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jasoncomely's review against another edition
5.0
Knock out book. Nate is a world class writer and music critic.
davygibbs's review
5.0
This book does for contemporary jazz what David Azerrad's This Band Could Be Your Life did for the alternative 80s underground. In prose that is brisk, lucid, and contagious in its enthusiasm, Chinen walks the reader through the various nooks & crannies of the current jazz scene (visiting stages both big and small) and makes a compelling case for the genre's continued vitality. If you're a music fan curious about the state of jazz today, I can think of no better place to start your journey. Playing Changes is essential for the listening suggestions alone. You won't make it to the end without finding plenty to love.
carmanj's review
4.0
For someone like me who mostly laps up jazz that is already canonical, Chinen’s pieces are a way in to music that I find alienating. I don’t know that I will find any new favourite artists this way, but at least I’m adding a more nuanced description to my assumptions about acclaimed artists like Mary Halvorson or Vijay Iyer. Reading this also lights a fire for myself in my own music making, conservative though it may be.
kurtadb's review against another edition
5.0
I debated giving this only four stars because some of the musical discussion felt opaque to me (how much is attributable to my own ignorance is not totally clear; definitely some). But in the end it was so invigorating, I constantly felt like a new amazing idea or connection was being revealed. It had the odd feeling of a page turner even though it didn’t actually read like that.
mach61's review
4.0
What I thought would be a history of modern jazz (something I care deeply about) ended up being a series of mini-stories on various modern artists. Chinen tries his best to stress the individuality of everyone he covers, but the sheer quantity of features contained makes it hard not to start skimming over all the prose. Still, an appreciable effort from someone invested in the modern jazz scene.
janthonytucson's review
5.0
I read roughly 40 books a year, I have a degree in jazz from University of Miami, I make my living as a professional session and touring musician, this is one of the best books I have read in the last 3 years. Not even close, I loved this book!
I can't tell you how many times I smiled while reading this book. I was nodding my head like 'yeah man, so great to see someone vocalize these truths in such an elegant and straight forward way.’
This book is about as inside baseball as you can get with modern jazz. If you don’t have a solid foundational understanding of jazz, I am not talking about what hip re-harm you can do on a ii-V-I, I am talking about knowing all the players, and what they do, and how they do, and how certain hangs are in the jazz world, if you don’t have at least a modicum of insight into how all of that stuff goes down, you will not like this book.
If you are of the school of mind that bop is where it is at, and anything else is nonsense, you will HATE this book. And that's fine, there are plenty of books out there for you.
if you are just a casual listener of jazz, and like jazz, and think, ohh this will be a nice book to read, you will probably not get this book. No offensive, I was thinking about an analogy and I remember after the 2008 financial crisis I wanted to learn more about global finance, and so I read a bunch of books recommend by these economic professors, and while I was reading them about 80% of it went over my head because I did not have the requisite foundational knowledge to understand the theories, and processes being explained.
And that is fine, I never attempted to get a PHD in economics, and if you are a casual listener to jazz, you are not gonna get most of this book, and again, there are mountains of books out there for you.
This book should be a must read for any serious jazz musician out there though. This book is worth the time (and money).
I can't tell you how many times I smiled while reading this book. I was nodding my head like 'yeah man, so great to see someone vocalize these truths in such an elegant and straight forward way.’
This book is about as inside baseball as you can get with modern jazz. If you don’t have a solid foundational understanding of jazz, I am not talking about what hip re-harm you can do on a ii-V-I, I am talking about knowing all the players, and what they do, and how they do, and how certain hangs are in the jazz world, if you don’t have at least a modicum of insight into how all of that stuff goes down, you will not like this book.
If you are of the school of mind that bop is where it is at, and anything else is nonsense, you will HATE this book. And that's fine, there are plenty of books out there for you.
if you are just a casual listener of jazz, and like jazz, and think, ohh this will be a nice book to read, you will probably not get this book. No offensive, I was thinking about an analogy and I remember after the 2008 financial crisis I wanted to learn more about global finance, and so I read a bunch of books recommend by these economic professors, and while I was reading them about 80% of it went over my head because I did not have the requisite foundational knowledge to understand the theories, and processes being explained.
And that is fine, I never attempted to get a PHD in economics, and if you are a casual listener to jazz, you are not gonna get most of this book, and again, there are mountains of books out there for you.
This book should be a must read for any serious jazz musician out there though. This book is worth the time (and money).
ferrisscottr's review
Not going to give this a rating because I DNF.
Mildly interesting but I saw no reason for the book - he jumps around and tells us about one jazz musician after another with no real point other than contemporary jazz is good.
It wasn't a bad book just one that I saw no reason to spend my time finishing.
Mildly interesting but I saw no reason for the book - he jumps around and tells us about one jazz musician after another with no real point other than contemporary jazz is good.
It wasn't a bad book just one that I saw no reason to spend my time finishing.
dkmode's review
5.0
A wonderful survey of jazz from Coltrane's death to now. Playing Changes smartly rejects a linear approach and instead starts from a historical turning point - the ascendency of Wynton Marsalis and the canonization of institutional jazz - and goes from there, tracking the various offshoots of jazz and the ways in which they intersect with each other and the genre at large. At times the information can be overwhelming, but Chinen ends every chapter with a simple list of 5 albums that represent the concepts therein, and eventually ends the book with a list of ~120 albums that have shaped jazz in the 21st century. While I wish more space was given to jazz outside of the States - jazz developments in China, India, and Europe are clumsily shoved into one chapter when this topic really deserves an entire book - it still manages to work as a broad examination of what this genre means now, not just when it was dominant, and the ways in which it's been pushed and pulled by individual musicians and movements over the past 50 or so years. I wish more jazz musicians and pedagogists would read it.
zberblank's review
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
Nate Chinen’s survey of modern jazz is essential. Each chapter is a profile on a different scene, style, culture, or even specific artist in modern jazz music. With recommended listening for each chapter, you leave the book having a very good understanding of how jazz has developed in the current century so far. Chinen doesn’t pretend to know where the music is going, but he makes a strong argument that the music is more vibrant and varied than ever. To go a step further, the book makes a strong case that now is the most exciting time to be a jazz listener. To that end, I appreciated the diversity in styles presented. Chinen shows that there is really something for everyone in jazz music, and this book does a lot to destroy the stereotype of modern jazz music being esoteric inaccessible noise.
Finally, in a male dominated genre of music, Chinen profiles some of the great female jazz artists currently in the scene. There are full length profiles of Esperanza Spaulding and Mary Halvorson, as well as segments on others. Sexism is a real problem in the jazz community, and it’s only passively addressed in this book, but it is refreshing to know that even in jazz the future is female.
Finally, in a male dominated genre of music, Chinen profiles some of the great female jazz artists currently in the scene. There are full length profiles of Esperanza Spaulding and Mary Halvorson, as well as segments on others. Sexism is a real problem in the jazz community, and it’s only passively addressed in this book, but it is refreshing to know that even in jazz the future is female.