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Synopsis
Jazz is perhaps the most cerebral and most unpredictable of musical forms. Miles Davis transforms the simplest tune and structure into wildly imaginative improvisations. Thelonious Monk made dissonance glorious. And as Duke Ellington said, "Dissonance is our way of life in America. We are something apart, yet an integral part."
In Landing on the Wrong Note, Ajay Heble provides a groundbreaking analysis of jazz in its cultural context and a lucid exploration of the musical form itself: its dissonant riffs and resistance to traditional interpretations are emblematic of the social struggles surrounding the jazz scene and the people who created it. Drawing on personal anecdote, observation, conversations with jazz artists, and cultural theory, Heble demonstrates that although jazz may be free-form, its rich and varied history makes it an important point of entry into some of the most hotly contested issues of our era -- power, identity, representation, history, ethics, and social change. As artistic director of a jazz festival and noted critic, he has unique insight into the gap between critical interpretation and the reality of performance.
An imaginative and passionate synthesis of form and function, Landing on the Wrong Note goes beyond mainstream jazz criticism, outlining a new poetics of jazz that emerges not from the ivory tower but from the clubs, performances, and lives of today's jazz musicians.
Booknews
From Thelonious Monk to Miles Davis, this book analyzes jazz music with its dissonant riffs and resistance to formalist interpretations, and explores how the music was a reflection of the philosophies of the musicians themselves. Drawing on personal anecdote, observation, conversations with jazz artists, and cultural theory, Heble (Literatures and Performances, U. Guelph), demonstrates that although jazz may be free-form, its rich and varied history makes it an important point of entry into some of the most hotly contested areas in our society: power, identity, representation, history, ethics, and social change. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)