Jazz

Jazz is another great work by Toni Morrison. I can only say this because I am somewhat 'used to' reading Morrison's writing style. Not that there is a style, per se. And not that one could ever *really* get 'used to' reading Morrison. This fantastic work is like a jazz composition in and of itself: the narrator is the "band leader;" the characters (when allowed to speak for themselves or when they think on something from their past) are the individual "musicians" called on from time to time to improvise.
Joe and Violet Trace suffer through a great thorn in the side of their marriage. Joe cheats with and then kills a teenage girl. Violet slashes at the corpse of that teenager at her funeral. No character in this book seems to have the benefit of any maternal (or paternal) guidance, yet each absent parent is tangled with the other parents in strange ways.
Ultimately, the characters reconcile their differences and are able to function as a "family" during Harlem Renaissance in NYC.
This book is a must read for those who enjoy fiction and have the desire to read in order to really comprehend.

Ken Burns has done another excellent job of bringing to light the unsung heroes of America's musical tradition. Jazz has not recieved much attention the last couple decades or so with the possible exception of Winston Marsalis and a couple others and while the main focus of the book deals with the roots and founders of Jazz (as well it should) it does skimp on present day Jazz.
But the flavor of the book captures the smooth essence of what Jazz is and the pictures within the book make it worth the price alone. The book is well written and well illustrated and sure to please even those who are not familiar with Jazz.
I highly recommend this book to any music fan, especially Jazz, but it is sure to please anyone and it makes a great conversation starter. Finally glad to see Jazz get some good mainstream publicity with this one.

Sometimes these reviews are based more upon context (what else you recently read) rather than upon the reader's own tastes. I will try to avoid allowing this review from being tainted from the magic presented by other recently read novels.

For inexplicable reasons, I read this book within weeks of reading other African American great novels: "Their Eyes are Watching God" by Zora Neale Hurston; "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker; and, "Go Tell it on the Mountain" by James Baldwin. This book, quite simply, is not in their league. It does not offer a love story equal to "Their Eyes." It does not offer a historical perspective of the tortured characters like "Go Tell" and does not deliver dialogue like "Their God" or "Color Purple."

But, then again - what book does rival the three mentioned above? The other three are universally acclaimed novels which many critics list not only among the greatest African American novels, not only the greatest American novels, but among the greatest novels of any culture ever written. So, my context may well be unfortunately biased.

But, this novel has highlights - like the beginning of the second chapter - where her prose is so lush and precise and exquisite that she reminds me of Adrienne Rich - a prose writing poet. Morrison, in certain passages of this book, is a poet. Throughout this book, she is an extremely talented novelist.

I will eventually read her other classics, "Beloved" and "Song of Solomon." And, as I have been told they surpass this book - which is quite an achievement - I can never wonder why she won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

It's a shame that jazz isn't as popular a music form as it was from it's beginning to the late 50's. There's something about the syncopation, improvisation, and vocal styling combination that I think is unsurpassed in today's techno, bubblegum pop inundated culture. This book is for both the true jazz aficionado and the jazz amateur. From its New Orleans start to today's foremost jazz artists, Wynton Marsalis and Cassandra Wilson, it's all there. As mentioned in a couple of reviews, the book does give a short shrift to contemporary jazz...I feel that the main reason for that is that jazz, unfortunately, doesn't enjoy near the popularity it did in its hey-day. What you will come away with, however, is a feel for the social, historical, and ethnic backgrounds that shaped jazz as an American art form. These lavish pictures, quotes, and biographies of the greats...Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Count Basie...you know who they are! will captivate you and make you feel as if you have always been a part of this musical phenomenon.

I studied Morrison as an undergrad and now a grad student and still prefer Morrison's, aka TOMO, four earlier novels to JAZZ. Despite Morrison's reputation as a master storyteller and her Pulitzer Prize for her fiction, JAZZ does not feel like it was written with the same prowess. I like to think that she was experimenting with a different style of narration as her standard themes and compassion for her characters is still there. I just don't think it's well-written or told in such a way that a reader of books would appreciate it in the same all-consuming way as her previous four novels, especially Beloved. If you are reading her novels chronologically, get ready for a serious change of pace if you go from Beloved to Jazz--these are two totally different types of books. If I did not have to read this for class, I wouldn't have bothered reading it. The potential redemptive qualities of the novel: historical context of Harlem in the 20's, a musical and poetic narrative (as described by other reviewers/readers) and a study of African American black culture and struggle are just not fully established with enough heft to give the novel substance. How many ways can I say that it just wasn't my cup of tea? HOWEVER, I wonder how this novel would sound as an audio book, especially read by a charismatic reader? Morrison often says that she wants he books to succeed as oral pieces, as well, and this is the first novel of hers that might be better treated by a gifted orator's telling rather than our reading. The point of JAZZ may be to get the musical and informal language and speech patterns in order to feel the emotion in the text.

Once again I'm left speechless. I know that Jazz was an enjoyable read, I just can't seem to find the words to articulate the experience. At times the novel seemed to speak to all the human senses and at times I couldn't make sense of the novel at all. But I finished it. And I know that I have been affirmed, enlightened and enriched by it. Like all of Morrison's work that I've read to date, I will draw from these characters' experience in times when I need to renew myself. At that point the words to describe this novel will pour forth, and, as always with a Morrison novel, I'll smile and acknowledge that Toni Morrison is an extraordinary writer, who tell a story that you'll always remember.

This book deals with the story of a couple in New York City during the Harlem Renaissance. The book has many underlying themes and symbols throughout. It was difficult for me to draw the connections of the symbols to their meanings. While I read I had a hard time keeping up with the narritive because the scences changed rapidly. When I finished reading it I felt like I needed someone to come and explain all the symbolism used in the novel. However I do enjoy Morrison's descriptions of the city before and during the Harlem Reniassance and how jazz was an expression of Black's emotions during the time period. This was my first Morrison book and I was not too happy with the overall feeling I got but hopefully her other works are more clear cut.

