Overview

Jim and Andy's in New York was one of the city's four musicians' haunts in the 1960s. In a vivid series of portraits, we meet its clientele, an unforgettable gallery of individualists including Duke Ellington, Artie Shaw, Woody Herman, Art Farmer, Billy Taylor, Gerry Mulligan, and Paul Desmond.

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9780195046113

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Reviews

'[a] collection that strikingly illuminates the jazz life' Los Angeles Daily News 'Perceptive, witty, personalized essays by an insider provide an affectionate look at the jazz world and its performers that is sure to please the afficionado.' Booklist 'one of the masterpieces on jazz by the best jazz essayist there is' Booklist 'filled with perceptive observations and richly entertaining tales of the jazz scene ... Wit and insight abound in this very readable book.' Washington News 'a welcome jazz paperback publication' Beat Scene 'Lees, well-known as a music critic and songwriter in America, met many of the great names in jazz in its comforting depths. Here he draws on his close acquaintanceship with some of them - Duke Ellington, Artie Shaw, Woody Herman, among others - to produce a series of entertaining articles about the men and their music. Lees is a seasoned reporter with an extensive knowledge of jazz and most of his subjects are colourful enough to make the book enjoyable reading even for those who know little about the music.' Sunday Times 'A thoroughly enjoyable book, painting jazzmen as hard-working, keen-thinking experts, who enjoy what they do and, as much as anybody else, love a good laugh. By getting to know the players so well, so much more about what they do falls into place.' Q 'Lees is a seasoned reporter with an extensive knowledge of jazz and most of his subjects are colourful enough to make the book enjoyable reading even for those who know little about the music.' Sunday Times 'Lees is a seasoned reporter with an extensive knowledge of jazz and most of his subjects are colourful enough to make the book enjoyable reading even for those who know little about the music.' The Observer 'Vivid portraits of the musicians who frequented this famous New York club in the 60's.' Jazzwise

Lees' excellent Singers and the Song (1987) extolled the tradition of American song-writing; now he has gathered together another collection of his occasional writings, this time on jazz and its proponents and practictioners. Jim and Andy's was a postwar bar on Manhattan's West 48th Street that was one of the major haunts of jazz musicians. For almost every musician I knew, it was a home-away-from-home, restaurant, watering-hole, telephone answering service, informal savings (and loan) bank, and storage place for musical instruments. Many of Jim and Andy's clientele - musicians such as Artie Shaw, Woody Herman, Duke Ellington, Billy Taylor, and Paul Desmond - are limned here in loving strokes. But this isn't just puffy nostalgia. There are important insights that peer through the reminiscences. In one article, Lees debunks the myth, propagated by such writers as Nat Hentoff, that poor, uneducated black folks invented [jazz] out of inspiration and thin air and that a WASP establishment has ever since kept [them] on the outside looking in. . . Lees disputes this, pointing to over 30,000 jazz bands in the US, to Dave Baker's position as head of jazz studies at Indiana University, to Mary Lou Williams' appointment as artist-in-residence at Duke University, to the large number of honorary doctorates held by jazz musicians. Lees also debunks as elitist the idea that jazz was created by uneducated people. He describes many of the jazz performers as superior musicians who mastered the craft the only way it can be done, by education, formal or otherwise, and hard work. Or, as Harry Sweets Edison put it: Jazz is no folk music. It's too hard to play. Jim and Andy's has long since given way to the glass-and-steel monoliths of Sixth Avenue. But Lees ensures that the great tradition of which he writes will not be so easily forgotten. (Kirkus Reviews)

'Vivid portraits of the musicians who frequented this famous New York club in the 60's.' Jazzwise 'Lees is a seasoned reporter with an extensive knowledge of jazz and most of his subjects are colourful enough to make the book enjoyable reading even for those who know little about the music.' The Observer 'Lees is a seasoned reporter with an extensive knowledge of jazz and most of his subjects are colourful enough to make the book enjoyable reading even for those who know little about the music.' Sunday Times 'A thoroughly enjoyable book, painting jazzmen as hard-working, keen-thinking experts, who enjoy what they do and, as much as anybody else, love a good laugh. By getting to know the players so well, so much more about what they do falls into place.' Q 'Lees, well-known as a music critic and songwriter in America, met many of the great names in jazz in its comforting depths. Here he draws on his close acquaintanceship with some of them - Duke Ellington, Artie Shaw, Woody Herman, among others - to produce a series of entertaining articles about the men and their music. Lees is a seasoned reporter with an extensive knowledge of jazz and most of his subjects are colourful enough to make the book enjoyable reading even for those who know little about the music.' Sunday Times 'a welcome jazz paperback publication' Beat Scene 'filled with perceptive observations and richly entertaining tales of the jazz scene ... Wit and insight abound in this very readable book.' Washington News 'one of the masterpieces on jazz by the best jazz essayist there is' Booklist 'Perceptive, witty, personalized essays by an insider provide an affectionate look at the jazz world and its performers that is sure to please the afficionado.' Booklist '[a] collection that strikingly illuminates the jazz life' Los Angeles Daily News

Author Information

Editor and publisher of ""Jazzletter"". Author of ""Singers and the Song"" (OUP/USA 1987). Lyric-writer.

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