Is Jazz Dead?

An important new book on the state of jazz today by Stuart Nicholson, published in New York on 4th October by Routledge….

Is Jazz Dead?(Or Has It Moved to a New Address) examines the state of jazz at the turn of the 21st century, a period when the music's past had begun to shape the present as never before. In this thought-provoking study, Nicholson offers an analysis of the American jazz scene and discusses the complex reasons which individually might not have had much impact on the music, but taken together have helped create today's renascent climate.

Central to the book is a study of the impact of globalization/glocalization on jazz, an area of discourse that has so far largely eluded serious study. Today, glocal musicians outside the USA are creating new and exciting music that reflects their local identity, music that is now starting to be heard and acclaimed in the United States. Nicholson points to these developments as being the next major evolutionary trend in jazz and as evidence of this he illustrates how the search for local identity in music has previously and significantly occurred in both classical music and popular culture.

This important study asks whether with American jazz's preoccupation with its past has come a failure to acknowledge the music had become so big it has finally outgrown its country of birth, and that its stewardship was no longer an exclusive American preserve. He raises the hitherto unimagined possibility of the vanguard of jazz, its cutting edge, now no longer resting in its country of origin but in the glocalized jazz communities of Europe.

Nicholson also explores the cultural tensions that surrounded Ken Burns' version of jazz history, serialised in an influential 10-part television documentary Jazz (2001), in the context of trumpeter Wynton Marsalis's music and the Jazz at Lincoln Center project. Other key chapters examine the effects of jazz education, the rise of the "jazzy" singers and thoughts on the nature and direction of jazz of the future.

One key chapter posits the question of whether an art form as important and vital as jazz should be left largely to market forces to decide its destiny, opening up a vital debate on the funding of jazz in America. Nicholson asks whether this could achieved by governmental and municipal funds as happens in Europe, where its effects have contributed to creating a thriving jazz scene where most professional American jazz musicians, according to the New York Times, now derive the majority of their income stream.

This book is bound to be controversial among jazz's purists and ideologues but will be welcomed by others as a celebration of the new renewal of the music within the global jazz community. In looking at developments outside the United States, Is Jazz Dead? (Or Has It Moved to a New Address) will undoubtedly prompt discussion on how the music should be preserved within its borders, asking the question on all jazz fan's minds: Can jazz survive as a living medium? And, if so, how?

Early Praise for Is Jazz Dead (Or Has It Moved To A New Address):

"Stuart Nicholson may be the most perceptive critic writing about jazz today. He listens widely - hunting down the most exciting development in improvisational music from Oslo to Patagonia - and hears deeply. While others are caught up in paradigms from the music's past, he is charting an inspiring roadmap for its future." Ted Gioia, author of The History of Jazz, West Coast Jazz and Imperfect Art (USA)

"That US jazz no longer leads the world seems irrefutable. Stuart Nicholson provides an admirably clear-sighted and culturally-sophisticated examination of recent developments in the US and Europe, while also pointing to a wealth of excellent music for the reader to go in search of. If jazz really is dead, the corpse is looking pretty good." Phil Johnson, Jazz Critic, Independent On Sunday (UK)

"Is Jazz Dead? is certain to stir controversy. No one is going to agree with everything Stuart Nicholson has to say -- about "glocalization" and the rise of European jazz, Wyntonism, and the bleak future for jazz in the U.S. without governmental funding -- but I can't imagine anyone reading him and not feeling provoked. He does what a good critic is supposed to do, which is to give a reader something to argue with. Francis Davis, author of Jazz and Its Discontents: A Francis Davis Reader. (USA)

"Is Jazz Dead? is terrifying, enlightening and thought provoking in equal measures. You might not agree with Nicholson's analysis but if you're in the business of jazz or just plain love the music you cannot afford to ignore this book." Kerstan Mackness, Jazz Editor Time Out London (UK)

"Deeply researched, provocative, well written, with a touch of the British sense of humour, this book will open an infinite debate about jazz in the new century. A must for every jazz lover." Vincenzo Martorella, Editor of Jazzit (Italy)

"Stuart Nicholson has written a powerful counterblast against those who want to place jazz in a mausoleum. Anyone who cares about the future of jazz as a vital and innovative art form should read this book." Sholto Byrnes, Arts Columnist and Interviewer, The Independent (UK)

"Better a change of address than dead!" Manuel Jorge Ve Loso, Arts Reviewer, Diário de Notícias (Portugal)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Stuart Nicholson is an award-winning author of several best-selling books on jazz that have been translated into several languages, including Reminiscing in Tempo: A Portrait of Duke Ellington (Northeastern U Press), Jazz-Rock: A History (Schirmer Books), Billie Holiday: A Biography (Northeastern U Press), Ella Fitzgerald: A Biography (Charles Scribners' Sons) and Jazz: The 1980s Resurgence (Da Capo). His biographies of Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald both received "Notable Book of the Year" awards from The New York Times Review of Books. He writes regularly for leading US and European newspapers and jazz journals.

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