About the Author

Prominent American composer, horn-player, and writer on music.

Reviews

"An excellent study. A great help for my teaching . . ."--Reinhold Brinkmann, Harvard University
"Excellent text! The depth and scope warrants an entire course of study on this era alone. It is a valuable tool for any jazz musician who performsm writes, or studies this style."--Stephen T. Goforth, Oklahoma City University
"Schuller has the mind of a persistent and thorough scholar, and of a most careful and exacting musical analyst; of the most sensitive and responsive listener, and of the most musically knowledgeable and careful of critics....a monumental piece of work....As I say, this is a monumental achievement; it should be a basic text for anyone seriously interested in American music."--Martin Williams, merican Music
"The ultimate jazz history."--The New Republic
"A magisterial achievement, equally engrossing for musicologists, enthusiasts or the just plain curious....Schuller has given us a masterpiece and source of pure delight."--The Washington Post Book World
"An excellent study. A great help for my teaching." --Reinhold Brinkmann, Harvard University
"Excellent text! The depth and scope warrants an entire course of study on this era alone. It is a valuable tool for any jazz musician who performs, writes, or studies this style."--Stephen T. Goforth, Oklahoma City University
"Schuller has the mind of a persistent and thorough scholar, and of a most careful and exacting musical analyst; of the most sensitive and responsive listener, and of the most musically knowledgeable and careful of critics....a monumental piece of work.... As I say, this is a monumental achievement; it should be a basic text for anyone seriously interested in American music."--Martin Williams, merican Music
"The ultimate jazz history."--The New Republic
"A magisterial achievement, equally engrossing for musicologists, enthusiasts or the just plain curious.... Schuller has given us a masterpiece and source of pure delight."--The Washington Post Book World
"A book of undeniable importance. No true student of the arts born of American civilization will be able to avoid opening [it] and seeking out the riches it has made available."--The New York Times Book Review
"Unparalleled.... One of the most far-reaching musical studies of jazz; his astute criticism deepens our understanding not only of the period but of jazz itself."--Library Journal
"A touchstone of jazz literature.... The most thorough and authoritative study ever undertaken of the period."--The Philadelphia Inquirer
"Hardly anyone else can write on jazz with this authority. The Swing Era is indispensable to serious jazz lovers. If any are in doubt about this, Schuller's twenty pages on Billie Holiday, a model of what first-rate jazz criticism should be, will decide the matter.... A labor of learning, of critical discernment and respect, of profound knowledge of how jazz and jazz musicians work.... A monumental contribution to jazz literature."--New York Review
of Books
"A walk down memory lane with an extraordinary guide, who traces the influences that shaped the playing of everone he mentions, often with musical notations transcribed from the records to illustrate his points. It's a scholarly work, but Schuller, a composer and conductor when he's not writing books, has filled it with fascinating details that will keep the jazz lover turning pages from beginning to end."--Sunday Chicago Tribune
"The hardback was a bargain at $30.00; at $15.95 the paperback is a bigger one. Schuller isn't infallible, but this is unquestionably an essential item on any jazz bookshelf--along with Early Jazz."--JazzTimes
"The Swing Era is an excellent examination of a rich period in America's musical history."--Journal of the West
"The biggest single book on jazz yet written.... All lovers of jazz should be grateful to [Schuller] for devoting so much of a very busy life to this formidable task."--Jazztimes
"The most precise and insightful book on the subject."--Prof. Weldonhill, Virginia Union Univ.

