What do you think?
Rate this book
Jazz Changes
An evening with Thelonious Monk at the Five Spot Cafe. Jelly Roll Morton's recordings for the Library of Congress. Langston Hughes reading poetry to the sound of jazz. The tragic life of Billie Holiday. Over the years, Martin Williams has explored subjects both intimate and imposing, always
with a sharp eye and prose as musical as his beloved jazz. In Jazz Changes , he brings together some of the finest pieces he has written over the last thirty years to take readers on an engaging personal tour of the changing jazz world.
Jazz Changes is 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. Here he offers an extended interview with Ross
Russell about the famous Dial Record sessions with Charlie Parker that Russell initiated, his extensive notes for the reissue of the famous recording session conducted with Jelly Roll Morton at the Library of Congress in 1938, as well as profiles and comments on such performers as John Lewis,
Thelonious Monk, Dinah Washington, and Fats Waller. We read amusing parodies of how jazz critics in 1965 might have assessed the Beatles (he has one well-known critic saying that Paul McCartney "sings as if he half expected a shrewish mother to scold him for paying too much attention to the girls")
and reflections on the Ellington era (Ellington "worked with [the orchestra] as the great playwrights have worked with their companies of actors...as the great European composers have worked for specific instrumentalists or singers"). He concludes with an eloquent plea for critics to pay attention
to jazz "We all need to show that we are absolutely serious about this music as a contribution to world culture. And that means we must treat it in the same way that man has always treated a past he wants preserved and respected." And on every page, Williams's keen mind and gifted pen
bring the music and the musicians to life.
Praised as "perhaps the greatest living jazz critic" (Gunther Schuller) and "one of the most distinguished critics (of anything) this country has produced" (Gary Giddins, The Village Voice ), Martin Williams has been perceptively chronicling the development of jazz for more than three decades.
Building on the great success of his previous collections of jazz writings-- The Jazz Tradition , Jazz Heritage , and Jazz in its Time --this book offers brilliant insights into today's changing jazz scene.
with a sharp eye and prose as musical as his beloved jazz. In Jazz Changes , he brings together some of the finest pieces he has written over the last thirty years to take readers on an engaging personal tour of the changing jazz world.
Jazz Changes is 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. Here he offers an extended interview with Ross
Russell about the famous Dial Record sessions with Charlie Parker that Russell initiated, his extensive notes for the reissue of the famous recording session conducted with Jelly Roll Morton at the Library of Congress in 1938, as well as profiles and comments on such performers as John Lewis,
Thelonious Monk, Dinah Washington, and Fats Waller. We read amusing parodies of how jazz critics in 1965 might have assessed the Beatles (he has one well-known critic saying that Paul McCartney "sings as if he half expected a shrewish mother to scold him for paying too much attention to the girls")
and reflections on the Ellington era (Ellington "worked with [the orchestra] as the great playwrights have worked with their companies of actors...as the great European composers have worked for specific instrumentalists or singers"). He concludes with an eloquent plea for critics to pay attention
to jazz "We all need to show that we are absolutely serious about this music as a contribution to world culture. And that means we must treat it in the same way that man has always treated a past he wants preserved and respected." And on every page, Williams's keen mind and gifted pen
bring the music and the musicians to life.
Praised as "perhaps the greatest living jazz critic" (Gunther Schuller) and "one of the most distinguished critics (of anything) this country has produced" (Gary Giddins, The Village Voice ), Martin Williams has been perceptively chronicling the development of jazz for more than three decades.
Building on the great success of his previous collections of jazz writings-- The Jazz Tradition , Jazz Heritage , and Jazz in its Time --this book offers brilliant insights into today's changing jazz scene.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1992
12 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 18, 2017
Martin Williams is one of my favorite jazz writers, and this collection brings together many short pieces of his that had been hard to find. There are interviews, fly-on-the-wall observational accounts, liner notes, record reviews, and some in-depth musical analysis. When Williams gets deeply into musical analysis, he can be somewhat dry, but his feeling for musical form makes his knottier passages worth reading. Of course, with any collection like this, some parts are going to be better than others. And this book is not for the jazz neophyte. But for those who want to explore some less-traveled roads of jazz writing, this book is recommended.
January 30, 2017
Great book that gives insight to multiple eras of Jazz music. I especially enjoyed the interview portions of the book because it gave the sense that Williams not only respects these musicians, but is familiar with them in a more intimate way than just a mere critic. Several of the conversations would not be out of place at a coffee shop where two friends have gathered to fill each other in on what they had missed while being apart. Great book. If you love Jazz, pick this one up.
August 7, 2009
Brought back lots of memories and taught me about people I didn't know. Nice way to get back into thinking about music.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews