[Dixielandjazz] New Tom Jacobsen book--N.O. Jazz Scene, 1970-2000

[Charles Suhor]

Hello, Listmates—

If you haven’t yet bought Thomas Jacobsen’s new book, “The New Orleans Jazz Scene, 1970-2000: A Personal Retrospective” (LSU Press, $18.63), I highly recommend it. You might have seen his 2011 book, “Traditional New Orleans Jazz: Conversations With the Men Who Make the Music.” He was also a regular writer for “Clarinet” mag and the defunct “Mississippi Rag.”

In the new book Tom sets out to take up where I left off in my 2001 book “Jazz in New Orleans: The Postwar Years Through 1970.” He kindly refers to my volume as a sort of prototype, but he looks at the last three decades of the century with a unique vision. I had wondered how he would get a handle on those varied and complex times. He did it, making a daunting task look easy by his organizational skill and readable writing style.

You’ll recognize dozens of the OKOM and modern players and landmark clubs and events in the book. A lot of the material was new to me because I left the city in 1977, keeping sporadic contact with the music scene through my brother Don, periodicals, and internet sources. 
 
I hope someone is waiting in the wings with notes for a 2000-and-beyond book. 
 
Charlie