The Jazz Book: From Ragtime to Fusion and Beyond

540 Pages Indexed. New sections for the 1992 Edition were translated from the German by Tim Nevill. Very minor cover edge wear. No other defects noted to this tight book with a flawless interior. Jazz has always been the concern of a minority-always. Even in the age of Swing, the thirties, the jazz of creative black musicians was--except for very few recordings-recognized by only a few. Still, taking an active interest in jazz means working for a majority, because the popular music of our times feeds on jazz: All the music we hear in TV series and on Top 40 radio, in hotel lobbies and on elevators, in movies, and through Walkman; all the music to which we dance, from Charleston to rock, funk and hip-hop; all those sounds that daily engulf us -- all that music comes from jazz, because beat came to Western music through jazz. Taking an active interest in jazz means improving the quality of the sounds around us-the level of musical quality, which implies, if there is any justification in talking about musical quality, the spiritual, intellectual, human quality -- the level of our consciousness. In these times, when musical sounds accompany the takeoff of a plane as well as a detergent sales pitch, the sounds around us directly influence our way of life, the quality of our lives. That is why we can say that taking an active interest in jazz means carrying some of the power, warmth, and intensity of jazz into our lives.…