The seventies, when the new edition of this book was published, witnessed an enormous resurgence in the popularity of jazz, after some lean times in the sixties when many potential jazz fans turned to rock. The pendulum was on the backswing, and vintage and modern jazz - as well as jazz-rock - were beginning to attract huge new audiences. One factor involved in the comeback of jazz was the rise of black consciousness, with its search for roots in the American experience. Hentoff's The Jazz Life explores the social, economic and psychological elements that make up the context of modern jazz. Among the jazz greats whose lives and work are discussed are Count Basie, Charles Mingus, John Lewis, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk and Ornette Coleman. Written with intelligence, passion and wit, this jazz classic is of immense importance to anyone wanting a better understanding of the jazz - or indeed the American - life.

With a new introdction by the author.

CONTENTS:
BACKGROUNDS
Night School At the Savoy; The Changes; The Apprenticeship and the Accounting; Soul and Collard Greens; Junk; Bringing Dignity to Jazz
THE FOREGROUND
Studio Time; A Brief Note on the Romance of the "White Negro"; Count Basie; Charles Mingus; Three Ways of Making It - John Lewis, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk; Ornett Coleman
Epilogue

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