Experiencing Big Band Jazz

October 1, 2017

Sultanof has had a long and distinguished career as composer, arranger, and jazz historian, working with musicians of the caliber of Sonny Rollins and Gerry Mulligan and publishing the arrangements for Miles Davis's legendary 1949-50 Birth of the Cool sessions. Though written for novices, this book will be of value to all lovers of jazz bands, introducing numerous ensembles that may have eluded them. Several of these groups only marginally qualify as jazz, but that's for the good, as styles spread outside of straightforward jazz, and jazz musicians were recruited to play them. Sultanof's choice of songs is tilted toward what's playing on YouTube or Spotify. Thus, readers can listen to cuts while reading about them in the book. In some cases, though, superior selections are passed over in favor of lesser recordings as a consequence. Some descriptions of recordings are so brief they are seemingly pointless, but where Sultanof takes time to analyze, he is first-rate. Above all, his knowledge of the band scene from the 1910s to the present is unparalleled. VERDICT This titles should appeal, with the reservations noted above, to everyone interested in jazz or big bands.--David Keymer, Cleveland

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 30, 2017
Big band jazz gets a concise, balanced analysis from Sultanof, a composer-arranger and professor at the Institute of Audio Research in New York City. Sultanof surveys the rise and fall of the music form from its American origins in 1918 through the early 1950s, when the public flocked to dance in packed clubs, to the present day. He examines the bands’ popularity through the lavish venues in which they played, and the arrival of radio, improved sound recordings, and booking agencies that brought talent to wider audiences. Sultan writes enthusiastically about the heralded ensembles and arrangements of Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Fletcher Henderson, Benny Goodman, and Glenn Miller (“Fred Astaire didn’t make too many records in his incredible career, but his meeting with the Goodman band and the sextet is pure magic,” Sultanof writes about the song “Just Like Taking Candy from a Baby”). He is especially astute in documenting the well-received bands of World War II, the yearlong musicians’ strike, the singers, the use of foreign rhythms, and the shift to smaller groups. His guide takes readers up through more recent arrangers Gil Evans, Gary McFarland, and Don Sebesky. Sultanof has written a handy, detailed reference for jazz music listeners.