Blue: The Murder of Jazz

First time in paperback: A leading critic asks the provocative question, Is jazz dying?
Once a thriving body of innovative and fluid music, jazz is now the victim of destructive professional and artistic forces, says Eric Nisenson. Corruption by marketers, appropriation by the mainstream, superficial media portrayal, and sheer lack of skill have all contributed to the demise of this venerable art form. Nisenson persuasively describes how the entire jazz "industry" is controlled by a select cadre with a choke hold on the most vital components of the music. As the listening culture has changed, have spontaneity and improvisation been sacrificed? You can agree or disagree with Nisenson's thesis and arguments, but as Booklist says, "his passion is engrossing."

From Library Journal
According to some critics, jazz today is in a renaissance. Yet others take the view that jazz is dead, that today's young players are trapped in the past. These two books are on opposite sides of this raging debate. Relating the history of jazz to social forces, Nisenson (Ascension: Coltrane and His Quest, LJ 12/93) concludes that jazz is no longer created in its own time but is instead a dead art form. As a result, he attacks those he refers to as the "neo-classicists": Stanley Crouch, Albert Murray, Wynton Marsalis, and Piazza himself. In his collection of previously published pieces, Piazza (The Guide to Classic Recorded Jazz, LJ 3/1/95) takes the opposite tack, arguing that the concept of "jazz as emotion" is a fallacy and that jazz has regained what it had been missing in the years of jazz-rock fusion: technique, a feeling of swing, and knowledge of and respect for the tradition. (Sadly, another issue raised in both books is racism; there have been accusations that the Jazz at Lincoln Center program, under the auspices of Marsalis, has excluded white musicians.) The truth likely lies somewhere between the two poles presented here, and these two books are recommended jointly for effectively providing both sides of the argument.?Michael Colby, Univ. of California, Davis
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

The Wall Street Journal, Terry Teachout
In fact, Mr. Nisenson's title is Mortonesque in its hyperbole, for he doesn't really think jazz is dying: His diagnosis, rather, is one of premature senility, complicated by an acute case of inflamed politics.... If you're in need of a road map to the current jazz wars, Mr. Nisenson's forthright, informative polemic should serve the purpose quite nicely. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Eric Nisenson is the author of two highly praised books on jazz: Ascension: John Coltrane and His Quest and Round About Midnight: A Portrait of Miles Davis (both available from Da Capo). He lives in Massachusetts.