The Guitar in Jazz: An Anthology - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0803242506 ISBN 13: 9780803242500

Publisher: University of Nebraska Press, 1996

Synopsis

The Guitar in Jazz presents in rich, entertaining detail the history and development of the guitar as a jazz instrument. In a series of essays by some of jazz’s leading historians and critics, the volume traces the impressive evolution of jazz guitar playing, from the pioneering styles of Nick Lucas and Eddie Lang through the recent innovations of such contemporary masters as Jim Hall and Ralph Towner. Editor James Sallis has included essays that focus on individual guitarists, including Charlie Christian, Django Reinhardt, and JoePass. Other chapters vividly describe important jazz guitar styles, such as swing guitar and fingerstyle guitar.

In all, The Guitar in Jazz provides a full and captivating portrait of the guitar’s place in jazz. The book also offers insights into the larger history of jazz—its development, the social contexts in which the music came into being, and its eventual recognition as "the American classical music." The essays will appeal to guitar players and enthusiasts, and to all jazz lovers.

About this title

Review:

Although the guitar has played a sizeable role in jazz since at least the early 1920s--when Eddie Lang added his six-string expertise to recordings by the Mound City Blue Blowers--there have been surprisingly few books on the subject. James Sallis's fine anthology covers all the bases, from early pioneers like Lang and Charlie Christian to latter-day virtuosi like Jim Hall and Bill Frisell. Hardly a single significant player is overlooked. In addition, there's an attractive variety to the essays themselves, which include both close-focus examinations of particular performances such as Django Reinhardt's "You Rascal You," and wide-angle historical pieces such as Leonard Feather's introductory ramble, which crams seven decades into 11 pages.

About the Author:

James Sallis is a guitar player and writer. He is the author of The Guitar Players, available as a Bison Book, and of the novels The Long-Legged Fly, Moth, and Black Hornet.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Nebraska Press
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0803242506
• ISBN 13: 9780803242500
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 220
• Editor: Sallis James