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WHAT TO LISTEN FOR IN JAZZ

Name: WHAT TO LISTEN FOR IN JAZZ
Author: Barry Kernfeld
ISBN: 0-300-05902-7

by Barry Kernfeld ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 17, 1995

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A book-and-CD set introducing jazz to the uninitiated. Kernfeld (editor, The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz, not reviewed) takes an analytical, listening-oriented approach to the music, focusing on seven areas: rhythm, form, arrangement, composition, improvisation, sound, and style. He draws from 21 well-known recorded selections, using them as springboards for his often insightful analyses. Key artists such as Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Sun Ra, and Ornette Coleman are used to demonstrate the variety of individual expression in jazz, as well as the overall continuity that links their diverse styles. This book will appeal most strongly to students and teachers of jazz, because it offers musical analysis with enough of an enthusiast's edge to give a balance to what would otherwise be a purely scholarly discussion. In fact, it is in the asides that Kernfeld's true personality shines (for instance, in his description of Coleman's ``Honeymooners'' as ``delightfully twisted...funky dance music'' or noting how the out-of-tune tonality of New Orleans revivalist Kid Thomas Valentine's band ``contributes to the essential sludge in the sound''). Kernfeld also makes some telling observations, showing, for example, that the modal jazz style of the '50s is based more on slow-moving chord harmonies than on medieval modes. The plethora of notated examples makes for some heavy sledding, and there are a few mysterious choices made in the accompanying CD (not included for review, but according to a list of its contents, for example, Kernfeld will compare two takes of a particular recording in the text, but only one of the two will be offered on the CD- -often the better-known and more easily accessible version—which is certain to frustrate the reader). Deserves to find a home in academic halls, although less essential for the home bookshelf.

Pub Date: May 17, 1995

ISBN: 0-300-05902-7

Page Count: 264

Publisher: Yale Univ.

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1995

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.