NONFICTION

How To Listen to Jazz

by Ted Gioia
Basic. May 2016. 272p. illus. notes. index. ISBN 9780465060894. $24.99; ebk. ISBN 9780465097777. MUSIC
COPY ISBN
Pianist, author (The History of Jazz; The Jazz Standards), music columnist (The Daily Beast), and educator (formerly music, Stanford Univ.) Gioia has written a concise guide to jazz appreciation. Unlike some books of this type, the focus of this work is on relatively easy-to-discern distinctions between the jazz styles and leading performers. The author provides minimal biographical information on the musicians, preferring to concentrate on the music than on the personal details of his subjects' lives. The result is a fresh, clearly written, and infinitely usable book that should put the jazz novice on track. Readers with a more thorough knowledge of the genre might be a bit disappointed.
VERDICT Written primarily to introduce newcomers to the genre and its primary artists, this volume should prove to do just what Gioia set out to accomplish.
Reviewed by James E. Perone, Univ. of Mount Union, Alliance, OH , Apr 15, 2016
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