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9780195083491

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'a pleasantly variegated read, the perfect book to dip into' Brian Glasser, Jazz 'the kind of antennae that sort out meaningful detail from self-serving rhetoric' Brian Morton, The Times

"""[Williams's] penetrating analysis is bound to wet one's appetite for further listening.""--Roger Levesque, Edmonton Journal ""A rare combination of journalistic fluency, erudition, insight, and taste....[Williams] is one of the most serious jazz commentators, with a distaste for adjectival writing and loose talk....Excellent.""--John Fordham, Q (London) ""Williams is enthusiastic, fair and honest....He operates at a very high level indeed.""--Jonathan Yardly, The Washington Post Acclaim for Martin Williams ""Martin Williams is perhaps the greatest living jazz critic.""--Gunther Schuller ""The most distinguished critic America has produced.""--Dan Morgenstern ""Read anything of Williams you can get your hands on....His knowledge of jazz is all but unmatched.""--Washington Review ""One of the most distinguished critics (of anything) this country has produced.""--Gary Giddins, The Village Voice ""Martin Williams persisitently gets at essences, and that is why he has contributed so much to the very small body of authentic jazz criticism.""--Nat Hentoff ""Even fellow jazz writers--even jazz musicians!--have gone on record stating that Martin Williams is a national treasure. He, almost alone among jazz critics, has the ability to combine evocative impressions of the music, biographical detail about musicians, and concrete musical commentary. He describes recorded music so that even the musically illiterate can learn how to listen with greater appreciation....This makes him the writer anyone seriously interested in jazz should probably start out with, and many who do then find that he remains their favorite.""--Booklist"

Catchall of earlier (late 50's on) pieces by Williams (Jazz in its Time, 1989, etc.), some unpublished except as record-jacket copy, some from Down Beat, Saturday Review, etc. The longest piece here - a historical and musical commentary on the massive Library of Congress Folklore Archives set of Jelly Roll Morton disks recorded by Alan Lomax - is the richest. Discussing the growth of Morton's style, Williams is especially good on the musical layout of The Pearls, a neglected Morton work that is among his most lovely, and the Spanish tinge in Morton's jazz tango Mama 'Nita, a piece warm with delight. The author's most affecting piece is Billie Holiday: Anatomy of a Tragedy, which in its brief span works up much feeling. His best interview is with trumpeter Ruby Braff, who is outspoken about record producer John Hammond's buckling under to Columbia's commercial needs. An interview with Ross Russell, founder of Dial Records and first to record Charlie Parker at length, straightens out some misconceptions about Russell's ties with Bird. A piece on a reissue of the first recordings of the Quintet of the Hot Club of France, featuring Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelly, gives an uplifting overview of this imperious group of jazz swingers. A set of Ellington reissues prompts new thoughts about Ellington's earliest periods, and a commentary on Parker Gillespie's The Greatest Jazz Concert Ever (in Toronto) makes clear that Charlie Mingus indeed did rerecord his bass line for the record issue while Billy Taylor did a bit of ghosting on the Bud Powell performances as well. Meanwhile, Williams deflates four pianists he finds overrated: Oscar Peterson, Abroad Jamal, George Shearing, and Martial Solal. Jazz riches for the serious fan. (Kirkus Reviews)

Author Information

Martin Williams has written and edited a number of books on jazz. His articles have appeared in Harper's, The New York Times, and Down Beat.

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