Product Description

This indispensable book brings us face to face with some of the most memorable figures in jazz history and charts the rise and development of bop in the late 1930s and '40s. Ira Gitler interviewed more than 50 leading jazz figures, over a 10-year period, to preserve for posterity their recollections of the transition in jazz from the big band era to the modern jazz period. The musicians interviewed, including both the acclaimed and the unrecorded, tell in their own words how this renegade music emerged, why it was a turning point in American jazz, and how it influenced their own lives and work. Placing jazz in historical context, Gitler demonstrates how the mood of the nation in its post-Depression years, racial attitudes of the time, and World War II combined to shape the jazz of today.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #860987 in Books
• Published on: 1987-05-28
• Released on: 1985-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Review
"An unpretentious and highly entertaining characterization of an era when black musicians tried innovatively to wrest control of their music from white big-band leaders....Informative, upbeat, carefully assembled."--Mel Watkins, American Visions

"The most important and valuable book on jazz since James Lincoln Collier's The Making of Jazz, Martin Williams' The Jazz Tradition, and his own previous bop history, Jazz Masters of the '40s."--Jazziz

"Mr. Gitler has done an exhaustive and creditable job, and we can thank him for the thoroughness of the interviews, the sensible organization of the material and the portrait of an emerging era marked by more interaction between new and old than historical generalizations would suggest."--The New York Times Book Review

"Swing to Bop captures the genius and warmth of Parker and Gillespie, and the contributions of numerous other musicians, too-often forgotten....[It] portrays with depth and vitality what Gitler aptly described bop to be--'a music that lifted one with beauty and joy.'"--Philadelphia Tribune

"A 'musician's story'...chock full of all the crazy things that can happen on the road, in the clubs, in the studios, or just about anywhere a jazz musician hangs or wears his hat."--The Christian Science Monitor

"First class."--Jazztimes

"An uncommonly rich selection of anecdotes, outrageous stories, hearsay and musical insight."--Baltimore Sun

"An essential book, one that brings the absolute excitement and sense of change of the era vividly to life."--Cashbox

"There are moments here...where provocative ground is broken...[An] enjoyable oral history."--Boston Phoenix

"One of the most enjoyable volumes that I've read in a while....If you love creative music, Swing to Bop is a must--the words will make you laugh, cry, groan, and make you wish that you were right there when it happened."--Cadence

About the Author

Ira Gitler is author of Jazz Masters of the '40s and The Encyclopedia of Jazz in the Seventies.

Customer Reviews

A Must-Read for the Jazz Fan
This fascinating book presents an oral history of the evolution from the structures of Swing to the innovations of bebop, as it developed through night-long jam sessions, the mentoring of musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie, and the classic recordings of Gillespie, Bird, Monk, Powell, et al.

While Gitler describes what is unique about bop, he also shows how its seeds can be found in the much earlier work of jazz musicians, most notably Lester Young's solos within the pared-down arrangements of the Count Basie band.

All of this is done through interview transcriptions with such jazz giants as Dizzy Gillespie, Gerry Mulligan, Zoot Sims, Al Cohn, Jay McShann, Dexter Gordon, and many more. They furnish insights into and first-person accounts of bop's development, along with a collection of anecdotes variously hilarious and poignant. The oral history reads easily, partly because Gitler wisely leaves enough room for each musician to speak, and because he links the narratives together with brief but helpful comments.

An excellent book for either the student of jazz or the casual reader; "Swing to Bop" is a revealing account of the musicians' culture and the improvisations on a form that coalesced into bop. With 12 pages of photographs and a useful index.

Bop life in the musicians own words
Wow! The 1940's must have been an exciting time to be a jazz musician with Dizzy and Bird innovating wherever they went. Early on are the influences of Pres (Lester Young), Coleman Hawkins, and Charlie Christian and countless other. The comradeship and competition at Milton's and Monroe's clubs, on 52nd street or after hours at apartments such as Mary Lou Williams was a very fertile environment. Not many could keep up with Bird, and they acknowledge that some of the cuts were to keep lesser talented musicians from sitting in. Gitler weaves these interviews together so skillfully that at times in seems the musicians are talking to each other.

The stories on the road are often funny, but also sad; segregation, discrimination, and drug use. Some musicians emulated Charlie Parker's drug use so they could "play like bird". Gitler begs the question with the statement "in spite of (or because?) (of the drugs) ... a great music was made". As an aside, what other index can you find reference to both Nietzsche and Alan Greenspan?

Buy these two together:
If you enjoy this book, as I know you will (read the reviews!), you must also read "The Jazz Word" by Dom Cerulli et al (1960), available from Amazon.