Experiencing Jazz (Michael Stephans, 2013)

I'm probably ready to move on from introductory jazz texts, but this one was lingering on my "to read" list and I'm glad I gave it a read-through. Unlike the Ted Gioia book I read earlier, this isn't a straight up history of jazz, though Stephans sets aside a couple chapters for a brief survey, just to put things in context. The real distinguishing characteristics of the book are the later chapters, each devoted to a particular jazz instrument, from the brass to the woodwinds to the rhythm, then wrapping up with a bit on vocals.

Even though the publisher (Scarecrow) tends to skew more scholarly, this isn't a hardcore scholarly work, though Stephans's other role, in addition to jazz drummer, is college professor. Most of the references are lifted from websites and he doesn't have a problem steering readers to Google or YouTube for more information. Some of the writing approaches (hypothetical interviews in particular) are a little irritating. However this is more than made up for by the aforementioned organization of the book by instrument, as well as a good sampling of the author's own experiences playing drums alongside some of the biggest names in jazz (or just bumping into them, especially in the case of Buddy Rich).