Having read a number of Morrison's novels, I expected this to be much better than it was. While the language was sophisticated and the symbolism/imagery provocative, it failed to meet the standards of her other and, not surprisingly, better-known novels.
The book is about the love between a man, his wife and the man's new lover. Rather than tell the story in sequence, Morrison explains the history of the individual characters to explain their motivation and help the reader understand why they act the way they do. All well and good. Unfortunately her desire to slip into a "stream of conscious" writing style and need to use recurrent symbolism - nature themes are abundant and especially masterful when juxtaposed against "the City" - interrupts the flow of the story and can be disorienting at times. I found myself going back to reread pages to figure out what plot twist I had missed only to discover I had not missed anything at all , but had rather misinterprested a misplaced metaphor.
While it may be harsh to rate the book a two given what passes for literature these days, compared to her other works, I believe it is justified.
For someone just beginning to read Morrison, I would suggest starting with this book rather than reading it later. It would just be a disappointment.

A beautiful, haunting novel, but I think it needs to be read more than once. The characters are elusive; I kept wanting to know more about them, especially Golden Gray, Vera Louise, and Wild. Perhaps Morrison is saying that love is elusive, and so is the author's relationship to the characters he or she creates, as we finally realize that the "book" is itself the narrator. Other themes weave in and out of the story like melodies: the relationship between parent and child, abandonment, and the search for identity. The book is told in a lyrical style that can be appreciated even more fully when read aloud. Morrison is truly ahead of her time.

I expected much more from a Nobel deserving author. Morrison failed to grab my attention. This was my third of fourth attempt at reading this novel, and I finally finished. I loved her style and technique. I also thoroughly enjoyed the characters and imagery. But I found the plot to be quite unenjoyable. I don't think that a theme ever developed. If you want to read something by Morrison, DO NOT choose Jazz. Thus far, Song of Solomon is still my favorite. This warning comes from a Morrison fan who has also read Beloved and Sula. I decided to share this with others since so few have obviously submitted reviews. Morrison is a great authour, but Jazz is far from a great book.

First off, I've read some novels that are far more difficult to read than Jazz. More than a few; this is not particularly experimental or confusing stuff. The question is whether it's worth the trouble, however slight that may be. For me, it was not. I had read Beloved, which I found more difficult, or at least labored, stylistically, and which I didn't particularly care for despite the acclaim heaped on it. I gave Jazz a try because Morrison has such a following and this work also was highly recommended. Although I'm sure many who are neither black nor women have greatly enjoyed and admired Morrison's work, I suspect that it helps to be one or the other, or both. I am neither, and I feel she writes for a different audience, just as, say, Jewish readers are more likely to be moved by the typical Roth novel or Singer story, although anyone might enjoy it. I found Jazz's style to be forced, as though Morrison sat down and decided she was going to write a novel using language that mimics a stereotypical jazz cadence, which I found obvious. Repeated reference to Harlem as "the City" did not strike me as particularly clever. The story itself does not go very far beyond what has been summarized in other reviews. Yes, it provides several characters' points of view of the same situation, as do countless other novels, many to better effect, since in Jazz, these different perspectives do not shed much additional light on what is essentially a fairly mundane plot. This was one of those novels that, after the first fifty pages, I kept checking how much more I had to read to finish.

One of the most lamentable developments in the Arts over the past hundred years has been the replacement of structure and universality by lyricism and individualism. Artists and authors used to be able to assume that they and their audience shared a Culture which partook of a definite system of values and beliefs. When we read Shakespeare or look at a painting by Rembrandt or listen to music by Bach, we can feel that we share in the artists vision and we can readily comprehend the fundamental messages that underlie their works. This does not rob them of their depth or their rich textures--merely think of all the reams of paper that have been consumed in dissecting the character of Hamlet--but it does mean that they are accessible to the general public by reference to our common heritage.
Modernity has replaced such universal art with the subjective, the self-indulgent and the abstruse. The themes and messages of art are now unique to the artist/author and the audience is expected to study the individual creator in order to try to understand their works. And since it is no longer important to these artists to convey their meanings, technical proficiency, narrative structure and clarity have given way to idiosyncrasy and abstraction. Of course, the best illustrations of this revolution came early on in the process; after the intelligentsia accepted James Joyce's Finnegan's Wake (see Orrin's review), Jackson Pollack's paint splatters and musical innovations like dissonance and atonality as legitimate advances in the arts, it pretty much opened the doors to anything. Once you abandon objective standards for determining value, which the critics largely have done, you lose the capacity to differentiate good art from bad art. You are left with the oddly bifurcated culture that we see now, where the public shuns the very product that the elites run up the flagpole. Joyce may be considered the greatest author of the 20th Century, but nobody has ever read either Ulysses (see Orrin's review) or Finnegan's Wake from cover to cover. There's not a living room in America with a Pollack on the wall and the only Picasso is his Don Quixote, a fairly conventional representational piece which unlike his most critically acclaimed work refers to one of the world's enduring literary masterpieces. And Classical music has innovated to the point of extinction. It's time for someone to step in and tell the avant garde that no one followed them and the experiment, having failed, is over.
All of which brings us to Jazz by Toni Morrison. I didn't hate this book, the way I did Beloved (see Orrin's review). The central event of the story is once again an incomprehensible murder--this time a middle aged man kills his young lover in order to preserve the feelings their affair has produced. His wife, upon learning of the liaison, mutilates the corpse; but the two inexplicably resume their married life. So okay, it's a tad melodramatic and unlikely, but great fiction has been built on such shaky foundations before. Morrison however seems uninterested in mining any psychological depths or spinning out any conclusions from her basic set up. Instead the book is sort of a set of bluesy linguistic riffs on Renaissance Harlem, ping ponging backwards and forwards in time, and it does contain some beautiful passages of prose; but to what end? We never really connect with or care about any of the characters. We know about the crimes from the word go, so there's no dramatic tension. Do the periodic phrases of lambent, tumescent prosody really suffice to make the book worthwhile? I think not. The beauty of language has fairly little to do with the basic value of a work of fiction. The Sears Catalogue might sound pretty to some people if read aloud in French, but that doesn't make it great literature.
Here's a little clue for you--when the professional reviewers praise the language but pan the story and the regular readers (at sites like the store) say they loved it even though they didn't understand it, it's safe to assume that you've got an author who's skating on reputation and warning flags should go up in your head. Morrison's Nobel Prize is probably unwarranted by any measure, but it certainly receives no validation from this book.
GRADE: D

This is my first Toni Morrison book. It was our book club choice for this month. I'll be interested in seeing what everyone else thought. I enjoyed the underlying story line and I liked all the characters. I didn't like the writing style. It was too complex and flowery, difficult to follow. I doubt I'll read another Toni Morrison book.

