All That Jazz!

Jews have been a major presence in America's jazz, as musicians and as jazz facilitators, and in Kosher Jammers: Jewish Connections in Jazz – The USA, Gerber tells that story with a rigour worthy of academia but with a feature writer's creative flair. Besides drawing on a plethora of second-hand sources, Kosher Jammers is absolutely packed with first-hand material, from interviews, phone calls and emails with jazz figures, Jewish and otherwise –...

"Brandee Younger is defying expectations. Over the past 15 years, she has worked relentlessly to stretch boundaries for harpists. In 2022, she broke new ground by becoming the first Black woman nominated for a Grammy for Best Instrumental Composition. An ever-expanding artist, the album builds on her already rich oeuvre, transcending genre. As the title suggests, Brand New Life is about forging new paths. It features originals by Brandee, reinterpretations...

A fascinating insight into Mingus' mind - unforgettable â€" The Times

A pure genius â€" Miles Davis

The purest of dynamite â€" Rolling Stone

Bass player extraordinaire Charles Mingus, who died in 1979, is one of the essential composers in the history of jazz, and Beneath the Underdog, his celebrated, wild, funny, demonic, anguished, shocking and profoundly moving memoir, is the greatest autobiography...

"Like Golden Hill, Cahokia Jazz inhabits a different version of America, and like Golden Hill it has a propulsive and brilliantly twisty plot set within a fully imagined world. Only this world is full of fog, cigarette smoke, dubious motives, danger, and dark deeds. And in the main character of Joe Barrow, we have a hero of truly heroic proportions, and a troubled soul to fall in love with. One snowy night at the end of winter, Barrow and his partner...

A landmark biography that reclaims Ella Fitzgerald as a major American artist and modernist innovator. Ella Fitzgerald (1917-1996) possessed one of the twentieth century's most astonishing voices. In this first major biography since Fitzgerald's death, historian Judith Tick offers a sublime portrait of this ambitious risk-taker whose exceptional musical spontaneity made her a transformational artist. Becoming Ella Fitzgerald clears up long-enduring...