Building a Library: Jazz

Davies, Russell, The Independent on Sunday (London, England)

My first jazz book, a library borrowing in the early Sixties, was The Pictorial History of Jazz, edited in the USA but printed in Czechoslovakia on a compost of mashed bus tickets. The pictures were shamefully murky, but they did confirm that the likes of Muggsy Spanier, Slow Drag Pavageau, Tricky Sam Nanton and Dodo Marmarosa looked as striking as their names had sounded. Some of the terse captions ("Sonny Berman flared brightly, died young") stuck in the brain and won't go away. Jazz photo-albums are always interesting, but only Black Beauty, White Heat: A Pictorial History of Jazz 1920- 1950, drawn from Frank Driggs's collection, has surpassed the original. It's overstuffed, …

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Publication information: Article title: Building a Library: Jazz. Contributors: Davies, Russell - Author. Newspaper title: The Independent on Sunday (London, England). Publication date: June 8, 2003. Page number: 14. © 2009 The Independent on Sunday. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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