Over the course of a quarter century, Village Voice columnist Gary Giddins has emerged as one of the most original and thoughtful jazz writers working today. An extremely gifted essayist, he has established a reputation for honest and insightful commentary and criticism. His newest collection of essays, Visions of Jazz, finds him at the peak of his creative and critical powers.

Rather than writing a history of jazz per se, Giddins presents a canvas of individual musicians who "generate . . . a distinct musical vision, a personal vision . . . that is unique and ultimately matchless." In 79 essays, Giddins successfully illustrates how these visionaries exemplify what he calls the "the singularity and magic of the jazz phenomena."

Giddins writes about jazz, but within a much larger cultural framework, his expansive outlook roaming freely across a broad contextual landscape. Not only is he a musicologist, biographer, jazz historian and level-eyed critic, he is also a savvy and erudite cultural and social historian. Giddins illustrates, through this interdisciplinary approach, how jazz exists not in an isolated cultural vacuum, but as a vibrant product of and an influence on the larger scope of American culture and society.

He writes about both major historical figures and lesser known musicians. The historical heavyweights portrayed include Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday, W. C. Handy, Jelly Roll Morton, Thelonious Monk, Sonny Rollins, Ella Fitzgerald, Ornette Coleman, Benny Goodman and Sarah Vaughn.

Many of these artists appear on the companion CD, released by Blue Note Records. This two CD set contains songs selected and annotated by Giddins, and is sold separately. Reflecting the diversity and scope of the book, the set's 38 selections include a wealth of familiar and obscure works. It's a fine supplementary text, filled with classic tunes and a handful of rare wonders.

Jazz fans will discover that fresh insights into familiar artists fill these pages. Sometimes Giddins will focus on one or two crucial works. Other essays place a musician within a larger historical context, incorporating relevant influences or biographical details that escape lesser writers. His essays also serve as informative introductions to the music of unfamiliar musicians. Each essay stands alone, allowing you to browse through this book as whim and interest dictate.

A few examples illustrate the breadth and depth of Giddins' writing. In the essay "Hank Jones/ Charlie Haden (Come Sunday)," he discusses their marvelous 1995 release, Steal Away, a collection of spirituals and folk songs arranged for double bass and piano that "underscores a fundamental ingredient in the spiritual life of jazz." In a mere four pages, Giddins places the album within the tradition of spiritual music, citing the Fisk Jubilee Singers, Felix Mendelssohn, John Coltrane and Ray Charles in the process. Giddins is analytical without being dry, and knowledgeable without being academic. Insight, context, allusion, commentary and concise assessment: in essay after essay, Giddins consistently delivers.

He shows his knowledge of social history in "Louis Armstrong/Mills Brothers (Signifying)," where he unpacks the scathing-yet-subtle ironic attack on American racism implicit in Armstrong's phrasing and intonation in the 1937 hit "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny." His second essay on Ellington (the Duke alone merits three essays) dissects the 1941 recording of Ellington's signature tune, "Take the 'A' Train," and sheds light on how Ellington's genius materialized in performance.

Generally, Giddins avoids using technical and theoretical terminology, keeping his musical analysis couched in terms that non-musicians can understand. In an important essay on bebop alto saxophonist Charlie Parker, however, Giddins illustrates Parker's improvisational genius with annotated transcriptions of several Parker solos. Parker's transcribed improvisation on "Parker's Mood" is breathtaking, displaying how, in two short bars, Parker plays 46 notes in a series of sizzling arpeggios and triplets. Parker's numbing display of brilliance prompts Giddins to observe that "the problem bop presented to many jazz fans was a matter of relativity: they couldn't hear fast enough to recognize the abundance of melody."

Giddins spends a full third of the book discussing musicians who are actively recording today. He illuminates the remarkable work of composer/bandleader Muhal Richard Abrams, the avant-garde blowing of David S. Ware, the busy career of David Murray, and the precocious talents of Nicholas Payton and James Carter. His essays on seasoned veterans Abbey Lincoln and Randy Weston are particularly timely, coinciding with exciting new releases by each this winter.

Visions of Jazz also addresses how jazz musicians have assimilated other musical influences while adhering to the call of their own creative muses. "The one truth about jazz of which I am certain," Giddins asserts, "is that it incarnates liberty . . . merging with everything and borrowing anything, yet ultimately riding alone." With this statement, Giddins echoes Duke Ellington, who said that jazz was ultimately about "freedom of expression," as well as Dave Brubeck, who called jazz a "hybrid music" that addresses "the conflicts and dreams of the people in an emotional language they comprehend."

The visionaries Giddins examines create, in Brubeck's words, the emotional language necessary to address "the conflicts and dreams of the people." This is, as Giddins illustrates repeatedly, what jazz does best: as an art form, it has the power to touch us emotionally, to move us as listeners.

For Giddins, this is a real and potent force, one he brings to the book through his own impassioned love of the music. At the end of his essay on Ella Fitzgerald, Giddins cheerfully asserts that "you can hardly believe your luck--to live in the world of Ella. It is to laugh out loud."

As you pour over this excellent volume, letting Giddins inform and enlighten you, you will always come back to his love of the music and his boundless enthusiasm. You will find yourself at the stereo, book in hand, pulling out records and CD's, understanding more, listening with greater attention and reveling in your good luck to live in a world where the music of Ella, Miles, Monk and Ellington is just a listen away.



Originally appeared on December 20, 1998, in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette