Part One. What Am I Here For? The Rules of My Jazz Odyssey
1. Who Owns Jazz?
2. My Debt to Artie Shaw
3. The Family of Jazz
4. Beyond the Process
5. Playing Changes on Jazz Interviews
Part Two. In the Presence of Ellington
6. Inside the Ellington Band
7. Duke Ellington’s Posthumous Revenge
8. Essentially Duke (and Wynton)
9. Ellington’s Band Is Heavenly in These "Live" Forties Recordings
Part Three. Jazz Credentials
10. Is Jazz Black Music?
11. No One Else Sounded Like "Pee Wee" Russell
12. Just Call Him Thelonious
13. Remembering Dizzy
14. Oscar Peterson: A Jazz "Behemoth" Moves On
15. A Great Night in Providence for Jazz and Snow
16. The Perfect Jazz Club
17. Anita O’Day: The Life of a Music Legend
18. The Music of the 1930s Is Back in Full Swing
19. The Expansive Jazz Journey of Marian McPartland
20. Going Inside Jazz with Wynton
Part Four. The Jazz Life On and Off the Road
21. Memories Are Made of This: A Conversation with Clark Terry
22. Man, I’m So Lucky to Be a Jazz Musician: Phil Woods
23. Conventional Unwisdom about Jazz
Part Five. Who Is a Jazz Singer?
24. Are Krall and Monheit Jazz Singers?
25. Billie Holiday, Live: A Biography in Music
26. This Daughter of Jazz Is One Cool Cat
27. The Springtime of Frank Sinatra
28. Sinatra Sings in Vegas, and You Are There
29. She’s on the Road to Renown
30. Bing and Guests Swing on the Air
Part Six. The Life Force of the Music
31. The Joyous Power of Black Gospel Music
32. The Healing Power of Jazz
33. Old Country Jewish Blues and Ornette Coleman
34. The Jewish Soul of Willie "The Lion" Smith
Part Seven. Finding the First Amendment Groove
35. Satchmo’s Rap Sheet
36. The Constitution of a Jazzman
37. How Jazz Helped Hasten the Civil Rights Movement
38. The Congressman from the Land of Jazz
39. Jazz Musicians in the Public Square
40. Quincy Jones—Past, Present and Future
Part Eight. Roots
41. King Oliver in the Groove(s)
42. Giants at Play
43. Barrelhouse Chuck Goering Keeps the Blues Alive
44. Jazz’s History Is Living in Queens . . .
45. Uncovering Jazz Trails
46. Expanding the Map
Part Nine. The Survivors
47. The Thoreau of Jazz
48. A Living Memory of Dr. Art
49. Barren Days
50. Keeping Jazz—and Its Musicians—Alive
51. In New Orleans, the Saints Are Marching In Again
52. The Beating Heart of Jazz
Part Ten. The Regenerators
53. Bridging Generations
54. The Rebirth of the Hot Jazz Violin
55. The Newest Jazz Generation
56. Born in Israel
57. Theo Croker Arrives
58. The Ladies Who Swung the Band
59. Nineteen-Year-Old Saxophonist Verifies Future of Jazz
Part Eleven. The Master Teachers
60. A Complete Jazzman
61. The Lifetime Teacher: Jon Faddis
62. A House of Swing—for All Ages
63. Inside the Jazz Experience: Ron Carter
64. These Little Kids Think Coltrane Is Cool
Epilogue: My Life Lessons from the Jazz "Souls on Fire"
Credits
Index
Nat Hentoff, renowned jazz critic, civil liberties activist, and fearless contrarian—"I’m a Jewish atheist civil-libertarian pro-lifer"—has lived through much of jazz’s history and has known many of jazz’s 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 work—short 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 Ball also includes Hentoff’s 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 arts—and all members of society—strong.
Nat Hentoff is 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 the Wall Street Journal, the United Media Newspaper Syndicate, and the Cato Institute, where he is a senior fellow. His many books include Jazz Country; Jazz Is; The Jazz Life; Boston Boy: Growing Up with Jazz and Other Rebellious Passions; Living the Bill of Rights; and the forthcoming Is This America?
