Jazz Masters Of The 20s

Macmillan Jazz Masters Series

by Richard Hadlock

The jazz decade saw the emergence of many of the great figures who defined the music for the world: Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Earl Hines, Bix Beiderbecke, Fats Waller, Jack Teagarden, Fletcher Henderson—these giants set the standards for blues singing, big band arrangements, and solo improvisation that are the foundations for jazz. Richard Hadlock has chapters on each, with a discography and descriptions of all the players who made the '20s swing.

Genres: Jazz, Music

278 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

Reviews

[RA · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very good review of some of the major "Jazz" musicians of the 20s;

Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Earl Hines, Eddie Lang, Benny Goodman, Bix Beiderbecke, Fletcher Henderson & Don Redman, Fats Waller, James P. Johnson, Jack Teagarden, and a large group of Chicago musicians.

Mr. Hadlock adds a significant amount of musical detail, in his analysis and descriptions of the artists, (his opinion of) their innovations and impact on other musicians, and some details about their personal lives. Very interesting, with, again, plenty of technical musical information.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

This 1965 examination of some of the leading jazz players of the 20s - Louis Armstrong, Earl Hines, Bix Beiderbecke, Fats Waller, Jack Teagarden, Fletcher Henderson, Bessie Smith, Eddie Lang, and the collective grouping of Chicago players - is filled with insight and information. I had a general idea about all of these players, but with the exception of Armstrong, hadn't read a tremendous amount about most of them. Hadlock tells the story of how jazz changed in that decade where it first became consistently recorded, but he does it while focusing on specific players and their careers. As a bonus, because it's 2018, I was able to listen to a lot of the specific records he cites, which helped me further to understand what he's talking about, and to make me realize just how good he is at describing the music. In 1965, readers had to primarily take his word on faith - most of these records were either scattered across LP reissues or no longer available at all.

[Alfred Bates · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good, and well written. I'm going to try to hunt down all the other books in the series.