This text illuminates the lives major figures in jazz history. From Louis Armstrong's renegade style trumpet playing to Frank Sinatra's intimate crooning. The author, Giddins maintains, contrary to the opinion of most jazz enthusiasts, that Armstrongs voice was as much an integral part of creating jazz singing as his trumpet was to creating jazz. Tributes to the great jazz singers are also included. Billie Holiday profoundly impacted music history, and Giddins eloquently honours her "gutted voice, drawled phrasing, and wayworn features". Many artists, such as Irving Berlin and Rosemary Clooney, have been traditionally dismissed by fans and critics as merely popular derivatives of true jazz.
- ISBN10 0195076753
- ISBN13 9780195076752
- Publish Date 22 October 1998 (first published 1 January 1998)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 19 August 2002
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 702
- Language English