Fire Music - (Music Reference Collection) by John Gray (Hardcover)

About the Book

The first bibliography devoted to a single jazz genre or era, Fire Music is concerned with the music of the jazz avant-gardists such as John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, and Sun Ra. It makes accessible the most extensive and up-to-date scholarship of the New Jazz beginning in the 1950s. Included are materials on such topics as jazz collectives and the New York loft scene, as well as jazz in specific countries and regions and a lengthy section of biographical and critical studies on more than 400 artists and ensembles from around the world.

Organized by subject and artist, the over 7,100 sources are further divided by type of materials, including films, video, and audio cassettes as well as books, dissertations, and journal and newspaper articles in all major Western languages. A New Jazz Chronology places events in the jazz world in a social, political, and musical context; and a section on African-American Cultural History and the Arts provides background materials. Appendixes offer general reference sources, a directory of archives and research centers, and lists that classify artists by country and instrument. Indexes of artists, subjects, and authors complete the work.

Book Synopsis

The first bibliography devoted to a single jazz genre or era, Fire Music is concerned with the music of the jazz avant-gardists such as John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, and Sun Ra. It makes accessible the most extensive and up-to-date scholarship of the New Jazz beginning in the 1950s. Included are materials on such topics as jazz collectives and the New York loft scene, as well as jazz in specific countries and regions and a lengthy section of biographical and critical studies on more than 400 artists and ensembles from around the world.

Organized by subject and artist, the over 7,100 sources are further divided by type of materials, including films, video, and audio cassettes as well as books, dissertations, and journal and newspaper articles in all major Western languages. A New Jazz Chronology places events in the jazz world in a social, political, and musical context; and a section on African-American Cultural History and the Arts provides background materials. Appendixes offer general reference sources, a directory of archives and research centers, and lists that classify artists by country and instrument. Indexes of artists, subjects, and authors complete the work.

Review Quotes

"Gray (director of the Black Arts Research Center, Nyack, New York, and author of several other bibliographies, including Blacks in Classical Music (CH Dec '88), has provided superb coverage of the literature concerning the "new jazz" period. With more than 7,100 unannotated entries, he updates and surpasses both Eddie Meadows's Jazz Reference and Research Materials (CH Mar '82) and Bernhard Hefele's Jazz bibliography (1981). Meadows covers earlier periods well, and Hefele is good for European material, but Gray's work covers both American and European works on the period nearly comprehensively. Materials include books, dissertations, periodicals, newspapers, films, videos, audiotapes; most are in English or French but there are a number in other major Western languages. Concert and record reviews are included for major artists only. Six major sections include a detailed chronology, African American cultural history and the arts, general works and country and regional studies, jazz collectives and cooperative record labels, jazz lofts, and biographical and critical studies of more than 400 individual artists and ensembles (this last providing 80;pc of the bulk of the work). Appendixes cite reference works consulted, identify archives and research centers, and give country and instrument lists of "new jazz" artists. The cross-references and indexes (artist, subject, and author) provide detailed access, but do include many unsubdivided entries. No discographies are provided, but useful discographies are cited. A solid contribution to jazz research. Both public and academic libraries."-Choice

?this informative work is an important addition to the jazz reference literature. There are very few bibliographies in jazz studies as well organized as Fire Music. Musicians, researchers, jazz fans, and libraries will find it an important addition to their collections.?-ARBA Notes

?Gray (director of the Black Arts Research Center, Nyack, New York, and author of several other bibliographies, including Blacks in Classical Music (CH Dec '88), has provided superb coverage of the literature concerning the "new jazz" period. With more than 7,100 unannotated entries, he updates and surpasses both Eddie Meadows's Jazz Reference and Research Materials (CH Mar '82) and Bernhard Hefele's Jazz bibliography (1981). Meadows covers earlier periods well, and Hefele is good for European material, but Gray's work covers both American and European works on the period nearly comprehensively. Materials include books, dissertations, periodicals, newspapers, films, videos, audiotapes; most are in English or French but there are a number in other major Western languages. Concert and record reviews are included for major artists only. Six major sections include a detailed chronology, African American cultural history and the arts, general works and country and regional studies, jazz collectives and cooperative record labels, jazz lofts, and biographical and critical studies of more than 400 individual artists and ensembles (this last providing 80; pc of the bulk of the work). Appendixes cite reference works consulted, identify archives and research centers, and give country and instrument lists of "new jazz" artists. The cross-references and indexes (artist, subject, and author) provide detailed access, but do include many unsubdivided entries. No discographies are provided, but useful discographies are cited. A solid contribution to jazz research. Both public and academic libraries.?-Choice

?Gray, who has also compiled Blacks in Film and Television (Greenwood, 1990) and Blacks in Classical Music (Greenwood, 1988), begins with a sketchy New Jazz Chronology' followed by a hearty classified bibliography that includes books, articles, dissertations and theses, and media materials. Sources in languages other than English are seperately listed within each category. The bulk of the book covers Biographical and Critical Studies' arranged alphabetically by artists or group name. The scope is international, and subjects are mostly American or British. Where there are many articles about a person, helpful subdivisions by broad topic (concert reviews, ' obituaries, ' discographies, ' etc.) are provided. Appendixes list reference works, research centers, artists by country, and artists by instrument. Author, title, and subject indexes are included.?-Library Journal

"this informative work is an important addition to the jazz reference literature. There are very few bibliographies in jazz studies as well organized as Fire Music. Musicians, researchers, jazz fans, and libraries will find it an important addition to their collections."-ARBA Notes

"Gray, who has also compiled Blacks in Film and Television (Greenwood, 1990) and Blacks in Classical Music (Greenwood, 1988), begins with a sketchy New Jazz Chronology' followed by a hearty classified bibliography that includes books, articles, dissertations and theses, and media materials. Sources in languages other than English are seperately listed within each category. The bulk of the book covers Biographical and Critical Studies' arranged alphabetically by artists or group name. The scope is international, and subjects are mostly American or British. Where there are many articles about a person, helpful subdivisions by broad topic (concert reviews, ' obituaries, ' discographies, ' etc.) are provided. Appendixes list reference works, research centers, artists by country, and artists by instrument. Author, title, and subject indexes are included."-Library Journal

About the Author

JOHN GRAY is currently Director of the Black Arts Research Center, an archival resource center dedicated to the documentation, preservation, and dissemination of the African cultural legacy. His previous publications include African Music: A Bibliographical Guide to the Traditional, Popular, Art and Liturgical Musics of Sub-Saharan Africa (1991), Blacks in Film and Television: A Pan-African Bibliography of Films, Filmmakers, and Performers (1990), Black Theatre and Performance (1990)

he, Traditional Religion and Healing in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Diaspora (1989)

and Blacks in Classical Music (1988), all published by Greenwood Press.