In this important and controversial book, award-winning author Gene Lees draws on candid interviews with players, composers, and critics to confront the subject of racism in the jazz community. Since its beginnings, jazz music has been linked to racial and ethnic prejudice in one way or another - both the white racism that for decades ghettoised black musicians and their music, and what Lees shows is an increasingly strident prejudice of some black musicians against their white counterparts. Dave Brubeck describes how racism long made it impossible for white and black players to book tours. An interview with Sonny Rollins reveals the effect of bringing in a white guitarist at a New York performance. Other artists profiled include Horace Silver, Red Rodney, and Benny Golson, who add their own unique experiences to this frank study of racism in its many guises.

This book has a new introduction by the author.

GENE LEES, three-time winner of the ASCAP-Deems Taylor award, is the author of Singers and Song, Meet Me at Jim and Andy's, and Waiting for Dizzy. He is the publisher, editor, and writer of the widely acclaimed Jazzletter.

CONTENTS:
Introduction to the Da Capo Edition
The Prez of Louisville
Dr. de Lerma, I Presume
The Man on the Buffalo Nickel: Dave Brubeck
Growing Up in Los Angeles: Ernie Andrews
Father and Son: Horace Silver
The Nine Lives of Red Rodney
The Philadelphia Connection: Benny Golson
The Return of Red Mitchell
Three Sketches
Jazz Black and White

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