bookshelf

PLAYING CHANGES

Name: PLAYING CHANGES
Author: Nate Chinen
ISBN: 978-1-101-87034-1

JAZZ FOR THE NEW CENTURY

by Nate Chinen ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 14, 2018

As this illuminating book shows, jazz still has a lot to say about the world—and a lot of eloquent artists ready to say it.

bookshelf

A music critic assesses the current state of jazz.

By the end of the 20th century, some observers of the jazz scene had concluded that “jazz was enshrined in the popular imagination as a historical practice, a set of codes to be reenacted endlessly.” What possible surprises could be mined from an art form that “had already completed a full life cycle of creation, maturation, obsolescence, and revival”? A lot, it turns out, as Chinen (co-author, with George Wein: Myself Among Others: A Life in Music, 2003), the current NPR contributor and former jazz critic for the New York Times, demonstrates in this analysis of the state of jazz in the 21st century. No fan of “an overintellectualized, preciously ennobled, eat-your-vegetables idea of great American music,” the author focuses on artists who are pushing jazz in new directions. These include saxophonist Kamasi Washington, who, with “The Epic,” his 2015 debut album, “emerged as jazz’s most persuasive embodiment of new black pride at a moment when few forces in American culture felt more pressing”; pianist Brad Mehldau, whose solo in one particular track so impressed guitarist Pat Metheny when he heard it while driving “that he pulled the car over to give it his full concentration”; drummer Tyshawn Sorey, composer of the “unclassifiable suite” The Inner Spectrum of Variables; bassist Esperanza Spalding; and more. Chinen gets bogged down with repeated references to the awards many of the cited artists have won, but jazz fans will find much to enjoy. Anyone looking to start a jazz collection will be happy to know that each chapter concludes with five recommended recordings. The author has a gift for memorable lines, as when he writes about D’Angelo’s 2000 album “Voodoo”: “There’s an odd sensation that you often encounter listening to the album, not unlike absentmindedly reaching the top of a staircase and being startled when there isn’t another step.”

As this illuminating book shows, jazz still has a lot to say about the world—and a lot of eloquent artists ready to say it.

Pub Date: Aug. 14, 2018

ISBN: 978-1-101-87034-1

Page Count: 288

Publisher: Pantheon

Review Posted Online: May 14, 2018

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2018

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
MYSELF AMONG OTHERS
by George Wein with Nate Chinen

bookshelf

NUTCRACKER

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

bookshelf

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

bookshelf

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

bookshelf

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.