[Dixielandjazz] Review: Ted Gioia's book: The Jazz Standards

[Norman Vickers]

To:  DJML and Musicians & Jazzfans list

From: Norman Vickers, Jazz Society of Pensacola

Here's  my review of Ted Gioia's book,  The Jazz Standards.  Bob Ringwald
posted on DJML  some time ago a review by Will Friedwald. For comparison,
here's mine.  Friedwald didn't explain how The Real Book had influenced the
taste and knowledge of the emerging jazz musicians.  There are plenty of
"traditional" tunes in this book as well as some more modern.

 

 

 

THE JAZZ STANDARDS: A Guide to the Repertoire

By Ted Gioia

Oxford University Press; C 2012, with end-notes and index

Review by F. Norman Vickers

 

Ted Gioia is a pianist, jazz historian, teacher and best-selling author.
His book, The History of Jazz, originally published in 1998 has been
revised, expanded and released in 2011.  For me, this is the most readable
history of jazz I've encountered.  So, when Gioia's current book, The Jazz
Standards, became available this year, I was eager to read it.

 

Gioia explains in the introduction how this came about.  He'd wanted a
reference to the tunes which older jazz musicians expect their associates to
be able to play. Alternative title might have been, "250+ tunes every jazz
player should know."  He also explains how The Real Book has become the
musical text especially for emerging jazz musicians. (For those not
acquainted with The Real Book, it's a readily available lead-sheet
collection of jazz tunes and written in appropriate keys for the various
instruments.  This is almost a "bible" for emerging jazz musicians. Whereas
early fake-books were underground works which ignored copyright, The Real
Book is a legit-fake book respecting copyright laws.)

 

The author has selected tunes, gives background of performance and
composer/lyricist.  This gives him opportunity to relate jazz anecdotes
relating to that tune.  He also gives recommendations for listening
indicating his choices for best renditions of that song over the course of
its history. 

 

Allow me a personal reference here.  My longtime Pensacola friend and
professional pianist, Al Martin, and used to play a game of "who wrote that
song?" at his piano gigs.  The reference book we used was one by the same
title as our game, written by Dick Jacobs, Betterway Publications, C1988.
It's out of print now but should be available by searching used book
dealers. Now The Jazz Standards will have to be our second authoritative
source. 

 

One may use The Jazz Standards as a reference but I suspect that most
readers, including me, will wish to read through for sheer enjoyment.  Most
of the songs are covered in about 2-3 pages.  Many of the anecdotes he
relates were new to me, enhancing my enjoyment of the book. Of course,
serious musicians will wish that Gioia had also included one or two of their
favorites, which were omitted because of space restrictions or personal
choice.  Options are two-fold-write one's own book or wait for Gioia to
write the sequel!

 

 
--End--