Stan Kenton

An expert on Stan Kenton, Sparke delivers a comprehensive history of Kenton's activities as a bandleader and creative force in jazz. Based largely on interviews with Kenton and members of the various incarnations of his orchestra, the book shows how the "Kenton sound" evolved over four decades, focusing on the role that Kenton himself played in that development. While Sparke's style is sometimes a bit florid, his vast knowledge and enthusiasm for his subject is evident throughout the book. Likely to become the standard history of Kenton's orchestra, this book will be enjoyed by any reader interested in the history of big-band jazz. Annotation ♭2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).

"Straight Ahead is the story of Stan Kenton's career as a musician, brom his first Artistry in Rhythm band in 1941, through his becoming "the greatest box-office attraction in the nation," through Progressive Jazz, the Innovations Orchestra, his becoming only the third musician elected to Down Beat's Hall of Fame (following Louis Armstrong and Glenn Miller), through the Mellophonium Band, up to the present, his twelfth band"--

"This book, fully authorized by Zildjian, tells the exciting story of the world's most popular cymbal company on the monumental occasion of its 375th anniversary .... The Zildjian story is told firsthand by the Zildjian family members and by the legendary drummers who participated in the important musical movements of the 20th century"--Jacket.

With a foreword by Joe Lovano, an oral biography of the preeminent alto saxophonist of cool jazz

Poised to become a classic of jazz literature, Visions of Jazz: The First Century offers seventy-nine chapters illuminating the lives of virtually all the major figures in jazz history. From Louis Armstrong's renegade-style trumpet playing to Sarah Vaughan's operatic crooning, and from the swinging elegance of Duke Ellington to the pioneering experiments of Ornette Coleman, jazz critic Gary Giddins continually astonishes the reader with his unparalleled insight. Writing with the grace and wit that have endeared his prose to Village Voice readers for decades, Giddins also widens the scope of jazz to include such crucial American musicians as Irving Berlin, Rosemary Clooney, and Frank Sinatra, all primarily pop performers who are often dismissed by fans and critics as mere derivatives of the true jazz idiom. And he devotes an entire quarter of this landmark volume to young, still-active jazz artists, boldly expanding the horizons of jazz--and charting and exploring the music's influences as no other book has done.