when I threw my money away on it.

[colinmce]

Piazza's Guide to Classic Recorded Jazz pissed me off though. Lots of really dumb statements in it, which seemed to just play up to Wynton-defined hard bop as the primary valid expression of creative music.

I actually enjoyed that book when I read it, although I certainly didn't take the parts on avant garde and more recent jazz very seriously.

I keep it around because it does a good job untangling the MCA/RCA/Bluebird/etc reissue scene of the 80s and 90s, but his tone re: free jazz is total bullshit. He dismisses Cecil Taylor with such confidence. To so fully conflate one's taste with the objective truth is delusion on a grand scale.

There's a book about Miles Davis and Coltrane that is so doltish I can't believe it was published. The author repeatedly refers to MD as "The Chief" and insists that he was widely known by this nickname. I have literally never seen or heard that anywhere else but you'd think it was Pres or Pops the way they lay it on. Bizarre.

I also think the Richard Cook Blue Note book is largely a waste of time.

I once read a long book about free jazz by an author whose name I forgot that was so bombastically anti-white that it could only have been written by a white man, if you know what I mean. Cranky and pointless.

[clifford_thornton]

Yeah, I wasn't so into Cook's BN book either.

The new BN coffee-table book has so much awful writing it's insane, but the photos and album art are so well presented I can't dismiss it completely.

[marcello]

Jake Hanna: The Rhythm and Wit of a Swinging Jazz Drummer by Maria Judge.

I can't say I went into this with high hopes. I saw it in a bookstore when I was about to board a flight without reading material. I think his niece wrote it. The perspective is about 0.2 inches deep. Lots of family anecdotes that were lost on me.

The New Face of Jazz : An Intimate Look at Todays Living Legends and the Artists of Tomorrow

I got the impression that author Cicily Janus accidentally stumbled into a "jazz" club one night, had a good time and decided to write a book. There's a claim that she interviewed 400 people. I can't imagine what she asked them. I can't believe that more than a few of them were what we would consider legitimate jazz artists. I don't have many recent "overview" books on jazz. The 2010 publication date was fresh when I threw my money away on it.

I also have the Hanna book and was disappointed, but maybe not quite so much as you.

I know one Artist that she (Cicily Janus) interviewed that after the "interview", during which she got fairly drunk and progressively stupider, told her that he wouldn't allow his piece to appear in her the book.

Edited February 18, 2015 by marcello

[JSngry]

There's a book about Miles Davis and Coltrane that is so doltish I can't believe it was published. The author repeatedly refers to MD as "The Chief" and insists that he was widely known by this nickname. I have literally never seen or heard that anywhere else but you'd think it was Pres or Pops the way they lay it on. Bizarre...

I once read a long book about free jazz by an author whose name I forgot that was so bombastically anti-white that it could only have been written by a white man, if you know what I mean. Cranky and pointless.

fwiw, I have heard the "Chief" thing, albeit just from the post-comeback days. Certainly not from the Coltrane era.

Was it the Frank Kofsky book about free jazz that you're thinking about? "Black Nationalism and Teh Revolution In Jazz"? I actually recommend that one as a valuable document of the times. Kofsky himself was apparently pretty nuts, though.

There was a small book I bought in the early 80s called "Fire Music" by the renowned John Sinclair that I found to be a letdown, much more fire than music, and yesterday's fire at that. I know this guy mattered, but this book doesn't.

And come to think of it, anything with Bill Cole's name on it has been a drag.

[colinmce]

Definitely Kofsky. You're right that there's valuable info in there. I learned a lot reading it but the perspective is unhinged.

[clifford_thornton]

The Kofsky book is fascinating. There's an old hardbound anthology of Jazz & POP writing, including much of his, that's pretty neat as well. Have it in storage, I think.

[JSngry]

Also fascinating is to consider how much of a stage was given to Kofsky by Bob Thiele. Mutually beneficial there for a while.

[CJ Shearn]

It wasn't a bad book necessarily, but Paul Tingen made some really weird statements in "Miles Electric", which I read 10 or 11 years ago, the first one was that people who couldn't appreciate "Bitches Brew" were because they had inferior stereo systems (WTF?) and he discussed Miles' alleged crossdressing (who cares?). I've heard apparently the George Benson autobio lacks substantial detail, certainly not to the level of his Smithsonian interview, which is great!

Edited February 18, 2015 by CJ Shearn

[paul secor]

Also fascinating is to consider how much of a stage was given to Kofsky by Bob Thiele. Mutually beneficial there for a while.

I only remember Kofsky interviewing John Coltrane and trying to lead Coltrane into places he didn't want to go. Trane didn't take the bait. After that, I had no interest in reading Kofsky's book.

[JSngry]

Also fascinating is to consider how much of a stage was given to Kofsky by Bob Thiele. Mutually beneficial there for a while.

I only remember Kofsky interviewing John Coltrane and trying to lead Coltrane into places he didn't want to go. Trane didn't take the bait. After that, I had no interest in reading Kofsky's book.

Thiele ran Jazz & Pop magazine, in which Kofsky often appeared, and of course, impulse!, where Kofsky's liner notes were placed. I've long wondered if Kofsky got the hookup to do that Trane interview through Theile

[AllenLowe]

I like: Max Harrison's collection; Lewis Porter's Lester Young collection, and his Coltrane book. One Prez book by a European whose name I cannot remember. One Hundred Years of the Negro in Show Business is essential. Lawrence Levine (I think Larry liked that one). Larry Kart's Yale Press Collection (called: "I Made a Million in the Jazz Biz So Tough on You").

Pony Poindexter's autobio. Babs Gonzalez is always entertaining; Stanley Dance: World of Duke/Basie/Hines/Swing. All essential. The basic Armstrong autiobio; Ricky Ricciardi's book about Armstrong. The Jelly Roll Morton LC interviews (important to get the unexpurgated transcript).

[king ubu]

Pres: Buchmann-Moller?

Edited February 18, 2015 by king ubu