Synopses & Reviews
"You need to understand that the demanding nature of jazz means that all jazzmen decline very quickly. After a brief period of being underrated they find their distinctive tone, make the recordings by which they will always be known in their twenties, get ambitious in their thirties, and in their forties start on the road to oblivion.
Bluffer's Guides is a series of snappy little books containing facts, jargon, and all you need to know for instant expertise.
Synopsis
All you need to know on the subject of jazz so that you can blow your own horn in any social setting.
About the Author
Peter Clayton was born in the Deep South of London well below the Fortnum-Mason Line. By devious means, such as letting it all happen, he gradually took over several key programs, sometimes heavily disguised, and joined the ranks of the BBC's immovables, gracing the air with his wit and wisdom until his death in 1991.
Peter Gammond was born on the far North-West frontier in a Depression. After passing through Oxford, leaving a trail of half-finished poems and an old trombone, he ended up in Brixton where he and Peter Clayton collaborated on various musico-literary projects. Their joint efforts included: Fourteen Miles on a Clear Night (later retitled 22.53 Kilometres in a High Pressure Zone) and The Jazz Man's A-Z of Guinness.
John Lewis writes about music for Time Out and anyone else who will pay him. He lives in North London with his wife, his daughter, and his cat, all of whom dislike him playing Ornette Coleman LPs. He thinks that Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus is a really cool title for an album.
Table of Contents
Pure Jazz
Kinds of Jazz
Jazz History
Up the River and All That Jazz
Ragtime
The Blues
Boogie-Woogie
Swing
New Orleans Jazz
Chicago Jazz
New York Jazz
Kansas City Jazz
Minton's
Into the Cool
Le Jazz Hot
British Jazz
Famous Names
Louis Armstrong
Count Basie
Sidney Bechet
Bix Beiderbecke
Buddy Bolden
Dave Brubeck
Benny Carter
Ornette Coleman
John Coltrane
Eddie Condon
Miles Davis
Duke Ellington
Bud Freeman
Erroll Garner
Dizzy Gillespie
Benny Goodman
Lionel Hampton
Coleman Hawkins
Fletcher Henderson
Woody Herman
Earl Hines
Billie Holiday
Mahalia Jackson
Bunk Johnson
James P. Johnson
Stan Kenton
Nick La Rocca
John Lewis
Red McKenzie
Mezz Mezzrow
Gerry Mulligan
Red Nichols
Charlie Parker
Oscar Peterson
Pee Wee Russell
Muggsy Spanier
Art Tatum
Jack Teagarden
Fats Waller
Lester Young
Mike Zwerin
How to Talk Jazz
Discography
Glossary
A Question of Jazz