Experiencing Big Band Jazz: A Listener's Companion

by Jeff Sultanof

The era of popular music from about 1917 onward saw an explosion of creative songwriting that converged with a new sound from reed, brass, and rhythm instruments. Jazz was born, and the musical sophistication that accompanied this original sound set the stage for the prominence of arrangers, whose role in big band orchestrations became as important as jazz musicians and composers themselves. The Big Band evolved as a unique phenomenon in American music history. With both studio and live vintage recordings readily available, an investigation of how to listen and experience Big Band music is overdue.

In Experiencing Big Band A Listener's Companion, composer/arranger, music historian, and music editor Jeff Sultanof takes a fresh look at Big Band music, examining why the Big Band era started when it did; how pop music changed to meet the needs of Big Bands and the reverse; the role played by well-known band leaders and the bands they led, the jazz soloists who became legendary, and the stories of several ensembles previously unexamined. Lists of must-hear recordings and videos drawn from studio as well as live sources are also included to make the book an invaluable resource for music lovers of every age.

-- "Publishers Weekly"

316 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 8, 2017

About the author

I am a composer/arranger/conductor, writer, editor of both music and prose and American cultural historian (Movies, TV, Theater). I've been Editorial Director for Warner Bros. Music Publications, a K-12 teacher, college professor, trade school program administrator and editor of classic big band and concert American music; these editions are published by Jazz Lines Publications (ejazzlines.com). My corrected edition of the music of the Miles Davis Nonet (Birth of the Cool) has been published by both Hal Leonard (study scores in concert) and Jazz Lines (Performance editions); I have written about this in the Journal of Jazz Studies (Rutgers University). In much of my work, I aspire to appeal to the general reader, but also include material of use to the scholar; similarly, my music is meant for professionals, but it can be played by middle school, high school and college players. Many of my older arrangements are still available.

"Experiencing Big Band Jazz" has been adopted as a text for a required course for Jazz Majors at The University of North Texas.