An impressive, edifying anthology of jazz criticism
Jazz in Search of Itself by Larry Kart
Yale University Press, 342 pages, $35
Review by David Bloom. David Bloom founded Chicago’s Bloom School of Jazz in 1975.
When jazz saxophonist Johnny Griffin was asked the meaning of “improvisation,” he replied, “the excitement of not knowing.” That may sound perplexing coming from a major jazz artist. A musician at Griffin’s level certainly sounds like he knows what he’s doing and what he’s going to do. But that’s the beauty of great jazz: searching for truth in the moment. And it’s ironic that the greater the player, the less he knows, beforehand, about where he is going.
That’s what drew veteran jazz critic Larry Kart–and many of us–to the music in the first place. The premise of Kart’s book, “Jazz in Search of Itself,” is that jazz is, among other things, ” `a form of self-enactment in sound.’ And the music provides us with any number of instances of the need to keep writing openly and honestly in the book of life.”
Kart has amassed an impressive collection of his reviews and interviews, originally published in Down Beat magazine and the Chicago Tribune (where he was a critic and editor) over his 40-year career, as well as liner notes and other commentary. Kart reveals edifying and interesting insider information on more than 70 jazz musicians, singers and composers. These range from the familiar (Griffin, Billie Holiday, Sonny Rollins, Tony Bennett, Stan Getz and Sarah Vaughan) to some of the more obscure players known only to jazz aficionados (Herbie Nichols, Al Cohn, Tina Brooks, Hank Mobley and my old bandmate, Chicago’s own Wilbur Campbell).
ding Content