Stuart Nicholson’s new jazz books

Dick Heath wrote:

Just arrived and I've managed to read, but not necessarily digest, the first third of this book last night.

Nicholson continues to demonstrate he is one of the most scholarly jazz and jazz rock writers around, covering the state of jazz at the end of the 20th Century and moves into the new millenium. He is still a most readable writer too. On the evidence of the Introduction and first three chapters read, Nicholson shows he has read widely a range of academic and journalistic reviews on jazz, as well as interviewing a large number of proponents involved in this debate. Each chapters deal in great and complex detail with a single topic that have been briefly covered in the press, e.g. the status quo of mainstream jazz and reasons why jazz rock, free jazz, world jazz are excluded by the conservatives and the record industry, Wynton Marsalis's prevailing (conservative) idealogy in the US, the concept of public funded jazz with the example of the richest jazz centre i.e. the Lincoln Arts Center in NYC, and I'm about to read a chapter on neo-jazz, i.e. the retro jazz of Diana Kraal and Jamie Callum, the safety of which the record companies grow fat upon, whilst not moving jazz on one iota. Later I see there is a chapter on Nordic jazz - and flicking through here, I see there is  an interview with  Jaga Jazzist.

The sources of information are many and come thick and fast, and the evidence of the first third means I'll have to re-read this book several times to hope to understand what Nicholson is saying, in a more thorough way. Where Nicholson has been somewhat one sided in his music articles in jazz magazines and UK newspapers, he adopts a far more neutral point of view here i.e. he has made room for most if not all aspects of the arguments in each chapter. As a result there is a high density of information and his interpretation of it, (and some instances the interpretation is left to the reader), i.e. requiring re-reading.

From what I've read - and I intend giving a fuller review later - this is a near-essential read for those who enjoy their jazz, jazz fusion etc, who are concerned about the lack of change, and have the time to intellectualise the many issues of modern jazz and its future progressions.

Whoops didn't scroll far enough through the Nicholson section at Amazon, since this picture appears (i.e. the cover of my version of the book) eventually: