Weather Bird: Jazz at the Dawn of Its Second Century

by Gary Giddins

Gary Giddins's Weather Bird is a brilliant companion volume to his landmark in music criticism, Visions of Jazz , winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism. More then 140 pieces, written over a 14-year period, are brought together for the first time in this superb collection of essays, reviews, and articles. Weather Bird is a celebration of jazz, with illuminating commentaryon contemporary jazz events, today's top muscicians, the best records of the year, and on leading figures from jazz's past. Readers will find extended pieces on Louis Armstrong, Erroll Garner, Benny Carter, Sonny Rollins, Dave Brubeck, Ornette Coleman, Billie Holiday, Cassandra Wilson, Tony Bennett, and many others. Giddins includes a series of articles on the annual JVC Jazz Festival, which offers a splendid overview of jazz in the 1990s. Other highlights include an astute look at avant-garde music ("Parajazz") and his challenging essay, "How Come Jazz Isn't Dead?" which advances a
theory about the way art is born, exploited, celebrated, and sidelined to the museum.
A radiant compendium by America's leading music critic, Weather Bird offers an unforgettable look at the modern jazz scene.

Genres: Music, Jazz, History, Criticism, Nonfiction, Journalism, Biography

632 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

This companion tome to "Visions of Jazz" finds Giddins covering the state of jazz music as it enters its second century. Like "Visions," "Weather Bird" is littered with music jargon, which can be problematic for anyone who has not studied music theory--like me. Once I got past the rubatos and glissandi and andantes, I found a series of reports from the frontlines and archeological excavations of jazz. Giddin's exuberance and excitement arising from the discovery of a new or renewed voice in jazz was infectious. His coverage of the JVC Festivals read like an annual state of the jazz union. Giddins ends this collection of essays with a farewell to his "Weather Bird" column for the Village Voice as it began negotiations of a merger with New Times Publications, and a note of optimism for the future of jazz.