Review by Booklist Review
Whitehead delivers a survey of the genre that's painfully simple for even the casual jazz fan but readable enough to pull in neophytes, especially those who catch Whitehead's jazz reviews on NPR's Fresh Air. The information a brief tutorial on how the music works, followed by a historical survey of jazz is delivered in bite-size pieces presented in Q&A format. Sample questions: What material do jazz musicians play? What is stride piano? What is cool jazz? How are modern jazz musicians educated? If the questions are simplistic, Whitehead still covers a lot of bases: jazz theory, origins of the genre, seminal figures, subgenres, and, helpfully, postmodern jazz. A nice, light primer that might be useful as collateral reading for beginning jazz-appreciation classes.--Moores, Alan Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review
Whitehead, jazz critic for National Public Radio, tries to compete with Dirk Sutro's Jazz for Dummies with this book for those new to jazz. Arranging his material chronologically, he starts with basic concepts such as swinging, blue notes, and improvisation, then moves through the first four decades of jazz, discussing ragtime, 1920s jazz pioneers Louis Armstrong and Bix Beiderbecke, and the big band sounds of Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Benny Goodman. The author continues with chapters about bop and hard bop, plus recent developments, such as a fixation on the jazz tradition, "M-Base," and postmodern jazz. Writing in a conversational style and organizing the book as a series of questions, Whitehead summarizes the highlights of jazz but provides little context to his facts and seldom discusses why certain movements and artists rose to prominence. He could also have provided lists of prominent players by era and a brief guide to listening in place of his sections about musical theory, which will confuse novices. VERDICT Though a good attempt, Why Jazz? will likely not replace more comprehensive titles. Sutro's Jazz for Dummies is a go-to intro.-Dave Szatmary, Univ. of Washington, Seattle (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