Burns has crafted a highly successful documentary career based on his own personal style and approach to presenting history, but he is clearly out of his depth in this beautifully illustrated but sadly unbalanced work on jazz. While they are certainly giants in their field, there is much more to the incredibly complex and multi-faceted world of jazz music than Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, who seemingly intrude on every page of Burns' misguided essay. Breaththrough artists such as Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, and other "difficult" musicians are glossed over, and innovators such as John Coltrane and Miles Davis are sadly underrepresented given the scope of their influence. All in all, Burns seems to see jazz as a triumph of the mainstream rather than the rebellion against established norms that truly defines what the music is all about.
The photographs are undoubtedly beautiful, and many have had rare circulation in the last century. For graphic presentation alone, the book rates three stars. But Burns' overall viewpoint is ultimately a cozy, yuppie-class look at a music that defies and transcends his eagerness to rein it in into a neat, tidy narrative.
Seductively rendered, disappointingly researched.

Superbly written, Jazz is the tragic yet hopeful story of Joe and Violet. Born down in Virginia in the late 1800s, they move to "the city" (never named, but I'm guessing New York) when they are in their thirties. Life there for them is more different than they ever imagined, and they change for both better and worse.

Also, Jazz is the story of Dorcas, a confused teenage girl trying to wiggle her way out from under her strict aunt's thumb. Dorcas collides in a way with Joe and Violet that is horrible, yet will make you feel sympathy for everyone involved.

Without a doubt, I know when I pick up a Morrison novel that I will be reading a deep and complexly woven story that forces you to think about life, all the while enjoying the storyline for what it is. Jazz is no exception.

Using recursive narration, we are able to let the tale unfold one chapter at a time. As we learn more about a character we move onto another, yet must look back a ways into their past to understand who and where they come from (recursive narration), before we can rejoin the story. This style of writing is my favorite style, something Faulkner uses heavily, and I can never get enough of it.

Seeing Violet become something, seemingly, not who she is and then letting it wrap full around into a mature and complex character is amazing. Seeing Joe fall in love three times, one to someone not his wife, and yet still be able to see what made him move, what made him tick ("there is only one apple") creates a balanced person, one who is neither perfect nor flawed, but one that is real and human.

Morrison does this time and again, using her recursive approach to shed light onto real and human characters, utilizing her writing to make a novel that the reader can not only enjoy and feel, but one that makes the reader respect what has been created. Five stars for Morrison as well as for Jazz, a most definite recommend to any potential readers.

I really liked this book because it gave great detail to the Founding Giants of Jazz. I get disapointed with books that try to be all things to all people and end up just skiming over everything. I like that this book went in-depth with the most popular artists. To try to fully cover the "Complete History of Jazz" would take about 10,000 pages of similairly over-sized books broken into about 20 volumes. Critics I have read on this page do a lot of name dropping to show off some knowledge. Perhaps they should write a book or two on the subject; I would love to read such a book. "Fusion: The Complete Evolution" would be a great volume in the above mentioned theoretical 10,000 pager, but most people have no interest in fusion. If you start going into Anthony Braxton's complex sheet music you are just going to loose people. This book sticks to the popular art form which is an evolution of sorts on it's own. An evolution of popular music and the evolution of the "musician's music" are two different things. I think the authors gave people what they wanted with this book. The REALITY of publishing a book like this is that it has to have broad appeal. You just aren't going to get funding to do a book that spends 25 pages on an extremely talented yet popularly obscure artist. This book is great for the novice or for the more educated jazz historian who wants to read some great stories and see some great photo's even if many of them are "common jazz knowledge" and repeats. (The story of Armstrong running into Oliver while selling tomatoes is a classic. I hadn't heard that one.) It is not as comprehensive with the modern era but I feel that it is proportional to the popularity of Jazz. If you want a complete Jazz history, you will need a library of about 100 books. This book should be in that library.

I'm a big fan of the authors' books and this one is really terrific. It's filled with a huge collection of wonderful old photos, and the written material is extremely interesting & quite thorough.

I agree with the previous reviewer that this book has the look...but not the feel, particularly for jazz's most recent half-century. What is so difficult to understand? What happened with--not to--jazz in recent decades is merely that most of its genuine creative spirits believed that it should reflect its era of creation. Not to run and hide from it, or adhere to an orthodox, rear-view mirror definition. Ironically Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and other celebrated early greats are celebrated for breaking/remaking the pop culture paradigms of their day. Miles Davis does the same thing in a later era and he gets accused by a vocal minority--given much word-time in this book--of something akin to treason.
If in recent decades a particular "jazz" musician heard a connection with an avant-garde sensibility, then the better visionaries (Ornette, Coltrane) effectively bridged that gap. If one sensed a connection with other countries (Brazil, Nigeria, Japan, etc.), then some intuitive artists made THAT work (Stan Getz, Toshiko Akiyoshi, etc.). And if one had an affinity for the more creative efforts in contemporary popular culture, then you got a best-of-many-worlds hybrid, at least from such forward-thinkers as Davis, Cassandra Wilson, Monday Michiru (who is virtually unknown in the land that created jazz--FYI Toshiko is her mom), and others. Concurrently, some musicians seemed to react against this no-holds-barred eclecticism and pick up from points in the now-distant past. That's okay, too...but it's not the only "right" way to bridge jazz's past with it's present and future.
Of course, a majority of tag-along musicians dumbed-down all of these valid scenarios, with results that ranged from commercial-lite to cacaphonic-heavy. Yet particularly the former was true in jazz's early decades, too. Bottom line: the best recent efforts are no less aesthetically timeless than the indisputable great moments of jazz's first half-century.
Sorry to rant, but I think my opinions are far from unique among contemporary jazz fans...in fact, there was already a long line forming before I got in it. I would lukewarmly recommend this book to newcomers, because despite its faults it does attempt to deal with this unique art form in a serious manner, and with a stylish, photo-rich layout. I would just add that a lot of us fans would like to have seen our vision of contemporary jazz better-reflected, rather than not-too-subtly dissed. For one, the Grammy awards been there, done that.

