Watching Jazz
Encounters with Jazz Performance on Screen
Published on 23. June 2016
Book
Hardback
312 pages
978-0-19-934765-0 (ISBN)
Description
Watching Jazz: Encounters with Jazz Performance on Screen is the first systematic study of jazz on screen media. Where earlier studies have focused almost entirely on the role and portrayal of jazz in Hollywood film, the present book engages with a plethora of technologies and media from early film and soundies through television to recent developments in digital technologies and online media. Likewise, the authors discuss jazz in the widest sense, ranging from Duke Ellington and Jimmy Dorsey through the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Art Blakey, Oscar Peterson, Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Charles Mingus to Pat Metheny.
Much of this rich and fascinating material has never been studied in depth before, and what emerges most clearly are the manifold connections between the music and the media on which it was and is being recorded. Its long association with film and television has left its trace in jazz, just as online and social media are subtly shaping it now. Vice versa, visual media have always benefited from focusing on music and this significantly affected their development. The book follows these interrelations, showing how jazz was presented and represented on screen and what this tells us about the music, the people who made it and their audiences. The result is a new approach to jazz and the media, which will be required reading for students of both fields.
Much of this rich and fascinating material has never been studied in depth before, and what emerges most clearly are the manifold connections between the music and the media on which it was and is being recorded. Its long association with film and television has left its trace in jazz, just as online and social media are subtly shaping it now. Vice versa, visual media have always benefited from focusing on music and this significantly affected their development. The book follows these interrelations, showing how jazz was presented and represented on screen and what this tells us about the music, the people who made it and their audiences. The result is a new approach to jazz and the media, which will be required reading for students of both fields.
Reviews / Votes
"In this collection of essays authors delve into the rich audiovisual documentation of jazz, much of which has been neglected by scholars, with some fascinating results. Watching Jazz makes an important contribution to jazz studies, exemplifying methodologies for studying audiovisual sources and providing a key reference point for future scholarship."--Catherine Tackley, The Open University"Jazz is performance and performances are visual. This elegant and expertly constructed book interrogates, in a game changing way, the notion that all jazz is to some extent visual. It opens fertile new avenues of debate, challenges some sacred cows and will undoubtedly become an essential text for anybody interested in the relationship between jazz and how it is presented on screen."--Raymond MacDonald, Edinburgh University
"This stimulating collection encourages us to reexamine some of the more commonly-held and persistent assumptions with regard to jazz on screen, whether that screen is large or small, analog or digital, public or private. Essential reading for anyone interested in watching jazz."--Alan Stanbridge, University of Toronto
"Watching Jazz is an enlightening and enjoyable book. Well written and well edited, these
chapters speak to each other, and contrasting viewpoints come across as alternative
understandings rather than conflicting standpoints. I recommend this book to any jazz, media, or social history scholars seeking to explore new ways in which to think about the production and reception of jazz, or the ways that the music and audiovisual presentation developed in tandem. Watching Jazz is a timely collection, as it builds upon recent scholarship (by Elsdon, Brian Harker, Katz, Jed Rasula, Gabriel Solis, Catherine Tackley, Keith
Waters, and others) about the role of audio recording in jazz, and expands this scholarship by showing how the visual element directs viewers towards aspects of the music, which in turn allows them to see and hear elements of jazz more clearly." --Notes
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
over 50 illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
631 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-934765-0 (9780199347650)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
08/2016
Oxford University Press Inc
€52.20
Shipment within 15-20 days
E-Book
05/2016
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€19.99
Available for download
E-Book
05/2016
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€19.99
Available for download
Persons
Bjoern Heile is Reader in Music since 1900 and Head of Music at the University of Glasgow. He is the author of The Music of Mauricio Kagel (2006) and editor of The Modernist Legacy: Essays on New Music (2009).
Peter Elsdon is Senior Lecturer in Music at the University of Hull. He is the author of Keith Jarrett's The Koeln Concert (2013), and he has also published work on jazz recordings, and gesture in music.
Jenny Doctor is Associate Professor of Communications and Director of the Belfer Audio Archive at Syracuse University. She has published The BBC and Ultra-Modern Music, 1922-36 (1999); The Proms: A Social History, co-edited with David Wright and Nicholas Kenyon (2007); and Silence, Music, Silent Music, co-edited with Nicky Losseff (2007).
Peter Elsdon is Senior Lecturer in Music at the University of Hull. He is the author of Keith Jarrett's The Koeln Concert (2013), and he has also published work on jazz recordings, and gesture in music.
Jenny Doctor is Associate Professor of Communications and Director of the Belfer Audio Archive at Syracuse University. She has published The BBC and Ultra-Modern Music, 1922-36 (1999); The Proms: A Social History, co-edited with David Wright and Nicholas Kenyon (2007); and Silence, Music, Silent Music, co-edited with Nicky Losseff (2007).
Content
Acknowledgements
List of Contributors
Introduction
Jenny Doctor, Peter Elsdon, Bjoern Heile
Shaping Screen Media
1. Framing Jazz: Thoughts on Representation and Embodiment Peter Elsdon
2. "All Aboard!:" Soundies and Vitaphone Shorts Emile Wennekes
3. Assimilating and Domesticating Jazz in 1950s American Variety Television: Nat King Cole's Transformation from Guest Star to National Host Kristin McGee
4. "Jazz Is Where You Find It:" Encountering Jazz on BBC Television, 1946-66, Jenny Doctor
Gesture and Mediatization
5. "All Sights Were Perceived as Sounds" Pat Metheny and the Instrumental Image, Jonathan De Souza
6. Jazz Performance on Screen: Mediatization of Gesture, Bodily Empathy, and the Viewing Experience, Paul McIntyre
7. "Playing the Clown:" Charles Mingus, Jimmy Knepper, and Jerry Maguire, Krin Gabbard
Ontologies of Media
8. Seeking Resolution: John Coltrane, Myth, and the Audio-Visual, Tony Whyton
9. Screening the Event: Watching Miles Davis's "My Funny Valentine", Nicholas Gebhardt
10. Play it again, Duke: Jazz Performance, Improvisation, and the Construction of Spontaneity, Bjoern Heile
Selected Resources
Author Biographies
Index
List of Contributors
Introduction
Jenny Doctor, Peter Elsdon, Bjoern Heile
Shaping Screen Media
1. Framing Jazz: Thoughts on Representation and Embodiment Peter Elsdon
2. "All Aboard!:" Soundies and Vitaphone Shorts Emile Wennekes
3. Assimilating and Domesticating Jazz in 1950s American Variety Television: Nat King Cole's Transformation from Guest Star to National Host Kristin McGee
4. "Jazz Is Where You Find It:" Encountering Jazz on BBC Television, 1946-66, Jenny Doctor
Gesture and Mediatization
5. "All Sights Were Perceived as Sounds" Pat Metheny and the Instrumental Image, Jonathan De Souza
6. Jazz Performance on Screen: Mediatization of Gesture, Bodily Empathy, and the Viewing Experience, Paul McIntyre
7. "Playing the Clown:" Charles Mingus, Jimmy Knepper, and Jerry Maguire, Krin Gabbard
Ontologies of Media
8. Seeking Resolution: John Coltrane, Myth, and the Audio-Visual, Tony Whyton
9. Screening the Event: Watching Miles Davis's "My Funny Valentine", Nicholas Gebhardt
10. Play it again, Duke: Jazz Performance, Improvisation, and the Construction of Spontaneity, Bjoern Heile
Selected Resources
Author Biographies
Index