The Cambridge Companion to Jazz

Takes the reader through the essentials from locating and defining jazz to jazz in performance.

Mervyn Cooke (Edited by), David Horn (Edited by)

9780521663205, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 9 January 2003

426 pages, 9 b/w illus. 15 music examples
25.5 x 18 x 2.4 cm, 0.95 kg

'… most of the writers in this Companion are academics, and it's hard to fault the obvious passion underlying their diverse points of view.' BBC Music Magazine

The vibrant world of jazz may be viewed from many perspectives, from social and cultural history to music analysis, from economics to ethnography. It is challenging and exciting territory. This volume of nineteen specially commissioned essays provides informed and accessible guidance to the challenge, offering the reader a range of expert views on the character, history and uses of jazz. The book starts by considering what kind of identity jazz has acquired and how, and goes on to discuss the crucial practices that define jazz and to examine some specific moments of historical change and some important issues for jazz study. Finally, it looks at a set of perspectives that illustrate different 'takes' on jazz - ways in which jazz has been valued and represented.

Chronology of jazz
The word 'jazz' Krin Gabbard
Part I. Jazz Times: 1. The identity of jazz David Horn
2. The jazz diaspora Bruce Johnson
3. The jazz audience Jed Resula
4. Jazz and dance Robert Crease
Part II. Jazz Practices: 5. Jazz as musical practice Travis Jackson
6. Jazz as cultural practice Bruce Johnson
7. Jazz improvization Ingrid Monson
8. Spontaneity and organization Pete Martin
9. Jazz among the classics, and the case of Duke Ellington Mervyn Cooke
Part III. Jazz Changes: 10. 1959: the beginning of beyond Darius Brubeck
11. Free jazz and the avant-garde Jeff Pressing
12. Fusions and crossovers Stuart Nicholson
Part IV. Soundings: 13. Learning jazz, teaching jazz David Aka
14. History and myth: the problem of early jazz David Sagar
15. Analysing jazz Thomas Owens
Part V. Jazz Takes: 16. Valuing jazz Robert Walser
17. The jazz business Dave Laing
18. Images of jazz Krin Gabbard
Personalia.

Subject Areas: Jazz [AVGJ], 20th century & contemporary classical music [AVGC6]