I loved this book; it's well-balanced and has plenty of cultural perspective. There were lots of anecdotes and photos that I have never seen before (the pictures of blacks dancing at an outdoor big band show at Randalls Island in 1938 are almost worth the price of the book alone). The main criticism about this book (and the Ken Burns Jazz series in general) is that it gives short shrift to jazz since the 1960s. First off, as Ken Burns has said himself, he's an historian, so this project will obviously focus more on the origins and development of the music rather than present-day musicians. And as much as today's jazz musicians and fans like to tell you otherwise, there haven't been too many groundbreaking developments in the music since the free jazz movement of late Coltrane and early Ornette Coleman, or the funk/rock excursions by Miles Davis. Furthermore, and more importantly, jazz is simply no longer a big part of the present-day American landscape. Although jazz records rarely sold as well as more pop-oriented music (a jazz record that sold 20,000 copies was considered a big hit), the music was always written about in mainstream publications and talked about by just about anyone. Heck, guys like Miles, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk and Coltrane were occasionally featured on prime-time television. Today, the biggest (and perhaps only) jazz star is Wynton Marsalis, a bland neo-traditionalist who hasn't forged any new ground himself. For myself, I'd rather read about Satchmo, Bird, Billie Holiday and Monk.

Toni Morrison has done it again. She has managed to capture the true artistry of writing while keeping her characters real and lively. She starts the book with two women talking about the main characters Joe and Violet. It is very interesting to see how she starts the book of with dismay and choas instead of 'Once upon a time'. She puts you in the middle of the couple problems. Joe has bet involved in an affair with an 18 year old girl named Dorcas. After a while of the two seeing each other secretly Dorcas goes to a party and dance with other guys. Joe walks in and sees her and kills her. Afterwards he is sad and nisses her, he won't talk to Violet back at the apartment and he doesn't even come out of the house. Violet becomes upset because she realizes that Joe would rather her be something els be she doesn't know what.

Instead she goes and trys to take revenge on a dead girl, trying to stab her at the funeral service while she is lying in her coffin. She misses and is hauled away by the usher boy at the service and is now looked down upon by the rest of the people in the community. Morrison does another thing that is very interesting in the story, instead of adding on to it there she goes back and shows you how events lead up to how they are now. Each chapter going alittle bit farther and a little bit farther back, back to the point before Joe is even born. The only slow point in the book is here, things come slow and don't flow as easy, I found myself having to go back and read a few paragraphs over. Even through the slow point, however, Morrison still manages to keep her characters lively and upbeat. I recommend this book to anyone who has read any other works by Morrison, and also to anyone who likes to just get into a book right away.

I enjoyed listening to this extensive overview of the history of jazz. The reader, LaVar Burton, was excellent in his reading of the text. The quotations and remarks from various musicians through the years were refreshing and interesting. My only wish, as this was an audiobook, was more musical examples of the artists. For example, after explaining a style of a musician, having a short interlude illustrating it would be nice. Overall, I enjoyed listening to it and found it very interesting and informative.

I would endorse this book and the accompanying series as a way for neophytes to enter an extremely challenging and complicated genre and as a reasonably good summation of the history of Jazz through 1960. But I would hope that Ken Burns' work isn't received as the final word on Jazz. Too often projects of these nature take on a Hand of God character and are regarded simply as the final take on a theme. Not so here, and anyone who knows the history of Jazz will point to numerous ommissions throughout the series. But if you're looking for a good entertaining way to learn or enjoy Jazz, this is probably a good bet. And if even one person ends up liking Jazz as a result of Burns' work, the world will be a better place. The series can't hurt and the debate is healthy. It just shouldn't be regarded as the only word on the subject.

I thought this was a terrific overview that captures the spirit and beauty of the music. It gave wondeful insight and depth to the people behind the music...innovators such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and others. I think some people will be disappointed in the book simply because it does not adhere to their particular viewpoint (there is very little coverage of fusion....no great loss in my book). But for people who want to get the background of the music and peer into the origins of it, who want to understand the passion that lies within it, this is a must read.

Toni MOrrison's book Jazz, is amazingly complex. The character Joe Trace, is a person searching for something more in his life. I wonder if maybe he thought he didn't have "the best person," as i he might have thought he could do better. The interesting thing that I found was the narrator. The narrator hides his or her identity until the very end. The identity was left to the reader's imagination, I myself thought that the narrator was Dorcas. When Morrison describes Dorcas's death, she puts the description in the point-of-view of a young lady. Also, when the narrator longs to be with Joe, and she says all she can do is wait. In my opinion, I take that as Dorcas being in heaven, and looking down on Joe. The setting of the story takes place in the early 1900's, in Lenox Avenue. The author sets the story in such a rural place that you wouldn't think anything crime wise would happen. That changes as Joe kills Dorcas. Joe kills Dorcas because at the time he was so happy with her, and others he was so sad. He killed her just to keep the feeling going. Joe shot her, which shocked me in a way because Violet, Joe's wife forgives him. How could Violet forgive him after he had sexual affairs with someone young enough to be their daughter? Also, when Violet is upset about Joe's affair why does she need to know about Dorcas? Is it the thought that Violet wasn't good enough for Joe? This book was relatively good, but confusing at times. To my suprise I learned that Toni Morrison's Jazz was second in a trilogy. If you like a book that is challenging, read Jazz.

