Free (nook/Kindle) Portraits in Jazz: 80 Profiles [Music Interviews, Essays, History]

[ATDrake]

Portraits in Jazz: 80 Profiles of Jazz Legends, Renegades and Revolutionaries by journalist & music critic Howard Reich, who as it turns out has a documentary film about his family background (Wikipedia), is compilation of his Chicago Tribune interviews & articles & commentary on Exactly What It Says In The Title, spanning the four decades of his career and the accompanying musical genre luminaries he had access to and interacted with during that time, as well as going back further for write-ups on early jazz pioneers, free courtesy of publisher Agate's Digital imprint.

This is a very substantial book with over 600 pages' worth of material, and seems to cover everything from the earliest originating artists up to more recent newcomers, both famous and obscure.

Currently free, probably just until the weekend @ B&N (also UK) & Amazon (not available to Canadians, but also free in the UK), and may show up later as a DRM-free PDF download available worldwide @ the publisher's webcatalogue page, as Agate freebies sometimes do.

And this has been the (late!) selected 3rd (non-repeat) free ebook thread of the day.

It actually had quite a bit of competition from the other offerings for today, which looked very good indeed, but this one edges the others out for the hat-trick combo of layperson-accessible specialist field history + behind-the-scenes with influential personalities in the making-of + knowledgeable commentary by the author, with hefty textual substantiveness backing it all up.

Edutainment at its finest.

Enjoy!

Description
Howard Reich has reported on jazz for the Chicago Tribune for almost four decades, and in this time he has met musicians both celebrated and obscure. From his exclusive interviews with Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Lena Horne, and Ella Fitzgerald, to profiles of the early masters like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, and Billie Holiday, this book illustrates Reich’s deep understanding of the performances, recordings, and cultural legacies of these jazz masters.

This book, comprising Reich’s award-winning Chicago Tribune articles, shows readers his unmatched critical insight and unrivaled access to the diverse range of jazz musicians the world over, including the little-known artists who, while never in the national spotlight, were nonetheless instrumental to the evolution of jazz. Divided thematically, Portraits in Jazz is a journey from the time of jazz music’s originators, great singers, and early masters through to its courageous standouts, game changers, and regional influencers from Chicago to Cuba and across the globe.

Reich, himself a piano performance major at Northwestern University, says in the introduction that studying theory and history are essential to understanding jazz’s inner-workings. But these portraits weren’t created as academic theses or history-book lessons. They are on-the-spot, in the heat of the moment questions of its greatest practitioners, articles and essays in the here and now, taking readers one step closer to the meaning of sound.

[koland]

Free @ the publisher's page