Jazz Changes - Softcover

Williams, Martin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0195083490 ISBN 13: 9780195083491

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1993

Synopsis

Jazz Changes is the late Martin Williams's third and perhaps best collection of jazz portraits, interviews, narrative accounts of recording sessions, rehearsals, and performances, important liner notes, and far reaching discussions of musicians and their music. The collection includes thirty years of Williams's finest pieces taking readers on an engaging tour of the changing jazz world. There are appreciation-profiles and comments on such performers as Ross Russell--about the noted Dial Record sessions with Charlie Parker--and greats like John Coltrane, Billie Holiday, Jelly Roll Morton, Ornette Coleman, Dinah Washington, and Thelonious Monk. Williams also offers parodies of how jazz critics in 1965 might have assessed the Beatles, and reflections on the Ellington era. He concludes with an elegant plea for critics to pay attention to jazz history, always exhibiting his keen mind and gifted pen.

About this title

About the Author:

Martin Williams has written and edited a number of books on jazz. His articles have appeared in Harper's, The New York Times, and Down Beat.

From Kirkus Reviews:

Catchall of earlier (late 50's on) pieces by Williams (Jazz in its Time, 1989, etc.), some unpublished except as record-jacket copy, some from Down Beat, Saturday Review, etc. The longest piece here--a historical and musical commentary on the massive Library of Congress Folklore Archives set of Jelly Roll Morton disks recorded by Alan Lomax--is the richest. Discussing the growth of Morton's style, Williams is especially good on the musical layout of ``The Pearls,'' a neglected Morton work that is among his most lovely, and ``the Spanish tinge'' in Morton's jazz tango ``Mama `Nita,'' a piece warm with delight. The author's most affecting piece is ``Billie Holiday: Anatomy of a Tragedy,'' which in its brief span works up much feeling. His best interview is with trumpeter Ruby Braff, who is outspoken about record producer John Hammond's buckling under to Columbia's commercial needs. An interview with Ross Russell, founder of Dial Records and first to record Charlie Parker at length, straightens out some misconceptions about Russell's ties with Bird. A piece on a reissue of the first recordings of the Quintet of the Hot Club of France, featuring Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelly, gives an uplifting overview of this imperious group of jazz swingers. A set of Ellington reissues prompts new thoughts about Ellington's earliest periods, and a commentary on Parker Gillespie's The Greatest Jazz Concert Ever (in Toronto) makes clear that Charlie Mingus indeed did rerecord his bass line for the record issue while Billy Taylor ``did a bit of ghosting on the Bud Powell performances as well.'' Meanwhile, Williams deflates four pianists he finds overrated: Oscar Peterson, Ahmad Jamal, George Shearing, and Martial Solal. Jazz riches for the serious fan. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0195083490
• ISBN 13: 9780195083491
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336