Product Description

A collection of reviews, sleevenotes, obituaries and previously unpublished works written by the late Benny Green. There are discussions on great songwriters and leading jazz singers, the role of jazz in music, and leading jazz musicians.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2555937 in Books
• Published on: 2001-11-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 400 pages

Review
Many readers will remember Benny Green's distinctive voice from the BBC radio broadcasts in which he demonstrated his love for jazz and American popular song with a blend of erudition, anecdote and self-deprecating humour. Now Benny's son, Dominic, has assembled a collection of Green's writings, which includes essays, reviews, obituaries and sleeve notes as well as Benny's diary of Ronnie Scott's club from 1959 to 1969 and his article on jazz from the 1974 Encyclopaedia Britannica. Green began as a working musician who played with Ronnie Scott and Stan Kenton. It was during his ten years on the road that he also became a voracious reader and these two strands, insider knowledge and a highly literate style, are amalgamated in his jazz criticism. He sees jazz as an art form which developed at an accelerated rate during the 20th century, but which rested on the structures of the blues and the American popular song. Rather than take sides - although he disapproves of both 'free' and 'egghead' jazz - he suggests that jazz is a matter of individual approach, not categories. In these pages, he celebrates the work of great musicians such as Louis Armstrong and Thelonius Monk, bandleaders such as Count Basie and Duke Ellington, exponents of the popular song such as Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra and songwriters such as the Gershwins and Irving Berlin. Among the highlights of this entertaining book are a detailed essay on Charlie Parker which explains why his style was so revolutionary, an eyewitness account of a Sinatra recording session and an awestruck concert review of Miles Davis during his Kind of Blue period. These snapshots from the history of jazz from a knowledgeable and impassioned critic will make a stimulating and nostalgic read for all jazz lovers. (Kirkus UK)

Elvis Costello
'A wonderful collection of Benny Green's writings'

Times Literary Supplement
'Reminds us of how illuminating Benny Green could be...Dominic Green's compilation is a filial labour of love and admiration'