faine books
  • Home
  • About
  • Music Books
    • Serendipity Doo-Dah #1
    • Serendipity Doo-Dah #2
    • Ellington at the White House
    • The Best Gig in Town
  • Short Stories
    • Prisoner Chaser
    • Taxi Driver
  • Blog
  • Contact

Jazz Book Collection

10/26/2022

3 Comments

 
Picture
Left to right: Duke Ellington (1954), Miles Davis (1955), Louis Armstrong (1955). Wikipedia/Wikimedia Commons
In the fall of 2019, I profiled my jazz LP collection (see October / November blogs) and in the summer of 2022, my jazz CD collection (see May / June / July blogs).

​Hence, it is only logical and reasonable that I do the same for my music book collection: 709 books strong, with 441 jazz books and 268 non-jazz books (pop, rock, Broadway, other).

Here I present the jazz books, the first of which I purchased in 1965, and the bulk of them I acquired during the 1970–2000 time frame. My acquisition strategy, I hasten to add, was not based on any predetermined notion that focused on, for example, a specific jazz artist or style. Nope, if it was a jazz book, I bought it, pure and simple.

To convey a sense of my overall jazz collection, I list books below in several categories. For the most part, these books center on the life and music of the titular artist, as opposed to a period in jazz (like the ’30s) or a specific sub genre (like hard bop) or a region in jazz (like Kansas City).

What three artists topped the most-books list?

Duke Ellington     15
Miles Davis           13
Louis Armstrong  11

​Not much of a surprise there. But how about those artists who played the instrument most symbolic of jazz—the saxophone?

​Alto/Soprano Saxophone
Picture
  • ​Bird: The Legend of Charlie Parker, 1962
  • Bird Lives!: The High Life of Charlie (Yardbird) Parker, 1977
  • Bird: The Legend of Charlie Parker, 1977
  • Treat It Gentle: Autobiography of Sidney Bechet, 1978
  • Music Was Not Enough by Bob Wilbur, 1988
  • Ornette Coleman: A Harmolodic Life, 1992
  • Ornette Coleman: His Life and Music, 1999
  • The Art Pepper Companion: Writings on a Jazz Original, 2000
  • Joe Harriott : Fire in His Soul, 2003
  • Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond, 2005
  • Footprints: The Life and Work of Wayne Shorter, 2007
  • Sugar Free Saxophone: The Life and Music of Jackie McLean, 2012
  • Bird: The Life and Music of Charlie Parker, 2013
  • Kansas City Lightning: The Rise and Times of Charlie Parker, 2013
  • Walk Tall: The Music and Life of Julian Cannonball Adderley, 2013
  • Rabbit’s Blues: The Life and Music of Johnny Hodges, 2019

Tenor Saxophone
Picture
  • Bud Freeman: You Don’t Look Like a Musician, 1974
  • Chasin’ the Trane: Music and Mystique of John Coltrane, 1975
  • Coltrane: A Biography, 1975
  • John Coltrane by Bill Cole, 1976
  • Sonny Rollins: A Journey of a Jazzman, 1983
  • Coleman Hawkins by Burnett James, 1984
  • Stan Getz: A Life in Jazz, 1996
  • Open Sky: Sonny Rollins and His World of Improvisation, 2000
  • A Love Supreme: John Coltrane’s Signature Album, 2002
  • I Walked with Giants: The Autobiography of Jimmy Heath, 2010

