Rating: 
Summary: An extensive, learned and generous portrait of an art form
Review: Ted Gioia, for me, managed to walk the fine line between hyperbole and inauthentic iconoclasm, purple prose and impotent erudition, racist apologia and racial pandering (on both/all sides), and the sleeping pill effect of both blanket chronological overview and meticulous historical data, regardless of perspective to give us a full meal and gift of a history of jazz that reads with the ease and enjoyment of a novel. I would have loved if he added another hundred pages to it all, allowing him to speak more about three topics in particular: 1) the socio-political implications of the culture of drugs among the musicians, 2) the transformation of jazz's link with debauchery through be-bop to that of spirituality and freedom in the American mind, epitomized via Coltrane in the 60's, and 3) the musical/theatrical/Griot/Delphic roles of the jazz singer in perpetuating the music and magic of the art form, from Armstrong to Bobby McFerrin. But with the kind of work Gioia has given us with this, I'll just have to shut up and write my own, and hope it holds up. I highly recommend this book if you are a musician of any style (I am a jazz and opera singer). If you know someone who loves jazz, or has even a passing interest in its icons (the even handedness with which he explains Wynton alone makes the book worth having), the book is a great gift- you don't need a Doctorate in Music theory or semiotics to enjoy it. And if you are a jazz musician, you should own it. Period. A fine book; a fine contribution.
Rating:
Summary: Fills in Most Burns Blanks
Review: This book is a perfect compliment to Ken Burns Jazz in most respects. Gioia's writing is lucid and descriptive. He seamlessly weaves social analysis with musical analysis. Anecdotes about jazz personalities abound. Some feel that he gives too much attention and credit to Charlie Parker. As a Parker admirer, I'd say the more the merrier. My only regret is that way too many 80's and 90's artists are conspicuously absent. Look at the impact, for example that the Jazz Crusaders (Joe Sample and Larry Carlton) Yellowjackets (Russell Ferrante and Jimmy Haslip) Dave Grusin, Bob James and David Benoit have had fusing Post Modern and Traditional elements (a very different result than the "fusion" of the early to late 70's). Ted was either disinterested or unable to connect these nuances to the larger scope of the history. Otherwise, to round out the Ken Burns version of the Jazz story, read this and fill in most of the blanks.
Rating:
Summary: Fills in Most Burns Blanks
Review: This book is a perfect compliment to Ken Burns Jazz in most respects. Gioia's writing is lucid and descriptive. He seamlessly weaves social analysis with musical analysis. Anecdotes about jazz personalities abound. Some feel that he gives too much attention and credit to Charlie Parker. As a Parker admirer, I'd say the more the merrier. My only regret is that way too many 80's and 90's artists are conspicuously absent. Look at the impact, for example that the Jazz Crusaders (Joe Sample and Larry Carlton) Yellowjackets (Russell Ferrante and Jimmy Haslip) Dave Grusin, Bob James and David Benoit have had fusing Post Modern and Traditional elements (a very different result than the "fusion" of the early to late 70's). Ted was either disinterested or unable to connect these nuances to the larger scope of the history. Otherwise, to round out the Ken Burns version of the Jazz story, read this and fill in most of the blanks.
Rating: 
Summary: Well-judged, elegantly written, first-rate history of jazz
Review: This is a first-rate history. Gioia writes with authority, but never distances the reader. Like an Ellingtonian suite, he structures the history of jazz in discernible movements and counter-movements that each evolve organically from their predecessors, while avoiding a mere chronology. Gioia gracefully executes the narrative in a tone that never exaggerates unnecessarily, and always judiciously considers and evaluates the place of each figure, style, instrument, movement, band, label and of course, important recordings and their influence. Gioia inevitably has his preferences, but he is far from prejudiced. This makes him a valuable commentator that should please fans and artists alike. Gioia's book is a major work which will become a standard account of the history of jazz and should be on everybody's reading list.
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