Williams tennessee

1985 · 2303822 — New York: Oxford University Press 1985. First Edition. First Edition. Near Fine/Near Fine. First edition. Jacket lightly toned jacket price clipped. 1985 Hard Cover. xiv 253 pp. "The Washington Post has called Martin Williams "the most knowledgeable open-minded and perceptive American jazz critic today" and countless others share that sentiment. To Gary Giddins of the Village Voice he is "one of the most distinguished critics of anything this country has ever produced: and Nat Hentoff has observed "Martin Williams persistently gets at essences and that is why he has contributed so much to the very small body of authentic jazz criticism." A companion volume to his seminal prizewinning The Jazz Tradition this book is divided into four sections. The opening part is a collection of reviews and critiques of figures as diverse as Fats Waller and Count Basie Bud Powell and Bill Evans Ella Fitzgerald and the World Saxophone Quartet. The second section shows us musicians at work during rehearsals recording dates nightclub performances; these include Miles Davis Gerry Mulligan Duke Ellington Thelonious Monk and Ornette Coleman. In a rare feature for a book on jazz the third section brings together some of Williams's "liner notes"--record annotations from outstanding LP albums by musicians from Jelly Roll Morton and King Oliver through Charlie Parker and Sonny Rollins and including Cecil Taylor. In the last section Williams discusses some of the pboblems jazz has encountered as it has acquired intellectual and academic status and there are some provocative comments on the black contribution to American musical theatre and whether or not the United States has a true folk music. Oxford University Press unknown books