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"Jazz at last has matured to a full-fledged art, not only in this country, but throughout the world as well. What has been known as an American folk music is now becoming an international form of expression, with artists in all countries constantly exchanging ideas and expanding the limits of their medium. No longer is it possible for the well-informed person, the person interested in the latest developments in the art world, to relegate jazz to the realm of simple, untutored, dance-hall music. This volume is the long-awaited revised and updated edition of the now-classic The Book of Jazz. Leonard Feather, author of the famous Encyclopedia of Jazz series, has written this book for the widest possible audience--from the newcomer to the field who asks the basic, most-difficult-to-answer question, "What is jazz?" to the musicians themselves (one of whom recently asked, "Who is Bessie Smith?"). Here is a guide to jazz in all its phases: its nature, its sources, instruments, sounds, performers--and its future. The section titled "The Anatomy of Improvisation" presents for the first time actual musical illustrations of the jazz improvisations of 17 of the great soloists from Louis Armstrong and Jack Teagarden to John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman. Each solo is studied in detail and with a clarity as enlightening to the listener as to the musician. These solos lead into a unique analysis of the nature of jazz--its harmony. rhythm and structure--and show how it has evolved, from the music of the earliest days to the latest innovations. A large part of the book consists of chapters devoted to the story of the role played by each instrument and its major performers. Each history begins with a non-technical discussion of the instrument itself: its function, its range, how it was first used and how it is now used in jazz. It goes on to tell about the artists, how they developed their style and instrument, their special contribution and their relative importance in the entire world of jazz. In chapters devoted to the origins of jazz, the new evidence is bound to gain the attention of the entire jazz world. Drawing on conversations with musicians from various parts of the country, this section sheds new light on the particular places where jazz was first played. By exploring the sources, it reveals why jazz had its beginnings in the United States and what musical influences and social forces produced it. In a chapter entitled "Jazz and race," the whole story of racial discrimination in jazz is presented in unprecedented detail. It tells of the early segregation among bands, and of the breaking down of the color barriers first by the musicians themselves and then by the public. To this illuminating guide, Leonard Feather brings his many years of experience in the jazz field both as critic and musician. For the person who has long sought a true guide to the enthralling world of jazz; for the student, the fan and the musician to whom jazz is an exciting territory always to be newly explored, [this book] provides the much-needed story of this vital new twentieth-century art form."--Dust jacket.

By 1940 the big band sound had grown stale, and jazz musicians began to search out new sounds and styles. At the Harlem nightclub Minton's Playhouse, a small group of musicians -- John Birks, Dizzy Gillespie, Coleman Beau Hawkins, and Thelonious Monk, among sounding blend of flatted fifths, unfamiliar chord lines, and accelerated offbeat rhythms. They were joined on 52nd Street by alto saxist Charles Bird Parker, and bop -- or bebop, as it was first called, from the triplet figure buh-BE-bop -- was born. Bop was aggressive, provocative, and belligerent, Its proponents wore gears and berets and refereed to the Dixieland and New Orleans diehards as moldy figs who in tureen labelled the new jazz the modern complex chord, and a new reperatory into jazz, and by the end of the forties the moldy figs were forced to concede that bop was indeed the harbinger of a new direction in American jazz. Critic Leonard Feather was one of the earliest and most persistent champions of bop. It was he who persuaded RCA Victor that the new music was worth recording. His Inside Jazz is a full-length account of bop: its origins and development and the personalities of the musicians who created it. Numerous photographs and anecdotes bring this innovative era in jazz history to life once more.

The Twitchers are on the hunt for a gang of robbers! On a school museum trip, Ava stumbles upon a crime: hundreds of valuable birds of paradise exhibits have been stolen! When she discovers a large jet-black feather, she's certain it's a clue. Before long, the Twitchers are on the trail of a mysterious girl with a pet raven - and a dangerous ring of thieves...

Offers more than 3,300 entries covering musicians such as Louis Armstrong, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Thelonious Monk, and Wynton Marsalis.

Critic Leonard Feather was one of the earliest and most persistent champions of bop. It was he who persuaded RCA Victor that the new music was worth recording. His Inside Jazz is a full-length account of bop: its origins and development and the personalities of the musicians who created it. Numerous photographs and anecdotes bring this innovative era in jazz history back to life once more.

This volume combines The Encyclopedia Yearbook of Jazz (1956) and The New Yearbook of Jazz (1958) to form a single-volume source of information, photographs and opinion. Originally conceived as companion volumes to Leonard Feather's The Encyclopedia of Jazz and, therefore, including over 600 biographies of musicians, these yearbooks also feature material such as: a What's Happening in Jazz section; a Musician's Musicians poll, where jazz greats from Louis Armstrong to Lester Young vote on their favourites; hundreds of photographs; a poll of jazz fans (78.6% disliked rock 'n' roll in 1956); Favourite Versions of Favourite Tunes, where 25 favourite songs are listed along with their best interpretations; contributions written by Benny Goodman, John Hammond and Martin Williams; Meet the Critics - short biographies of 30 of the greatest jazz critics of the time; articles on jazz and classical music, jazz and the other arts, and jazz and the phonograph; and The Best of the Blindfold Test, 1951-1958.