Women in Jazz
Picture
  • His Eye Is on the Sparrow: An Autobiography by Ethel Waters, 1951
  • Lena by Lena Horne and Richard Schickel, 1951
  • Kings of Jazz: Bessie Smith, 1971
  • Big Star Fallin’ Mama: Five Women in Black Music by Hettie Jones, 1974
  • Bessie by Chris Albertson, 1974
  • Billie's Blues: Billie Holiday's Story, 1933–1959, 1975
  • Billie Holiday Anthology: Lady Sings the Blues, 1976
  • Mother of the Blues: A Study of Ma Rainey, 1981
  • High Times Hard Times: Anita O’Day, 1981
  • American Women in Jazz: 1900 to the Present: Their Words, Lives, 
    and Music
  • Billie Holiday by Burnett James, 1984
  • Ethel Ennis: The Reluctant Jazz Star: An Illustrated Biography, 1984
  • Sassy: The Life of Sarah Vaughan, 1994
  • Marian McPartland's Jazz World: All in Good Time, 2003
  • Miss Peggy Lee: A Career Chronicle, 2005
  • Fever: The Life and Music of Miss Peggy Lee, 2006
  • Is That All There Is?: The Strange Life of Peggy Lee, 2014
  • Queen of Bebop: The Musical Lives of Sarah Vaughan, 2017
  • Shall We Play That One Together: The Life and Art of Jazz Piano Legend Marian McPartland, 2020
  • The Lady Swings: Memoirs of a Jazz Drummer, 2021

Piano
Picture
  • ​The Stardust Road by Hoagy Carmichael, 1946
  • Mister Jelly Roll: The Fortunes of Jelly Roll Morton, New Orleans Creole and “Inventor of Jazz,” 1956
  • Kings of Jazz: Fats Waller, 1961
  • Jelly Roll Morton Kings of Jazz by Martin Williams, 1963
  • Sometimes I Wonder: The Story of Hoagy Carmichael, 1965
  • They All Played Ragtime by Rudi Blesh, 1971
  • Raise Up Off Me by Hampton Hawes, 1974
  • Too Marvelous for Words: The Life and Genius of Art Tatum, 1974
  • Ain’t Misbehavin’: The Story of Fats Waller, 1975
  • Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow, 1976
  • Selections from the Gutter: Jazz Portraits from “The Jazz Record”
    by Art Hodes and Chadwick Hansen Hodes, 1977
  • Scott Joplin: The Man Who Made Ragtime, 1978
  • Music On My Mind: The Memoirs of an American Pianist, 1978
  • Fats Waller: His Life and Times, 1979
  • Eubie Blake by Al Rose, 1979
  • Jazz Piano: A Jazz History, 1982
  • Oscar Peterson by Richard Palmer, 1984
  • Jelly Roll Morton's Last Night at the Jungle Inn: An Imaginary Memoir, 1984
  • Nat King Cole by James Haskins, 1984
  • Stride, the Music of Fats Waller, 1985
  • John Lewis by Thierry Lalo, 1991
  • It’s About Time: The Dave Brubeck Story, 1996
  • Bill Evans: How My Heart Sings, 1998
  • The World of Earl Hines (The World of Swing; Volume 2), 1999
  • Oscar Peterson: The Will to Swing, 2000
  • Glass Enclosure: The Life of Bud Powell, 2001
  • Marian McPartland's Jazz World: All in Good Time, 2003
  • The Fifty Greatest Jazz Piano Players of All Time: Ranking Analysis and Photos, 2005
  • Taylored for Jazz: The Life and Music of Billy Taylor, 2008
  • Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original, 2010
  • Duke Ellington: At the Piano, 2013
  • The Jazz Life of Dr. Billy Taylor, 2013
  • Herbie Hancock: Possibilities, 2014
  • Shall We Play That One Together: The Life and Art of Jazz Piano Legend Marian McPartland, 2020
  • Straighten Up and Fly Right: The Life and Music of Nat King Cole, 2020
3 Comments
    Picture
    Picture

    BUY NOW

    Picture

    BUY NOW


    EMAIL SIGNUP
    Receive news of upcoming blogs and events.


    Most Popular

    Music Blogs 2015–2023
    Business Advice from Miles Davis
    Miles and Me at the Modern Jazz Club

    Categories

    All
    Album Review
    Book Review
    Ellington
    Film Review
    Guest Post
    Jazz Albums
    Jazz History
    Jazz Musicians
    Music History
    Musicians
    Nixon
    Top 10 Jazz Albums

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015

    RSS Feed


FAINE BOOKS

Home  About  Books  Stories  Blog  Contact

Copyright © 2023 Edward Faine. All Rights Reserved.
Proudly powered by Weebly

BACK TO TOP

© 2021 FaineBooks

© DivTag Templates Ltd | All Rights Reserved