Playing Changes

Narrator Ron Butler narrates this exceptional audiobook with the laid-back flair and nuanced understanding of a seasoned jazz musician. His diverse phrasing palette is as interesting to hear as it is clarifying, and his performance is never too conspicuous as he conveys the drama surrounding the growth of jazz in America. Fans of this genre will recognize many of the key players described in the audiobook and be fascinated at how jazz, despite being born as a subversive musical form steeped in the black experience, snuck into equal status with classical music at New York's Lincoln Center. There are also stirring accounts of the philosophical debates around pure jazz versus pop music and similar controversies such as how avant-garde players should regard the idioms of traditional jazz. T.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine