W. Royal Stokes, a founding JJA member and Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Journalism award recipient, has compiled his annual list of books published during the past 12 months that focus on jazz and related topics (mentioning 160 here).
“I’ve included some blues and items of general interest to musicians,” Stokes wrote in an e-mail, “the latter more for bringing attention to worthwhile sources of information to music writers and musicians than as potential choices [for the JJA’s Book of the Year award]. I’ve excluded rock, country, etc., except in several cases with jazz connections (e.g., Joni Mitchell).”
His list comprises only books he’s received as review copies. Below are those among them he deems most significant for JJA members to know of.
Lew Shaw, Jazz Beat: Notes on Classic Jazz, cartoons by Bill Keane (AZtold Publishing Company).
Chris Hillman and Richard Rains, The Art and Craft of Discography (Chris Hillman Books/chbooks.info).
Debbie Burke, Tasty Jazz Jams for Our Times (Kindle Direct Publishing).
John McCusker, Creole Trombone: Kid Ory and the Early Years of Jazz (University Press of Mississippi), paperback reprint.
Pelle Berglund, Buddy Rich: One of a Kind: The Making of the World’s Greatest Drummer (Hudson Music).
Dave Rivello, Bob Brookmeyer in Conversation with Dave Rivello (ArtistShare).
Paul Lopes, Art Rebels: Race, Class, and Gender in the Art of Miles Davis and Martin Scorsese (Princeton University Press).
Max Bolleman, Sounds: The History of Studio 44 (Mijnbestseller.nl).
Kevin D. Greene, The Invention and Reinvention of Big Bill Broonzy (University of North Carolina Press).
Bruce Iglauer and Patrick A. Roberts, Bitten by the Blues: The Alligator Records Story (Chicago Visions and Revisions/ University of Chicago Press).
Alan Paul and Andy Aledort, Texas Flood: The Inside Story of Stevie Ray Vaughan (St. Martin’s Press)
David Dann, Guitar King: Michael Bloomfield’s Life in the Blues (University of Texas Press).
Dorothy Carvello, Anything for a Hit: An A&R Woman’s Story of Surviving the Music Industry (Chicago Review Press).
Rethinking Reich, edited by Sumanth Gopinath and Pwyll ap Siôn (Oxford University Press).
Stephen Walsh, Debussy: A Painter in Sound (Knopf)
Mary Schmidt Campbell, An American Odyssey: The Life and Work of Romare Bearden (Oxford University Press)
Jeffrey C. Stewart, The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke (Oxford University Press)
Alexandra Kieffer, Debussy’s Critics: Sound, Affect, and the Experience of Modernism (Oxford University Press)
Susan Whitall, Joni on Joni: Interviews and Encounters with Joni Mitchell (Musicians in Their Own Words) (Chicago Review Press).
Leonard Cohen, The Flame: Poems Notebooks Lyrics Drawings (Farrar, Straus and Giroux).
Mark Slobin, Motor City Music: A Detroiter Looks Back (Oxford University Press).
Neil Shapiro, The Jazz Alphabet (JazzAlphabet.com), Foreword by Neil Tesser.
George Burrows, The Recordings of Andy Kirk and his Clouds of Joy (Oxford University Press Studies in Recorded Jazz).
Sammy Stein, Women in Jazz: The Women, The Legends & Their Fight (8th House Publishing).
Ted Gioia, Music: A Subversive History (Basic Books).
Gerald Horne, Jazz and Justice: Racism and the Political Economy of the Music (Monthly Review Press).
Ruth Feldstein, How It Feels to Be Free: Black Women Entertainers and the Civil Rights Movement (Oxford University Press).
Jim Daniels and M. L. Liebler, RESPECT: The Poetry of Detroit Music (Michigan State University Press).
Dr. Regennia N. Williams and Rev. Dr. Sandra Butler-Truesdale, Washington, DC, Jazz (Images of America) (Arcadia Publishing). Foreword by Willard Jenkins.
Thomas Brothers, Help!: The Beatles, Duke Ellington, and the Magic of Collaboration (W. W. Norton & Company).
Gloria Krolak, Jazz Lines: Free Verse and Photos in the Key of Jazz, photographs by Ed Berger (Gloriajazz.com/StarBooks.biz).
Eugene Marlow, Jazz in China: From Dance Hall Music to Individual Freedom of Expression (University Press of Mississippi).
Katherine Baber, Leonard Bernstein and the Language of Jazz (Music in American Life) (University of Illinois Press).
Peter Erskine and Dave Black The Musician’s Lifeline (Alfred Music).
Cynthia Sayer, You’re IN the Band: The Real Experience of Playing in a Traditional Jazz/Hot Jazz Band (cynthiasayer.com).
Bill McBirnie, The Technique and Theory of Improvisation: A Practical Guide for Flutists, Doublers, and Other Instrumentalists (Library and Archives Canada/www.extremeflute.com).
E. Douglas Bomberger, Making Music American: 1917 and the Transformation of Culture (Oxford University Press).
Aaron Cohen, Move On Up: Chicago Soul Music and Black Cultural Power (University of Chicago Press).
Norman Seeff, Joni: The Joni Mitchell Sessions (Insight Editions).
Stephen Nachmanovitch, The Art of Is: Improvising as a Way of Life (New World Library).
Robert Christgau, Book Reports: A Music Critic on His First Love, Which Was Reading (Duke University Press).
Richard H. Brown, Through The Looking Glass: John Cage and Avant-Garde Film (Oxford Music/Media Series)
Mark Wigglesworth, The Silent Musician: Why Conducting Matters (University of Chicago Press)
Vanessa Cornett, The Mindful Musician: Mental Skills for Peak Performance (Oxford University Press)
Remaking New Orleans: Beyond Exceptionalism and Authenticity, Thomas Jessen Adams and Matt Sakakeeny, editors (Duke University Press).
Toni Morrison, The Source of Self-Regard: Selected Essays, Speeches, and Meditation (Knopf)
Also of note:
Mark Stryker, Jazz From Detroit (University of Michigan Press)
Howard Mandel (consultant editor), Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts, forward, The Definitive Jazz and Blues Encyclopedia: New & Expanded Edition (Flame Tree Publishers)Definitive Jazz & Blues Encyclopedia: New & Expanded Edition (Flame Tree Publishers), Jeff “Tain” Watts foreword, Howard Mandel consultant editor
Bill Beuttler, Make It New: Reshaping Jazz in the 21st Century (Lever Press)
Masaya Yamaguchi, Miles Davis: New Research on Miles Davis & His Circle (Masaya Music)
Gerald Early (Author), Farah Jasmine Griffin (Author), Christopher J. Wells (Author), Kelsey A. K. Klotz (Author), Judith Tick (Author), Krin Gabbard (Author), Carol A. Muller (Author), Ingrid Monson (Editor), Why Jazz Still Matters (Dædalus 148:02 Spring 2019)
John Corbett, Pick Up the Pieces: Excursions in Seventies Music (University of Chicago Press, 2019)
Timuel D. Black Jr, Sacred Ground: The Chicago Streets of Timuel Black (Northwestern University Press), as told to Susan Klonsky
Alain Derbez, Pluma en mano, entre blues y jazz (Turner Libros)
Foday Musa Suso, A Village Griot Boy and the World, An Autobiography (self-published) as told to Emily Bishton
Bruce Conforth and Gayle Dean Wardlow, Up Jumped the Devil, The Real Life of Robert Johnson (Chicago Review Press)
When the City Was Yellow: Chicago Jazz and Improvised Music 1980-2010, Mike Reed, editor (Constellation Performing Arts)
Michael Dorf, Indulge Your Senses: Scaling Intimacy in a Digital World (Post Hill Press)
Nolan Gasser, Why You Like It: The Science and Culture of Musical Taste (Flatiron Books)
Joe Segal, Stay On It (Chicago Jazz Magazine/Jazz Showcase)
Mark Burford, Mahalia Jackson and the Black Gospel Field, (Oxford University Press)
Laurent Cugny, “Analysis of Jazz: A Comprehensive Approach” (University Press of Mississippi)
Bill Egan, African-American Entertainers in Australia and New Zealand: A History, 1788-1941 (McFarland)
Wolfram Knauer, ed, Jazz at 100: An Alternative to a Story of Heroes(Wolke)
Wolfram Knauer, Play Yourself, Man! Die Geschichte des Jazz in Deutchland (Reclam)
Ate van Delden, Adrian Rollini: The Life and Music of a Jazz Rambler (University Press of Mississippi)
Keith Waters, Postbop Jazz in the 1960s: The Compositions of Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea (Oxford University Press)
Con Chapman, Rabbit’s Blues: The Life and Music of Johnny Hodges (Oxford University Press)
Tony Bennett: Onstage and in the Studio by Tony Bennett with Dick Golden
Billie Holiday: The Last Interview: and Other Conversations (The Last Interview Series)
Where Night and Day Become One: The French Poems: 1983-2017 by Steve Dalachinsky
From Baroque to Bop and Beyond | THE ART MUSIC LOUNGE by Lynn René Bayley
Black Case Volume I and II: Return from Exile by Joseph Jarman
Ronnie Scott’s 1959-69 by Freddy Warren, Graham Marsh, Simon Whittle
Rabbit’s Blues: The Life and Music of Johnny Hodges by Con Chapman
Jason Moran – Eponymous
Sweet Thunder: Duke Ellington’s Music in Nine Themes by Jack Chambers
Jazz and Justice: Racism and the Political Economy of the Music by Gerald Horne
Creative Improvised Music by John Gray
Jazz from Detroit by Mark Stryker
Analysis of Jazz: A Comprehensive Approach by Laurent Cugny
Henry Cow: The World Is A Problem by Benjamin Piekut
Time of My Life: A Jazz Journey from London to New Orleans by Clive Wilson
Experiencing Herbie Hancock (A Listener’s Companion) by Eric Wendell
Black Music Matters: Jazz and the Transformation of Music Studies by Ed Sarath
So You Want to Sing The Blues: A Guide for Performers by Eli Yamin
Sounds (The History of Studio 44) by Max Bolleman
Cloud Arrangers by Ziga Koritnik
Jazz Lines – Free Verse in the Key of Jazz by Gloria Krolak
Leonard Bernstein And The Language of Jazz by Katherine Baber
