Ebook480 pages13 hours
Blowin' Hot and Cool: Jazz and Its Critics
By John Gennari
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
()
About this ebook
In the illustrious and richly documented history of American jazz, no figure has been more controversial than the jazz critic. Jazz critics can be revered or reviled—often both—but they should not be ignored. And while the tradition of jazz has been covered from seemingly every angle, nobody has ever turned the pen back on itself to chronicle the many writers who have helped define how we listen to and how we understand jazz. That is, of course, until now.
In Blowin’ Hot and Cool, John Gennari provides a definitive history of jazz criticism from the 1920s to the present. The music itself is prominent in his account, as are the musicians—from Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington to Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Roscoe Mitchell, and beyond. But the work takes its shape from fascinating stories of the tradition’s key critics—Leonard Feather, Martin Williams, Whitney Balliett, Dan Morgenstern, Gary Giddins, and Stanley Crouch, among many others. Gennari is the first to show the many ways these critics have mediated the relationship between the musicians and the audience—not merely as writers, but in many cases as producers, broadcasters, concert organizers, and public intellectuals as well.
For Gennari, the jazz tradition is not so much a collection of recordings and performances as it is a rancorous debate—the dissonant noise clamoring in response to the sounds of jazz. Against the backdrop of racial strife, class and gender issues, war, and protest that has defined the past seventy-five years in America, Blowin’ Hot and Cool brings to the fore jazz’s most vital critics and the role they have played not only in defining the history of jazz but also in shaping jazz’s significance in American culture and life.
In Blowin’ Hot and Cool, John Gennari provides a definitive history of jazz criticism from the 1920s to the present. The music itself is prominent in his account, as are the musicians—from Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington to Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Roscoe Mitchell, and beyond. But the work takes its shape from fascinating stories of the tradition’s key critics—Leonard Feather, Martin Williams, Whitney Balliett, Dan Morgenstern, Gary Giddins, and Stanley Crouch, among many others. Gennari is the first to show the many ways these critics have mediated the relationship between the musicians and the audience—not merely as writers, but in many cases as producers, broadcasters, concert organizers, and public intellectuals as well.
For Gennari, the jazz tradition is not so much a collection of recordings and performances as it is a rancorous debate—the dissonant noise clamoring in response to the sounds of jazz. Against the backdrop of racial strife, class and gender issues, war, and protest that has defined the past seventy-five years in America, Blowin’ Hot and Cool brings to the fore jazz’s most vital critics and the role they have played not only in defining the history of jazz but also in shaping jazz’s significance in American culture and life.
Related to Blowin' Hot and Cool
Related ebooks
Blowin' the Blues Away: Performance and Meaning on the New York Jazz Scene Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDuke Ellington's America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Product of Our Souls: Ragtime, Race, and the Birth of the Manhattan Musical Marketplace Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSounding the Color Line: Music and Race in the Southern Imagination Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe culture of jazz: jazz as critical culture Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJoined at the Hip: A History of Jazz in the Twin Cities Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Jazz Bubble: Neoclassical Jazz in Neoliberal Culture Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Black Music Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bunk Johnson: His Life and Times Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Subversive Sounds: Race and the Birth of Jazz in New Orleans Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Loft Jazz: Improvising New York in the 1970s Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUgly Beauty: Jazz in the 21st Century Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJazz/Not Jazz: The Music and Its Boundaries Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Jazz Transatlantic, Volume II: Jazz Derivatives and Developments in Twentieth-Century Africa Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Jazz Masters: Setting the Record Straight Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJazz Expose: The New York Jazz Museum and the Power Struggle That Destroyed It Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Talking Jazz With Ben Sidran: Volume 2: Solo Voices Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Epistrophies: Jazz and the Literary Imagination Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Saying Something: Jazz Improvisation and Interaction Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Blue Notes: Profiles of Jazz Personalities Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhy Jazz Happened Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dizzy Gillespie: His Life and Times Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSwingin' the Dream: Big Band Jazz and the Rebirth of American Culture Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Like Dizzy Gillespie's Cheeks Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Mingus Speaks Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pres: The Story of Lester Young Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jazz Life and Times: Fats Waller Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Soul Jazz: Jazz in the Black Community, 1945-1975 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJazz Matters: Sound, Place, and Time since Bebop Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Music For You
Music Theory For Dummies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Me: Elton John Official Autobiography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bowie: An Illustrated Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Weird Scenes Inside The Canyon: Laurel Canyon, Covert Ops & The Dark Heart Of The Hippie Dream Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Circle of Fifths: Visual Tools for Musicians, #1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Learn Jazz Piano: book 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Strange Loop Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Easyway to Play Piano: A Beginner's Best Piano Primer Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rememberings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Making Rumours: The Inside Story of the Classic Fleetwood Mac Album Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Open Book Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5IT'S ALL IN YOUR HEAD Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Everything Songwriting Book: All You Need to Create and Market Hit Songs Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Songwriting: Essential Guide to Lyric Form and Structure: Tools and Techniques for Writing Better Lyrics Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Read Music Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Mixing Engineer's Handbook 5th Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Can I Say: Living Large, Cheating Death, and Drums, Drums, Drums Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Singing For Dummies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Music Theory For Beginners Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Learn Your Fretboard: The Essential Memorization Guide for Guitar (Book + Online Bonus) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Guitar Practice Guide: A Practice Guide for Guitarists and other Musicians Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hal Leonard Pocket Music Theory (Music Instruction): A Comprehensive and Convenient Source for All Musicians Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Learn Guitar A Beginner's Course Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Blowin' Hot and Cool
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Blowin' Hot and Cool - John Gennari
Enjoying the preview?
Page 1 of 1