Weather Bird: Jazz at the Dawn of Its Second Century

By Gary Giddins

Book Overview

Gary Giddins's Weather Bird is a brilliant companion volume to his landmark in music criticism, Visions of Jazz, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism. More then 140 pieces, written over a 14-year period, are brought together for the first time in this superb collection of essays, reviews, and articles. Weather Bird is a celebration of jazz, with illuminating commentaryon contemporary jazz events, today's top muscicians, the best records of the year, and on leading figures from jazz's past. Readers will find extended pieces on Louis Armstrong, Erroll Garner, Benny Carter, Sonny Rollins, Dave Brubeck, Ornette Coleman, Billie Holiday, Cassandra Wilson, Tony Bennett, and many others. Giddins includes a series of articles on the annual JVC Jazz Festival, which offers a splendid overview of jazz in the 1990s. Other highlights include an astute look at avant-garde music ("Parajazz") and his challenging essay, "How Come Jazz Isn't Dead?" which advances a theory about the way art is born, exploited, celebrated, and sidelined to the museum.
A radiant compendium by America's leading music critic, Weather Bird offers an unforgettable look at the modern jazz scene.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195304497
• ISBN13: 9780195304497
• Release Date: May 2006
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 656 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.1" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

jazz fans delight

giddins does a marvelous job of identifying the key jazz figures of the ages and sketching their techniques, showmanship and mastery of jazz idioms. a rare blend of scholarship and fascinating repartee.

A Solid Perspective on the World of Jazz--Old and New

Giddins, the author of the wonderfully detailed and perceptive biography of Bing Crosby, presents, interprets, and contrasts a wide array of topics revolving about the world of jazz: ranging from Rosemary Clooney to Louie Armstrong to the harmonious sibling act, The Boswell Sisters, as well as many essays on the state of jazz. Separately, or in the context of the entire book, Giddins's personal assessments make for provocative reading on a complex, pulsating musical genre. A great read!