The Jazz Ear
Author: Ben Ratliff
Publisher: Times Books
Price: $28 (Hardcover)
Channelling his New York Times critic colleague Michael Kimmelman, Times jazz critic Ben Ratliff uses jazz greats’ subjective listening experiences to construct miniatures of musical masters in The Jazz Ear. Ratliff sits down with 15 jazz luminaries including Sonny Rollins, Maria Schneider and Hank Jones and asks them to choose five or six songs, not by them, to discuss how they’ve influenced each as artists. What ensues is a collection of biographical, candid and expressive vignettes of how jazz is appreciated by its champions and how differently musicians understand what music means to them.
