Black Studies Editor's Recommended Book

Many jazz fans first learned about the music not only from listening, but from reading the notes on the backs of records. In "Setting the Tempo," Tom Piazza collects 50 liner notes, dating from 1940 to 1986. Here are such writers as Stanley Crouch (on pianist Thelonius Monk and saxophonist Booker Ervin); Amiri Baraka (on singer Billie Holliday and saxophonist John Coltrane); and Whitney Balliet (on singer Joe Turner and saxophonist Gerry Mulligan). This is writing that informs, often placing the artist in a historical context, as much as it energizes bringing to our attention nuances in the music that often make us hear it afresh.

From Booklist , September 15, 1996

Considering the value that writers--who figure that recording packages remain in listeners' homes long after magazines have been thrown away--place on them as being pretty permanent, it is hard to believe that a collection of some of the best liner notes hasn't appeared before. Editor Piazza's gathering from throughout the history of the jazz LP showcases the different perspectives of many great jazz scribes. The collection is most interesting for showing how approaches to liner notes changed over time: from George Avakian's scholarly approach to describing early jazz to Amiri Baraka's use of a John Coltrane recording as launching pad for caustic polemic. Occasionally, too, Piazza provides examples of musicians writing their own notes, such as Charles Mingus, who used them to answer his critics. The entire book makes enjoyable reading for anyone interested in the music, and dedicated aficionados will pray that Piazza's inclusion of Robert Palmer's perceptive notes to Julius Hemphill's Dogon A.D. encourages somebody to reissue this now unavailable classic. --Aaron Cohen Copyright © 1996, American Library Association. All rights reserved

Book Description:

Since the introduction of the long-playing record, some of the best writing about jazz has appeared on the backs of record covers. Over the years, jazz writers and prominent jazz musicians have annotated record albums with background on the musicians and the recordings, historical context and musical analysis. These annotations, or "liner notes," provide a window on the recording process, as well as intimate anecdotes and personal views of the musicians that have an immediacy and warmth rarely found elsewhere--setting the tempo, in a sense, for the listener's appreciation of the music.

Jazz liner notes, both for new releases and classic material, comprise a rich and vibrant genre of jazz writing that has never been collected--until now. In Setting the Tempo, author and jazz authority Tom Piazza presents fifty of the finest and most distinctive notes from the beginning of the genre, in the 1940s, through the present. Among them are Duke Ellington's moving reminiscences of stride piano master James P. Johnson, brilliant impressions of John Coltrane by poet Leroi Jones (Amiri Baraka); bass virtuoso and composer Charles Mingus's harangue against his critics, composer Gunther Schuller's extraordinary story of locating Charlie Parker's alto saxophone teacher, and meditations on different meanings of freedom in jazz by pianist Bill Evans and alto innovator Ornette Coleman. Stanley Crouch, Dan Morgenstern, Ira Gitler, and Ralph J. Gleason and other critics are also represented by some of their strongest work.

A mosaic history of jazz as seen through the occasions of its signal recordings and the sensibilities of some of its foremost observers, Setting the Tempo is one of the most lively collections of jazz writing ever assembled.

Synopsis:

Author and jazz authority Tom Piazza presents 50 of the finest and most distinctive notes from the beginning of the genre, in the 1940s, through the present. A mosaic history of jazz as seen through the occasions of its signal recordings and the sensibilities of some of its foremost observers, this book is one of the most lively collection of jazz writing ever assembled.

From the Publisher:

Since the introduction of the long-playing record, some of the best writing about jazz has appeared on the backs of record covers. Over the years, jazz writers and prominent jazz musicians have annotated record albums with background on the musicians and the recordings, historical context and musical analysis. These annotations, or "liner notes," provide a window on the recording process, as well as intimate anecdotes and personal views of the musicians that have an immediacy and warmth rarely found elsewhere--setting the tempo, in a sense, for the listener's appreciation of the music.

Jazz liner notes, both for new releases and classic material, comprise a rich and vibrant genre of jazz writing that has never been collected--until now. In Setting the Tempo, author and jazz authority Tom Piazza presents fifty of the finest and most distinctive notes from the beginning of the genre, in the 1940s, through the present. Among them are Duke Ellington's moving reminiscences of stride piano master James P. Johnson, brilliant impressions of John Coltrane by poet Leroi Jones (Amiri Baraka); bass virtuoso and composer Charles Mingus's harangue against his critics, composer Gunther Schuller's extraordinary story of locating Charlie Parker's alto saxophone teacher, and meditations on different meanings of freedom in jazz by pianist Bill Evans and alto innovator Ornette Coleman. Stanley Crouch, Dan Morgenstern, Ira Gitler, and Ralph J. Gleason and other critics are also represented by some of their strongest work.

A mosaic history of jazz as seen through the occasions of its signal recordings and the sensibilities of some of its foremost observers, Setting the Tempo is one of the most lively collections of jazz writing ever assembled.