Weather Bird: Jazz at the Dawn of Its Second Century

by Gary Giddins

Book Overview

Gary Giddins's magnificent book Visions of Jazz has been hailed as a landmark in music criticism. Jonathan Yardley in The Washington Post called it "the definitive compendium by the most interesting jazz critic now at work." And Alfred Appel, Jr., in The New York Times Book Review, said it was "the finest unconventional history of jazz ever written." It was the first work on jazz ever to win the National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism.
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• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195156072
• ISBN13: 9780195156072
• Release Date: November 2004
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 632 Pages
• Weight: 2.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.7" x 9.5" x 6.4"

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!