I love her. I love everything about the Morrison's style of writing. Granted sometimes I have to re-read a book a few times to bring it all together. I also have to read aloud so it makes sense but I love it and I'm never disappointed.

I read this book because: of my love for old school jazz and the big "HOOPLA" over this publication! I can't say that I gained much knowledge from this book. If you are a true collector of jazz and know Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Lee Morgan, Charlie Parker, Dizzy, Wes Montgomery, Freddie Hubbard, Billie Holiday, Coltrane and others then you already know more or as much as what is written here.You've got 512 pages to tell a story about a subject so diverse and complex that I don't know how he did it and felt that justice was done! What I would have preferred he did was to write several books on jazz EACH concentrating on a particular era. That way I think the public would get a true and comprehensive study of our most beautiful and natural resource--jazz. Sorry but I can't offer a rating higher than 2 - 2 1/2 stars.

if words
are jazz

here it is.

Read it out loud!

forever,
Annie

Annie Lanzillotto
author of "L is for Lion: an italian bronx butch freedom memoir" SUNY Press
and "Schistsong" BORDIGHERA Press

www.annielanzillotto.com

L Is for Lion: An Italian Bronx Butch Freedom Memoir (SUNY series in Italian/American Culture)
Schistsong (Via Folios)
Blue Pill
Carry My Coffee (Live)
Eleven Recitations

As a child of artists and a classical and jazz musician, I had no idea or understanding as to why many of the churches- from the turn of the century to almost the present day in many areas- consistently referred to jazz as the devil's music, or dangerously secular, until now. Toni Morrison becomes the metaphor herself along with her invented characters as a story of love and passion, anger and rage, sorrow and grief, hunger and lonliness, acknowledgement and quiet, earhty epiphany unfolds as uncontrollably as the tides, with all the simple complexity of a jazz riff, and with as much freedom from judgement. The power of the emotions and events sweeping across the landscape of history and the landscape of the individual character's lives is frightening in its ability to overwhelm, and she brings it all out with such lyricism and painful joy. The novel can at times feel like a giant apotheosis or denoument, yet its slowly building climaxes are what make it more than readable; it makes it exciting and sublimely predictable and unpredictable simultameuosly. It almost makes one understand better why the story of Christ is called a "Passion"; passion, as exemplified in this novel, is not just a sexy or damaging thing, but also the way to come to know God.
There are small pars of the novel that are a bit too detailed in the rendering of lesser character's lives. Yet her rendering of the time period, the 20's, and the community is incredible. This is more, or different, than a novel. It is an epic poem- an epic jazz poem that has you hearing the music as it mildly, painfully, poignantly and triumphantly ends. Toni will not let you down with this one.

This book is the greatest! Violet's pain and sense of betrayal causes her to stab "the appearance of the end" as Dorcas lies in the coffin..Oh but isnt Toni just so brilliant, Violet's pain is not content with this death. Violet, Joe and Dorcas's lives form an ironic triangle but one whereby through Toni's love of humanity in all its imperfections; I could not discount any of these characters as ones that are unforgivable...which is so ironic because they do what would be perceived by most, "unforgivable acts" but Toni in my opinion, shows me how we are more than our mistakes, and this enlargement comes by way of forgiveness for Joe and Violet. ... Man, just to go into it, would take me more than a 1000 words...all I can say is that this book is the greatest, more earth shattering book...the symbolism, the romanic language that is so starkingly beautifully that it literally trumpets off the pages; and if you allow yourself become open to Toni's beat, you can become a sole beneficiary of "the JAZZ concert" complete with its complexity, irony, sadness, redemption...you will be never, ever, be sorry. Can yall tell that I like, no man, I dig Toni...oh man, I am her biggest fan.....please email me at [email protected] for your comments.

This novel was difficult to understand and seemed not to move beyond the main plot point: the murder of a young girl by her older married lover and his wife's queer attempt to disrupt her funeral by slashing the dead girl's face. Rather than progressing the story, Ms. Morrision delves ponderouly into the main characters' background and the novel takes on a completely different tenor. It becomes unnecessarily historical and, while the history in itself may be interesting, it adds little or nothing to the plot's progression or, ultimately, its resolution. OR PERHAPS IT DID AND I JUST MISSED IT! That's just the point: I really can't say because Ms. Morrison insists on writing difficult works whose threads are hard to follow, leading one to literary frustration, and Jazz was this. I don't shy away from difficult pieces, but I do, for example, expect to be sooner "informed" of what I am reading rather then having to read two or three pages before it (whatever "it" is) becomes clear or clearer. Rather then being so eliptical, I think Ms. Morrison can be a little more generous, clearer, open, sun-shining, but this is just me talking. That being said, this novel left me wondering why I invested the time.

In this 1920's novel based on two African American's living in Harlem, the reader finds themselves fighting for certain sides in the story. After falling smittenly in love with one another (at a cotton crop farm) Joe and Violet married. They lived here for thirteen years and then decided to move to Baltimore. On the way here, they find "the City" (Harlem). Once in Harlem, Joe becomes a cosmetic salesman from door to door. He comes upon the house of Alice Manfred's house. Here also lives her 18 year old niece, Dorcas. Joe falls for Dorcas and begins asking a friend to borrow her house during the day for himself and Dorcas to use. For three months Joe sneaks around with Dorcas, while Violet is at home listening to her parrot sqawk "I LOVE YOU" over and over again. Shortly after, Joe finds Dorcas with another man, Acton. Joe is angered and kills Dorcas. At the funeral, Violet shows up and slashes the already dead girl in the face. Throughout the story, there are flashbacks of Joe and Violet's childhood, meeting, and marriage. Then they also go back to discuss how Joe came to meet Dorcas. Through all of this, Morrison becomes the voice of an unknown person and going inside people's heads. Violet begins to visit Dorcas' aunt and builds a friendship on with her. In the end, Violet and Joe's relationship is enthralled in love. There is some about "the City", it makes you love.

The key to understanding this amazing novel is in the title. Each character is a Jazz instrument, playing and embellishing his or her theme, then stepping aside while the theme is picked up by the next instrument/character with variations. This is improvisational music, not a composition, more like a jam session. It is therefore improvisational literature - not hard to understand, just beautiful, energetic, and extremely clever.

Enjpy!

Toni Morrison is one of the greatest living authors in the United States today. "Jazz" holds up to my expectations. This is a book that explores the 1920's New York scene, as well as the great migration North. Trying to encapsulate everything in this review would be too hard. On the surface, this story would seem to be one of a love triangle, and the tragic ending. However, Morrison goes much deeper, and echoes Forster with the credo "only connect". This is a story of connection, of sex, and list, and emotions veering wildly out of control. The connection comes from making sense of tragedy, as well as the reader connecting with the characters. It's so hard to dislike those characters you have made moral judgements on, only to find their weaknesses and their humanity outweighs their actions. This is a beautiful novel, and only furthers Morrison's greatness. I will never listen to Jazz music the same way again (and it's a good thing. I also need to read this book again, as one reading is just not sufficient enough to be able to take it all in.

Morrison is masterful. While it took me a few pages to warm up to the story, once I was hooled I couldn't put it down. I just loved how the sotry was told through the point of view of each of the characters. Morrison's insight into Harmlem life is just astounding. I could almost smell the neighborhoods she was describing. I highly recommend this book.

Morrison is an amazing author. She is truly gifted. After reading all of her novels except Paradise, I must say I feel reaffirmed in my love for this author because of this particular novel. Jazz is a complex story that fully pushes Morrison's abilities as a writer. Her characterizations and beautiful wording put you right into the story. You become one of the characters. With this novel, Morrison has brought me back to her. I was a little unhappy with Tar Baby and even Beloved. Jazz has brought me back.

This time period known as the Harlem Renaissance, was a perfect place for Morrison to pick up from. She used the expressiveness and freedom of this time, to show the struggles within the culture, and the chaos, as the music of jazz can be at times. Jazz is a blend of so many different rhythms, beats and instruments and the "City" was a perfect place to house this breakthrough music and struggles among the characters as well. All in all, this is a book that is definitely worth a close read, and as always is an exemplary piece to showcase Morrison's talent as a well-rounded contemporary author of our time.

Jazz is by far one of Morrison's best works! The story is great, but not the strongest part. This book shines because it's so lyrical, so poetic, so magically written.
With the odd, experimental narrator it's almost like a long love letter, someone telling a story of lost love to a love that can not be fullfilled. When I read the final few pages I could see Morrison sitting down and writing this to that special someone she's never been able to communicate to.

Like the other reviewer before me, it has been a while since I have read Jazz. I remember the book as being very good at points and then at others it lost me. I have read all of Toni Morrison's novels and I would would not rank this one as one of her better books. I purchased the book on the strength of her other novels and remember feeling a bit disappointed when I finished. Still I believe that Morrison's novels are terrific. I would start with Song of Solomon, I believe that is her best book. I plan on purchasing the audiocassette book of Jazz. That sounds interesting to hear the book with the music. I'll listen to that and tell you guys what I think.

Geoffrey Ward and Ken Burns have produced another handsome book, featuring the same opulent look and feel as their earlier, best selling books on The Civil War and Baseball. Their writing on jazz's early history is outstanding. Burns & Co. have also done a magnificent job of culling the nation's photo archives for rare photos of jazz's most famous founding fathers along with many of its long since forgotten contributors. For me, this alone is worth the price of admission.
The big problem with this book is that it provides, at best, a severely truncated and tendentious history of the music. The (generally crisp) narrative simply peters out about 1955. One chapter gives a cursory overview of several developments in the 1950s. The final chapter covers the remaining 40 years in a slim, almost perfunctory twenty or thirty pages. Perhaps the book should have been titled "Jazz: The First 50 Years."
It appears to me that the authors - both autodidacts in the field of jazz - simply lost their nerve. Writing a jazz history in the years after 1950 admittedly gets harder. The music splits into many competing schools and styles. Much of it is simply harder for the uninitiated to listen to. But this is no excuse to gloss over or ignore the great music and musicians who mean so much to jazz fans born after 1940. (Would you believe that Charles Mingus only merits a piddling sidebar?)
The authors seem to have signed onto the orthodoxy of Wynton Marsalis and his ilk. In a nutshell, this holds that jazz took (multiple) wrong turns in the modern era. It stopped featuring the familiar, danceable, toe-tappable shuffling swing that earned it its original popularity. In other words, modern jazz has turned into a musical dead end. The only hope for its salvation is to return to the earlier swing and bop forms and overlay them with a slightly more complex and refined sensibility. It is not hard to discern within the narrative the heavy hand of critics who comprise this school of thought: Albert Murray, Stanley Crouch, and Wynton himself.
In sum, by embracing a cramped, severely circumscribed definition of jazz, the authors utterly fail to understand (much less elucidate) the modern era in jazz. Free jazz was/is more than just angry black nationalist ranting. Fusion, at its best, was not simply a sell-out to triumphalist rock. (And, no, Miles Davis did not "denature" the music when he plugged in.)
For me, the elegiac tone of this book is both insulting and patronizing. Baseball did not begin to die when the Dodgers left Brooklyn. Neither did jazz when Ornette Coleman whipped out his alto sax in New York City in 1959.
By all means, do buy this beautiful book. Just be aware of the stultifying orthodoxy emanating from each of its glossy pages.

This is a very well-written, entertaining and informative book, and I learned a great deal while reading it and enjoying the many beautiful pictures. However, the last four decades of jazz are compressed into the last chapter, and some omissions (like George Shearing!) are inexplicable. Overall, this is a great introduction to jazz, but be aware of the shortcomings.

I recently read Jazz as part of an English assignment. While the book is good, it's often easy to get lost. My suggestion is that you read its preceding book in this trilogy, Beloved, before you read Jazz. The characters in the book are well-developed and have interesting, unique personalities. If you like stories set in the big city this book describes it in detail, as well as the open countryside. The only downfall of this book, in my opinion, is that Morrison likes to float through time landing irregularly, so it's sometimes hard to know where you are, and with whom.

Jazz is an interesting novel, and in some ways the characters ring truer than in her most acclaimed work, Beloved. The story unfolds in a totally brilliant way, we see the key event in the narrative from multiple points of view, and the character's perspective from many points in time. The narration is also deliberately self-conscious and at times humorous, though I was annoyed by her stream of consciousness at the book's end. Still, Morrison does an excellent job weaving character, moral ambiguity, violence, race, and sociology in a vivid mosaic of Harlem life.

Toni Morrison's Jazz is a book premised around love, race, violence and the city that is home to these ideas. Set in the 1920's, Jazz is a story about a married couple's struggles, and the entangled lives of those involved in their love. Stylistically this is a beautiful book, written almost poetically. However, this book may not be a cup of tea for a reader that enjoys a plot driven novel. Nor is it recommendable for someone unwilling to adamantly hunt for significance.

After reading the first page, the reader is familiarized with the basics of the plot within the novel. The basic tale, which takes place in Harlem, begins with an aging man named Joe, who is unhappy in his marriage. He ends up looking for love outside of his home and finds it in the 18 year old, Dorcas. Their involvement lasts several months but ends after Dorcas, desiring a younger companion, breaks up with Joe. Unable to let go, Joe murders his youthful former-mistress. When his wife, Violet, finds out that he has had an affair, she makes an appearance at Dorcas' open-casket funeral and mutilates the corpse. For months Joe mopes about his loss, but Violet goes outward with her emotions. She ends up speaking to and bonding with the aunt of the deceased. As time progresses, Violet and Joe work to reconstruct their marriage. The story occurs over several months, but most of this information is exposed within the first several pages. The early exposition of the plot shows that it is not the most important piece of this work's puzzle. More important is the unique way that the plot develops.

Different aspects of the tale develop as different narrators offer new details of the events. The story is told from one prospective, then an idea is continued by a new speaker and is analyzed through a different prospective, sometimes illustrating new information. This is effective in that it greatly enhances character development. Instead of reading about the opinions of a character through the eyes of only one narrator, several different opinions about each character are offered; often including the opinion the character has of his or herself. However, it slows the pace of the novel. Instead of telling one continuous story from beginning to end, Morrison tells the story once, then details a part of that story with a new narrator and eventually repeats the process again. This does help explain why each speaker acts the way they do in Jazz, but nevertheless makes the fleshing out of this story's plot an arduously sluggish development. For a person that enjoys a fast-paced plot, this may not be a favorite, but its style is a redeeming factor.

Figurative language illustrates much of this novel, and is the basis for much of the imagery. An example is, "Daylight slants like a razor cutting the buildings in half. [...] Nobody wants to be an emergency at Harlem Hospital but if the Negro surgeon is visiting, pride cuts down the pain" (7). There are parts when this book reads less like a novel and more like poetry. However, there are times when Morrison's language works against her and ends up burying meaning underneath insignificant details, "Alice had picked up a leaflet that had floated to the pavement, read the words, and shifted her weight at the curb, she read the words and looked at Dorcas. Looked at Dorcas and read the words again. What she read seemed crazy, out of focus. Some great gap lunged between the print and the child" (58). Details are started and often lead nowhere. It is not entirely Morrison's writing style that should be blamed for the loss of meaning however.

Overall significance in this work is difficult to come by. Several ideas are present, but none are distinctly brought to the forefront of the book. The first considerable theme is the effect of racism on the day-to-day life of the African American. Whereas in books like Huckleberry Finn or To Kill A Mocking Bird racism is an issue that is brought directly to the attention of the reader. In Jazz it is not. Rather, it is hinted at throughout the novel. This is illustrated when Joe talks about his hunting teacher, "Whitefolks said he was a witch doctor, but they said that so they wouldn't have to say he was smart" (125). Placing racism in the background is effective in this book because it shows that the treatment they were receiving from Caucasians was not on the forefront of every African American citizen's mind always, but nevertheless was a factor in their day-to-day lives. A second theme that is not directly illustrated in the text is the importance of understanding all viewpoints in a situation.

Throughout the novel, the usage of multiple viewpoints allows the reader to truly understand each event and understand each character's motives. An example is when a picture of Dorcas is placed in Joe and Violet's home and they each tip toe to this picture and look at her face. "If the tiptoer is Joe Trace [...] then the face stares at him without hope or regret and it is the absence of accusation that wakes him from his sleep hungry for her company. [...] But if the tiptoer is Violet the photograph is not that at all. The girl's face looks greedy, haughty and very lazy" (12). Though the reader does, neither Joe nor Violet understand how the other feels about this picture. Instead of talking to each other to try to understand why the other acts the way he or she does, they hoard their emotions inside themselves. Lack of communication leads to perpetual displeasure in their marriage. Morrison shows that it is necessary to communicate and understand all viewpoints before formulating judgments.

Overall, this novel is unsuitable for someone that enjoys quick plot developments. But for someone looking for a book with colorful language and underlying themes, Toni Morrison's Jazz is and enjoyable book.

While the content presented is excellent and well laid out, the point of view is based very much on Ken Burns' personal tastes. There are many great artist with great stories who were either glossed over or left out entirely. I recommend that anyone with an interest in jazz read this book. However, if you have a somewhat indepth knowledge of jazz history,or are looking for a particular favorite artist, you might be a little disappointed.

