Read extracts from the chapters on Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker

CONTENTS: Dizzy Gillespie; Charlie Parker; Fats Navarro; Bud Powell; Max Roach; Thelonious Monk; Charles Mingus; Sonny Rollins; Miles Davis; Herbie Nichols; John Coltrane; Selected Listening & Further Reading.

Giant Steps examines the development of modern jazz through the music of its key figures, from the birth of bebop to the brink of free jazz. Bebop emerged from the social and musical ferment of the mid-1940s, and provided the launch pad for startling innovations in jazz playing. The music and lives of eleven great masters are examined here in detail, tracing the backbone of modern jazz from bebop pioneers Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie to the ground-breaking modal experiments of Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Giant Steps provides an entertaining and informative read for new fans and seasoned listeners alike, and sets the scene for future titles in this series with an appraisal of the geniuses who changed the face of twentieth century popular music.

KENNY MATHIESON was born near Glasgow, and now lives in the Highlands of Scotland. He studied American and English literature at the University of East Anglia, graduating with a BA (First Class) in 1978, and a PhD in 1983. He has been a freelance writer since 1982, and writes on jazz, classical and folk music for several publications. He has contributed to numerous reference books, and to Masters of Jazz Guitar. He edited and co-wrote Celtic Music - A Listener's Guide.

"Music lovers will enjoy this very readable introduction to the jazz masters of the post-war decades…Free of music theory jargon, the book gives detailed information on the artists' styles, careers and often troubled lives." - SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY

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