Giants of Jazz

Posted on by Studs Terkel Milly Hawk Daniel Robert Galster
Giants of Jazz The true giants of jazz are remembered in these brief biographies of thirteen jazz musicians Now reissued in the original illustrated edition the stars portrayed include John Coltrane Charlie Parker

The true giants of jazz are remembered in these brief biographies of thirteen jazz musicians Now reissued in the original illustrated edition, the stars portrayed include John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Billie Holliday Fats Waller.

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Giants of Jazz

  1. Louis Studs Terkel was an American author, historian, actor, and broadcaster He received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non Fiction in 1985 for The Good War , and is best remembered for his oral histories of common Americans, and for hosting a long running radio show in Chicago Terkel was acclaimed for his efforts to preserve American oral history His 1985 book The Good War An Oral History of World War Two , which detailed ordinary peoples accounts of the country s involvement in World War II, won the Pulitzer Prize For Hard Times An Oral History of the Great Depression , Terkel assembled recollections of the Great Depression that spanned the socioeconomic spectrum, from Okies, through prison inmates, to the wealthy His 1974 book, Working also was highly acclaimed In 1995, he received the Chicago History Museum Making History Award for Distinction in Journalism and Communications In 1997, Terkel was elected a member of The American Academy of Arts and Letters Two years later, he received the George Polk Career Award in 1999.

559 Reply to “Giants of Jazz”

  1. This is the first book of Terkel s I ve read, as well as his first book It s a model of clear and effective writing and a loving and reverent portrayal of 13 great jazz musicians I admit I skipped the chapter about Woody Herman, since I ve never listened to much of his stuff The writing level would probably suit a middle schooler just fine, but that s no insult In fact, the simplicity of the writing and the relative absence of complicated musicology would make this an excellent read for even the [...]

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  2. My daughter brought this book home from the library She found it in the adult non fiction section, although it is labelled as young adult on a sticker I d firmly place this in the YA camp I actually found the writing annoying The style I would label as Fifties Filmstrip , as it sounds like it could have been the narration beside one of those filmstrips I saw back in elementary school Most every story has at its heart a Horatio Alger turn the artist makes it through obstacles from when they were [...]

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  3. Thai book was great I learned so much about the history of jazz and jazz players There s so much about how some musicians influence others, and I love how it flows Each chapter of each person incorporates the next person in it, which helps the timeline in your brain Great read

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  4. I m a fan of jazz music and thought this would be a fun read about it s history While I learned a great deal about Jazz s founding fathers I felt there was a great deal of opinion added to the facts This is still a good read for anyone interested in learning about Jazz roots in a quick read format As I finished each artist, I would listen to their music This for me painted a clear picture.

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  5. I am very interested in the lives of jazz musicians as well as general jazz history, but this book I ve been slogging through it for months and it is just so blandly written that it fills me with dread It s like reading a series poorly written high school essays.

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  6. Una piacevole ed interessante primo tuffo nel mondo del jazz, a tratti commovente Utilissimo ai fini della mia ricerca.

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  7. A light, breezy read It s a collection of short biographical sketches of 13 jazz giants, starting with Joe King Oliver and ending with John Coltrane And throughout telling the stories of these jazz legends, Terkel introduces the names of other jazz giants as well In my opinion, Studs Terkel does a fine job of introducing some of the most prominent names in 20th Century jazz to a novice audience Nothing earthshattering to the attentive and knowledgable jazz fan but good for a person just becomin [...]

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  8. Jazz was one of the main musical genres of the 1950s swing, big band, bop and cool Studs Terkel started out in radio and got his own show in 1944, playing all styles of music In 1952, he landed on television with a show called Stud s Place From there on he developed an interviewing style which he put into a long series of books about various periods of 20th century America Giants of Jazz was his first book He covers thirteen jazz artists from Louis Armstrong to Billie Holiday to Charlie Parker E [...]

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  9. This book does nothing to diminish my ongoing platonic love affair with Studs Terkel, but after The Spectator I was hoping for a bit of the musicians themselves talking It s a good introduction for a general audience, Terkel s insights and crisp, funny writing make it worthwhile for readers familiar with jazz history Given that there are no footnotes it s difficult to tell where some of the history comes from Probably the great man gets most of it right, but since Billie Holiday s as told to bi [...]

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  10. Giants of Jazz didn t do much for me I ve never read Terkel before, but have spent years hearing about how great his books were I don t think he had quite found his footing yet when he wrote this one It s pretty clear that he has a great respect for the musicians he writes about perhaps a little too much respect, since many of the pieces come off as hagiography than genuinely searching essays This does give a casual jazz fan a decent starting point, but I was unengaged throughout I m sure that [...]

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  11. Short biographies of the great jazz musicians The book in general has a few too many hyperboles Terkel focuses on the personalities of these giants and how they changed what was accepted as jazz so that the next giant could do his her cool thing There are some major jazz musicians that I feel were looked over such as Miles Davis but over all a quick, informative overview of the giants of jazz.

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  12. Disappointing, especially after I saw Studs Terkel on The Daily Show His book on World War IIThe Good War An Oral History of World War_II was much better Giants of Jazz is a bunch of short stories about various jazz greats, but none of the stories are really in depth enough and they tend to storify things too much.

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  13. since he died I have a renewed interest in Studs Terkel I found this book at a bookstore in Brooklyn shopping with Anna

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  17. Terkel s first book, published in 1956, and a quick read Written in a somewhat dated, gee whiz style Kinda fun.

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  18. Elegantly reported biographies of a baker s dozen of America s seminal jazz pioneers Great reading, wholly educational, crisp and clean.

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