WEATHER BIRD

Softback
632 pages
Oxford University Press

Gary Giddin's "WEATHER BIRD, Jazz at the Dawn of its Second Century" is a celebration of jazz, with illuminating commentary on contemporary jazz events, today's top musicians, the best records of the year, and on leading figures from jazz's past. There are extended pieces on Louis Armstrong, Erroll Garner, Benny Carter, Sonny Rollins, Dave Brubeck, Ornette Coleman, Billie Holiday, Cassandra Wilson, Tony Bennett, and many others. Giddins includes a series of articles on the annual JVC Jazz Festival, an astute look at avant-garde music ("Parajazz"), and his challenging essay, "How Come Jazz Isn't Dead?" which advances a theory about the way art is born, exploited, celebrated, and sidelined to the museum.