Faces In The Crowd: Musicians, Writers, Actors, And Filmmakers

by Gary Giddins

In Faces in the Crowd Gary Giddins explores the achievements of thirty-seven artists, ranging from Irving Berlin to Spike Lee, Billie Holiday to Kay Starr, Louis Armstrong to Miles Davis, Elias Canetti to Philip Roth. He shows how Jack Benny revolutionized comedy; assesses the hardboiled fiction of James M.Cain, Raymond Chandler, and Elmore Leonard; recounts how he uncovered the true birthdate of Louis Armstrong; chats with Clint Eastwood about Charlie Parker. And, of course, he writes with authority on the great jazz musicians. This provocative and entertaining collection reveals why Gary Giddins has become one of the most influential critics of his generation.

Genres: Music, Jazz, Literary Criticism, Nonfiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

Reviews

[Dan Lalande · Rating 3 out of 5]

The great Giddins, critical gatekeeper of 20th-century showbusiness, assembles a collection of pieces from the late 80s and early 90s. As one of America's foremost authorities on jazz, the best entries are on practitioners of that music, wherein Giddins demonstrates his molecular historical and technical understanding of the genre. He throws in a few filmmakers and a handful of writers (prompting one of his best lines: "the gripes of Roth") to affirm his cultural well-roundedness, but his musical ear is clearly his primary muse.