So you want to learn about Jazz…

The best way to learn about jazz is to listen to jazz. That said, put some jazz on your playlist WHILE you read some books about jazz.

Here’s a link to a classic jazz playlist on Spotify to get you started.

I went through a huge jazz phase, sparked by reading this novel: In War Times, by Kathleen Ann Goonan. It’s a SF/Alternate history set in the early jazz age and talks a lot about the music. I made a playlist of the music mentioned in it: In War Times (Kathleen Ann Goonan), a playlist by Mark Watkins on Spotify. I think it’s really fun to work your way from early jazz to late jazz, learning along the way.

https://open.spotify.com/user/viking2917/playlist/7jZS1eOs4879cWN4dPqJgs

For non-fiction about Jazz, consider But Beautiful by Geoff Dyer or Max Gordon’s stories from the Village Vanguard, the mecca of Jazz.

But Beautiful

In eight poetically charged vignettes, Geoff Dyer skillfully evokes the music and the men who shaped modern jazz. Drawing on photos, anecdotes, and, most important, the way he hears the music, Dyer imaginatively reconstructs scenes from the embattled lives of some of the greats: Lester Young fading away in a hotel room; Charles Mingus storming down the streets of New York on a too-small bicycle; Thelonious Monk creating his own private language on the piano. However, music is the driving force of But Beautiful, and wildly metaphoric prose that mirrors the quirks, eccentricity, and brilliance of each musician’s style.

https://www.thehawaiiproject.com/book/But-Beautiful-A-Book-about-Jazz--by--Geoff-Dyer--20291

Here’s a list of more great books about jazz — add your own!

But Beautiful

In eight poetically charged vignettes, Geoff Dyer skillfully evokes the music and the men who shaped modern jazz. Drawing on photos, anecdotes, and, most important, the way he hears the music, Dyer imaginatively reconstructs scenes from the embattled lives of some of the greats: Lester Young fading away in a hotel room; Charles Mingus storming down the streets of New York on a too-small bicycle; Thelonious Monk creating his own private language on the piano. However, music is the driving force of But Beautiful, and wildly metaphoric prose that mirrors the quirks, eccentricity, and brilliance of each musician’s style.

https://www.thehawaiiproject.com/book/But-Beautiful-A-Book-about-Jazz--by--Geoff-Dyer--20291