THE BEST IN JAZZ LITERATURE

BEST Jazz Reads:

KANSAS CITY LIGHTNING, THE LIFE AND TIMES OF CHARLIE PARKER by Stanley Crouch. The long-awaited (and recently published) book on Bird is well worth the wait, and you won't want to put down. An expert on the art and aesthetics of jazz, Crouch offers fresh stories and insights on the man and myth. An essayist, columnist (The Daily News) and novelist, Crouch is perhaps best known for his long stint serving as artistic consultant for jazz programs at Lincoln Center.

THE BLUE MOMENT by Richard Williams. An interesting attempt to place the influence of Miles Davis in a wider musical, cultural and historical context.

COLTRANE by Ben Ratliff. An extraordinary, thrilling and often heady examination of the sound, technique and influence of the great saxophonist John Coltrane.

JAZZ by Bob Blumenthal. A primer on the subject by long-time critic Blumenthal, who has written for The Boston Globe and received Grammys for best album notes for Coltrane: The Classic Quartet/Complete Impulse! Studio Recordings in 1999 and the following year for Miles Davis & John Coltrane: The Complete Columbia Recordings 1955-61.

FOOTPRINTS: THE LIFE AND WORK OF WAYNE SHORTER by Michelle Mercer. An invaluable compendium of interviews and rich insights into this national living treasure, his struggles and his music.

HARD BOP by David H. Rosenthal. A standard. Read it if you want to know how bebop transitioned into hard bop.

JAZZ by Gary Giddins and Scott Deveaux. Superior photographs and a rich text, intelligent and chock full of love and appreciation for the music.

LUSH LIFE, A BIOGRAPHY OF BILLY STRAYHORN by David Hadju. A short, openly gay African-American dynamo, Strayhorn worked closely with Duke Ellington as a composer and collaborator. Among Strayhorn's defining compositions are "Take the 'A' Train," "Lush Life," and "Satin Doll."

A former writer for  The Village Voice and Rolling Stone magazine, Hadju is currently music critic for The New Republic and teaches at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism.

READING JAZZ, edited by Robert Gottlieb. Readable and delightful, a must for any jazz aficionado.

SO WHAT, THE LIFE OF MILES DAVIS by John Szwed. A gorgeous, elegant, well-researched book. Szwed also wrote a bio on Sun Ra. He teaches music and jazz studies at Columbia University and is Director of the Center for Jazz Studies there.

BEST Magazine Reads:

Brilliant Corners - in hard copy only, this is the only national journal focussing on jazz-related lit, and has published some of the biggest names writing on the subject such as Yusef Komunyakaa and Philip Levine

Jerry Jazz Musician - only online, it features videos, articles and short stories on jazz. Historian and music critic Nat Hentoff called JJM "a wonder" -- "The site encompasses what could be called American civilization with jazz as the centerpiece."