New Orleans: Playing a Jazz Chorus

by Samuel Charters

This book is a deeply personal portrait of the people and music of today’s New Orleans—a city that has been hard hit by Katrina, but is managing to keep its great jazz tradition, brass band scene, incomparable food, and unique lifestyle vital and intact.
Among the musicians appearing in this book the Rebirth Brass Band, Hot 8, the Soul Rebels, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Johnny Vidacovich, Barry Martyn, Lars Edegran, Chuck Badie, Pete Fountain, Michael White, the Hot Club of New Orleans, Coco Robicheaux, record company owner George Buck, and gospel musician Billy Edwards.
The book also presents portraits of everyday New Orleans people confronting a challenging situation.

Genres: Music

336 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2006

About the author

Samuel Charters was an American music historian, writer, record producer, musician, and poet.

Reviews

[Virginia Baker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes the narration in this book dragged a bit, but there is such great insight to the world of New Orleans jazz, which is awesome. Samuel Charters knows what he's talking about. And coming back to the city after Katrina makes for a great dramatic change and a chance to see the true spirit of the city. This book showed me a lot of great musicians I was previously unaware of, so thanks for that. Jazz, check. New Orleans, check. Good read, fo' sho

[Bro (Dave Kurimsky) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book. I learned a bit about hurricane Katrina, a bit about the current music scene in New Orleans. It seemed kind of strange to me while I was reading that the author didn't profile more black musicians. But I don't fault him for that, the book is about his tastes, his friends and his connections to New Orleans. This book turned me on to some cool music.