Weather Bird Jazz at the Dawn of Its Second Century

by Giddins, Gary

• ISBN13: 9780195156072
• ISBN10: 0195156072
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-11-15
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

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. Now comes Weather Bird , a brilliant companion volume to Visions of Jazz . In this superb collection of essays, reviews and articles, Giddins brings together, for the first time, more than 140 pieces written over a 14-year period, most of them for his column in the Village Voice (also called "Weather Bird"). The book is first and foremost a celebration of jazz, with illuminating commentary on contemporary jazz events, on today's top musicians, on 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 taken together offer 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.

Author Biography

Gary Giddins wrote the Village Voice's "Weather Bird" column for 30 years. His eight books and three documentary films have garnered unparalleled recognition for jazz, including a National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism, two Ralph J. Gleason Music Book Awards, five ASCAP-Deems Taylor Awards, a Peabody, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He received national attention for his commentary in Ken Burns's Jazz. He lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

Introduction and Acknowledgments	xiii
Part One: The Beige Decade, 1990--2000
Tender Moments (JVC 1990)	3	(4)
Front Porch Blues (Colorado 1990)	7	(4)
Chippin' Off the Old Block (Javon Jackson)	11	(2)
Heavy Mettle Thunder (Ronald Shannon Jackson)	13	(3)
Go Wes, Young Man (Mark Whitfield)	16	(3)
Jazz Danish (The Jazzpar Concert)	19	(4)
The Glow of Doc Cheatham (JVC 1991, Part One)	23	(6)
Miles Ahead (JVC 1991, Part Two)	29	(3)
Benny's Brood (Rickey Woodard / Jesse Davis)	32	(4)
The Advocate (Eddie Condon)	36	(5)
Martin Williams, 1924--1992	41	(4)
Grand-Lee (Lee Konitz)	45	(2)
Swing to Black (Doc Severinsen)	47	(4)
Lions in Summer (JVC 1992)	51	(8)
Yin, Yang, and Noir (Oliver Lake / Charlie Haden)	59	(3)
Always True in Her Fashion (Peggy Lee)	62	(4)
Computer Wars (Robert Parker)	66	(4)
Giant Step (Jackie McLean)	70	(2)
Vivid Multitudes (The Best Jazz Records of 1992)	72	(4)
PG-13 (Rosemary Clooney)	76	(2)
Living Large (Bobby Watson)	78	(3)
Gallic Swing (Stephane Grappelli)	81	(3)
A Surprise Banquet (JVC 1993)	84	(7)
Tremolos and Elegies (Cyrus Chestnut)	91	(4)
The Power and the Reticence (JVC 1994)	95	(4)
Leonard Feather, 1914--1994	99	(4)
After the Ball (Gerry Mulligan / Maria Schneider)	103	(4)
Redefining Dizzy (The Carnegie Hall Jazz Band / Lalo Schifrin)	107	(4)
The Swinging Cowboy (Herb Jeffries)	111	(5)
Festival Blues (JVC 1995)	116	(6)
Young and Verbal (Carmen McRae)	122	(3)
Three by Three (Tim Hagans / Dave Douglas / Roy Hargrove)	125	(3)
Different Drummer (Modern Jazz Quartet)	128	(4)
They Never Went Away (Big Bands)	132	(3)
Beyond the Rudiments (The Best Jazz Records of 1995)	135	(5)
Lost and Found (Brian Barley / Andrew Hill)	140	(3)
Monk with Frets (Marc Ribot)	143	(3)
The King (Benny Carter)	146	(10)
Drum Dada (Han Bennink)	156	(3)
On Their Own (Gerry Gibbs / Ravi Coltrane)	159	(3)
Classic Ambition (Wynton Marsalis)	162	(3)
Hard of Hearing (JVC 1997)	165	(5)
= 2 (Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock)	170	(3)
New Tunes for an Old Ax (Joe Morris)	173	(3)
Lit at Both Ends (D. D. Jackson)	176	(3)
They're Bo-o-o-o-xed! (The Best Reissues of 1997)	179	(4)
Piano Men (Teddy Wilson / Lennie Tristano / Bill Evans)	183	(3)
The Arranger's Monk (Bill Holman / T. S. Monk / Fred Hersch)	186	(4)
Reviving the It Girls (The Boswell Sisters)	190	(3)
Turner Classic Moves (Mark Turner)	193	(3)
Fusions (Wayne Shorter / Odyssey)	196	(3)
Is Everybody Happy? (Texaco--New York Jazz Festival)	199	(4)
Requiem for a Flag-Waver (JVC 1998)	203	(5)
The Original Dixieland One-Step (New Orleans Jazz)	208	(3)
Rousing Rabble (JATP)	211	(4)
Old Guys Yes, Retro Never (The Best Jazz Records of 1998)	215	(4)
A Bottomless Well (Duke Ellington)	219	(3)
Jaki Byard, 1922--1999	222	(3)
Out of the Vinyl Deeps (Record Rarities)	225	(3)
Prisoners of the Past (JVC 1999)	228	(4)
Rapprochement (Cecil Taylor / Elvin Jones / Dewey Redman)	232	(3)
