The Jazz Scene
An Informal History from New Orleans to 1990
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Oxford University Press Inc
Published:23rd Sep '93
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
W. Royal Stokes is renowned for his ability to transform revealing interviews into meaningful and elegant prose. Combining interview with perceptive commentary, this personal view of the whole history and spectrum of American jazz deals with the differing styles found in New Orleans, Chicago, Harlem, Detroit, and Kansas City, and introduces the reader to all manner of composers, bands, singers, and instrumentalists who made their name playing in America and Europe.
`Stokes has encapsulated the compelling diversity of jazz in a single manageable volume. Thoroughly recommended.' Jazz Express
'a living, breathing document of jazz history artfully knitted into a chronological sequence ... His chapter on the origins of jazz is counterbalanced by a brilliant and insightful snapshot of contemporary New Orleans, and his gently proffered socio-economic arguments are as plausible an explanation as I've seen for the neoclassicism of Marsalis and his contemporaries.' Alyn Shipton, Jazz
'an enthralling book, based on dozens of interviews with jazz musicians from all parts of the United States and from all manner of backgrounds ... The book is thorough and absorbing from the first page to the last.' Peter Hepple, Stage & Television Today
'The beauty of Martin Williams's interviews was that they always read like spontaneous encounters between like-minded individuals, rather than Q & A sessions.' Brian Morton, The Times
ISBN: 9780195082708
Dimensions: 234mm x 156mm x 19mm
Weight: 408g
288 pages