"
The Jazz Scene is a concise survey that examines the music's development geographically and stylistically. By using quotations from interviews with hundreds of musicians, and linking them with his own shrewd narrative, W. Royal Stokes has put together a kind of mosaic that effectively illustrates the whole subject in a novel and instructive manner."--Stanley Dance, author of
The World of Count Basie"The jazz scene is both the music and its history, and both continue to grow. The history grows faster because W. Royal Stokes has recorded the musician's own words and preserved them in this valuable book."--William Conover,
Voice of America"Turn to any page and fresh stories about the jazz life jump out at you, adding to the music's remarkable history."--Scott Yanow
"This book provides a fascinating look inside America's most distinctive contribution to world culture."--Dave Burns,
Chicago Tribune"A brilliant and compact overview of the jazz world, past and present, in the words of the musicians themselves and a most knowledgeable observer, W. Royal Stokes."--Bob Thiele, Jazz record producer
"An amazing book, an easy-to-read, pithy, thorough history of jazz that excites the intellect....Everyone interested in the country's cultural life should read this definitive analysis of the Afro-American musical genius and the art's mysterious influence on the American spirit."--Leslie Gourse, author of
Louis' Children"There have been several books of jazz oral history, Hentoff and Shapiro's pioneering
Hear Me Talkin' to Ya, Ira Gitler's
Swing to Bop, and Nathan Pearson's
Goin' to Kansas City outstanding among them. Here is a book to place beside those, and it has the difference of Stokes's own perspective as well."--Martin Williams, author of
Jazz Heritage"Lively reading."--
The Observer (London)"[Stokes] book cleverly cuts and compiles their comments or recollections into a vivid and readable narrative....He has talked to a sufficiently wide cross-section of musicians to provide an informal history of jazz styles....It is the author's open sympathy with all aspects of jazz that gives
The Jazz Scene its particular value. Cast as a kind of lively oral patchwork, the book fits appropriately into the gap between formal histories...and purely anecdotal works....Stokes has encapsulated the compelling diversity of jazz in a single manageable volume. Thoroughly recommended, and a good value too."--
Jazz Express"[Stokes] has taken excerpts from his countless number of discussions and seamlessly edited them together to creaate an informal history of jazz that is filled with fresh anecdotes and fascinationg stories....Stokes covers virtually every jazz era....One comes away from
The Jazz Scene both entertained and educated."--
Jazziz