San Antonio College Library

Here are the great jazz men of the 1950s, all of whom have come to prominence since the rise of the late Charlie Parker, all of whom are the leaders of the jazz world. Beginning with Gerry Mulligan and the "cool" jazz of the early fifties, the author discusses the most significant figures of the decade: Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, the Brubeck quartet, the controversial Charlie Mingus, Ornette Coleman and his plastic saxophone, the...

"Pianist George Shearing is that rare thing, a European jazz musician who became a household name in the US, as a result of the 'Shearing sound' - the recordings of his historic late 1940s quintet. Together with his unique 'locked hands' approach to playing the piano, Shearing's quintet with guitar and vibraphone in close harmony to his own playing revolutionised small group jazz, and ensured that after seven years as Melody Maker's top British pianist,...

A complete study of jazz, from its inceptions to its modern style, and the many artists who made it what it is.

"In 1966, at the height of the avant-garde and the year of the first edition, the subjects of Spellman's interviews for the book - Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman, Herbie Nichols, and Jackie McLean - were considered too subtle, complex, or difficult, certainly far from the comfortable melodies of more mainstream artists. Nearly forty years later, in the new edition, Spellman notes the capriciousness of the jazz industry and writes of darker cultural...

It was Louis Armstrong who said, "These people who make the restrictions, they don't know nothing about music. It's no crime for cats of any color to get together and blow." "You can't know what it means to be black in the United States--in any field," Dizzy Gillespie once said, but Gillespie vigorously objected to the proposition that only black people could play jazz. "If you accept that premise, well then what you're saying is that maybe black...

A master of swing and scat with pop/jazz crossover appeal, Ella Fitzgerald could outsing just about anyone. Her 60-year career-launched at 17 when she won an amateur singing contest at the Apollo Theater-saw her rise from a life of poverty to become an enduring icon of American music. This program, an examination of Fitzgerald's captivating music within the context of her eventful life, amply illustrates why recordings of this beloved diva continue...