I haven't read the book but own and have listened to the 10 tapes many times. How does one write a history of jazz with no mention of Nat King Cole and dismissing Stan Getz as having robbed a convenience store to support his habit? That's like writing a history of the Civil War without mentioning Lee and dismissing Grant as a drunk. This "history" is a tribute to Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. Both were giants but jazz would have happened without either. All Ken Burns had to do was go to the old copies of Downbeat and Metronome to locate who all the giants were. It's known as research and cannot be replaced by going to Wynton Marsalis for a racist and biased view.
Also ignored are Joe Williams, Shirley Horne, Carmen McRae, J.J. Johnson, Billy Eckstine and Oscar Peterson. Other than for Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw, the white bands are given short shrift. Les Brown, Stan Kenton and Woody Herman bands get only mention and little more. That treatment is accorded Stan Getz, Lee Konitz, Art Pepper, Lennie Tristano, Bill Evans, Kai Winding, Buddy Morrow, Frank Rosolino, Bob Brookmeyer, Shelly Manne, Buddy Rich, Charlie Bird, Anita O'Day and Joe Mooney to name a few. These were not just greats. They influenced musicians, white and black, and changed the sound of jazz forever.
Getz took the Lester Young sound and style and developed it into one that was copied by every tenor man since, including Coltrane. The 4 brothers sound was everywhere. Bill Evans is considered by most knowledgeable critics as the finest jazz piano man who ever lived. The J & Kai recordings are among the greatest trombone works. Joe Mooney's group was 2nd (to Nat King Cole trio) in a 1940's Downbeat poll even thought they had never recorded. Anita O'Day was not only a great vocalist but also ran the High Note on North Clark Street in Chicago which was home to Monday night sessions for years. The influence of Tristano and Konitz cannot be questioned. Shelley Manne was widely copied and responsible for a style of drumming in which one felt more than heard the driving force of brushes. Bobby Brookmeyer continues to compose, direct and play to the present. Charlie Bird was the greatest of acoustic jazz guitarists and studied with Segovia.
With all of those omissions, Burns still finds space to showcase Armstrong and Ellington on each of the 10 tapes. That appears to be at urging of a bigoted Marsalis. There are many fine sides on those tapes. They should be heard. But don't imagine that this Documentary even scratches the history of jazz.

I found Jazz to be confusing in the beginning, however if it wasn't I don't believe it would be a Toni Morrison book. I say this in a good way. I have not read all her books but the books I have read has taken me awhile to get into before given up on the book all together. I thought it was enjoyable reading. It was a three way love affair that went bad but ended up back to a two way love affair.

The title of this novel is Jazz and if you're looking for the structure of The Old Man and the Sea or A Christmas Carol, look elsewhere. That'd be like comparing the poetry of ee cummings to the 5 paragraph essay structure your eighth grade teacher made you learn.

The city comes alive in this novel of loves lost and found. And while like all Morrison novels, loves lost outnumber loves found, it is an achingly beautiful read. Highly recommended.

Jazz was a very interesting novel to read. its theme of violence makes the story very interesting. Morrisons interweaves allusions to racial violence into her story with a neitral tone that lets the historical facts speak for themselves. her descriptions of scenes are often filled with violence as she discusses buildings which a cut but a razorlike line of sunlight. even her narrative is violently constructed, but it keeps you interested in whats going to happen next. Toni morrison tells us what is is to be a woman so that we may know what is to be a man. I love the theme of jealousy, murder, passion, and sex. I suggest further readings- Love, Beloved

This book just sends shivers up and down my spine every time I read it. So very elegant it is written, to say the least. Ms. Morrison's novel touches on every emotion within the human realm, and with each new reading I find it new and invigorating. I am an avid reader, and I must say that this is a DEFINITE favorite!!! A must-read!!!

This is a rich, outrageously illustrated jazz book. You have not seen many of the photos in the book. If you have a jazz library, then Jazz will be a wonderful addition that even non- jazz persons will pick up from your coffee table.

I have read quite a few Toni Morrison books and I have to honestly say that this one was really disappointing. First off, make sure you do some research on this period before you do any reading. Also, find out what "Jazz" means, not the music type. I found the story uninteresting and didn't have that "everything came together" feeling at the end. Contrary to most of the other reviewers, I did not enjoy this book.

This history of Jazz is not only one of the best reads but with the addition of all the pictures this book is such a great insight to our culture not only for music lovers but all of society. A tuely remarkable book.

I didn't care for the book. Sure it's pretty and will get some folks interested in the music, but I found the treatment a bit heavy-handed. Talking about musicians as bold innovators and soul stylists and technical wizards is all a bit much for me. Many of the greatest jazz musicians were addicts and just generally not very nice people. Also, I really didn't see anything in that book that I haven't seen in other books. It almost looks as though Burns took a "best of" approach to a lot of other jazz history books out there. Personally, I've had enough of the who, what, when, and where that you can read any old dusty history book. What I want is the how and why and this book certainly doesn't answer either question. One last note: any jazz history book that talks about Wynton Marsalis more often than it mentions J.J. Johnson is not a book I'm going to spend money on.

Please don't read this book, it's awful. It has no flow and takes you in every direction but the one that might make sense. If you feel you must read this "masterpeice," take acid before every sitting.

I was completely happy and satisfied with the product I received. It came in great condition. But the only thing that made me feel uncomfortable with the purchase was the time that it took to receive the product. Which was probably due to the christmas holidays. However other then that customer service was good.

Jazz is an all encompassing proposition, a suggestion of how 'one', or perhaps many, might exist with(out) the lack at the center... (Hi there Derrida).

Toni Morrison leaves you crying and laughing, a delirious hysteria (out comes Wild!). Usually, deep and meaningful is not so uplifting. Buy your own copy, you'll need to read it over and over and over again, and it will never play the same way twice.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough, but be warned that it's most definitely not a light read. It is an amazing emotional and intellectual experience!

I was very disappointed in this novel. It was uninteresting and I didn't feel that it "all came together" in the ending. I would not recommend this book to anyone. Definitely not on the same level with some of her other works.