At the Jazz Band Ball Sixty Years on the Jazz Scene [Hardcover]

Nat Hentoff, renowned jazz critic, civil liberties activist, and fearless contrarianIm a Jewish atheist civil-libertarian pro-liferhas lived through much of jazzs history and has known many of jazzs most important figures, often as friend and confidant. Hentoff has been a tireless advocate for the neglected parts of jazz history, including forgotten sidemen and -women. This volume includes his best recent workshort essays, long interviews, and personal recollections. From Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong to Ornette Coleman and Quincy Jones, Hentoff brings the jazz greats to life and traces their art to gospel, blues, and many other forms of American music.At the Jazz Band Ballalso includes Hentoffs keen, cosmopolitan observations on a wide range of issues. The book shows how jazz and education are a vital partnership, how free expression is the essence of liberty, and how social justice issues like health care and strong civil rights and liberties keep all the artsand all members of societystrong.

Nat Hentoffis an internationally known jazz critic and the only critic ever designated a Jazz Master by the NEA. He is a regular columnist for Jazz.com and theWall Street Journal, the United Media Newspaper Syndicate, and the Cato Institute, where he is a senior fellow. His many books includeJazz Country; Jazz Is; The Jazz Life; Boston Boy: Growing Up with Jazz and Other Rebellious Passions; Living the Bill of Rights; and the forthcomingIs This America?

Nat Hentoff may very well be the foremost jazz historian in the world because he was there to witness firsthand the musics evolution from big band and swing to fusion and bossa nova; and to dive into the souls of the men and women who created it from Ellington, Basie, Miles, Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald and Dinah Washington, among many others.At the Jazz Band Ball: Sixty Years on the Jazz Sceneis an invaluable archive of not only the musical il#·