Synopses & Reviews
Gary Giddins, winner of the 1998 National Book Critics Circle Award, has a following that includes not only jazz enthusiasts but also pop music fans of every stripe. Writing here in a lyrical and celebratory style all his own, Giddins dazzlingly shows usamong many other thingshow performers originally perceived as radical (Bing Crosby, Count Basie, Elvis Presley) became conservative institutions ... how Charlie Parker created a masterpiece from the strain of an inane ditty ... how the Dominoes helped combine church ritual with pop music ... and how Irving Berlin translated a chiaroscuro of Lower East Side minorities into imperishable songs.
Synopsis
”The most imposing figure in jazz writing today” (JazzTimes) on artists from Duke Ellington to Elvis Presley to Irving Berlin--all with that pervasive ”blue note” of jazz in common.
Synopsis
"The most imposing figure in jazz writing today" ("JazzTimes") on artists from Duke Ellington to Elvis Presley to Irving Berlin--all with that pervasive "blue note" of jazz in common.
Description
Includes discography (p. 297-300) and index.
About the Author
Gary Giddins is a columnist for the Village Voice and winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Visions of Jazz. He is also the author of a biography of Bing Crosby. His work has won numerous prizes, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, five ASCAP-Deems Taylor awards, and an American Book Award. He lives in New York City.