Product Description

For undergraduate courses in Jazz History, Jazz Survey, Evolution of Jazz, Introduction to Jazz, and Jazz Appreciation. America's most widely used introduction to jazz, it teaches the chronology of jazz by showing students how to listen and what to notice in each style. Though originally conceived for nonmusicians and written at a college freshmen reading level, Jazz Styles also has been widely adopted in courses for musicians because of its point-by-point specification of each style's musical characteristics and its technical appendix. The text helps students hear how the styles differ and why the top names are important. The book's listening guides offer in-depth analysis for 38 historic recordings contained on the 2CD Jazz Classics collection.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #213804 in Books
• Published on: 2006-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 418 pages

Review
"...iconoclastic, brilliant, unique ...provocative" - Jazz Journalists Association "...a splendid textbook ...a cornerstone for any jazz book collection." - American Library Association "...Teaching students HOW to listen and what to listen FOR in jazz ...a highly effective textbook for students who have had little or no exposure to jazz ...a broad, penetrating view of jazz history ...luminously clear..." - Down Beat "...a work of immense value not only to educators and players, but also to nonmusicians and jazz fans of all persuasions ...neat summaries of important jazz innovators and musical trends ...an instructor could use the Gridley book to accommodate a wide variety of learning situations..." - Jazz Times "...best all-around text on the market..." - The Black Perspective in Music

From the Publisher
America's #1 best-selling introduction to jazz -- ideal for both non-musician and music major alike, Gridley's classic text details the basic musical principles, important styles, musical trends, history, innovations, and instruments of jazz. Easy-to-read, tightly organized, and filled with tips to help increase listening enjoyment, it focuses on what jazz is, how it is made, and how to listen to it. It guides students through the full spectrum of jazz history -- from Africa to New Age -- examining the major artists and providing an abundance of examples throughout the text, and in the accompanying cassettes and CDs (sold separately). Using a point-by-point differentiation of styles, it focuses on the inner workings of the music -- helping students learn to hear the substance and subtleties in the music itself.

From the Back Cover
A layman's guide to jazz, this #1 best-seller focuses on what jazz is, how it is made, and how to listen to it—pairing written narrative with audio recordings as it details the basic musical principles, important styles, major artists, musical trends, history, innovations, and instruments of jazz. Highlighting the musical characteristics of each style and contrasting each successive era in a point-by-point manner, it offer companion CDs, cassettes and a video to help the reader/listeners improve their ear for music, increase their listening enjoyment, and gain a deeper appreciation of the many layers of sound music. Provides an informative, chronological study of jazz, with insightful commentaries on it's origins, and full descriptions of the various styles of jazz and contributing artists. Covers early jazz, swing, bop, cool jazz, "free" jazz, and jazz-rock fusion—highlighting the musical characteristics of each style and contrasting each successive era. Discusses many influential performers, including Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Jaco Pastorius. Integrates numerous photos, and detailed drawings of hard-to-describe instruments, and includes 21 "Listening Guides with Timings" that help readers analyze CD pieces measure-by-measure. Ties material to accompanying recordings "Jazz Styles" and Jazz Classics", available in both cassette and CD; also features a 60-minute video version of "Jazz Styles" that demonstrates all instruments and rhythm section methods. Now looks at the blues, Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, and acid jazz, plus updates CD collection list and footnotes. For music buffs and jazz aficionados.

Customer Reviews

Gridley Swings -- and hits The Groove On this One!
This is my first in depth study on Jazz in America. My first musical interests as a teenager were jazz, classical, and Bob Dylan. I began listening to Miles Davis, Al Hirt, Dizzy Gillespie and John Coltrane in the early sixties. They were followed by Bob Dylan, and, in 1967, my last year in the Army, Bay Area bands. An avid tape collector, I got reintroduced to jazz in the last few years as I have returned to those roots and sought some information about the origins of jazz, as well as the key players in the United States. Gridley's book was found at a used book store, alas, without the cassettes. I have longed for the cassettes, so that I could hear the music he references in his text. This IS a text book. I found it challenging, not having any musical knowledge. I still am in over my head on the musical descriptions, but the chapters are logically broken down into the origins of jazz in New Orleans, early jazz, bop, hard bop, Chicago style jazz, west coast jazz, etc. Gridley clearly knows his players. He shows the progressions of players and followers and has special designations for some of the more modern jazz players in my time frame -- Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Charlie Parkery, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Ornette Coleman, Art Blakey, etc. And he also references some of the newer men or groups on the jazz scene, including Sun Ra, Weather Report, Mahavishnu Orchestra. I saw the latter play in the late sixties. Gridley's description, for instance, of Mahavishnu's kinetic energy of those years is apt. I personally left that show wired to the max, convinced I could never endure anything like that again. I am sure that this book is associated with college level music courses that are meant for musically inclined students who want to go deeper into the genre. And this book, in my opinion, is so well written, with such a deep glossary, such vivid musical descriptions of the various sounds produced by different musicians and groups, that I am convinced it would be a maximum value for such a student. I will most likely shell out the full price so that I can grab the cassettes. I believe that this book, coupled with the cassettes, will allow me to go much deeper into my own personal revival of American Jazz. I would STRONGLY recommend this book for novices and college level students who are interested in jazz at a more professional level. Organizationally, the book is right on. Plenty of charts that describe the various "roots" of American jazz as they coalesced in New Orleans. And Gridley makes a point that sounds valid in saying that not all those various "roots" were African-American. I am grateful I found this gem in the half-priced book store and will surely purchase the original in the near future. I think you will like this one if you are approaching jazz at both an afficionado and technical level. Good reading!

Everything You Wanted to Know About Jazz
This is the most accurate, user-friendly intro to jazz. It focuses on the music, not the personal lives of the musicians. It explains, patiently and systematically, in luminously clear prose, what jazz is and how to get the most out of listening to it. It details the origins of jazz as well as the distinguishing characteristics of all the major styles: Dixieland, Swing, Bebop, Cool, Hard Bop, "Free Jazz" and Avant-Garde of the 60s and 70s, and Jazz-Rock Fusion. It profiles 144 musicians' contributions (their sources, their styles, and lists of the others they influenced) and provides classification of more than 1000 other musicians, in easy-to-understand categories. Strategies for locating the best albums for all the top musicians. Optional CD of historic recordings is available. Optional CD of narrated demonstrations of the jazz instruments, song forms and methods that jazz musicians use to make their music is also available. Loaded with instrument sketches and photos of key musicians in action, this is America's most widely-used intro to jazz and has been translated into 5 foreign languages. Its author is an award-winning researcher and jazz musician who has travelled to South America, The Caribbean and Africa, as well as all the jazz centers of America. His work is so down-to-earth and practical that it has been adopted for use in jazz appreciation and jazz history courses at more than 500 high schools and colleges.

not for jazz scholars alone
It has been nearly 30 years since Mark Gridley's first edition of Jazz Styles appeared, and no other treatment of jazz styles comes close to his careful analysis of how jazz has been made since its inception. It is a work of great and serious scholarship, an invaluable resource for students of the genre. Yet, Jazz Styles is also an enjoyable and entertaining companion for anyone who wants to become a more perceptive listener to jazz. The Listening Guides are useful even for those 'veteran'
jazz fans familiar with the works described. Gridley will take you to ever-deeper levels of appreciation for jazz in all its varieties.