Experiencing jazz A listener's companion

Review by Choice Review

Experiencing Jazz is unlike any other listener's guide. An experienced jazz performer himself, Stephans (Bloomington Univ.) describes this book as a "guided tour to the world of jazz." Rather than offering an alphabetical compendium of artists with brief annotations about his favorite recordings (and to whom one should listen), the author digs deeper to help the reader better understand what to listen for and how to listen. He engages the reader with descriptions of venues, the life of a working musician, record labels, and the business of music. At the heart of the book are some dozen chapters devoted to the principle instruments in jazz, and conversations with a master of that particular instrument. Since this is not a comprehensive history, certain artists will be ignored or not given due prominence, even though they are important to the development of that instrument and the music. A solid resource for an appreciation class, Experiencing Jazz takes up many substantive topics. This volume will lead to a more meaningful appreciation of jazz and its practitioners. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates; professionals; general readers. J. Farrington Eastman School of Music

Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.

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Review by Booklist Review

This guide to jazz by jazz drummer and educator Stephans is for the interested but uninformed reader. One would need to be extremely interested, because the book is quite long, comprehensive, and occasionally dense, but readers who persevere will emerge more informed listeners, better able to enjoy and appreciate America's great music. Still, there are problems. The author's introductory assertion that he departs from chronological sequence in favor of an instrument-by-instrument discussion is only partially true, and the doubly focused narrative results in considerable repetition. There is more on the musicians than the music, and much of the text devolves to mere lists of names, on which many standout performers and groups not fitting the author's framework are only fleetingly mentioned (Roland Kirk, Chucho Valdes, and Regina Carter or any other violinist), and others (particularly his friends, fellow educators, and bandmates) are overemphasized. Its perspective is very New York, overlooking the fertile West Coast and Chicago music scenes (the Art Ensemble of Chicago and the AACM are only touched upon). He provides useful chapter-by-chapter bibliographies and, in lieu of a discography, a guide to websites, an inevitable twenty-first-century departure from the previous norm in books of this kind. Recommended as a supplementary source for jazz collections.--Levine, Mark Copyright 2010 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.

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Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Award-winning writer, teacher, and renowned jazz drummer Michael Stephans invites the reader on a guided tour of the jazz world in this essential survey of the genre's history. This groundbreaking book reframes ever-evolving, distinctly human, art of jazz and invites readers to relearn how to listen. Yes, listening, really listening to music is the lost art that Stephans works to preserve. He forgoes chronological order instead approaching the subject from the standpoint of instruments and musical innovators while offering a comprehensive social, cultural and musical history of jazz, from its birth to its present day. This survey of jazz is particular among jazz appreciation texts because it is written by a jazz musician who is currently active on the global jazz scene. With a forward by esteemed jazz writer, Doug Ramsey, and preface by jazz master, Dave Liebman, this text is a culmination of many prominent voices of the jazz world. At the heart of the book, readers are invited onto the bandstand to listen to personal accounts and legendary jazz stories. In an art form that enriches the lives of the listener and the musician, "the more we listen, the more we hear." (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

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