American Musicians: 56 Portraits in Jazz

by Whitney Balliett

American Musicians , Whitney Balliett's long-awaited "big book," contains a wealth of jazz profiles he has written for The New Yorker during the past twenty-seven years. He gives us, in this spectacular volume, his famous early portraits of Pee Wee Russell, Red Allen, Earl Hines, and Mary
Lou Williams, written in their brilliant twilight years; his reconstructions of the lives of such legends as Sidney Bechet, Coleman Hawkins, Jack Teagarden, Zoot Sims, and Sidney Catlett; his brief but indelible glimpses into the daily (or nocturnal) lives of Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus; and
his vivid depictions of such on-the-scene masters as Jim Hall, Ornette Coleman, Stéphane Grappelli, Elvin Jones, Art Farmer, the Modern Jazz Quartet, and Tommy Flanagan. He also includes his thoughts on such lesser known but invaluable players as Art Hodes, Jabbo Smith, Joe Wilder, Warne Marsh,
Gene Bertoncini, and Joe Bushkin.
American Musicians is at once a history of jazz, a biographical encyclopedia of many of its most important performers, and a model of American prose.

Genres: Music, History

Paperback

First published October 23, 1986

About the author

Whitney Lyon Balliett was a jazz critic and book reviewer for The New Yorker and was with the journal from 1954 until 2001.

Reviews

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read this book several times. I picked it up again to re-read the piece on Louis Prima's early-career associate Pee Wee Russell, and I'm hooked again. I think Whitney Balliett marked my transition from writers like (the great) Lester Bangs who wrote as much about the drugs they took before the show as the show itself. Balliett's the complete package, a Studs Terkel who wrote about jazz during the transition from old, weird America to the modern age. Jess Stacy's vignette about doubling as a riverboat pianist/calliope player was perfect. Balliett could write beautifully about music without using any sort of theory-jargon, but seemingly tossed-off phrases like "that Valhalla where all great unrecorded jazz solos go" (Stacy again) become shorthand for some of the thornier ideas of music.

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides a good idea of the jazz musicians life in the USA in the 1950s and 1960s. An interesting read about 56 jazz musicians, mostly born in the United States. Each short story includes a half page biography and a few pages as if the musician is in the company of the author, without the author ever intruding. It's the musician talking about his musical influences and experiences with other musicians. There seems to be a common theme in that most jazz musicians during the 1950s and 1960s experience alcoholism or drug addiction, a marriage break up, ending up in New York at sometime in their career, when young, a strong inclination to learning an instrument, usually being able to play at least two instruments, very late nights, and music companionship. Mostly about jazz life in the late 1940s to the 1960s in the USA. Some very interesting character sketches giving a good glimpse of the person and even their way of speaking. I enjoyed reading this book. I found most of the characters interesting, helped by the author's very good writing style and knowledge of jazz. It is a book that is a useful jazz reference book.

[Peter Campbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whitney was one of the most knowledgeable writers on the subject. His excellent prose demonstrates his love and deep understanding of the music. This collection of short pieces is is brought together from various articles that he had published in various jazz periodicals.