"An excellent study. A great help for my teaching . . ."--Reinhold Brinkmann, Harvard University "Excellent text! The depth and scope warrants an entire course of study on this era alone. It is a valuable tool for any jazz musician who performsm writes, or studies this style."--Stephen T. Goforth, Oklahoma City University "Schuller has the mind of a persistent and thorough scholar, and of a most careful and exacting musical analyst; of the most sensitive and responsive listener, and of the most musically knowledgeable and careful of critics....a monumental piece of work....As I say, this is a monumental achievement; it should be a basic text for anyone seriously interested in American music."--Martin Williams, merican Music "The ultimate jazz history."--The New Republic "A magisterial achievement, equally engrossing for musicologists, enthusiasts or the just plain curious....Schuller has given us a masterpiece and source of pure delight."--The Washington Post Book World "An excellent study. A great help for my teaching." --Reinhold Brinkmann, Harvard University "Excellent text! The depth and scope warrants an entire course of study on this era alone. It is a valuable tool for any jazz musician who performs, writes, or studies this style."--Stephen T. Goforth, Oklahoma City University "Schuller has the mind of a persistent and thorough scholar, and of a most careful and exacting musical analyst; of the most sensitive and responsive listener, and of the most musically knowledgeable and careful of critics....a monumental piece of work.... As I say, this is a monumental achievement; it should be a basic text for anyone seriously interested in American music."--Martin Williams, merican Music "The ultimate jazz history."--The New Republic "A magisterial achievement, equally engrossing for musicologists, enthusiasts or the just plain curious.... Schuller has given us a masterpiece and source of pure delight."--The Washington Post Book World "A book of undeniable importance. No true student of the arts born of American civilization will be able to avoid opening [it] and seeking out the riches it has made available."--The New York Times Book Review "Unparalleled.... One of the most far-reaching musical studies of jazz; his astute criticism deepens our understanding not only of the period but of jazz itself."--Library Journal "A touchstone of jazz literature.... The most thorough and authoritative study ever undertaken of the period."--The Philadelphia Inquirer "Hardly anyone else can write on jazz with this authority. The Swing Era is indispensable to serious jazz lovers. If any are in doubt about this, Schuller's twenty pages on Billie Holiday, a model of what first-rate jazz criticism should be, will decide the matter.... A labor of learning, of critical discernment and respect, of profound knowledge of how jazz and jazz musicians work.... A monumental contribution to jazz literature."--New York Review of Books "A walk down memory lane with an extraordinary guide, who traces the influences that shaped the playing of everone he mentions, often with musical notations transcribed from the records to illustrate his points. It's a scholarly work, but Schuller, a composer and conductor when he's not writing books, has filled it with fascinating details that will keep the jazz lover turning pages from beginning to end."--Sunday Chicago Tribune "The hardback was a bargain at $30.00; at $15.95 the paperback is a bigger one. Schuller isn't infallible, but this is unquestionably an essential item on any jazz bookshelf--along with Early Jazz."--JazzTimes "The Swing Era is an excellent examination of a rich period in America's musical history."--Journal of the West "The biggest single book on jazz yet written.... All lovers of jazz should be grateful to [Schuller] for devoting so much of a very busy life to this formidable task."--Jazztimes "The most precise and insightful book on the subject."--Prof. Weldonhill, Virginia Union Univ.

Twenty years after the publication of Early Jazz , French hornist, conductor, composer, educator and broadcaster Schuller brings forth this 900-page second volume in his monumental ``History of Jazz.'' He is perhaps better equipped to analyze style and technique than anyone else who has written about this music. No previous critic has delineated in as great detail how the various styles developed and coalesced. Schuller devotes 40 pages to Louis Armstrong, 110 pages and 62 musical examples to Duke Ellington. He identifies the unique characteristics of each of the big bandsamong them, Count Basie, Benny Carter, Lionel Hampton, Coleman Hawkins, Fletcher and Horace Henderson, Earl Hines, Jimmie Lunceford and Chick Webb; of arrangers Mel Powell, Don Redman and Eddie Sauter; of such soloists as Bunny Berigan, Charlie Christian, Roy Eldridge, Billie Holiday, Art Tatum, Jack Teagarden, Ben Webster and Teddy Wilson; of the small groups of Nate Cole, John Kirby, Red Nichols and Rex Stewart; even of the ``territory bands'' of the Middle West. He also explicates the contributions of the big white bands of Charlie Barnet, Bob Crosby, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, Harry James, Gene Krupa, Glenn Miller and Claude Thornhill, who, by codifying and expanding upon the innovations of their black counterparts, played as crucial a role and brought jazz to millions who otherwise would never have heard any jazz at all. Schuller's evaluations are original, trenchant and even-handed: He discusses shortcomingsstylistic stultification, topheavy sound, exuberant vulgarity, for exampleas well as achievements. And he demonstrates the gradual atrophying of swing by repetition, formularization, the reduction of improvisation and loss of spontaneity. More brilliantly than anyone before him, Schuller has explained a glorious period in the history of American music. Illustrated. (Feb.)