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A thoroughly enjoyable and inspiring work exploring the history and nature of jazz, interspersed with anecdotes form Marsalis' life. You will most likely disagree with some of the author's opinions (I certainly did), but his perspective is always interesting. A quick and satisfying read.
Wynton is very smart and well written but a bit out of touch with modern tastes and music.
This book had been on my "to read" bookshelf much too long. I wish I had read it sooner. Recently, I have found myself drawn to listening jazz and blues much more than regularly. After reading it, I understand why. I am looking for music for meat on its bones, and the place to find that is definitely in jazz and blues. Why? Because as Marsalis eloquently states, the starting point for playing jazz is the complete mastery of one's instrument. This has to be combined with the ability to communicat...
It's embarrassing that I give almost exclusively 5 star reviews to the books I read, but, well, I know my taste and I rarely stray from it. I like a known entity. Wynton Marsalis, however, was not a known entity at all. This is not a book that I would normally have ever read (or even heard of) but I am so glad I did!I had the opportunity to hear Wynton Marsalis talk in January 2021, at the (Zoom presentation of the) Wasatch Speaker Series in Salt Lake City, UT. I knew he was a well respected and...
My dad lent me this book because of our long-standing mutual interest in jazz and his hero-worship of Marsalis. I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I picked it up, and was a bit concerned that I was getting into another new age feel-good pointlessness. However, Marsalis lived up to his reputation and delivered a fun book that touched on the history of some of jazz's main players, his own history, some fundamental aspects of jazz, and argued a case for jazz's ability to influence society and
Recollections, and an extended riff on Jazz as music for the post feudal age
Being a fan of jazz (I'm listening to Miles Davis, McCoy Tyner, and Thelonious Monk as I write this), the book interested me. But even better was how Marsalis demonstrated what jazz can teach us. OK, the subtitle is a little overstated, but still there are valuable lessons.The first chapter talks about how jazz encourages both individual expression as well as working together as a group, which has applicability in so many areas of life. The second chapter sets forth the vocabulary of jazz, which...
This book has completely forgotten the presence of women in jazz. Not only that - in this book, women are either servants, objects of desire or pride among men, or vague appearances in the audience. Sadly, Wynton Marsalis has only painted half the picture - and not even accurately. This book started off well, however the arguments on the application of lessons from jazz to aspects of life and society soon became shallow, almost turning it into a predictable self-help book.The most interesting se...
This was perhaps one of the most inspiring and captivating pieces of non-fiction I have ever read. This book is about what Jazz is and how the influence and understanding of Jazz (truly the best thing that Americans have created) can affect every aspect of your life. Even if you're not a musician, this book is extremely approachable and will help you become familiar with one of the best and most innovative forms of American art. Though it is not completely auto-biographical, the reader gets to
This is the first of many books I will read, written by Wynton Marsalis. As he has finally shed his reputation as a young arrogant musician (not-so-young anymore), he is coming into his own as a master--not just musically, but philosophically as well.This book was a quick read, but an intense one. And although it was written many years ago, I know what the current Marsalis wants to say with his words.Overall, very inspiring and a must for jazz musicians and especially jazz lovers.
I picked this book on a whim and was handsomely rewarded. It’s about jazz of course but it’s more accurately about relationships, race, listening, art, and excellence. I’d like to buy it so I can start to go back through the recommended listening lists and get a fuller understanding of what he was talking about.
I didn’t warm to this book right away. Through a couple of chapters I was thinking that a reader would need some significant musical training to follow; and I mistakenly thought that Wynton Marsalis was trying to teach non jazz fans about jazz. Well, he may have been to some extent, but the success of this book isn’t that. His treatment of the blues as a music that backs up, supports, or is the foundation for good jazz was illuminating. But for me, the successes of this book were the bigger less...
About jazz. About life. About people. Dare I say, a beautiful book. I loved it.
Lots of various information about jazz history, theory, artists, listening recommendations and also personal history from the writer. As jazz is quite new genre for me, found this insightful and interesting information.
An excellent history and appreciation skewed towards traditional American jazz and blues music. Could have said more about contemporary smooth jazz and its protagonists.
Having heard Mr. Marsalis give a talk at the Kenyon College Commencement, and watched him teach a master music class, I could hardly wait to read this book, as he is clearly much more than merely a very talented musician. The book is fascinating as he not only clearly explains the history of jazz, what it takes to be a good musician, both as an individual and as part of a group, and how some of the necessary skills to do so can also affect how to be in the rest of one's life and society. He is d...
A lot of empty, semi-theoretical, feel-good tripe whose import I honestly fail to understand.Sometimes it feels like the author is about to make his point but it never happens.Sure playing with others can teach you to be a part of a team and how to balance your needs with those of other people in it, but it is scarcely the sole domain of jazz, and Marsalis utterly fails to demonstrate how jazz is different from, say, rock'n'roll or any other collaborative effort in music. And most definitely, th...
As a muscian, this book was a fun read. I particularly enjoyed the chapter in which Wynton duscusses lessons and stories that he learned from various jazz masters throughout the years. I also enjoyed the parallels he makes to music and society. However as a reader, I am left a little confused as to the "big picture" of this book. While there are plenty of clever observations and very detailed historical lessons, I feel like I am still waiting for the "change my life" part. The title of the book
You don't have to be a jazz fan to enjoy this wonderful read, but if you are one then it is likely to only add to your pleasure and fulfillment. The great trumpeter and Lincoln Center artistic director discussions jazz and music in general as life-enhancing. Skeptical? Read the first chapter and you'll probably end up finishing the book (maybe in one sitting).
Wynton Marsalis is an icon to me, both as a trumpet player and as a historian and advocate for jazz. He seems to be the unofficial Ambassador of Jazz, as the artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center in NY. It’s such a pleasure to read his writing about jazz, what makes jazz such a quintessentially American phenomenon and what it says about democracy and shared humanity, and get his takes (often tough but always fair) on a few of the all-time legends. Jazz teaches that everyone has a voice and...