Keeping Time: Readings in Jazz History

By: Walser, Robert

Book Overview

Drawing from contemporary journalism, reviews, program notes, memoirs, interviews, and other sources, Keeping Time lets you experience, first hand, the controversies and critical issues that have accompanied jazz from its very birth.
Edited by Robert Walser, these sixty-two thought provoking pieces offer a wealth of insight into jazz. Some of the giants of jazz speak to us here, including Jelly Roll Morton, Billie Holiday, Charles Mingus and Wynton Marsalis. And there are pieces by writers such as Langston Hughes, Norman Mailer, and Ralph Ellison, and by critics such as Leonard Feather and Gunther Schuller. Readers will find Louis Armstrong on what makes swing, Dizzy Gillespie on bebop, and Miles Davis on jazz-rock fusion. Equally important, Walser has selected writings that capture the passionate reactions of people who have loved, hated, supported, and argued about jazz. One can read, for instance, a dismissive article written in 1918 that relegates jazz to the "servant's hall of music" along with "the clatter of the clogs, the click of Slavic heels." Or a debate between Wynton Marsalis and Herbie Hancock over the merits of free jazz and electric instruments. Or Duke Ellington's claim that jazz is neither highbrow nor lowbrow, but "goes back to something just about as old--and as natural--as the circulation of the blood."
In the end, the focus here remains on how the music works and why people have cared about it. Filled with passionately felt, insightful writing, Keeping Time will increase one's historical awareness of jazz even as it provokes lively discussion among jazz aficionados, whether in clubs, concert halls or classrooms.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195091728
• ISBN13: 9780195091724
• Release Date: November 1998
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, Incorporated
• Length: 464 Pages
• Weight: 1.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.0" x 1.3" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

well-written and easy to read

We used this book in our graduate seminar on jazz. It was so interesting that even before class started I had finished reading the book. Many topics are discussed (roots of jazz, definitions of jazz, hip vs square, future of jazz), many important historical articles are reprinted, many major musicians are interviewed and quoted, and each writing is preceded by a clear explanation by the author of the issues discussed. The selction of topics, the breadth of knowledge given, and the flow of the book, are what make it great.

A great book for the true jazz lover

While a student in Professor Walser's Jazz class at UCLA, I was one of several students lucky enough to have read every chapter before it made it to press. Every chapter was like a time machine, transporting us back in time to an era where racism and sexism took a toll on some musicians while only strengthening the resolve of others. This book was, at the time, one of the best readings I had done in a long time. In reading direct quotes from the greats of music, you couldn't help but feel a bit inspired. "Keeping in Time" is a gem and should be assigned reading to anyone studying jazz or just wanting to learn more about the many performers who played or sang that one song you liked differently. Professor Walser certainly knows his subject matter well. And in my case, he certainly excelled in the one thing he likes to do: teach.

An Excellent Supplement

An excellent supplement to narrative or recorded jazz histories. Organized chronologically, the collection of readings is quite easy to read and offers a variety of viewpoints (musicians, interviews, critical essays, reviews, etc.) that highlight major attitudes and trends in jazz history. Walser begins each article with a brief but excellent introduction that locates each reading historically and elucidates the important critical questions that the reading poses, all without ever sounding preachy. (I only give 4 stars simply because it's a collection of older writings; for what it is, it's great.)