Oxford University Press Inc - The Oxford Companion To Jazz - Paperback

Binding: Paperback
Description: Jazz and its colorful expansive history resonate in this unique collection of 60 essays specially - commissioned from today's top jazz performers writers and scholars. Contributors include such jazz insiders as Bill Crow Samuel A. Floyd Jr. Ted Gioia Gene Lees Dan Morgenstern Gunther Schuller Richard M. Sudhalter and Patricia Willard. Both a reference book and an engaging read the Companion surveys the evolution of jazz from its roots in Africa and Europe until the present. Along the way each distinctive style and period is profiled by an expert in the field. Whether your preference is ragtime the blues bebop or fusion you will find the chief characteristics and memorable performances illuminated here with a thoroughness found in no other single - volume jazz reference. The Oxford Companion to Jazz features individual biographies of the most memorable characters of this relatively young art form. Sidney Bechet King Oliver Jelly Roll Morton Louis Armstrong Bix Beiderbecke Bessie Smith Duke Ellington Coleman Hawkins Lester Young Charlie Parker Miles Davis Thelonious Monk Charles Mingus John Coltrane and the divas of jazz song - - Ella Fitzgerald Billie Holiday and Sarah Vaughan - - come to life in thoughtful considerations of their influences often turbulent personal lives and signature styles. In addition this book looks at the impact of jazz on American culture - in literature film television and dance - and explores the essential instruments of jazz and their most memorable players. The Oxford Companion to Jazz will provide a quick reference source as well as a dynamic and broad overview for all lovers of jazz from novices to aficionados.
Title: The Oxford Companion To Jazz
Brand: Oxford University Press Inc
Barcode: 9780195183597
Pages: 864 Pages, Numerous Halftones
Publication Date: 7/14/2005
Series: Oxford Companions
Category: Jazz