Good Vibrations (Stefon Harris)	235	(3)
Lester Bowie, 1941--1999	238	(4)
The Masters Have It (The Best Jazz Records of 1999)	242	(3)
Hammond's Best and Brightest (From Spirituals to Swing)	245	(3)
Hipper Than Thou (Bob Dorough)	248	(3)
Freed Jazz: Bell One (Ornette Coleman)	251	(4)
Comeback Number Six (Lonnie Johnson)	255	(2)
Mrs. Swing (Mildred Bailey)	257	(6)
Saved by the Classics: Bell Two (Bell Atlantic 2000)	263	(4)
Touring the Jazz Museum (JVC 2000)	267	(5)
Carterology (James Carter)	272	(3)
Zooids New and Old (Henry Threadgill / Roswell Rudd and Archie Shepp)	275	(4)
Saturnal Sorcery (Sun Ra)	279	(4)
The One You've Been Waiting For (Sonny Rollins)	283	(3)
All the Things He Was (Carnegie Hall Jazz Band)	286	(4)
Signposts of Post-history (The Best Jazz Records of 2000)	290	(5)
Bedside Jazz (More Best Jazz Records of 2000)	295	(4)
Parajazz (The Avant-garde)	299	(14)
Part Two: The Second Century, 2001--2003
The Neglected King of Song (Bing Crosby)	313	(7)
Here's the Melody (John Lewis)	320	(3)
Over the Transom (Arnie Carruthers / Larry Vuckovich / Nicholas Hoffman / Gold Sparkle)	323	(4)
Memorophiliac (Vijay Iyer)	327	(2)
Weird and Forgotten Dreams (Charles Mingus / Helen Carr / Herb Jeffries / LH&R / Sarah Vaughan)	329	(4)
A Quartet of Five (Dave Brubeck)	333	(6)
Billy Higgins, 1936--2001	339	(4)
Boom! (Louis Armstrong)	343	(6)
Found and Lost (Terence Blanchard)	349	(3)
Ladies Day (Billie Holiday)	352	(10)
Mood Swings (Tom Harrell)	362	(4)
Nashville (Ted Nash)	366	(3)
Minnie the Moocher's Revenge (JVC 2001)	369	(7)
Go Tell It on the Mountain (David S. Ware)	376	(4)
Looking for Better Than That (Diana Krall / Jeanie Bryson / Vanessa Rubin / Etta James / Rosemary Clooney)	380	(3)
Strictly Solalian (Martial Solal)	383	(4)
Heir to a Secret History (Jason Moran)	387	(3)
Master Class (Jimmy Heath)	390	(4)
Fearless (Tony Bennett)	394	(4)
All Around the Town (Uri Caine)	398	(3)
Bad Haircut, Good Ragtime (Brun Campbell)	401	(4)
Laureate (Irving Berlin)	405	(2)
Heroes at Work (``Made in America'')	407	(3)
Brutality and Revival (The Best Jazz Records of 2001)	410	(5)
Reissues by the Box, Singers by the Cut (More Best Jazz Records of 2001)	415	(4)
Long Roads (Harry Belafonte)	419	(3)
Gypsy State of Mind (Bireli Lagrene)	422	(3)
Surviving the Marketplace (Sonny Stitt / Bobby Hackett)	425	(4)
The Microtonal Man (Joe Maneri)	429	(3)
Singing Cool and Hot (Cassandra Wilson / Dee Dee Bridgewater)	432	(3)
Our Chopin (Cecil Taylor)	435	(4)
She Writes the Songs (Abbey Lincoln)	439	(3)
Black Arthur's Return (Arthur Blythe)	442	(4)
Enchantment (Johnny Hodges / Rex Stewart)	446	(4)
Continuing Education (Marian McPartland)	450	(4)
Fully Interactive (Bill Charlap)	454	(4)
Fetishizing the LP (Verve Miniatures)	458	(3)
Personality (Houston Person)	461	(4)
Postwar Jazz: An Arbitrary Roadmap (1945--2001)	465	(23)
How Not to Broaden the Jazz Canvas (Carnegie Hall Jazz Band)	488	(4)
Where's Waldo? (JVC 2002)	492	(5)
Almost Peas in a Pod (Tony Bennett / Sarah Vaughan)	497	(4)
Lionel Hampton, 1908--2002	501	(4)
Genius (Charlie Christian)	505	(2)
At the Summit (Sonny Rollins)	507	(4)
Purely Piano (Ethan Iverson / Vijay Iyer / Jason Moran)	511	(3)
Point Counter Point (Dave Holland)	514	(4)
Christmas Gilt (Ella Fitzgerald / Johnny Smith / Grant Green / Others)	518	(3)
Jazzman of the Year: 2002 (Clark Terry)	521	(4)
Everything That Rises Must Converge (The Best Jazz Records of 2002)	525	(4)
Hot (Louis Armstrong)	529	(11)
Out of the Territories (Steven Bernstein)	540	(3)
Aqui Se Habla Espanol (David Murray)	543	(4)
French Music, Not Necessarily Freedom Music (Louis Sclavis)	547	(4)
Equilateral Chamber Jazz (The Bad Plus)	551	(3)
Satchuated (Louis Armstrong)	554	(4)
The Academy's Pulitzer (Jazz and the Pulitzer Prize)	558	(4)
Savooooy Be Gooood (Jazz Jive)	562	(3)
Swashbuckler (Erroll Garner)	565	(4)
Deep Easy Listening (Jim Hall / Cyrus Chestnut)	569	(4)
Masters of Time (Roy Haynes / Max Roach)	573	(4)
Ornette and Others (JVC 2003)	577	(6)
Overview and Meditation (Art Ensemble of Chicago)	583	(2)
All Duke's Chillun Got Melody (Gerry Mulligan)	585	(3)
Midlife Bloom (Dianne Reeves)	588	(2)
Flee as a Bird (Weather Bird)	590	(2)
How Come Jazz Isn't Dead? (Music's Four Stations)	592	(15)
Index	607