Jazz music drew its first breaths in the late 19th century. Since then it’s helped galvanize American communities through Prohibition in the ’20s and ’30s and the Civil Rights Movements of the ’50s and ’60s. Today, jazz music can’t be defined by a single song or artist. The music takes after ragtime, soul, the blues and even pop music; legends like Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday and even Frank Sinatra have produced a wide spectrum of sounds. Likewise, there are near infinite ways to learn, listen to and appreciate jazz. But for those interested — whether you’re a jazz scholar, intermediate saxophonist or complete musical neophyte — these books, podcasts and films can get you started.
But Beautiful: A Book About Jazz
Geoff Dyer
This acclaimed fictional book is divided into vignettes, each portraying a time in the life of one iconic jazz musician: from Lester Young to Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus. The book earned Dyer a number of accolades, including winning the Somerset Maugham Prize, and it was shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. $12
Coming Through Slaughter
Michael Ondaatje
Winner of the Books in Canada First Novel Award in 1976, this fictional book focuses on the lives of jazz musician Buddy Bolden and photographer E. J. Bellocq. The book is written in episodes that highlight Bolden’s creative genius, his struggles with schizophrenia, and the impact both of those have on the people around him in New Orleans at the beginning of the 20th century. $13
Treat It Gentle: An Autobiography
Sidney Bechet
Legendary jazz saxophonist and clarinetist Sidney Bechet passed in 1959. Over 40 years later his autobiography was published. Using interviews from when Bechet was alive, Desmond Flower was able to create a compelling narrative that touches on it all: gunfights, playing with Louis Armstrong, getting deported from London and the early jazz music scene in New Orleans. $13
