Geoff Dyer
I just have to recommend this book, winner of the Somerset
Maugham prize. ISBN 0-349-11005-0, Abacus press.
"The only book about jazz that I have recommended to my friends. It is a
little gem, with the distinction of being 'about' jazz eather than 'on' jazz."
Keith Jarrett
This is not a text book, it doesn't teach you about jazz, it isn't even
"true", but it is truer than many a tome. It is a collection of
vignettes on famous jazz musicians (e.g. Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, Bud
Powell, Lester Young), linked by a story of Duke Ellington and Harry Carney
driving to a gig.
"Unclassifiable and all the better for that ... There can be few books
on jazz written with such tenderness and care."
Adam Lively, Times Literary Supplement
"You don't have to be a jazz buff to savour this book - but you may be
one when you're done."
New York Times Book Review
"But Beautiful is just that. A moving and highly original tribute to
Black American music."
Bryan Ferry
"Geoff Dyer has done for jazz musicians something similar to what
Hemmingway did in In Our Time for the generation of his friends."
Josef Skvorecky
"If closeness to the material determines a great solo, Mr. Dyer's book is
one."
Keith Jarrett
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